S3 - M2 The Butterfly Effect Pt. II

[Finn Moreno]

 [Wonderland]
"Sh*t. They're going to collide with us."
Finn tried his best to manouver the ship out of harms way but a collision could not be avoided...not unless....
These crazy Paklets were trying to ram the Dominion ship.
"Beam them over. Cathy. Quick."
Or they'd die trying to save the Wonderland.
He needed to act fast in case Cathy should be successful., so he jumped up and lept over to clear the Wonderlands beaming platform, whose bottom panels had been littered with tools because of a much needed repair.

Finns breath hitched as all alarms, lights and bells, went off and he pulled his head in as if that would help and jumped back to his seat. He made a last minute attempt by activating the side thrusters for landing manouvers.

Needless to say that didn't do much.
A moment later everything that wasn't bolted down including the crew got thrown through the cockpit by the still violent but not lethal collision of the two ships.

More alarms went off and the Wonderland lost cabin pressure thanks tona hole in the hull on the side. Next thing they knew was that it was going into a slow spiraling motion because the thrusters on the side had been damaged or taken out.
The distinct smell of fire spread.

[Hrafn Falleg]

USS Healy - Bridge

Solluk nodded, "When they're within weapons range, hit them with everything you can think of.  Weapons are free, Commander.  Let me know where you need the ship positioned for best fire effect, and I'll put it there."

He sighed, then, adding, "But first, obligatory procedures..."

He touched a control.

Attention approaching vessel.  This is a high-security area claimed by the United Federation of Planets, and protected by armed Starfleet assets.  Do not approach under any circumstances.  If you approach within 50 million kilometers, your intention will be assumed to be hostile, and we will respond in accordance with that assumption.  There will be no further warnings. 

Solluk closed the channel.  His mind racing as battle seemed imminent.

"Wait... their weapons may have a longer range than ours," Solluk said.  "As their warp field collapses, I will initiate a micro-warp jump of our own- Warp 2 only, and then only for a fraction of a second.  This will ensure that we engage them within our own tactical envelope."

Meanwhile, the Thinker cruiser crossed the line Solluk had drawn in trackless space, without even bothering to respond.  Its warp speed decelerated, and its weapons lit up with energy in preparation of a full onslaught.

Lt Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Healy - Deck 1 - Bridge]  [DAY THREE]

Permission given and legalities met with the warning issued, Rayek was suddenly eager for the enemy vessel to get within range, though Solluk's remark about the Thinkers potential for longer optimal weapons range compared to their own put a momentary damper on his eagerness. But the Romulan didn't need to concern himself for long as the Vulcan almost immediately continued on to a solution to said problem.

"A tactic I'm certain you are quite proficient at performing.  Excellent idea, Captain."

There was no reply from the Thinker ship, not that one had been expected.  As the armored cruiser decelerated, its weapons powering up, Rayek recognized that Solluk had been correct... the enemy had slowed far too soon to have been in the Healy's phaser range.  But as he watched the stars on the screen blurred for the briefest of moment and now Rayek was positioned in optimal range to attack.  The Thinkers' first volley of weapons fire streamed past them, missing their target, aimed for where the Healy had been but a moment ago.

Rayek's long fingers danced along the chair's arm-console as he directed the Healy's arsenal towards the interloping vessel.  Phasers beams lanced out striking at pre-determined locations - locations where Rayek's study of the Starstalker's logs had showed that there might be some measure of vulnerability.

The directed energy beams however seemed to have little to no affect.  Still Rayek kept up the repeated fire, and anticipating a retaliatory strike of both energy weapons as well as missiles, the Romulan sent out the prepared interdiction torpedoes to blanket the area between them with flak.

It was at that moment that Lt Falleg announced that she had the frequency range.  "Excellent, Lieutenant.  Hold for my order." Rayek loaded his pre-programmed torpedoes. Ten in all, each programmed to miss on the flight out.  "Captain, I'm sending you the flight maneuver and vector I require."  The precise maneuver with pre-set torpedo launch commands when a certain vector was made, would make it seem as if the missed torpedo target was unintentional, dismissing it quickly from battle awareness.

The ship shuddered violently three times in succession as his interdiction fire and Solluk's evasive flying was only partially successful in blocking and avoiding the enemy ship's attacks.  Flak worked well against other missiles but not so well against energy beams.  "Shields at 44%" he called out and dreaded the calls that would be incoming on the bridge shortly listing damages and wounded.

He continued his attempts using the ships' phaser, knowing it was barely making a dint against the enemy's more advanced shielding and armor.  He hoped Solluk could get them into the vector path quickly.

[USS Healy - Deck 1 - Bridge]  [DAY THREE]

Hrafn listened with interest to the Captain's explanation of what he was planning to do and a small smile spread across her face... meet them where they weren't expecting them... a good tactic.

Fingers almost twitching in anticipation, the CSO nodded and murmured an "Aye, Commander..." while constantly monitoring her console and scans.  While she wouldn't ever put herself deliberately into a battle if she could avoid it, when it was inevitable, she too was almost impatient to lay into the enemy.

[Netha-Sar Murselas]

[USS STARSTALKER | Helm] | DAY 3
The request to man the Starstalker was an unusual one. And to be sure it was indeed a request. Captain Solluk had, from the start of this objective, given them all the option of not rushing directly into the line of fire. Just because he had come this far didn't mean he had to suddenly hop behind the helm of a cannibalized spy vessel and tip-toe around through space as if the dust itself were mines.

