Mission 6 : Flight of the Freighter

[Kirok]

Marshall contacted the station " Phoenix to Columbus we are ready to receive the commander. Phoenix out". Cutting of the communications he returned to his own his own job " Sir Commander Filitov is aboard the phoenix."

[Bridge]

"Thank you, Mr. Marshall" Kirok replied.  The half Vulcan looked up toward the helm.  "Beggon, you leave your post as soon Ms. Filitov arrives on the Bridge" he added.

Transporter Room One - USS Phoenix

Katcha stepped off the Padd and wend straight over the the duty Chief.

"Zank you Chief." She said as she headed to the turbolift and up to the Bridge.

Bridge

Katcha stepped out of the Turbolift onto the familiar Bridge. She went straight over to where Captain, now Admiral, Kirok sat.

"Lieutenant Kommander Filitov reporting on board Admiral." She said, standing smartly but not at full attention.

[Bridge]

"Ms. Filitov, it is agreeable to see you again" Kirok said as he rose from his chair.  He offed the woman a bow.  "You may take your station" he instructed.

[Bridge]

This was not a major personnel transfer, and so Buris was on the Bridge rather than the airlock or transporter room. Still, it irked him that Kirok was one of those commanders who wanted everything Operations-related routed through Tactical. It was old-fashioned, to say the least.

Still, it gave him time to consider the information he'd gained from that terrorist woman. And to be glad that the children were, for the moment at least, safe and sound.

He looked back at Kirok, trying to figure out the man's expression with the PADD in hand. With Archangel, he knew her looks.  He knew when she was concerned, and how ready to be. He and the Admiral still hadn't found their beat. But it was better safe than sorry, really; they weren't on shore duty, and so Buris was ready for anything.

[Bridge]

Kirok now back in his central seat was again focused on the padd.  He did however catch Mr. Buris looking back at him.  The Bajoran had been oddly quite since arriving on the Bridge.

But then again, the half Vulcan had been engrossed in the report on Tarna.  Perhaps the others were simply giving him the opportunity to finish his reading.  Nice, but not necessary as the half Vulcan had learned how to multitask long ago.

So, Kirok put down the padd and send the Bajoran a text message.  'Mr. Buris, I would like for your to do a bit of research for me on the Bajoran colony of Tarna.  Please mix in queries on the Cardassian/Bajoran war and let me know what you find.  Please discuss this request and your findings with only me.  Thanks, Kirok' the message read.

[Quarters]

A soft repeating beep filled the room as she laid quietly in her bed. It took a little while, but eventually she woke up. Slowly she slunk out of bed and moved into the restroom so that she could get ready for the day ahead. After a quick shower she threw on her uniform and left the room.

[Mess Hall]

After she'd entered the room she glanced around and looked over everyone. There was no one she knew, so once she grabbed food and sat alone trying to not to disturb any of the crew. It wasn't that she was trying to be unsocial, she wouldn't tell anyone to go away but she was way too shy for anyone to tell HER to go away.

[Mess Hall - NPC Beggon]

Relieved of his duties on the Bridge, Beggon headed to his favorite place on the ship - the Mess Hall.  He could eat all he wanted - for free!  Being in Star Fleet was great!

Today, Beggon got a full bowl of jellied gree worms.  Then he went to look for a place to sit.  "Hi, may I join you?" he ask the lone woman.

[Kachina Filitov]

[Bridge]

"Thank you, Mr. Marshall" Kirok replied.  The half Vulcan looked up toward the helm.  "Beggon, you leave your post as soon Ms. Filitov arrives on the Bridge" he added.

[Bridge]

"Ms. Filitov, it is agreeable to see you again" Kirok said as he rose from his chair.  He offed the woman a bow.  "You may take your station" he instructed.

Bridge

Katcha nodded.

"It is good to see you as vell Admiral." Katcha nodded, appreciating the Admiral's impersonal touch. She immediately took the helm and quickly familiarized herself with the controls. She then turned back to the Admiral.

"Ready Admiral. Vot course should I set?" She asked.

