S3:E7 Predator and Prey

[William Waring]

[Bridge = USS Challenger]

"Plate-spinning Mr. Waring.  I quite agree... everything has to be right, or they all fall." the Captain nodded.  He wasn't saying much and she wondered if her having her 'Captain' head on was getting to him.  Well, he'd just have to get used to it.  She'd give him a massage later to make up for it.

Ruth gave him a small smile and said.  "Would the best coffee maker in the universe sort out a round of coffees or other beverages.  I think I'll allow anyone here to have one after the news we've just had."

"Heh..." chuckled Ruth, "...no sorry Lahr, you're part of my crew, stuck with me.  The only way you'd ever be under the jurisdiction of anyone else is if we were on a joint mission and you were seconded to another ship temporarily I'd want you back, in one piece and Gods help them if anything happened to you.  Or... if with your brilliance.. stop blushing, that brain of yours works in 90 directions at once and often 3 steps ahead of me, you're promoted and transferred, again Gods forbid.
I miss my 'Battle Butler', I'd miss my 'Best Blue Guy' even more, so... stay safe please! We need ya."  breaking into a grin she said to break the tension, "Who else do I get to put on a kick ass party for the wedding?!"

She grinned and continued. "As for secret weapons - yes, at least one in my arsenal.  We've outwitted Leyton and other adversaries not just by the mettle of our physical arsenal, but our brains and while you lot have some pretty wacky ideas at times... they're often so 'out of the box' that they work, they haven't been thought of before.  Which is why I love Mr. Meltem's magnetized probe idea."

"One problem there Mr. Lek, it's not a station as such as a lump of rock.  If Mr. Litt can lock us into orbit with the asteroid we might be able to use the transporters over short distance? Or least the shuttles won't have such a terrible distance to try and dodge any enemy ships.  However, I like the dummy idea with the probe going in by the front gate so to speak, I don't know how much of an advantage that might give us as they'll likely soon discover that it isn't real and then the sharks will be after us again.  Work it out helm, Tactical, Engineering, Science and Ops...Also Mr. Waring, prepare an away team to infiltrate the asteroid by way of an evacuation team, once we've sorted out a definite plan of action.  Call on whatever resources you need, I'll give access codes if you require any.  Report back to me when you have a plan of action and advise me of how you feel it's best to proceed.  We are merely in orbit of Zhargosia at the moment, I'm sure we can spare you to have a pow wow in the conference room."

Turning to the helm she gave Litt a warm smile.  "Mr. Litt, you'll be taking the real Challenger into the nebula so I'd like you to work with the others on planning our approach.  Mr. Briggs, let me know how you think we should approach the fact that we have an Akira, an Ambassador and a Miranda Class out there looking for us.  And don't forget we have the asset of the Tal'Bath and her cloaking device too. Forty-five mins to an hour, if we have that gamma radiation I don't want to risk having them in there longer than necessary, nor do I want them coming upon us just on patrols."

The Captain turned back to Lahr and thanked him for the list of names.  "Call these people on the list for our manifest and have them meet with Lt. Commander Wardropper and Drs York and Briggs in the Cargo Bay, I'm afraid Medical and Science going to have to work double time.  The doctors are already down there so two birds one stone seeing if we can sort out the mind thing and get that as an asset, Mr. Meltem is needed to explain his idea of the magnetised probe further.  Oh and gentlemen, please note the errata to the sizing of the nebula, previous telemetry report had a typo... asteroid is significantly larger than we thought. "

"Waring, where's that coffee?!" Ruth asked feeling suddenly twice her age and her mind going in many directions.

[Bridge]

Will was intrigued by Lek's approach to the problem. He hadn't considered docking when thinking of possible courses of action but it made the most sense for crew transfer in this scenario, if a bit old fashioned.

"Lek's idea is interesting" he added to the conversation as he played waiter "It is the suggestion with the least amount of question marks. Shuttles are vulnerable to enemy fire and transporters are sketchy at best. We dock and storm as Mr. Lek suggests. A few teams of security along with my Away Team and we could make do. We'd lose any element of surprise as they would notice a docking, or anything similar but it is doubtful we will have any element of surprise once we begin..." he paused for a moment before continuing "As for the Away Team, I will need security, medical, and ops. Correction, ops and engineering. We don't know exactly what we will face when we are over there and, I may be a little biased, but I think those wearing gold can do just about anything. That said, I was thinking Mr. Lek and Mr. ch'Verret are necessities. I don't know the security or medical department personnel well enough to make choices for them, so I will leave that to you to decide. Once the team is decided, we shall take leave for the Conference Room and draft a plan for you.... ma'am" he paused again for a length of time that nearly made it awkward "Should I just replicate coffee or..."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - Ops]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Lek waited until the captain was finished speaking to clarify what he was trying to say.

"Indeed it is not a station, but what I am proposing is to essentially butt up against the asteroid and use forcefields to maintain a seal for our people to storm the facility and for everyone to escape when they've freed the hostages."

[Bridge]

Will was intrigued by Lek's approach to the problem. He hadn't considered docking when thinking of possible courses of action but it made the most sense for crew transfer in this scenario, if a bit old fashioned.

"Lek's idea is interesting" he added to the conversation as he played waiter "It is the suggestion with the least amount of question marks. Shuttles are vulnerable to enemy fire and transporters are sketchy at best. We dock and storm as Mr. Lek suggests. A few teams of security along with my Away Team and we could make do. We'd lose any element of surprise as they would notice a docking, or anything similar but it is doubtful we will have any element of surprise once we begin..." he paused for a moment before continuing "As for the Away Team, I will need security, medical, and ops. Correction, ops and engineering. We don't know exactly what we will face when we are over there and, I may be a little biased, but I think those wearing gold can do just about anything. That said, I was thinking Mr. Lek and Mr. ch'Verret are necessities. I don't know the security or medical department personnel well enough to make choices for them, so I will leave that to you to decide. Once the team is decided, we shall take leave for the Conference Room and draft a plan for you.... ma'am" he paused again for a length of time that nearly made it awkward "Should I just replicate coffee or..."

Lek's explanation of his plan while it made sense, was a bummer cause it meant more risk to those in security.  Lahr didn't envy them.

And sure enough Commander Waring's next words confirmed what Lahr had suspected - that Lek's plan was now being considered as the best viable option.   The Andorian was inwardly glad he was no longer in security.

That fact however didn't save him from hearing his name drop from Commander Waring's lips as the Ops personnel requested.  What the !?  First Sukal and now Waring.  Evidently the Captain hadn't shared his promise to him with her XO's.

The Andorian's antenna writhed nervously as he glanced back towards the Captain.   Now he kinda wished he wasn't her favorite 'blue guy' cause then the Commander would be just as likely to have selected Grelek or some other Ops.  But he hadn't .... he'd called him and Lek 'necessities'.   Was it right to want to hold the Captain to her promise, when her second in command claimed to need his experience.  Lahr's antenna stopped its writhing and drooped a bit as he took in a steadying breath.

Anticipating the need, Lahr called on Grelek to relieve him on Ops.  Then he turned towards the Captain, hoping to catch her eye and gave a slight nod of acceptance.  He'd go.  He wouldn't like it ... but if the Commander needed him, Lahr would go.. just as he had with Sukal and Briggs to the science station.

[Olivia Briggs]

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

With the Cargo Bay, a hectic hive of activity, Liv knew that this was nothing compared to what they were about to face, once the rescue mission was fully underway. Taking a moment to not only think about her husband and son, but to also allow her to focus fully on what she needed to do. Although when they were then joined by the new CSO, Liv acknowledged her comment with a smile, before as Evie, told her and Maggie, once they confirmed that they were aware of the possible radiation, about the plan involving certain members of the crew.

Listening carefully as to what they had been asked to do, understanding both the risks involved and what it could also mean, if they succeeded in using their abilities to help those who had been unfairly captured. If it worked then it would definitely give them an advantage and awaited Mr Meltem's arrival. Appreciating the heads up and the extra assistance as Evie then offered to help continue to get things ready. Taking a deep breath, after absorbing everything that had been said, as Maggie then spoke to her and Chloe.