But he was a thrill seeker. Netha-Sar justified it to himself by telling himself some other pilots couldn't handle this sort of pressure and he flourished within it. So he accepted the re-assignment. The structural integrity field had been destabilized by the hull damage. And the quick patch job to the hull hadn't helped matters. He would just have to fly as if he had no structural integrity field at all.

After reporting to the Healy that the spyship was ready to depart, the subsequent minutes were much of a blur to Saxon as they were to everyone but the helm. The approach wasn't so much as 'novel' as it was 'stomach-churning'; but after prising the fingers of a terrified Science specialist off his arm, 'Century' had to admit, by virtue of evidence more than just not being destroyed by the defence platforms, that this approach - in more than one sense of the word - was absolutely spot on. "Good work" he said, with a appreciative slap of the console.

So, they were now within safe transporter range, and neither shields nor weapons of either platform showed any sign of activity.

The blind spots of the guardian installations were few and far between. Netha-Sar created a new flight path based on the most covert mission he had ever done. An Vulcan scientist had found themselves traveling Orion space for a project that the Federation might not have approved of. Netha-Sar's and two of his sisters had been offered as chauffeurs.

First there was the flight path itself, convoluted and nearly erratic. As if hopscotching a vessel around possible paparazzi who could realize a quadrant famous scientist was in town for more than just a vacation.

Then there were no fewer than thirteen alternate flight paths based on the first. And they all intersected with the flight paths parallel to them just in case the plan had to be changed last minute. Stomach-lurching was indeed the correct term.

Netha-Sar felt a slight pang of guilt that the flight plan he had devised took roughly fifteen minutes longer to complete than the original one that had been presented. It was time they didn't have, but worse than being cautious would have been getting caught. He also pitied those who -clearly- thought his maneuvering was excessive.

But those feelings were alleviated when they successfully reached a range close enough to beam aboard the sentinel platforms. "Thank you, sir. Sorry for the bumpy ride," he added as he turned to nod towards the obviously still uncomfortable scientist. Saxon agreed to beam over first and though it went without saying, Netha-Sar still added "I'll stay aboard the ship, sir."

The split second between a pilot beaming onto the starstalker and actually reaching the helm could make all the difference between a quick getaway and a quick capture. In any case, they didn't want the ship drifting out of teleport range.

'Huginn'>

" The Healy has gone to warp " reported the Starstalker across all combadges, the helmsman staying aboard to ensure the ship craft didn't drift into an unfortunate detection path. " They must be taking the fight to the intruder.  "

Saxon, by himself at the base of the immense spherical warhead housing that made for the menacing core of the defence platform, grunted in uncommunicated acknowledgement at the news. In many ways, he'd had rather been there instead, to reap some hot retribution on presumably the same craft that had attacked the 'Stalker. But the mission always came first. Well, not always, he reminded himself, but right now his work gave the Healy's no doubt Herculean efforts meaning.

And so, perhaps intuiting that every ticking second meant a colleague aboard the starship was liable to die in these heroic acts, Saxon worked harder to achieve the goal he - and the team - had been sent out to do.

The adrenaline that had helped get him this far was now rushing through his copper-tinted veins with nowhere to go. His primary task was to wait until Saxon and the away team completed their task. He needed to busy himself and help in some way, but without losing his focus. In a situation like this he preferred to keep his foot on the metaphorical pedal.

It could be likely that they would need to beam the entire team back onto the ship and get away at a moment's notice. Particularly because the Healy was already otherwise engaged. The Orion inhaled deeply to settle his nerves and got to work helping the best way he knew how.

With his eyes glued to the sensors and one hand hovering steadily on the helm controls he began devising what effectively constituted as suicide routes meant to disable the guardians. Close the conduit at all costs. That was the mission. And it would still be the mission even if the Healy failed to protect them and the Thinkers launched smaller ships that could more effectively pursue a small target like the Starstalker.

There had to be a way to use the weapons aboard the sentinel stations to fight against the Thinkers and Netha-Sar intended to find it.

[Tess tLhoell]

Cmdr. Tess t'Lhoell
[Katra Station - Deck 22 - Medical Lab] - DAY THREE early Gamma shift

Katra Station - Medical Lab

CRITICAL MUTATION IDENTIFIED - GENETIC FRAGMENT ON SCREEN

The computer declared the latest result in a nearly monotone voice as the lab computer screen displayed a segment of genetic code within the bacteria.  In both of the bacteria, a particular strand of genetic code had been changed in precisely the same way.  The chances of this being a random event was astronomical.  But Tess already knew this.

REQUESTED INDICATORS NOT PRESENT.  HOWEVER, SIMILAR ACTION IS INDICATED.

The computer paused, then continued.

DIVERGENCE OF BACTERIAL STRAINS ONLY .1% IN DISPLAYED GENETIC SEQUENCE.  THIS IS BELOW STATISTICAL PROBABILITY.

Normally, reproducing bacteria would gradually mutate in amounts that were statistically predictable.  But something was preventing genetic drift in this particular genetic strand.

CORRECTIVE OR REINFORCING AGENT 99% LIKELY.  PRESENCE OF PROGRAMMED BIOAGENT IS A HIGH PROBABILITY EVENT.