[Gabriel Arthur]

Science Labs - Botany

Hrafn was checking some plants she had started by way of apology to the T'Koris-Arthur girls but she wasn't sure if either the parents or the children were even speaking to her at the moment.

As if  conjured up by her thoughts Gabe crossed her vision going towards her office.

"Gabe, hey Gabe!  Wait up, I'm over here!" Hrafn waved a trowel in his general direction to attract attention.

'Well, let's get this over with.' she thought.

The twins were fine, she wasn't, and she hadn't spoken to either Gabe, Archangel or the girls nor her husband in the intervening time, so she hadn't had any vent.  Hence she was in the botany labs, if she broke down she knew the plants wouldn't care, and most of her staff were far too polite to mention the tear streaks on her face.

[Sciences]

Gabriel's attention was drawn by the sound of his own name coming from the botany labs.  Should have known, he thought.  He wondered if Hrafn was much like himself - working through problems and stress by getting her hands dirty.  For him, it was stembolts and spanners.  For her, it'd probably be dirt and plants.  Same concept, different execution.

And speaking of executions...

"Gonna cause a safety incident with that," he said, grinning wryly at the trowel tool in her hand, which was currently being wielded about like a sceptre.  "Do I need to report you to shipboard resources?"  His smile faded a touch, though.  It felt hard to keep one as of late.  "Do you have a minute?  I'd like you to walk with me."

[Archangel Koris]

[Starbase Columbus]

A tired Romulan wound her way through the people on the promenade, heading toward the station's transporter rooms.  While she hadn't been away from the ship all that long, not even 52 hours, it felt as if it had been far longer than that.  Part of that was perhaps what she had been doing while away.

With the Phoenix due to come in to Starbase Columbus, it had made more sense to rejoin her there rather than try to explain why she was able to find it with a shuttlecraft.  Now that news had come to her that the ship had arrived, she was eager to get back to work.

Finally arriving in the transporter room, she nodded to the chief on duty before taking a moment to remember the duty rosters and contacting the Phoenix.

=^= "T'Koris to Kejal, I'm ready to beam aboard as soon as you can clear me." =^=

[Kejal Buris]

Buris glanced down at his board and the text message that came in from the Admiral. He raised an eyebrow and grunted quizzically aloud before stating to type. Why was Admiral Kirok suddenly interested in a sidenote of the Bajor-Cardassia war?  Certainly it was horrid, but such massacres were the norm, in a way. Still, the sudden disappearance of Archangel, so soon after the kidnapping, was now adding up in the Bajoran's twisted mind.  And maybe he knew this Admiral better than he thought.

He stated typing before starting his search, racking his brain for anything important he could figure out. 'As a preliminary report from my own memory, Admiral, Tarna was one of Bajor's more distant colonies, a few lightyears away from Bajor & Cardassia Prime.  The Resistance used it as a regular resupply base and armory from a time long before I was born, and as a communications facility outside the main system. Most of the population were refugees and noncombatants, though they supported the cause.  Toward the end of the Occupation, around the time the Federation was trying to establish the Demilitarized Zone, it was bombarded from orbit by the Union Navy; which then drove the Federation and Bajor into their unofficial alliance against the Union.  The bombing of Tarna was the last great massacre on either side of the War, and really marked the shift from the Resistance to the Militia.  Many people sided with the Kais to avoid some imaginary cursed afterlife with the Pah-wraiths on Tarna.'

He thought about it a bit more, and sighed. He'd lost friends and valuable contacts there. Hell, maybe in a way, Tarna was part of what had made him join Starfleet, however indirect the connection might be. He leaned forward and typed out another message, this one more surreptitious, and encrypted. 'Confidentially, Admiral, there have been some rumors - ones that won't be in the Starfleet computer.  Captured Guls denied any prior knowledge of the event before their executions, stolen plans never included such an overwhelming devastation to any colony - and they'd always wanted our worlds for colonization and labor, not just mere blasted rock. My network was never entirely certain that it was actually the Union that ordered the raid. It might have been a group of rogue Cardassians disgusted with the withdraw, it could have been the Maquis, or... The Order. But as I said, history blames the Union Navy. The deaths of those colonists caused the Federation to throw the weight of their support behind us, and got Ro Laren onto the bridge of Starfleet's flagship.  It caused the supposed 'Emissary' to be brought to the wormhole on Starfleet Deep Space Station #9, which impacted the Dominion War in the favor of the Alpha Quadrant forces. Regardless of those rumors, who are we to argue with history's judgment, Admiral?'