" Sure, I'll help you with the triage station, as you're right everything seems to be under control" she replied, as PO  T'ealc, approached and asked as to why they had been told to report to the Cargo Bay.

" All I know at the moment, that its to try and get a message to some of the cadets that have been captured, in order to get them to help us, once Mr Meltem gets here, we can go through it properly with everyone, however in the meantime, Chloe will direct you all to where we can set it up".

This was definitely going to be the epicentre of both the rescue effort in terms of dealing with injuries, as well as monitoring those who would be contacting the cadets. Whatever the outcome at least they would be well prepared.

[Richard James Litt]

[Bridge]

"About 30 mins to Zhargosia Mr. Litt?" the Captain said smiling but with a note of enquiry in her voice.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

Litt kept flying the vessel while the meeting was going on and, as soon as Captain Ruth returned to the bridge, she asked about the ETA.

"Yes ma'am, we are close to the nebula. 30 minutes and we'll be there."

After that, he returned to his panel to keep the ship flying good.

"Mr. Litt I think we're just about at Zhargosia come into synchronous orbit around the planet.  We'll wait until we have Captain Hecate contact us rather than blow her cover." the Captain ordered.

"Aye, ma'am!" He said simply and right at the moment that the ship reach the destination, Litt put the vessel in orbit with the planet.

[Bridge = USS Challenger]
Turning to the helm she gave Litt a warm smile.  "Mr. Litt, you'll be taking the real Challenger into the nebula so I'd like you to work with the others on planning our approach."

"Aye, ma'am!" Litt nodded his head and opened the map from that place they were and started thinking about what they could do. After a few moments, he turned to the captain and the others and spoke to the bridge.

"Well, at this point, I think the best we can do is split the approach with Hecate... Maybe we can round the nebula and approach from underneath while Hecate can approach from the top..." He started thinking a little more. "The main problem we have is that we can face up Falcon and Gol if we go east, but we'll take a long time if we go west..."

[Kali Reyes]

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

As a crewman again, Kali had resigned herself to mild maintenance on the ship while officers scrambled for the next big mission. It was almost relaxing that she didn't have to worry about a gaggle of crewman she had to deal with when she was Chief. She had equations, troubleshooting, and a long list of elbow grease needed to outfit an entire area for extra people they were meant to pick up.

So when her schedule abruptly shifted to mission reports, she squinted at her PADD to read the assignment and - oh no.

Kali raised her PADD to the closest higher up she could find. "What is this? Why are people sticking their noses into my psionic files?"

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]
" Sure, I'll help you with the triage station, as you're right everything seems to be under control" she replied, as PO  T'ealc, approached and asked as to why they had been told to report to the Cargo Bay.

" All I know at the moment, that its to try and get a message to some of the cadets that have been captured, in order to get them to help us, once Mr Meltem gets here, we can go through it properly with everyone, however in the meantime, Chloe will direct you all to where we can set it up".

This was definitely going to be the epicentre of both the rescue effort in terms of dealing with injuries, as well as monitoring those who would be contacting the cadets. Whatever the outcome at least they would be well prepared.

Kali blinked stupidly overhearing this. "You... wait. My psionic score is ridiculously low. Like almost null. Now if you want me to twist someone into a pretzel that's another story-" Well, no. She wasn't entirely truthful about that. Her psionic abilities were completely unreliable thanks to her hybrid state and so something, something irregular brain activity. It made her obnoxiously smart like a Vulcan, but she had very little impulse control.

The last time someone refocused her telepathy was Mahak, who was pure Vulcan, and she certainly wasn't keen on getting some stranger's telepathic fingers into her head so easily.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Lek waited until the captain was finished speaking to clarify what he was trying to say.

"Indeed it is not a station, but what I am proposing is to essentially butt up against the asteroid and use forcefields to maintain a seal for our people to storm the facility and for everyone to escape when they've freed the hostages."

[Bridge]

Will was intrigued by Lek's approach to the problem. He hadn't considered docking when thinking of possible courses of action but it made the most sense for crew transfer in this scenario, if a bit old fashioned.

"Lek's idea is interesting" he added to the conversation as he played waiter "It is the suggestion with the least amount of question marks. Shuttles are vulnerable to enemy fire and transporters are sketchy at best. We dock and storm as Mr. Lek suggests. A few teams of security along with my Away Team and we could make do. We'd lose any element of surprise as they would notice a docking, or anything similar but it is doubtful we will have any element of surprise once we begin..." he paused for a moment before continuing "As for the Away Team, I will need security, medical, and ops. Correction, ops and engineering. We don't know exactly what we will face when we are over there and, I may be a little biased, but I think those wearing gold can do just about anything. That said, I was thinking Mr. Lek and Mr. ch'Verret are necessities. I don't know the security or medical department personnel well enough to make choices for them, so I will leave that to you to decide. Once the team is decided, we shall take leave for the Conference Room and draft a plan for you.... ma'am" he paused again for a length of time that nearly made it awkward "Should I just replicate coffee or..."

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge]

Despite the Captain's order to stop blushing, the Andorian couldn't.  Under Admiral Torngate's command, he'd been no more than part of the background of the ship, but Captain Siggurdsdottir seemed to go out of her way make him feel appreciated.  He wondered if it was just something she did with all Bridge crew or if it really was just him... well, him and Mondo.

Plans were made, and Lahr hoped for his security mates that the evacuees could just be snagged by transporters. Storming a secret facility INSIDE an asteroid sounded risky.  Kinda like retaking a outpost from Leyton.

Lahr wasn't sure if he understood the plan with the telepaths but when the Captain ordered him to contact the Challenger telepaths, the Andorian got down to it. "Yes, ma'am."

Soon a complement of 12 telepaths were contacted and re-assigned from their current tasks to meeting with Doctors Warhopper, York and Briggs down in the Cargo Bay.  This included, Petty Officer Reyes as 1/4 Vulcan and Ensign Meltem as part Betazoid.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - Ops]

Lek's explanation of his plan while it made sense, was a bummer cause it meant more risk to those in security.  Lahr didn't envy them.

And sure enough Commander Waring's next words confirmed what Lahr had suspected - that Lek's plan was now being considered as the best viable option.   The Andorian was inwardly glad he was no longer in security.

That fact however didn't save him from hearing his name drop from Commander Waring's lips as the Ops personnel requested.  What the !?  First Sukal and now Waring.  Evidently the Captain hadn't shared his promise to him with her XO's.

The Andorian's antenna writhed nervously as he glanced back towards the Captain.   Now he kinda wished he wasn't her favorite 'blue guy' cause then the Commander would be just as likely to have selected Grelek or some other Ops.  But he hadn't .... he'd called him and Lek 'necessities'.   Was it right to want to hold the Captain to her promise, when her second in command claimed to need his experience.  Lahr's antenna stopped its writhing and drooped a bit as he took in a steadying breath.

Anticipating the need, Lahr called on Grelek to relieve him on Ops.  Then he turned towards the Captain, hoping to catch her eye and gave a slight nod of acceptance.  He'd go.  He wouldn't like it ... but if the Commander needed him, Lahr would go.. just as he had with Sukal and Briggs to the science station.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Ah I see and if Mr. Waring thinks that would work.. that's fine. We'll work with that.  Replicated Coffee will be fine Will,.." she said with a kind smile, "...and quicker but I have to countermand one of your preferred away team.  I would like Mr. ch'Verret to stay here.  I need at least one of my Ops experts on here to co-ordinate everything.  You'll be over there, I keep Lahr here.  Otherwise you may have your pick of anyone.  By then I shouldn't have the necessity of having Mr. Briggs on the Bridge as we'll already have punched our way thru and if we need to punch our way back out again, we'll have him back on board.  If you really need Mr. Lek, you may take him or if he thinks someone else would be better suited?? Lek??"