The computer was saying that an outside agent, likely programmed specifically for the purpose, was reinforcing this particular genetic code, restoring it to baseline whenever it would naturally drift.  This suggested, with almost complete certainty, that the method of action was synthetic in some way.  These sorts of results were rarely seen in the natural world.

LIKELY AGENT OF GENETIC CORRECTION OF NATURAL MUTATIONS HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED: BACTERIOPHAGE PRESENT IN ALL SAMPLES.

When the computer outputted the results of the analysis, Tess's tiredness immediately evaporated. A bacteriophage! Bacteriophages were various groups of viruses that specialized in bacteria as host cells. This was interesting because no phages had been found in the previous bacterial findings of the bacterial strain. This was important because bacteriophages were highly specialized viruses that were bound to a specific host. So if they were of natural origin, there was a good chance that these phages would have already been discovered by Katra's staff.

Tess sat up a little straighter as she looked at the picture of the DNA strand and that of the typical appearance of the phage. This was the more complex two-stranded phage species. Single stranded phages were smaller and didn't have tail fibers. These, along with the so-called spike, served to absorb the cell wall of the bacterium they were trying to use as a host. Both parts were held together by the 'base plate'. Above this extended a tubular structure that served as an injection apparatus through which the phage injected the nucleic acid contained in the capsid above it into the host cell. The structure of a two-stranded bacteriophage always reminded Tess of a small spider.

"Computer. Identify the type of bacteriophage."

The computer gave a negative beep. "This type does not correspond to any known type of bacteriophage in the database."

Tess was stunned. The overall picture suggested no other conclusion than a deliberate creation of this bacteriophage. But what for? And more importantly, by whom?

"Computer, analyze the phage structure including an analysis of the nucleic acid in the capsid. Specifically identify functions other than transcription of the viral genome, translation of viral mRNA, and replication of viral nucleic acid."

The computer took a few minutes to provide the analysis. When it was finished, Tess looked it over. In terms of construction in detail, there were no major differences from other two-stranded phages. The evaluation of the nucleic acid, however, caught Tess' attention, because it was anything but ordinary. The nucleic acid should contain all the necessary information to produce new phages. However, the nucleic acid of this virus also contained the information of the specific bacterium.

Tess fell back in her seat and stared in disbelief at the results. "Computer. Simulate the reproduction phase, beginning with the coupling of the bacteriophage to the bacterial cell to the final stage of new phages release."

This would take several hours. She thought.

[30 minutes later.]

"Simulation complete."

Tess looked up from the workstation, then glanced at the chronometer. This couldn't be happening. "Computer. Did you run the simulation to the completed reproduction phase?"

"The simulation was completed according to the desired parameters."

"Was there an interruption or did an error occur during the simulation?"

"The simulation was performed without any interruptions or errors."

Normally, reproduction proceeded in six phases. First, the ends of the tail fibers of the bacteriophage coupled to matching molecules, called receptors, of the bacterium's surface. The phage would then inject the nucleic acid into the bacterium using the spike, leaving the now useless shell of the phage on the outer surface of the bacterium. After a latency phase of several hours, all viral components, the shell proteins and tail fibers would be formed by the active phage genes. In the maturation phase, the phage particles would be assembled before about 200 finished infectious phages would be released after being liberated from the host cell by a special enzyme.

According to this, the simulation should take a few hours. The virus needed time to rebuild and assemble all the parts. If everything had been going correct this time, the phage was able to reproduce itself in less than an hour. "Computer. Show simulation."

The computer showed a visualization of the entire process. What Tess saw there, she could not believe. The phage had reproduced, but in smaller numbers than a normal phage would have. Instead, it had used some of the nuclic acid genes to keep the bacterium alive and now seemed to control it.

Throughout the process, it also seemed to produce a kind of waste product. It showed up at this early stage as small accumulations of minerals ...

Adryel of Etros
[Planet Meridian - Emerald Peninsula - Ihmana Refugee Camp - Temple]

Katra Station - Etrosian Refugee Camp

Beja listened intently to Adryel describing the Etrosian's Wise One Above to her. It was interesting that they had named their religious figure above, despite it being described that the Wise One was more around all and in everything, than just above. "˜Above' must represent a metaphysical description. She did like the beauty in the metaphor that Adryel explained, that the Wise One is above all the Etrosians. Almost in a way like the Christian deity that many humans followed.

She struggled internally with how to respond to Adryel's concern with her uncertainty about her personal beliefs. Beja was sure that he would not approve of the Klingon culture, where warfare was prized above everything, especially peace. But before she had a chance to find the words, Adryel asked about Kahless and the revered sword.

Beja smiled over at Adryel, and then she spoke, "œBefore I can answer that question, you need to understand the significance of Kahless. He was the first Klingon Emperor and is the greatest of all warriors we have had. Kahless. He was the one that united all of the Houses together and formed the Klingon Empire. He brought the Klingons to be, the foundation of which all has been built upon."

"œThere are many that worship Kahless and there are those that await for Kahless true return  to his people. Over 20 years ago, religious figures took some of Kahless' DNA, and cloned him. It was quite the controversy for the Klingons. And it brought a divide within our culture. Recently the cloned Emperor went missing, and that has only deepened the divide.