Caution was certainly the order of the day.  If what he feared was the case - if "history" was wrong, what might that do to the people of Bajor? To the Federation? It might be better to keep quiet, preserve the peace. After all, it wasn't like those people could be brought back from the dead; and who cared what killed them? At the end of the day, their sacrifice on the altar of the Resistance cause had not been in vain. Did it really matter whose hand plunged the knife?  He would gladly have done it, knowing what he knew now.  The Federation was the only force that could have scared those cursed lizards off; even the Romulans hadn't been willing or able to throw enough force to stop the Occupation.  Tarna brought Starfleet to Bajor.  The Tarnans had saved the lives and freedom of billions with their sacrifice.

Still, he ran the LCARS search, at a high enough priority level that really only Kirok's direct order or a structural warning could even begin to ding his response time - and the advantage was, by running that close to root access, he could not only obscure his search as a library computer diagnostic, he could obscure who had in fact run the search.  When they checked into the Starbase next and linked systems for download, or went to the Memory system, the record of this search would never exist. After all, if the Admiral was in fact out to challenge history, he didn't want his name attached to what he saw as a fundamentally disgraceful act.  Thankfully, the Library Computer didn't operate on the same data channels as the transporter or the holodeck; both of those had high-volume buffers and processors of their own.

Thankfully, to disturb his reverie, he heard a welcome voice through his commlink.  Archangel was going to be returning soon.  He sighed heavily - maybe when she got back, some of this mystery would be resolved.  After all, she'd at least try and tell him what she could about the situation.

=^= "T'Koris to Kejal, I'm ready to beam aboard as soon as you can clear me." =^=

He switched the search to a separate thread, and tapped the comm button. "Kejal here, you are cleared for transport, ma'am.  Energizing now.  Bringing you into Transporter Room One.  Welcome back."=/\=

He'd decided that with the sound of her voice, she was tired enough that he didn't want to bring her directly to the Bridge.  However, she could easily call for a belay and have him bring her there - but then that decision would be on her judgment, rather than his.

[Hrafn Falleg]

[Sciences]

Gabriel's attention was drawn by the sound of his own name coming from the botany labs.  Should have known, he thought.  He wondered if Hrafn was much like himself - working through problems and stress by getting her hands dirty.  For him, it was stembolts and spanners.  For her, it'd probably be dirt and plants.  Same concept, different execution.

And speaking of executions...

"Gonna cause a safety incident with that," he said, grinning wryly at the trowel tool in her hand, which was currently being wielded about like a sceptre.  "Do I need to report you to shipboard resources?"  His smile faded a touch, though.  It felt hard to keep one as of late.  "Do you have a minute?  I'd like you to walk with me."

Botany Labs

"Sure!" she said giving a brief smile and putting down the trowel. "I didn't realise I was brandishing it quite so vehemently."  She nodded to the plant.  "The rikka flower, native to Taresia, is has a soothing fragrance. The Taresians apply essence of rikka flowers to the forehead before bed.  I thought I'd give the girls one each if they are speaking to me.  Might help them."

Giving her hands a wipe with a rag and taking off her apron she said.  "Right, that walk you wanted... lead on McDuff!"

[Archangel Koris]

Thankfully, to disturb his reverie, he heard a welcome voice through his commlink.  Archangel was going to be returning soon.  He sighed heavily - maybe when she got back, some of this mystery would be resolved.  After all, she'd at least try and tell him what she could about the situation.