The Captain paused and let Lek do the talking for who he thought was best for Engineering.  "As for Medical, I have a bit of a dilemma there because we will also need them on the receiving end.  I'd say take Chief Petty Officer T'ealc but she's likely involved with the mind games so to speak.  So I think take possibly Petty Officer Hessou and Dr. York if Dr. Briggs can spare her from the Cargo Bay.  Is that acceptable with you Number One?!"

She had once broken her promise to Lahr and it hadn't been easy, but it was easier to reprimand him by sending on an away team than have him handed over to authorities and write him up for trying to access confidential medical records and drag another crewmember into it.  An object lesson was easier.

"Carry on Gentlemen, Mr. Meltem I believe you're needed in the Cargo Bay with your genetic make up. And you know better than anyone what's going on with your further research on the brain washing device.  Please convey the message to the CSO that once she's finished assisting setting up the bed rolls, to come back up here for when we storm the asteroid." Ruth said with a smile.

"Lahr, a word while Mr. Waring gets my coffee.  Don't look so worried!" she said beckoning him to follow her to the corridor outside her ready room. Once she was sure they couldn't be overheard she gave him an apologetic smile.

"Look I'm sorry I had to let Commander Sukal take you on the previous away mission - although you acquitted yourself with aplomb as you normally do.  But that was punishment, I won't say what for you know why and I said I wouldn't bring it up again.  I haven't had a chance to let Mr. Waring and Mr. Briggs who are the likely away team leaders of our agreement. I intend to honour that as long as I can.  It may be seen as preferential treatment however."  Ruth laid a hand on his shoulder and gave a regretful smile.

"You know, your department shift to Ops might've been one of the best things you ever did, you're gifted and I dare to say probably as good as my fiance, and previously there was only one person I'd say equalled him and that was Mr. Sukal.  Do I have favourites, absolutely.  But my Bridge Crew are second to none." The Captain tapped her pips and shrugged.

"It's taken a long time to get these, I was once ignored asking permission to enter the Bridge of the Britannia after fulfilling a punishment and reporting back for duty.  The Captain made me stand there for many hours until he acknowledged me.  I see, and I hear and if you have a problem I want to fix it.  I want my crew happy.  I've seen crews that are stressed and unhappy, and those that are happy.  They perform better.  If you don't give appreciation to your crew, how are thy to know they are doing things right?!"  Beaming at Lahr she said "C'mon we've not got that long for you to earn more gold stars on your service record!" she winked and moved back to the main Bridge.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

Litt kept flying the vessel while the meeting was going on and, as soon as Captain Ruth returned to the bridge, she asked about the ETA.

"Yes ma'am, we are close to the nebula. 30 minutes and we'll be there."

After that, he returned to his panel to keep the ship flying good.

"Aye, ma'am!" He said simply and right at the moment that the ship reach the destination, Litt put the vessel in orbit with the planet.

"Aye, ma'am!" Litt nodded his head and opened the map from that place they were and started thinking about what they could do. After a few moments, he turned to the captain and the others and spoke to the bridge.

"Well, at this point, I think the best we can do is split the approach with Hecate... Maybe we can round the nebula and approach from underneath while Hecate can approach from the top..." He started thinking a little more. "The main problem we have is that we can face up Falcon and Gol if we go east, but we'll take a long time if we go west..."

"The Tal'Bath is smaller and lighter than us, she might be faster but.  I think we're going to have to go east and punch our way through, both of us." The Captain said looking at the map.

"Mr Lek, prepare your decoy, Mr. Meltem - in this order please, give the specs for the magnetic probes to Mr. Lek and he can prepare 4, 2 for in, 2 for out or any multiple of two you deem suitable, and send half to Captain Hecate with the plan. Then get down and assist in the Cargo Bay.  Once that has been done or not, and we are at the asteroid, join the away team. Mr. Briggs, prepare for battle, Mr. Litt lay in a course for that asteroid we'll be hovering as close to it as possible once we can get through between the Leyton posse."  she paused and unmuted the channel to the Tal'Bath.

"Captain Hecate?...."  Ruth reiterated the sketchy plan to the Romulan Captain.

Hecate nodded and motioned to various members of her team to get in motion.

"I'd like a few members of my crew to go in with you if that's acceptable?  Kurrin tr'Ltiveth - Sciences, Thoritha D'Unum - Operations, Chileeno L'thakehk - Security and Dr. Orrete L'thonsail - Medical.  They will be under the leadership of whomever is taking the away team."  Hecate answered.

"Mr. Waring?  That's your call.  My Executive Officer will be leading the away team, Hecate, it's down to him."

"OK, 30 mins or...?"

"As soon as possible, I want a hot wet water bath and the only place I get one of those is my quarters on Innominatum, sooner we go in, sooner we get back.  I'll get prepped." Ruth said.

"Any questions everyone, everyone clear on what we are doing?  To recap - Helm - taking us round between Myzran and the nebula round to due north and come underneath.  At the time of departure Lek will launch a probe of a dummy of us to draw off the Falcon and the Gol.  As soon as we move we will be at Yellow Alert. Whereupon, Sciences - use their modified probes to punch a hole through the nebula dealing with the Ferrous particles in the dust clouds.  We will find the Nebula, and sit as close to them as possible using our shields to encompass us and the asteroid and beam out the hostages.  Medical - will then be operating triage... settling the escapees.  Security will be dealing with any flak.  We then get the hell out of Dodge!  Any Questions?  I hopefully want a green light to give Mr. Litt to move within 45 mins."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

NPC Crewman Helga Tragnar and

NPC (Lt jg) Nurse Chloe Davis
[USS Challenger-A - Cargo Bay]

Chloe, who had been following quietly behind Dr. York, taking notes on what the plans were and overseeing the progress of the security, glanced up as the CMO addressed her. "Yes, Doctor. I'll see to it when they arrive."

Helga was working with Crewman Thompson, alongside T'Ket and Blackfeather, setting up rows and rows of bedrolls, when she spotted Gohun's arrival.  Her brow furrowed a bit at the presence of the phaser rifle.  Dr. York however directed the crewman to put it away.  Which was fine enough, but  when it seemed like the CSO was going to spend her time instructing the crewman, Helga frowned, it was time to get involved.   Informing her partner that she was going to get Gohun caught up on the plan, she left Thompson to finish the row they'd been working on and headed over to intercept Gohun and the CSO.

"Ma'am, I can get Crewman Gohun caught up.  We've got this."  she assured the woman.  There was no need for an officer to hand-hold a crewman.  That was actually the job of a Petty officer.  Not that Blackfeather was paying close enough attention to intervene.  So it fell to Helga.

Turning to Gohun, Helga gave the young crewman a toothy grin.  "Hey Gohun. Glad you're here, we could use the extra hands.  We are setting out bedrolls for the evacuees.   Got 120 done so far.  We only need about 400 more set up."  Helga didn't make any snide comments about his weapon or lateness.  That could wait until the job was done, if the situation was appropriate. Until then the Klingon hybrid would keep an eye on Gohun to be sure he was being productive.

"Follow me.  We have the industrial replicators making the bedrolls over here."  Helga led him over to the large replicator unit.  "Would you prefer making the rolls or laying them out?"

[As NPC Lt. Cmdr Evie Wardropper, CSO and Dr. Maggie York, CMO]

Cargo Bay Evacuation Centre

"Oh no problem Crewman, and I'm happy to help with the bedrolls, I'll mark up two more rows from where you are and then work across in parallel to you. Mr. Gohun you're released to the care of this Crewman!  thank you." Evie said with a smile.  Walked over to a pile of replicated bedrolls and started laying them out without further comment.  It was a long job but she started to whistle as she worked, a tune stuck in her head.

It was about this time that others began to trickle in.  Vulcans mainly.  One of Medical's own Petty Officers, CPO T'ealc, approached the doctors.

"Dr. York, Dr. Briggs  - we were contacted by Petty Officer ch'Verret and told to assemble here in the Cargo Bay to assist in some plan using our telepathy.  Can you explain this to us?"