Klingons believe that the Sword of Kahless when found again will unite the Klingons again. I guess that is more prophetic now that the Klingons have been fractured into two. The Klingon Empire and the New Republic of Kahless. War is imminent most say between the two factions, something I hope can be avoided. Maybe the Sword is the answer to that, I do not know."

Beja stood and looked upon the temple that was in the process of being built. She bowed her head in deference to the Etrosians and her friend Adryel, "œIt is quite beautiful even in its current state. Your people are building something quite amazing here, where hope is the foundation. Something the Klingons could definitely emulate."

Adryel listened to the story of Kahless. He understood the significance better now. When she mentioned cloning, Adryel was not entirely sure what that meant. He concluded it from what Beja said further. The notion was unbelievable to him. But he understood that technology could do a lot of things. He looked at her. "I do hope that your people will unite again, Beja of Starfleet. I will plead for them to the Wise One Above."

Hearing that Beja's people were divided, saddened Adryel. Especially since he saw the beginnings of such a division with his own people, too. He glanced up to the unfinished building, the smile her words might have evoked normally didn't find its way on his face entirely. Lowering his gaze again he looked to her. "I do feel like we need more hope than ever before. While the majority of my people are grateful and happy not to be under the burden of that fake ceremony anymore, some still cling to it because they believe it is the will of the Wise One Above. They fear it will mean sorrow and harm for us to not continue it." The ceremony of life had been part of the Etrosian culture and religion for centuries. It was Adryel now who looked a little unsure. "We always have been united in our faith and our traditions. Now I fear it will divide us."

It's been about a year now that the Etrosians were settled on Meridian. And at the moment there was a downright baby boom among them. With the stigma of sacrificing a life for a new one, families now could have as many children as they wanted. And the Etrosians surely made use of that freedom.

NPC Ambassador Virahk Jarok - Romulan Free State
[Katra Station - Deck 11 - Romulan Embassy - Jarok's office]

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir.  My attempt to book a meeting with Tholians took an unexpected turn.  We've been invited to meet with Commander Eydis on hir ship, the Etain - within the hour.  My apologies at the lack of prep time. While I hope that this will be mostly just an introductory meeting to familiarize one another one on social customs, I feel I should warn you in advance the Commander has already broached the suggestion of trading technology between our people.. and she comes across as very goal-oriented."

Jarok looked up from his work when Rhienn's call came in. That he was surprised about that call was an understatement. But he surely would not decline the invitation of the Tholian Commander for a meeting. Especially not if there was the prospect of gaining an advantage in technology. Jarok really wished he would have had more time to prepare, so he could have thought of a tactic to get as many information as possible and giving out as few information as possible. But he could definitely check out what the Tholians had to offer.

"Confirm the meeting, Rhienn. Do I remember correctly that we will need environmental suits on the Tholian ship? Please organize whatever we need for this meeting. I will meet you at the docking ring in half an hour."

[30 minutes later...]
[Tholian ship Etain, docked at Katra Station]

With a datapad in his hand, Jarok waited to meet Eydis. He didn't like to feel unsufficiently prepared. But he had spent the time until this meeting to refresh his memory of the backgrounder briefing report on past Tholian encounters and intelligence report on their know technology his aide had provided him with.

[Beja]

Katra Station - Etrosian Refugee Camp

One didn't need years of training to be a counselor to see that Adryel was in pain, emotional pain over this people's uncertain future. Beja wished she felt more confident in her words to Adryel but she had a lot of self-doubt about herself currently. Her own people were on the brink of War, because the Klingons didn't want to look beyond the art of War. Even though she lacked confidence, she still wanted to help ease the sorrow that poured out of Adryel's eyes.

"œWhy not make new traditions? Bring your people together with traditions that you all create, and ones that are not built upon lies and darkness. Perhaps your Wise one wanted this path for your people all along, and now is your chance to embrace the future that the Wise one had waiting for you all?" Beja reached out and squeezed Adryel's hand, hoping to provide some comfort to him.

"œHave you tried asking the Wise One for advice?" Beja knew that many different religions had a manner to meditate and ask their Gods for answers. The Bajorians would seek the words from the Prophets, Klingons would seek the appearance of Kahless, and humans would see answers from their various Gods with their prayers.

The answers for them all might rest in looking beyond for the wisdom that would lead them on the path they were meant to walk.

[Solluk]

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

Ensign Yakama smiled again, and quickly turned back to his console.  "Well, who am I to delay a beautiful officer conducting a priority assignment?"

He quickly pulled up the past several days' communications logs, gesturing at three columns of information.  "Here on the left are official Starfleet com logs, which can be reviewed immediately if need be.  In the middle are personal communications, for which a warrant or declared emergency is needed in order for their contents to be accessed.  And on the right are the foreign government diplomatic intercepts... um... 'accidentally' collected while listening to the background radiation of the universe.  Only the station commander or the intelligence officer can access those, of course.  Though they are typically encrypted and unreadable anyway."

He tapped a few more icons, and then leaned forward to peer at the console.  "Um... possibly Commander tr'Lhoell has deciphered some of these encryption codes already."  He glanced sideways, uncomfortably considering the implications of that, but said nothing on the topic.