He switched the search to a separate thread, and tapped the comm button. "Kejal here, you are cleared for transport, ma'am.  Energizing now.  Bringing you into Transporter Room One.  Welcome back."=/\=

He'd decided that with the sound of her voice, she was tired enough that he didn't want to bring her directly to the Bridge.  However, she could easily call for a belay and have him bring her there - but then that decision would be on her judgment, rather than his.

[Starbase]

The thought of being able to materialise in the transporter room and escape to her quarters even for a few moments was definintely an attractive one, but it wasn't a possibility for Archangel.  She had her duties to attend to on the bridge, and she needed to talk to Kirok.

=^= "Belay that, Commander.  Transport me to the bridge." =^=  was the reply to the return communication.  Kejal would understand, that much she was sure of.

[Gabriel Arthur]

Botany Labs

"Sure!" she said giving a brief smile and putting down the trowel. "I didn't realise I was brandishing it quite so vehemently."  She nodded to the plant.  "The rikka flower, native to Taresia, is has a soothing fragrance. The Taresians apply essence of rikka flowers to the forehead before bed.  I thought I'd give the girls one each if they are speaking to me.  Might help them."

Giving her hands a wipe with a rag and taking off her apron she said.  "Right, that walk you wanted... lead on McDuff!"

[Botany]

"Oh," Gabriel smiled again, "any excuse for them to make a mess and smear things on one another won't be passed up any time soon."  He stopped, turning to face Falleg, head tilting slightly as a small grin played over his lips.  "Hrafn, of course the girls want to see you.  You're their Aunt Fran.  Arch and I don't blame you for anything that happened, and the kids sure as hell don't."  Gabriel was quiet for a moment as they walked, letting some distance rack up between them and the rest of the crew.  "Unfortunately," he continued, his voice subdued, "they're pretty used to things like this, now.  In fact, just an old-fashioned abduction is pretty mild, comparatively speaking."  Shaking his head, Gabriel reached up and ran his fingers through his short, blonde hair.  "It's been on my mind, lately...a lot of things have, actually.  Archangel's been preoccupied with her own things, and...well.  I wanted to run this by you.  I consider you a friend, and seeing as how we just went through basically the same thing..."

He realized that he was starting to babble, which often happened when he wanted to avoid a subject.  Best just get to it.

"I'm thinking about deactivating my commission." 

[Kejal Buris]

[Bridge]

"Aye, ma'am.  One to the Bridge, energizing."

He was always amazed at how easily he could just bring someone over from one Starfleet installation to another; it was so much faster and less troublesome than beaming people off a planet. There was almost nothing to it, really.

Still, the search was running in background about Tarna, and he knew something was up if T'Koris wanted to be here when she was so tired.  And Kirok's request about the colony happening just before... there was something on the edge of his mind, faintly lit.  Something he wasn't sure he liked.

[Archangel Koris]

[Bridge]

"Aye, ma'am.  One to the Bridge, energizing."

He was always amazed at how easily he could just bring someone over from one Starfleet installation to another; it was so much faster and less troublesome than beaming people off a planet. There was almost nothing to it, really.

Still, the search was running in background about Tarna, and he knew something was up if T'Koris wanted to be here when she was so tired.  And Kirok's request about the colony happening just before... there was something on the edge of his mind, faintly lit.  Something he wasn't sure he liked.

[Bridge]

Under Kejal's hand, the transfer from the station to the bridge of the USS Phoenix happened seamlessly, Archangel materialising in the command centre of the ship.  She blinked, getting her bearings before nodding in acknowledgement and thanks to the Bajoran at the operations station before scanning the personnel on the bridge in search of the captain.  Spotting him, she made her way over and offered him a tired nod.

"T'Koris reporting back, sir."

[Kirok]

Bridge

Katcha nodded.

"It is good to see you as vell Admiral." Katcha nodded, appreciating the Admiral's impersonal touch. She immediately took the helm and quickly familiarized herself with the controls. She then turned back to the Admiral.

"Ready Admiral. Vot course should I set?" She asked.

[Bridge]

"Hold this position please, Ms. Filitov.  We have a few more transports yet to complete with the Starbase" Kirok replied.  Then he returned to the his seat.