"I'll be over in a moment Ms. T'ealc but I'm sure Dr. Briggs can answer you too.  Thanks for coming so promptly!"

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

With the Cargo Bay, a hectic hive of activity, Liv knew that this was nothing compared to what they were about to face, once the rescue mission was fully underway. Taking a moment to not only think about her husband and son, but to also allow her to focus fully on what she needed to do. Although when they were then joined by the new CSO, Liv acknowledged her comment with a smile, before as Evie, told her and Maggie, once they confirmed that they were aware of the possible radiation, about the plan involving certain members of the crew.

Listening carefully as to what they had been asked to do, understanding both the risks involved and what it could also mean, if they succeeded in using their abilities to help those who had been unfairly captured. If it worked then it would definitely give them an advantage and awaited Mr Meltem's arrival. Appreciating the heads up and the extra assistance as Evie then offered to help continue to get things ready. Taking a deep breath, after absorbing everything that had been said, as Maggie then spoke to her and Chloe.

" Sure, I'll help you with the triage station, as you're right everything seems to be under control" she replied, as PO  T'ealc, approached and asked as to why they had been told to report to the Cargo Bay.

" All I know at the moment, that its to try and get a message to some of the cadets that have been captured, in order to get them to help us, once Mr Meltem gets here, we can go through it properly with everyone, however in the meantime, Chloe will direct you all to where we can set it up".

This was definitely going to be the epicentre of both the rescue effort in terms of dealing with injuries, as well as monitoring those who would be contacting the cadets. Whatever the outcome at least they would be well prepared.

"That... that's pretty much what we've got!" Maggie said on a short derisive laugh.

"We're trying to see if we can use the device but in a way to reverse the effects on any cadets over there at the same time as using telepaths to get a message to them that we're on a rescue mission.  I'm not sure how close we would have to be for either of these to work but we can try.  Anything to give us an edge."  The CSO said.  "But Mr. Meltem will brief you better later."

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

As a crewman again, Kali had resigned herself to mild maintenance on the ship while officers scrambled for the next big mission. It was almost relaxing that she didn't have to worry about a gaggle of crewman she had to deal with when she was Chief. She had equations, troubleshooting, and a long list of elbow grease needed to outfit an entire area for extra people they were meant to pick up.

So when her schedule abruptly shifted to mission reports, she squinted at her PADD to read the assignment and - oh no.

Kali raised her PADD to the closest higher up she could find. "What is this? Why are people sticking their noses into my psionic files?"

Kali blinked stupidly overhearing this. "You... wait. My psionic score is ridiculously low. Like almost null. Now if you want me to twist someone into a pretzel that's another story-" Well, no. She wasn't entirely truthful about that. Her psionic abilities were completely unreliable thanks to her hybrid state and so something, something irregular brain activity. It made her obnoxiously smart like a Vulcan, but she had very little impulse control.

The last time someone refocused her telepathy was Mahak, who was pure Vulcan, and she certainly wasn't keen on getting some stranger's telepathic fingers into her head so easily.

"It's anyone with telepathic abilities Ms. Rayes.  ugh ... I don't want to repeat all that again.  Short version - cadets, telepathic powers - get our telepaths to send a message to their telepaths that we aren't the big bad wolf but people there to help."  Also trying to reverse the effects of the brain washing device telepathically." The CMO explained.

"And now that I'm this end... let's get that triage station set up!"

[Lek]

[Bridge]

Will was intrigued by Lek's approach to the problem. He hadn't considered docking when thinking of possible courses of action but it made the most sense for crew transfer in this scenario, if a bit old fashioned.

"Lek's idea is interesting" he added to the conversation as he played waiter "It is the suggestion with the least amount of question marks. Shuttles are vulnerable to enemy fire and transporters are sketchy at best. We dock and storm as Mr. Lek suggests. A few teams of security along with my Away Team and we could make do. We'd lose any element of surprise as they would notice a docking, or anything similar but it is doubtful we will have any element of surprise once we begin..." he paused for a moment before continuing "As for the Away Team, I will need security, medical, and ops. Correction, ops and engineering. We don't know exactly what we will face when we are over there and, I may be a little biased, but I think those wearing gold can do just about anything. That said, I was thinking Mr. Lek and Mr. ch'Verret are necessities. I don't know the security or medical department personnel well enough to make choices for them, so I will leave that to you to decide. Once the team is decided, we shall take leave for the Conference Room and draft a plan for you.... ma'am" he paused again for a length of time that nearly made it awkward "Should I just replicate coffee or..."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When the first officer mentioned taking him on the away team and grimaced in barely concealed panic. "When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut!" He snarled and gritted his teeth in anger at himself.

[Don Damien Addams]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Ah I see and if Mr. Waring thinks that would work.. that's fine. We'll work with that.  Replicated Coffee will be fine Will,.." she said with a kind smile, "...and quicker but I have to countermand one of your preferred away team.  I would like Mr. ch'Verret to stay here.  I need at least one of my Ops experts on here to co-ordinate everything.  You'll be over there, I keep Lahr here.  Otherwise you may have your pick of anyone.  By then I shouldn't have the necessity of having Mr. Briggs on the Bridge as we'll already have punched our way thru and if we need to punch our way back out again, we'll have him back on board.  If you really need Mr. Lek, you may take him or if he thinks someone else would be better suited?? Lek??"

The Captain paused and let Lek do the talking for who he thought was best for Engineering.  "As for Medical, I have a bit of a dilemma there because we will also need them on the receiving end.  I'd say take Chief Petty Officer T'ealc but she's likely involved with the mind games so to speak.  So I think take possibly Petty Officer Hessou and Dr. York if Dr. Briggs can spare her from the Cargo Bay.  Is that acceptable with you Number One?!"

She had once broken her promise to Lahr and it hadn't been easy, but it was easier to reprimand him by sending on an away team than have him handed over to authorities and write him up for trying to access confidential medical records and drag another crewmember into it.  An object lesson was easier.

"Carry on Gentlemen, Mr. Meltem I believe you're needed in the Cargo Bay with your genetic make up. And you know better than anyone what's going on with your further research on the brain washing device.  Please convey the message to the CSO that once she's finished assisting setting up the bed rolls, to come back up here for when we storm the asteroid." Ruth said with a smile.

[USS Challenger at Science station]

Jasper had learned a lesson. Stay and wait until the Captain was done. She works fast and gives orders fast. He had wanted to be sure he would not be stepping over her toes.

He had sent the message to CSO. Commander Wardropper, the Captain had informed me after you assist with the bedrolls your presence will be needed on the Bridge. Sincerely Ensign Meltem. Ps, I will be coming down shortly. he sent the message.

"Lahr, a word while Mr. Waring gets my coffee.  Don't look so worried!" she said beckoning him to follow her to the corridor outside her ready room. Once she was sure they couldn't be overheard she gave him an apologetic smile.

"Look I'm sorry I had to let Commander Sukal take you on the previous away mission - although you acquitted yourself with aplomb as you normally do.  But that was punishment, I won't say what for you know why and I said I wouldn't bring it up again.  I haven't had a chance to let Mr. Waring and Mr. Briggs who are the likely away team leaders of our agreement. I intend to honour that as long as I can.  It may be seen as preferential treatment however."  Ruth laid a hand on his shoulder and gave a regretful smile.

"You know, your department shift to Ops might've been one of the best things you ever did, you're gifted and I dare to say probably as good as my fiance, and previously there was only one person I'd say equalled him and that was Mr. Sukal.  Do I have favourites, absolutely.  But my Bridge Crew are second to none." The Captain tapped her pips and shrugged.

"It's taken a long time to get these, I was once ignored asking permission to enter the Bridge of the Britannia after fulfilling a punishment and reporting back for duty.  The Captain made me stand there for many hours until he acknowledged me.  I see, and I hear and if you have a problem I want to fix it.  I want my crew happy.  I've seen crews that are stressed and unhappy, and those that are happy.  They perform better.  If you don't give appreciation to your crew, how are thy to know they are doing things right?!"  Beaming at Lahr she said "C'mon we've not got that long for you to earn more gold stars on your service record!" she winked and moved back to the main Bridge.