SS Wonderland - Deep Space
Asile - Ex-Captain Odelot - Former Engineer, Cook Aldo - Unemployed Security, Cargo Specialist
The three Pakleds materialized, all of them wincing and grimacing, in seeming preparation for their final, gruesome moments.  But they'd been rescued from those moments by the swift action of the Wonderland's crew.  Gradually, they un-tensed, looked around, and smiled broadly.

"We are not being dead, either!  You are saving us!"  Asile raced forward to smother Finn with a hug.  The other two Pakleds followed suit, selecting their own targets for embrace.

Once the mighty Pakled embraces had been dealt (or rebuffed- the Pakleds were so happy to be alive, they'd barely care about being rejected) Odelot's voice suddenly shouted out in alarm.

"Widdlywot!  We didn't get Widdlywot!" the man's face, so recently filled with relief and joy, was now masked with horror.

"It is okay, Odelot," Asile went over to her brother and rested a hand on Odelot's shoulder, "We were putting Widdlywot on New Bajor with the Animal Doctor last time, remember?"

"Oh!  Oh, yes.  Because of the babies she was going to be having," the Pakled relaxed into relief once more, "Odelot forgotted it."

All of the Pakleds were smiles once more, the second crisis averted.

Unfortunately, this new peace did not last long, as it became clear that the Wonderland was careening in space, and an alarm on the bridge sounded a loss of cabin pressure.

Aldo blinked and looked about, "That is not being good."

Odelot glanced around, too, and then hastily fished around in his multi-pocketed engineering jumpsuit, pulling out a bottle of milk which he'd put in there after breakfast.  It was doubtless very warm by now, and probably well on the way to curdling.

"Oh," Odelot said, suddenly realizing his new situation, "Odelot is not any more being an engineer."  He reached out with the bottle, as though intending to hand an important tool to the resident mechanic.

USS Healy - Grappling with the Thinker Cruiser near the Subspace Conduit

Rayek's initial volley of torpedoes did their job in intercepting the Thinker Cruiser's own torpedo attack.  The phaser fire from the Healy accurately struck the less armored parts of the Thinker Cruiser's outer hull, inflicting at least some small damage on the vessel.  The Thinker ship seemed to employ armor and enhanced structural integrity fields more than shields in its defense.  Beyond a scattering field to prevent transporter use, and a navigational deflector, no combat shields were clearly perceptible.

Solluk's jaw clamped tight as he leaned into his console, a classic pose throughout the history of electronic piloting.  The instinctive desire to lean into maneuvers as though the leaning would make the ship turn harder or go faster was irresistible.

The Vulcan kicked in the Healy's maneuvering thrusters to 110%, forcing the ship into a lateral slide as he gunned the impulse engines to their utmost output.   It was an erratic and sloppy maneuver, the apparent act of a panicked helmsman who didn't correct the ship's attitude properly while engaging evasive flight protocols that pushed the vessel past its recommended limitations.

His navigation, combined with the sensor wash from the torpedo detonations, resulted in most of the Thinker cruiser's energy beams missing their mark.  Two of the beams did strike the Healy's shields, being only slightly ablated before piercing through.  Some aspect of the Thinker weapon technology allowed their beam weapons to ignore much of the graviton bubble's protection, although at least a bit of the beam energy bled off on the envelope.

Of the two beams that penetrated, one passed harmlessly within the shield perimeter, missing the hull by mere meters.

The second beam which impacted the shields penetrated and impaled the saucer section of the Healy, melting into three decks.  Despite the damage, it was a much less severe result than the Healy might otherwise have suffered.

But the erratic and seemingly sloppy evasive maneuver also left the ship off-axis for Rayek's next torpedo strike.  In fact, this was merely to enhance the impression of a miss in the upcoming torpedo barrage.  There had been no time to share tactics.  Solluk had simply trusted that Rayek's request of a particular position and attitude was warranted.

Trust was the ultimate combat advantage.

[John Saxon]

"œ The embassy is not accepting any non tholians until the director wishes otherwise.  I extend to you a offer to come abroad my frigate the Etain. You will be allowed 2 hours local time to accept or decline this offer. Eydis would pause at the doorway to hir chamber and reach out over the lattice to hir new superior.

"œ Director Tsyen, the romulan alliance ambassador is willing to meet and perhaps even discuss possible technology trade. "œ

The slow - perhaps unnerving to bipedal, carbon forms - scuttering of Director Tsyen paused as the Warrior abnormality, Eydis, became more prominent among the constant background chittering of the Lattice. Ordinarily, such instantaneous and natural isovibral communication over the framework would not require even the most innocuous of interruption to motion, but interactions with Eydis warranted a somewhat...unusual degree of processing. That was one of the many matters that certain concerned slivers of the Assembly were actively assaying.

"Eydis. Your Director acknowledges this request. The integrity of Assembly asepsis continues to be paramount. You are therefore authorised to continue your exclusive communication with such carbon life. You are to assess all potential benefits to the Assembly of any acquisitional trade but are not to actuate exchange until your summary is delivered to me for scrutiny and assent. Begin."

Motion resumed.

Huginn'>

With a disturbing pop, the neutron lance finally penetrated the reinforced shell of the warhead, and it had taken all of Saxon's training to not lurch deeper into the structure, perhaps severing something within like, say, some gubbins that kept the whole thing going up right now. His hand slowly withdrew the blue-beamed device, and he laid it down carefully before flexing his cramped fingers. Tapping his badge, 'Century' called for an update to breaching the hack.