Buris glanced down at his board and the text message that came in from the Admiral. He raised an eyebrow and grunted quizzically aloud before stating to type. Why was Admiral Kirok suddenly interested in a sidenote of the Bajor-Cardassia war?  Certainly it was horrid, but such massacres were the norm, in a way. Still, the sudden disappearance of Archangel, so soon after the kidnapping, was now adding up in the Bajoran's twisted mind.  And maybe he knew this Admiral better than he thought.

He stated typing before starting his search, racking his brain for anything important he could figure out. 'As a preliminary report from my own memory, Admiral, Tarna was one of Bajor's more distant colonies, a few lightyears away from Bajor & Cardassia Prime.  The Resistance used it as a regular resupply base and armory from a time long before I was born, and as a communications facility outside the main system. Most of the population were refugees and noncombatants, though they supported the cause.  Toward the end of the Occupation, around the time the Federation was trying to establish the Demilitarized Zone, it was bombarded from orbit by the Union Navy; which then drove the Federation and Bajor into their unofficial alliance against the Union.  The bombing of Tarna was the last great massacre on either side of the War, and really marked the shift from the Resistance to the Militia.  Many people sided with the Kais to avoid some imaginary cursed afterlife with the Pah-wraiths on Tarna.'

He thought about it a bit more, and sighed. He'd lost friends and valuable contacts there. Hell, maybe in a way, Tarna was part of what had made him join Starfleet, however indirect the connection might be. He leaned forward and typed out another message, this one more surreptitious, and encrypted. 'Confidentially, Admiral, there have been some rumors - ones that won't be in the Starfleet computer.  Captured Guls denied any prior knowledge of the event before their executions, stolen plans never included such an overwhelming devastation to any colony - and they'd always wanted our worlds for colonization and labor, not just mere blasted rock. My network was never entirely certain that it was actually the Union that ordered the raid. It might have been a group of rogue Cardassians disgusted with the withdraw, it could have been the Maquis, or... The Order. But as I said, history blames the Union Navy. The deaths of those colonists caused the Federation to throw the weight of their support behind us, and got Ro Laren onto the bridge of Starfleet's flagship.  It caused the supposed 'Emissary' to be brought to the wormhole on Starfleet Deep Space Station #9, which impacted the Dominion War in the favor of the Alpha Quadrant forces. Regardless of those rumors, who are we to argue with history's judgment, Admiral?'

Caution was certainly the order of the day.  If what he feared was the case - if "history" was wrong, what might that do to the people of Bajor? To the Federation? It might be better to keep quiet, preserve the peace. After all, it wasn't like those people could be brought back from the dead; and who cared what killed them? At the end of the day, their sacrifice on the altar of the Resistance cause had not been in vain. Did it really matter whose hand plunged the knife?  He would gladly have done it, knowing what he knew now.  The Federation was the only force that could have scared those cursed lizards off; even the Romulans hadn't been willing or able to throw enough force to stop the Occupation.  Tarna brought Starfleet to Bajor.  The Tarnans had saved the lives and freedom of billions with their sacrifice.

Still, he ran the LCARS search, at a high enough priority level that really only Kirok's direct order or a structural warning could even begin to ding his response time - and the advantage was, by running that close to root access, he could not only obscure his search as a library computer diagnostic, he could obscure who had in fact run the search.  When they checked into the Starbase next and linked systems for download, or went to the Memory system, the record of this search would never exist. After all, if the Admiral was in fact out to challenge history, he didn't want his name attached to what he saw as a fundamentally disgraceful act.  Thankfully, the Library Computer didn't operate on the same data channels as the transporter or the holodeck; both of those had high-volume buffers and processors of their own.

Thankfully, to disturb his reverie, he heard a welcome voice through his commlink.  Archangel was going to be returning soon.  He sighed heavily - maybe when she got back, some of this mystery would be resolved.  After all, she'd at least try and tell him what she could about the situation.

[Bridge]

Kirok read the messages as soon as they came in.  It was as he feared, Kejal had verified Captain Lafayette's report.  Someone in Section 31 had orchestrated the massacre on Tarna and blamed the Cardassion Union.