"The Tal'Bath is smaller and lighter than us, she might be faster but.  I think we're going to have to go east and punch our way through, both of us." The Captain said looking at the map.

"Mr Lek, prepare your decoy, Mr. Meltem - in this order please, give the specs for the magnetic probes to Mr. Lek and he can prepare 4, 2 for in, 2 for out or any multiple of two you deem suitable, and send half to Captain Hecate with the plan. Then get down and assist in the Cargo Bay.  Once that has been done or not, and we are at the asteroid, join the away team. Mr. Briggs, prepare for battle, Mr. Litt lay in a course for that asteroid we'll be hovering as close to it as possible once we can get through between the Leyton posse."  she paused and unmuted the channel to the Tal'Bath.

Jasper turned to his console where he was working. He quickly pulled up the statics for Engineer to use for the modification.  The design was like simple where the same fields like North and a north coming close to push away. Placing a small blueprint plan and how each equation for each would be proper. It had taken him a few minutes to do it. He had sent them to Zek and Hectate. Note with it saying, any question seek him and he will answer their questions.

After that being done. Captain was still chatting with the crew. On the side note, Jasper was to involve with his duties. Because he would found it interesting how blue boy almost gone on a mission and Lek had hated missions. It was little funny to see the Andorian reaction. In a way, his thoughts were screaming of not want to go.

"Captain Hecate?...."  Ruth reiterated the sketchy plan to the Romulan Captain.

Hecate nodded and motioned to various members of her team to get in motion.

"I'd like a few members of my crew to go in with you if that's acceptable?  Kurrin tr'Ltiveth - Sciences, Thoritha D'Unum - Operations, Chileeno L'thakehk - Security and Dr. Orrete L'thonsail - Medical.  They will be under the leadership of whomever is taking the away team."  Hecate answered.

"Mr. Waring?  That's your call.  My Executive Officer will be leading the away team, Hecate, it's down to him."

"OK, 30 mins or...?"

"As soon as possible, I want a hot wet water bath and the only place I get one of those is my quarters on Innominatum, sooner we go in, sooner we get back.  I'll get prepped." Ruth said.

"Any questions everyone, everyone clear on what we are doing?  To recap - Helm - taking us round between Myzran and the nebula round to due north and come underneath.  At the time of departure Lek will launch a probe of a dummy of us to draw off the Falcon and the Gol.  As soon as we move we will be at Yellow Alert. Whereupon, Sciences - use their modified probes to punch a hole through the nebula dealing with the Ferrous particles in the dust clouds.  We will find the Nebula, and sit as close to them as possible using our shields to encompass us and the asteroid and beam out the hostages.  Medical - will then be operating triage... settling the escapees.  Security will be dealing with any flak.  We then get the hell out of Dodge!  Any Questions?  I hopefully want a green light to give Mr. Litt to move within 45 mins."

Jasper gave a last review of his station to see if there was any questions from his message he had just sent. He figured they would contact him.

"All right, Captain the magnify modules has been sent, I am on my way to the Cargo bay," he shared.

[Cargo bay]

There was all lot going on. They had a few bed rolls lined up. He went to replicator to get his set of bed rolls. As he was placing them down. "Chief Wardropper I had sent the plans of the magnify to Chief of Engineering and to Captain Hectate. I Am not sure you had receive the message. The Captain would like you to be on the bridge after we set up the cargo bay. If you wish, you could go now. I will finish with the others," he told her. As he placed a bed roll on the floor. 

[Zavrol Gohun]

Gohun stores his weapon away in the locker as he is asked to figure out the area on the cargo bay. The area of a cargo bay is can hold 522 bedrolls. With that he began to work with the hopes that nothing would happen security-wise as he was at the moment disarmed. It was really quite typical of medical people to not understand the military side of things. He simply said the polite thing to her and moved on to work. Oh well this provided a nice change of pace from his normal security shift. He was only two hours into his shift when he was pulled for this duty making this a perfect distraction.
As Gohun learned of the away team and the look for telepathic abilities he wondered if his own empathic ability would count as telepathic. Remembering that it was not a form of communication he assured himself that it was not. Oh well, 210 beds made by him with many more to go. With that Gohun began to ponder other places that they could put people.

[Olivia Briggs]

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

Liv could understand the need for clarification and the questions that were raised by those with the abilities that had been requested to help, especially when Kali joined in with the conversation. Glad to have Maggie's back up, which reassured the Assistant CMO that she had got the gist of what they knew so far, as her Boss spoke to Kali and explained in a little more detail, as to who it involved.

" Once Mr Meltem, gets here, he should be able to tell us more about the plan and how this will all work" she added, before Maggie mentioned, the triage station.

" Agreed, lets get it finished" Liv said as she saw Meltem enter the Cargo Bay, although watched as he made his way over to Wardropper and began to assist with the bed rolls.

Looking at Maggie, to see if she had seen the same thing and what she made of it, Liv then made her way over to the designated area for the triage station, hoping that Meltem wouldn't be too long.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Ah I see and if Mr. Waring thinks that would work.. that's fine. We'll work with that.  Replicated Coffee will be fine Will,.." she said with a kind smile, "...and quicker but I have to countermand one of your preferred away team.  I would like Mr. ch'Verret to stay here.  I need at least one of my Ops experts on here to co-ordinate everything.  You'll be over there, I keep Lahr here.  Otherwise you may have your pick of anyone.  By then I shouldn't have the necessity of having Mr. Briggs on the Bridge as we'll already have punched our way thru and if we need to punch our way back out again, we'll have him back on board.  If you really need Mr. Lek, you may take him or if he thinks someone else would be better suited?? Lek??"

At hearing that the Captain wanted him to remain on the ship, Lahr's antenna perked right up and might have even grinned like an idiot for a moment or two, waiting for an appropriate moment to say thank you to the Captain.  He even beamed a happy grin to Lek, who he could tell also hadn't wanted to be on the Away Team, when the Ferengi was also given a reprieve.

"Lahr, a word while Mr. Waring gets my coffee.  Don't look so worried!" she said beckoning him to follow her to the corridor outside her ready room. Once she was sure they couldn't be overheard she gave him an apologetic smile.

"Look I'm sorry I had to let Commander Sukal take you on the previous away mission - although you acquitted yourself with aplomb as you normally do.  But that was punishment, I won't say what for you know why and I said I wouldn't bring it up again.  I haven't had a chance to let Mr. Waring and Mr. Briggs who are the likely away team leaders of our agreement. I intend to honour that as long as I can.  It may be seen as preferential treatment however."  Ruth laid a hand on his shoulder and gave a regretful smile.

"You know, your department shift to Ops might've been one of the best things you ever did, you're gifted and I dare to say probably as good as my fiance, and previously there was only one person I'd say equalled him and that was Mr. Sukal.  Do I have favourites, absolutely.  But my Bridge Crew are second to none." The Captain tapped her pips and shrugged.

"It's taken a long time to get these, I was once ignored asking permission to enter the Bridge of the Britannia after fulfilling a punishment and reporting back for duty.  The Captain made me stand there for many hours until he acknowledged me.  I see, and I hear and if you have a problem I want to fix it.  I want my crew happy.  I've seen crews that are stressed and unhappy, and those that are happy.  They perform better.  If you don't give appreciation to your crew, how are thy to know they are doing things right?!"  Beaming at Lahr she said "C'mon we've not got that long for you to earn more gold stars on your service record!" she winked and moved back to the main Bridge.