The news was not positive, and so laid out his Plan B.

The response was not positive.

Especially after learning of his quite recent improvised 'surgery' on a massive bomb that would make, quite literally, the fundamental foundations of the cosmos quake and fracture in its explosion.

Nevertheless, after forcing the issue with a not-unsubtle reminder of time being of the essence, the assembled technicians reluctantly acknowledged the prospects of success; it was as good as he was going to get, so John chalked that up as a minor victory on the scoreboard. " Lt Saxon to Starstalker" he began, "Mister Murselas: we will have need of some of your more avant-garde style of piloting very shortly. Please proceed to initiate transport of the technical team; I need to stay behind for some moments longer, but I'll need you to extract me while on the move; you'll need to track my lifesigns directly, as my combadge will be...elsewhere. Give me 60 seconds from sign-off. "

After Muselas responded, Saxon closed the channel, taking his Starfleet delta from his chest, and hurriedly brought the neutron lance to it. The last time he tried something like this, there was a smouldering crater and 15,000 dead left in its wake.

He hoped to repeat that success.

[Tess tLhoell]

Adryel of Etros
[Planet Meridian - Emeral Peninsula - Ihmana Refugee Camp - Temple]

Katra Station - Etrosian Refugee Camp

One didn't need years of training to be a counselor to see that Adryel was in pain, emotional pain over this people's uncertain future. Beja wished she felt more confident in her words to Adryel but she had a lot of self-doubt about herself currently. Her own people were on the brink of War, because the Klingons didn't want to look beyond the art of War. Even though she lacked confidence, she still wanted to help ease the sorrow that poured out of Adryel's eyes.

"œWhy not make new traditions? Bring your people together with traditions that you all create, and ones that are not built upon lies and darkness. Perhaps your Wise one wanted this path for your people all along, and now is your chance to embrace the future that the Wise one had waiting for you all?" Beja reached out and squeezed Adryel's hand, hoping to provide some comfort to him.

"œHave you tried asking the Wise One for advice?" Beja knew that many different religions had a manner to meditate and ask their Gods for answers. The Bajorians would seek the words from the Prophets, Klingons would seek the appearance of Kahless, and humans would see answers from their various Gods with their prayers.

The answers for them all might rest in looking beyond for the wisdom that would lead them on the path they were meant to walk.

Adryel listened attentively as Beja spoke. He really valued her opinion, even if they came form worlds that differed so much. At her question, he nodded his head. "I do so every day. Until now I haven't found my answer yet." He looked to Beja, and the expression on his face changed, as if he suddenly was realizing something. She had given him the advice to leave old traditions in the past and create new ones to unify his people. To let go of the past but look ahead. "But perhaps", he said quietly, "I have found it just now." He kept looking at her and then a smile showed on his face.

He glanced back at the temple. "Would you like to have a look inside?", he asked hopefully.

NPC Juraan Ren
[Freighter Wonderland]

Everything had been going so fast. After his success in shots that damaged the Dominion ship and Cathy's plan of letting them fly into the gas pocket, Juraan allowed himself a little grin at Cathy's cheer of victory. Which had been premature as they all realized only a moment later when the Dominionship seemed to be determined to drag them all with them into the grave. The ship went on collision course and several alarms started to sound at the nearing ship. However, before they could evade, the Yadyam crashed into the Dominion ship before that crashed into the Wonderland. Unlike Cathy Juraan had neglected to activate the seatbelts on his seat and at the impact was thrown forward, hard into the view screen and his torse into the console in front of him, only to be then thrown back and off his feet.

A pained groan escaped him, the crash on onto the ground had pressed the air out of his lungs and he rolled on his side as his whole body began to ache. While he tried to come to his senses, he heard the whine of the transporters. Glancing up he saw that the Pakleds were safe on their ship.
Juraan sat up and something dripped on the bridge of his nose. He frowned and felt for his forehead only to see then blood sticking to his fingers. He sat there on the floor a moment longer, his head hanging as he tried to register what had happened to him. Then he stood up on slightly shaky legs just as Odelot handed Finn a bottle of milk. Or he believed it was milk. He thought to see small chunky bits in it. Maybe it wasn't milk.

The cacophony of alarms due to the hull breach and the loss of cabin pressure drew his attention back to the task at hand. They weren't safe yet. The Bajoran looked to Odelot. "You're still an Engineer. And I would appreciate some help."

[Finn Moreno]

[Wonderland]
Just like Juraan Finn hadn't been buckled up when the impact happened because he had no time for that. He got thrown sideways against the controlls panels on the side of the ship where he'd been standing and then lost his balance stumbled back and landed flat on his back near the platform where the Paklets materialized.

Finn didn't even have time to count his bones and realize whether he had carried away any injuries from the impact when one of their saviors tackled him and pulled him into a tight embrace. That's when he noticed how much that well meant gesture hurt, probably not only from the Paklets strong arms.
He briefly scanned his body but didn't have time for more as the ship went into a sideways rolling motion and slowly lost cabin pressure.

With a glance at his crew he noticed Cathy was still in her seat and seemingly unharmed while Juraan had blood streaming down his face and looked quite beshevelled.