'Thank you, Mr. Buris' Kirok replied.  He took in a deep breath to help calm the uncomfortable feeling that was building in the pit of his stomach.  He had only been angry one other time that he could remember and this was beginning to feel like that.

[Bridge]

Under Kejal's hand, the transfer from the station to the bridge of the USS Phoenix happened seamlessly, Archangel materialising in the command centre of the ship.  She blinked, getting her bearings before nodding in acknowledgement and thanks to the Bajoran at the operations station before scanning the personnel on the bridge in search of the captain.  Spotting him, she made her way over and offered him a tired nod.

"T'Koris reporting back, sir."

[Bridge]

Kirok's head turned sharply toward the new voice.  "Welcome back, Ms. T'Koris.  I need to leave the ship for a short time.  You have the Bridge" he said as he stood, gripping the padd in the tight fist of his right hand.

[Archangel Koris]

[Bridge]

Kirok's head turned sharply toward the new voice.  "Welcome back, Ms. T'Koris.  I need to leave the ship for a short time.  You have the Bridge" he said as he stood, gripping the padd in the tight fist of his right hand.

[Bridge]

Spotting the tells that her commanding officer's emotional state was leaking through from his normally very Vulcan hold, Archangel hazarded a guess as to what the PADD in his hand contained.  After all, it was all she could think about after returning from her little mission.

"Captain, I'm afraid I need to speak with you on an urgent matter before you leave," she replied, hoping that she might be able to cut off at the start whatever hairbrained stunt he was about to set in motion.  He had been the one to induct her into the Intelligence services, even if Revek had taken it further by drawing her into Section 31's dark embrace.  She could never forgive either man for that, but nor could she stand back and watch as Kirok got himself into trouble with very unforgiving people.

[Kachina Filitov]

[Bridge]

"Hold this position please, Ms. Filitov.  We have a few more transports yet to complete with the Starbase" Kirok replied.  Then he returned to the his seat.

Bridge

Katcha nodded.

"Da Admiral!" She replied.

She then concentrated on making sure that all the navigation and control systems. Hearing that, whatever Kirok had just read, it was important enough to warrant him leaving the ship. She did what she did best apart from flying, she listened and observed what the two senior officers were talking about.

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

Spotting the tells that her commanding officer's emotional state was leaking through from his normally very Vulcan hold, Archangel hazarded a guess as to what the PADD in his hand contained.  After all, it was all she could think about after returning from her little mission.

"Captain, I'm afraid I need to speak with you on an urgent matter before you leave," she replied, hoping that she might be able to cut off at the start whatever hairbrained stunt he was about to set in motion.  He had been the one to induct her into the Intelligence services, even if Revek had taken it further by drawing her into Section 31's dark embrace.  She could never forgive either man for that, but nor could she stand back and watch as Kirok got himself into trouble with very unforgiving people.

[Bridge]

"I'm sorry Ms. T'Koris.  It will have to wait" Kirok replied.  "You have the Bridge" he repeated and then left the Bridge.

Moments later, he was in the main transport room.  "One to beam over to Starbase Columbus" he told the officer at the duty station.  The blue light engulfed and then his form disappeared. 

[Steve Marshall]

[Bridge]

"I'm sorry Ms. T'Koris.  It will have to wait" Kirok replied.  "You have the Bridge" he repeated and then left the Bridge.

Moments later, he was in the main transport room.  "One to beam over to Starbase Columbus" he told the officer at the duty station.  The blue light engulfed and then his form disappeared.

Security / Tactical Con

Steve noted the Admiral had transferred to Star base Columbus for a meeting. Noting the change of command he continue to monitor long range sensors.  The external coms beeped. He quickly punched in his verification code.
He broke the silence in the room.

"Incoming distress call from large size freighter its being pulled in to an event horizon. They are roughly three light years from our current  position. They are taking damage and there shields are holding just."

The distress signal was being broadcast on all frequencies and all language's. " Sir there are no other star ships  in the vicinity."