Just as the Captain had a moment and Lahr was about to thank her, she called to him to follow her.  His antenna weaved about uncertainly but did as he was bid.  Her admission that his time on the Science station away team had been a punishment was a bit disconcerting, but that was easily dismissed when the Captain said she would honour their agreement for as long as possible.  The 'or until you mess up again' was implied.  He nodded.  "Thank you, ma'am.  You won't have cause to punish me like that again.  I'm a quick learner and I have no qualms with others being jealous of the preferential treatment."  To Lahr's thinking he'd earned it with the nightmares he still occasionally had from the fight to retake Innominatum. No.  They were lucky to have him.  He could have declined her offer initially and just quit the service outright.  His being left off of Away Teams was a small thing.  Hell, most folks wanted the Away Team gigs.  He was just making way for someone else.

When the Captain continued on praising his transfer to Ops, he beamed back at her nodding his agreement. "Yeah, I agree and I love it in Ops! Thank you for suggesting it, ma'am."

They headed back to the Main Bridge and Lahr took back over the Ops console from Grelek.  For the Vulcan's sake, he hope Grelek didn't get saddled with the Away Team spot but if he did, Lahr was sure the man would be fine with it.  Nothing seemed to phase the stoic Vulcan.. except maybe a certain Romulan.

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

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - a little later]

"Any questions everyone, everyone clear on what we are doing?  To recap - Helm - taking us round between Myzran and the nebula round to due north and come underneath.  At the time of departure Lek will launch a probe of a dummy of us to draw off the Falcon and the Gol.  As soon as we move we will be at Yellow Alert. Whereupon, Sciences - use their modified probes to punch a hole through the nebula dealing with the Ferrous particles in the dust clouds.  We will find the Nebula, and sit as close to them as possible using our shields to encompass us and the asteroid and beam out the hostages.  Medical - will then be operating triage... settling the escapees.  Security will be dealing with any flak.  We then get the hell out of Dodge!  Any Questions?  I hopefully want a green light to give Mr. Litt to move within 45 mins."
[/quote]

Lahr, back at his Ops station, was monitoring the nebula.  He wasn't part of the planning meeting but as the Captain her advisors were just behind him at the Science console looking at the maps he overheard every word.   When she asked if there were any questions, the Andorian without realizing gave a slight negative shake of his head in answer.  He was ready.  He'd be monitoring the Away Team's communications and their bio-signs from his console when all this was going down.

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

NPC's Crewman Helga Tragnar and CPO T'ealc and (Lt jg) Nurse Chloe Davis
[USS Challenger- A - Cargo Bay]

[As NPC Lt. Cmdr Evie Wardropper, CSO and Dr. Maggie York, CMO]

Cargo Bay Evacuation Centre

"Oh no problem Crewman, and I'm happy to help with the bedrolls, I'll mark up two more rows from where you are and then work across in parallel to you. Mr. Gohun you're released to the care of this Crewman!  thank you." Evie said with a smile.  Walked over to a pile of replicated bedrolls and started laying them out without further comment.  It was a long job but she started to whistle as she worked, a tune stuck in her head.

Gohun stores his weapon away in the locker as he is asked to figure out the area on the cargo bay. The area of a cargo bay is can hold 522 bedrolls. With that he began to work with the hopes that nothing would happen security-wise as he was at the moment disarmed. It was really quite typical of medical people to not understand the military side of things. He simply said the polite thing to her and moved on to work. Oh well this provided a nice change of pace from his normal security shift. He was only two hours into his shift when he was pulled for this duty making this a perfect distraction.
As Gohun learned of the away team and the look for telepathic abilities he wondered if his own empathic ability would count as telepathic. Remembering that it was not a form of communication he assured himself that it was not. Oh well, 210 beds made by him with many more to go. With that Gohun began to ponder other places that they could put people.

Helga moved off with Crewman Gohun.  The man was a bit of an enigma.  Didn't speak much and pretty much did his own thing despite orders.  Maybe it had something to do with his species.  She's heard he was something other than human, though he looked human.

As she worked alongside him setting up the bedrolls, watching as yet more officers joined ... what did they not have other more important things to do??... she nudged the silent security crewman.  "You don't talk much do you? That a 'thing' with your species or are you just ... I don't know... anti-social?"

"I'll be over in a moment Ms. T'ealc but I'm sure Dr. Briggs can answer you too.  Thanks for coming so promptly!"

" Sure, I'll help you with the triage station, as you're right everything seems to be under control" she replied, as PO  T'ealc, approached and asked as to why they had been told to report to the Cargo Bay.

" All I know at the moment, that its to try and get a message to some of the cadets that have been captured, in order to get them to help us, once Mr Meltem gets here, we can go through it properly with everyone, however in the meantime, Chloe will direct you all to where we can set it up".

"That... that's pretty much what we've got!" Maggie said on a short derisive laugh.

"We're trying to see if we can use the device but in a way to reverse the effects on any cadets over there at the same time as using telepaths to get a message to them that we're on a rescue mission.  I'm not sure how close we would have to be for either of these to work but we can try.  Anything to give us an edge."  The CSO said.  "But Mr. Meltem will brief you better later."

Kali blinked stupidly overhearing this. "You... wait. My psionic score is ridiculously low. Like almost null. Now if you want me to twist someone into a pretzel that's another story-" Well, no. She wasn't entirely truthful about that. Her psionic abilities were completely unreliable thanks to her hybrid state and so something, something irregular brain activity. It made her obnoxiously smart like a Vulcan, but she had very little impulse control.

"It's anyone with telepathic abilities Ms. Rayes.  ugh ... I don't want to repeat all that again.  Short version - cadets, telepathic powers - get our telepaths to send a message to their telepaths that we aren't the big bad wolf but people there to help."  Also trying to reverse the effects of the brain washing device telepathically." The CMO explained.

"And now that I'm this end... let's get that triage station set up!"

T'ealc nodded at the Medical officers' explanation, glancing towards the other Petty Officer at the hybrid's declaration that she didn't have a strong enough ability.   That could likely be said for most of those assembled, she noted.  Nearly all were Vulcan's like herself - touch telepaths.  Unless they were expected to go along with the Away Team, T'ealc didn't know if she and the others would be able to do much.  But then perhaps this device they spoke of would amplify their abilities and unite them making them stronger and with a greater range.

When directed to a certain corner of the room that's where she headed. "Mr. Meltem, what would you like us to do?" she inquired of the Science officer who was seemingly most in the know.

Chloe was gathering all the telepaths around her.  "Everyone gather round! Get in close.. the unit is small and you will all need to focus your attention on it."

Ensign Davis organized everyone while waiting for someone to tell her what she was supposed to do next.

[William Waring]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Ah I see and if Mr. Waring thinks that would work.. that's fine. We'll work with that.  Replicated Coffee will be fine Will,.." she said with a kind smile, "...and quicker but I have to countermand one of your preferred away team.  I would like Mr. ch'Verret to stay here.  I need at least one of my Ops experts on here to co-ordinate everything.  You'll be over there, I keep Lahr here.  Otherwise you may have your pick of anyone.  By then I shouldn't have the necessity of having Mr. Briggs on the Bridge as we'll already have punched our way thru and if we need to punch our way back out again, we'll have him back on board.  If you really need Mr. Lek, you may take him or if he thinks someone else would be better suited?? Lek??"

The Captain paused and let Lek do the talking for who he thought was best for Engineering.  "As for Medical, I have a bit of a dilemma there because we will also need them on the receiving end.  I'd say take Chief Petty Officer T'ealc but she's likely involved with the mind games so to speak.  So I think take possibly Petty Officer Hessou and Dr. York if Dr. Briggs can spare her from the Cargo Bay.  Is that acceptable with you Number One?!"

She had once broken her promise to Lahr and it hadn't been easy, but it was easier to reprimand him by sending on an away team than have him handed over to authorities and write him up for trying to access confidential medical records and drag another crewmember into it.  An object lesson was easier.

"Carry on Gentlemen, Mr. Meltem I believe you're needed in the Cargo Bay with your genetic make up. And you know better than anyone what's going on with your further research on the brain washing device.  Please convey the message to the CSO that once she's finished assisting setting up the bed rolls, to come back up here for when we storm the asteroid." Ruth said with a smile.