With shaky fingers Finn took the bottled, got to his feet and eyed it. "What is that?"

That's when he notice the smell of smoke.
"Shit, we have a fire."
He dashed for the good old fashioned fire extinguisher while screaming at Cathy.
"Check our systems....what's going on? And shut of the power to whatever is burning!"
With the extinguisher in his arms like a football player he ran towards the loading area of the ship. The smoke was coming from back there, so he grabbed one of the oxygen masks to protect himself, slipped it over his head and advanced but noticed how much every step hurt his lower back. The fire was more important right now, so he pushed through the smoke filled area on the right side of his beloved freighter, trying to see where it came from. Another crack and suddenly the smoke got sucked out of the ship.
In disbelieve Finn stopped and stared at the smouldering panels behind which some of the ships side stabilizers had to be. The fire was out before he could put it out and the smoke slowly but surely vanishing. That could only mean one thing. There had to be a hole or a crack in the hull caused by the impact.
Gasping, he turned on his heel.
"Cathy, can you hear me? I think the hull is cracked. What do I do?"
He was panicking and could now feel the loss in pressure.
"I need one of the packlets back here. Seal of the cockpit."
There was only one way of 'fixing' this. They had to patch it from the inside with whatever the containers in the back held....

[Kirok]

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

Ensign Yakama smiled again, and quickly turned back to his console.  "Well, who am I to delay a beautiful officer conducting a priority assignment?"

He quickly pulled up the past several days' communications logs, gesturing at three columns of information.  "Here on the left are official Starfleet com logs, which can be reviewed immediately if need be.  In the middle are personal communications, for which a warrant or declared emergency is needed in order for their contents to be accessed.  And on the right are the foreign government diplomatic intercepts... um... 'accidentally' collected while listening to the background radiation of the universe.  Only the station commander or the intelligence officer can access those, of course.  Though they are typically encrypted and unreadable anyway."

He tapped a few more icons, and then leaned forward to peer at the console.  "Um... possibly Commander tr'Lhoell has deciphered some of these encryption codes already."  He glanced sideways, uncomfortably considering the implications of that, but said nothing on the topic.

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

"Thank you for the complement, Ensign.  But it would be best if we keep things professional.  Unless beautiful is a word you generally use when referring to other officers, then of course it is fine" Zex replied attempting to gently correct the Ensign.

She took a step closer so that she could examine the logs.  "Assuming that the commander would have reviewed any log that she already decrypted, lets eliminate them from the group.  And for the personal communications, I assume those also cover internal messaged between people on the planet, yes?   If so, are you able to show me the dates and sender/receiver information without showing me the message?" Zex asked.

While he was considering the questions, the Deltan signed into the neighboring duty station.  She went to the diplomatic logs regarding the plant below and any activity related to them.  Then she started looking for matching dates and times between her logs and the ones the Ensign had pulled up for her.  Perhaps a match would help her come up with a list of people or organizations that might have something to do with the bacteria that was currently reeking having on the planet below.

[Solluk]

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

Ensign Yakama's smile dissolved, "I'm sorry, Ma'am.  You're right, that was unprofessional.  I'm not sure what came over me."

He pointed to the message list, "Forgive me if I wasn't clear.  The messages haven't been viewed, but it seems Commander tr'Lhoell broke some of the diplomatic encryption codes before leaving the station on his current mission with the Healy."

He tapped some additional icons, "Yes, personal transmissions include anything not on official channels, including subspace messages between individuals on station, off-station, and planetside.  Viewing the time and date meta-data is no problem, even if the messages themselves aren't read.  We should even be able to see the priority level assigned to the message based on known tags."

On Zex's auxiliary console, she would see that the Dord issued priority diplomatic transmissions to their Diplomatic ship, the Obsidian Lord, both eight hours before and twelve hours after their visit to Meridian.

They also sent one routine diplomatic message to an Etrosian representative on the planet Meridian twenty-four hours before their visit to the planet.

The Numati sent a priority diplomatic message to their homeworld one hour after the Dord visit to Meridian.

The New Republic of Kahless' Ambassador Kol sent a message to a shipping company within the station twenty-four hours before the Dord visit to Meridian, but this was marked 'routine importance.'

[Beja]

Katra Station - Etrosian Refugee Camp

Beja smiled brightly over to Adryel, "œI hope you have found the answer you were looking for." She wasn't exactly sure what that answer was, but it appeared to have put him at ease. The tension that had been surrounding him, and the uncertainty that Beja had seen in his blue eyes disappeared.

"œOh I would love to see inside," Beja hadn't been sure if the temple was ready for visitors yet, as it is still under construction but she was very curious to see what the inside of the temple looked like. She knew that in order to truly understand the Etrosians better, it was paramount that she know of their temple and how the Etrosians use it.

"œDo you mind telling me more about how the temple is used? Is it just for religious gatherings?" Beja asked Adryel, "œI hope you don't mind my questions. I am just really wanting to know more about you and your people."

[Rayek trLhoell]

Lt Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Healy - Deck 1 - Bridge]  [DAY THREE]

[USS Healy - Deck 1 - Bridge]  [DAY THREE]

Hrafn listened with interest to the Captain's explanation of what he was planning to do and a small smile spread across her face... meet them where they weren't expecting them... a good tactic.