"Lahr, a word while Mr. Waring gets my coffee.  Don't look so worried!" she said beckoning him to follow her to the corridor outside her ready room. Once she was sure they couldn't be overheard she gave him an apologetic smile.

"Look I'm sorry I had to let Commander Sukal take you on the previous away mission - although you acquitted yourself with aplomb as you normally do.  But that was punishment, I won't say what for you know why and I said I wouldn't bring it up again.  I haven't had a chance to let Mr. Waring and Mr. Briggs who are the likely away team leaders of our agreement. I intend to honour that as long as I can.  It may be seen as preferential treatment however."  Ruth laid a hand on his shoulder and gave a regretful smile.

"You know, your department shift to Ops might've been one of the best things you ever did, you're gifted and I dare to say probably as good as my fiance, and previously there was only one person I'd say equalled him and that was Mr. Sukal.  Do I have favourites, absolutely.  But my Bridge Crew are second to none." The Captain tapped her pips and shrugged.

"It's taken a long time to get these, I was once ignored asking permission to enter the Bridge of the Britannia after fulfilling a punishment and reporting back for duty.  The Captain made me stand there for many hours until he acknowledged me.  I see, and I hear and if you have a problem I want to fix it.  I want my crew happy.  I've seen crews that are stressed and unhappy, and those that are happy.  They perform better.  If you don't give appreciation to your crew, how are thy to know they are doing things right?!"  Beaming at Lahr she said "C'mon we've not got that long for you to earn more gold stars on your service record!" she winked and moved back to the main Bridge.

"The Tal'Bath is smaller and lighter than us, she might be faster but.  I think we're going to have to go east and punch our way through, both of us." The Captain said looking at the map.

"Mr Lek, prepare your decoy, Mr. Meltem - in this order please, give the specs for the magnetic probes to Mr. Lek and he can prepare 4, 2 for in, 2 for out or any multiple of two you deem suitable, and send half to Captain Hecate with the plan. Then get down and assist in the Cargo Bay.  Once that has been done or not, and we are at the asteroid, join the away team. Mr. Briggs, prepare for battle, Mr. Litt lay in a course for that asteroid we'll be hovering as close to it as possible once we can get through between the Leyton posse."  she paused and unmuted the channel to the Tal'Bath.

"Captain Hecate?...."  Ruth reiterated the sketchy plan to the Romulan Captain.

Hecate nodded and motioned to various members of her team to get in motion.

"I'd like a few members of my crew to go in with you if that's acceptable?  Kurrin tr'Ltiveth - Sciences, Thoritha D'Unum - Operations, Chileeno L'thakehk - Security and Dr. Orrete L'thonsail - Medical.  They will be under the leadership of whomever is taking the away team."  Hecate answered.

"Mr. Waring?  That's your call.  My Executive Officer will be leading the away team, Hecate, it's down to him."

"OK, 30 mins or...?"

"As soon as possible, I want a hot wet water bath and the only place I get one of those is my quarters on Innominatum, sooner we go in, sooner we get back.  I'll get prepped." Ruth said.

"Any questions everyone, everyone clear on what we are doing?  To recap - Helm - taking us round between Myzran and the nebula round to due north and come underneath.  At the time of departure Lek will launch a probe of a dummy of us to draw off the Falcon and the Gol.  As soon as we move we will be at Yellow Alert. Whereupon, Sciences - use their modified probes to punch a hole through the nebula dealing with the Ferrous particles in the dust clouds.  We will find the Nebula, and sit as close to them as possible using our shields to encompass us and the asteroid and beam out the hostages.  Medical - will then be operating triage... settling the escapees.  Security will be dealing with any flak.  We then get the hell out of Dodge!  Any Questions?  I hopefully want a green light to give Mr. Litt to move within 45 mins."

[Bridge]

Will nodded in affirmation regarding Ruth's change and suggestion to the away team "Perfectly acceptable ma'am." he said while making note to talk to her about her crew, specially her Away Team recommendations from each Department and subgrouping.

"Hassu, York, Lek, Kyle, and myself for the Away Team. Have no doubt we'll get it done." He said, nodding before slipping away to the Ready Room to grab some beverages. A few moments later he returned "The more the merrier! Plus we could do with some friends covering us." He said, moving towards Ruth and handing over a coffee "Give me the signal Skipper. I'll have us shipshape and rocking the boat posthaste."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[USS Challenger at Science station]

Jasper had learned a lesson. Stay and wait until the Captain was done. She works fast and gives orders fast. He had wanted to be sure he would not be stepping over her toes.

He had sent the message to CSO. Commander Wardropper, the Captain had informed me after you assist with the bedrolls your presence will be needed on the Bridge. Sincerely Ensign Meltem. Ps, I will be coming down shortly. he sent the message.
Jasper turned to his console where he was working. He quickly pulled up the statics for Engineer to use for the modification.  The design was like simple where the same fields like North and a north coming close to push away. Placing a small blueprint plan and how each equation for each would be proper. It had taken him a few minutes to do it. He had sent them to Zek and Hectate. Note with it saying, any question seek him and he will answer their questions.

After that being done. Captain was still chatting with the crew. On the side note, Jasper was to involve with his duties. Because he would found it interesting how blue boy almost gone on a mission and Lek had hated missions. It was little funny to see the Andorian reaction. In a way, his thoughts were screaming of not want to go.

Jasper gave a last review of his station to see if there was any questions from his message he had just sent. He figured they would contact him.

"All right, Captain the magnify modules has been sent, I am on my way to the Cargo bay," he shared.

USS Challenger - Bridge]

[Earlier]

"Very good Mr. Meltem, carry on and good luck." The Captain said with a slight nod.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge]

At hearing that the Captain wanted him to remain on the ship, Lahr's antenna perked right up and might have even grinned like an idiot for a moment or two, waiting for an appropriate moment to say thank you to the Captain.  He even beamed a happy grin to Lek, who he could tell also hadn't wanted to be on the Away Team, when the Ferengi was also given a reprieve.

Just as the Captain had a moment and Lahr was about to thank her, she called to him to follow her.  His antenna weaved about uncertainly but did as he was bid.  Her admission that his time on the Science station away team had been a punishment was a bit disconcerting, but that was easily dismissed when the Captain said she would honour their agreement for as long as possible.  The 'or until you mess up again' was implied.  He nodded.  "Thank you, ma'am.  You won't have cause to punish me like that again.  I'm a quick learner and I have no qualms with others being jealous of the preferential treatment."  To Lahr's thinking he'd earned it with the nightmares he still occasionally had from the fight to retake Innominatum. No.  They were lucky to have him.  He could have declined her offer initially and just quit the service outright.  His being left off of Away Teams was a small thing.  Hell, most folks wanted the Away Team gigs.  He was just making way for someone else.

When the Captain continued on praising his transfer to Ops, he beamed back at her nodding his agreement. "Yeah, I agree and I love it in Ops! Thank you for suggesting it, ma'am."

They headed back to the Main Bridge and Lahr took back over the Ops console from Grelek.  For the Vulcan's sake, he hope Grelek didn't get saddled with the Away Team spot but if he did, Lahr was sure the man would be fine with it.  Nothing seemed to phase the stoic Vulcan.. except maybe a certain Romulan.

"Thank you Lahr, I'm sure I'll have no cause for complaint, or if I do, it'll be because you are too efficient!" Ruth joked with a wink and followed 'her' Andorian back onto the Bridge.

[USS Challenger-A - Deck One - Bridge - a little later]

"Any questions everyone, everyone clear on what we are doing?  To recap - Helm - taking us round between Myzran and the nebula round to due north and come underneath.  At the time of departure Lek will launch a probe of a dummy of us to draw off the Falcon and the Gol.  As soon as we move we will be at Yellow Alert. Whereupon, Sciences - use their modified probes to punch a hole through the nebula dealing with the Ferrous particles in the dust clouds.  We will find the Nebula, and sit as close to them as possible using our shields to encompass us and the asteroid and beam out the hostages.  Medical - will then be operating triage... settling the escapees.  Security will be dealing with any flak.  We then get the hell out of Dodge!  Any Questions?  I hopefully want a green light to give Mr. Litt to move within 45 mins."

Lahr, back at his Ops station, was monitoring the nebula.  He wasn't part of the planning meeting but as the Captain her advisors were just behind him at the Science console looking at the maps he overheard every word.   When she asked if there were any questions, the Andorian without realizing gave a slight negative shake of his head in answer.  He was ready.  He'd be monitoring the Away Team's communications and their bio-signs from his console when all this was going down.

Ruth had intended that Lahr could hear, she knew him well enough that she knew he would be alert and take notice anyhow.  To her he was where he worked best and a happy crew worked better.

[Bridge]

Will nodded in affirmation regarding Ruth's change and suggestion to the away team "Perfectly acceptable ma'am." he said while making note to talk to her about her crew, specially her Away Team recommendations from each Department and subgrouping.

"Hassu, York, Lek, Kyle, and myself for the Away Team. Have no doubt we'll get it done." He said, nodding before slipping away to the Ready Room to grab some beverages. A few moments later he returned "The more the merrier! Plus we could do with some friends covering us." He said, moving towards Ruth and handing over a coffee "Give me the signal Skipper. I'll have us shipshape and rocking the boat posthaste."

"Thank you Number One,.." she said gratefully accepting the coffee.  "... you can start prepping your away team,..."  turning to Lahr she said "Mr. ch'Verret could you invite Captain Hecate's team over here to work with our team so they're all on the same page.  Mr. Waring, it's up to you to brief them, they're likely to have their own weapons and I have no problem with that.  Having worked in Security you get used to how your weapons work and prefer only to use unfamiliar ones as you're wrenching them out of the cold dead hands of your enemy while stepping over their carcass!" she said with a look that would give shivers to anyone used to her normally bubbly personality.   It was clear that it was directed towards Leyton however.

"We'll be leaving in 15 mins, whereupon we will deploy our decoy probe.  Mr. Lek I trust you to deal with that. I estimate then, barring any erm... company, that we'll deploy Mr. Meltem's magnetic probes and hopefully in and back out quickly, then full sail back to Innominatum with a full contingent of evacuees!"

The Captain sighed.  She knew it wasn't going to be as easy as that sounded.

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

10 Mins Later
Hecate's part of the away team onboard and preparations underway, the Captain swigged down the last tepid mouthfuls of her coffee and squared her shoulders, handing the mug to a crewman to recycle.

"Take us to Yellow Alert Mr. ch'Verret, then let Medical and Sciences know that they have precisely as long as we can hold off the company we're likely to get.  Mr. Lek, launch that decoy probe.  Mr. Litt take us out.  Mr. Waring have your Away team ready, but I can't say when you'll be able to get over to the asteroid since we have Admiral Leyton's friends out there, and some of you, like you and Mr. Briggs, are better on the Bridge until then especially if we end up having a fight on our hands!"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[OOC - Sorry for the double post but I've kinda got the 'Bridge' activity and the 'Meanwhile in the Cargo Bay' and I'm trying not to have TOO much of a novel going on!]

[Cargo bay]

There was all lot going on. They had a few bed rolls lined up. He went to replicator to get his set of bed rolls. As he was placing them down. "Chief Wardropper I had sent the plans of the magnify to Chief of Engineering and to Captain Hecate. I Am not sure you had receive the message. The Captain would like you to be on the bridge after we set up the cargo bay. If you wish, you could go now. I will finish with the others," he told her. As he placed a bed roll on the floor.

[Cargo Bay - USS Challenger]

[As NPCs Dr. Maggie York CMO and Lt. Cmdr. Evie Wardropper CSO]

Evie had received the message and smiled at Meltem.  "I think actually we can leave this to Ms. Tragnar and co here.  I'll run up to the Bridge and I believe Dr. Briggs needs you over there!" she said with a kind smile.

Turning to Helga she gave a bright smile.  "I'll leave you to it Crewman, I think you've got this covered and I feel I've 'done my bit' so to speak.  Perhaps we'll work together again sometime! For now, farewell.  Bye Crewman Gohun!" she waved across careful not to leave him out since she'd been working with him.

Gohun stores his weapon away in the locker as he is asked to figure out the area on the cargo bay. The area of a cargo bay is can hold 522 bedrolls. With that he began to work with the hopes that nothing would happen security-wise as he was at the moment disarmed. It was really quite typical of medical people to not understand the military side of things. He simply said the polite thing to her and moved on to work. Oh well this provided a nice change of pace from his normal security shift. He was only two hours into his shift when he was pulled for this duty making this a perfect distraction.
As Gohun learned of the away team and the look for telepathic abilities he wondered if his own empathic ability would count as telepathic. Remembering that it was not a form of communication he assured himself that it was not. Oh well, 210 beds made by him with many more to go. With that Gohun began to ponder other places that they could put people.

Maggie noted the muted resentment of the Security Crewman.  'Honestly...' she thought to herself, '...a phaser and tricorder I can understand, especially once we get going, but a phaser rifle.  Doesn't he realise this is like a secondary sickbay and in general circumstances we don't have any weapons in the Sickbay, the Security for Sickbay tends to stand outside the door.  We have more than enough ways to defend ourselves besides weapons.' 

Still she hoped he could get over it and he seemed to be working well putting out the bed rolls so he was still being fairly efficient.

[Cargo Bay - Challenger]

Liv could understand the need for clarification and the questions that were raised by those with the abilities that had been requested to help, especially when Kali joined in with the conversation. Glad to have Maggie's back up, which reassured the Assistant CMO that she had got the gist of what they knew so far, as her Boss spoke to Kali and explained in a little more detail, as to who it involved.

" Once Mr Meltem, gets here, he should be able to tell us more about the plan and how this will all work" she added, before Maggie mentioned, the triage station.

" Agreed, lets get it finished" Liv said as she saw Meltem enter the Cargo Bay, although watched as he made his way over to Wardropper and began to assist with the bed rolls.

Looking at Maggie, to see if she had seen the same thing and what she made of it, Liv then made her way over to the designated area for the triage station, hoping that Meltem wouldn't be too long.

Maggie shrugged at Liv "Perhaps some kind of orders from the Captain.  It's all being wacky here lately.  That new-ish crewman for example....I mean phaser rifles for a bed laying duty?!  I think that's overkill if not wacky.  Then the CSO and Ensign Meltem helping with bedrolls.  I know it's an 'All hands on deck' kinda situation but I'm seriously wondering if everyone needs appointments with Ryder!" she joked, semi-seriously.

Working quickly with Liv they got the Triage Station set up, and contented with their work she said "I'm so grateful for Chloe she's a good worker, hold onto her when I leave, for as long as you can, but if she wants further training.  I mean to get certified as a doctor or anything, promise me you won't stand in her way.  She has the aptitude for it.  I don't think you will... but there have been nurses that I would have anchored down had it been in my nature to deny them their successes, just because they were so good at their job!"

She grinned and said "Let's see what Mr. Meltem has in store for us... all go here today!"

A little while later...

"Looks like our cute to get busy people, Computer mute alert in Cargo Bay." The CMO ordered.  Turning to Liv she said "We know it's yellow alert from the lights, but I think our telepaths might work better without that klaxxon going off, and I for one can do without the headache!  How we doing Mr. Meltem?"

[Back on the Bridge]

Evie walked onto the Bridge and nodded to the Captain.  "Reporting as per order delivered kindly by Mr. Meltem.  Crewman Tragnar was working rather efficiently and I don't doubt that within the next 5 mins they'll be all prepped down there. So they didn't need me, hence being more punctual than I thought I could be!" she announced happily.  "Many hands make light work!  Mentioning which I'll be ready to launch those probes of Mr. Meltem's just as soon as I get the word!" the CSO slipped into Sciences 1 with a grandmotherly smile around all on the Bridge.

She wanted to keep them all safe, and the only way she could do that was by doing her job well.