Fingers almost twitching in anticipation, the CSO nodded and murmured an "Aye, Commander..." while constantly monitoring her console and scans.  While she wouldn't ever put herself deliberately into a battle if she could avoid it, when it was inevitable, she too was almost impatient to lay into the enemy.

USS Healy - Grappling with the Thinker Cruiser near the Subspace Conduit

Rayek's initial volley of torpedoes did their job in intercepting the Thinker Cruiser's own torpedo attack.  The phaser fire from the Healy accurately struck the less armored parts of the Thinker Cruiser's outer hull, inflicting at least some small damage on the vessel.  The Thinker ship seemed to employ armor and enhanced structural integrity fields more than shields in its defense.  Beyond a scattering field to prevent transporter use, and a navigational deflector, no combat shields were clearly perceptible.

Solluk's jaw clamped tight as he leaned into his console, a classic pose throughout the history of electronic piloting.  The instinctive desire to lean into maneuvers as though the leaning would make the ship turn harder or go faster was irresistible.

The Vulcan kicked in the Healy's maneuvering thrusters to 110%, forcing the ship into a lateral slide as he gunned the impulse engines to their utmost output.   It was an erratic and sloppy maneuver, the apparent act of a panicked helmsman who didn't correct the ship's attitude properly while engaging evasive flight protocols that pushed the vessel past its recommended limitations.

His navigation, combined with the sensor wash from the torpedo detonations, resulted in most of the Thinker cruiser's energy beams missing their mark.  Two of the beams did strike the Healy's shields, being only slightly ablated before piercing through.  Some aspect of the Thinker weapon technology allowed their beam weapons to ignore much of the graviton bubble's protection, although at least a bit of the beam energy bled off on the envelope.

Of the two beams that penetrated, one passed harmlessly within the shield perimeter, missing the hull by mere meters.

The second beam which impacted the shields penetrated and impaled the saucer section of the Healy, melting into three decks.  Despite the damage, it was a much less severe result than the Healy might otherwise have suffered.

But the erratic and seemingly sloppy evasive maneuver also left the ship off-axis for Rayek's next torpedo strike.  In fact, this was merely to enhance the impression of a miss in the upcoming torpedo barrage.  There had been no time to share tactics.  Solluk had simply trusted that Rayek's request of a particular position and attitude was warranted.

Trust was the ultimate combat advantage.

A master pilot - that is what Solluk was.  Rayek was only now becoming aware of this fact as the Captain, at the helm, flew the ship with such skill that the maneuvers seemed panicky.  Over accelerating the impulse engine, straining them and improper attitude corrections - yet in doing so managing to avoid nearly all of Thinker ship attacks.  Nearly.

One beam struck, yet Rayek knew that even as damage reports were coming in, that they'd got off lucky.  Given the sheer volume of weapons fire the Healy had to avoid.   One hit out of a dozen shots fired... was good evasion.  And then, on top of evading most of the beams, the Captain had managed to bring the ship into the very position and run vector Rayek needed.

The Romulan tapped his console, firing off the spread of prepared torpedoes 'towards' the Thinker ship.  Each torpedo launcher, one fore and one aft, fired off in quick succession 5 torpedoes.   The aft torpedoes were programmed to arc around, and flew at greater speed so to be able to catch up with the torpedoes fired by the forward launcher.   Yet because of the vector and the torpedoes flight delay, what had appeared to be a good shot,  ended up missing the Thinker ship by a rather large margin.  Just as planned.

Rayek counted down the seconds in his head.

"Blind them now, Lieutenant!"

There was a moment's, delay then the torpodoes arc around again this time aimed for the lesser protected backside of the Thinker ship.  Ten torpedoes in all, each aimed for the aft of the Thinker ship.

NPC Cathy Daniels
[SS Wonderland - Bridge] [DAY THREE]

[Wonderland]
Finns breath hitched as all alarms, lights and bells, went off and he pulled his head in as if that would help and jumped back to his seat. He made a last minute attempt by activating the side thrusters for landing manouvers.

Needless to say that didn't do much.
A moment later everything that wasn't bolted down including the crew got thrown through the cockpit by the still violent but not lethal collision of the two ships.

More alarms went off and the Wonderland lost cabin pressure thanks to a hole in the hull on the side. Next thing they knew was that it was going into a slow spiraling motion because the thrusters on the side had been damaged or taken out.
The distinct smell of fire spread.

SS Wonderland - Deep Space

Asile - Ex-Captain Odelot - Former Engineer, Cook Aldo - Unemployed Security, Cargo Specialist

The three Pakleds materialized, all of them wincing and grimacing, in seeming preparation for their final, gruesome moments.  But they'd been rescued from those moments by the swift action of the Wonderland's crew.  Gradually, they un-tensed, looked around, and smiled broadly.

"We are not being dead, either!  You are saving us!"  Asile raced forward to smother Finn with a hug.  The other two Pakleds followed suit, selecting their own targets for embrace.

Once the mighty Pakled embraces had been dealt (or rebuffed- the Pakleds were so happy to be alive, they'd barely care about being rejected) Odelot's voice suddenly shouted out in alarm.

"Widdlywot!  We didn't get Widdlywot!" the man's face, so recently filled with relief and joy, was now masked with horror.

"It is okay, Odelot," Asile went over to her brother and rested a hand on Odelot's shoulder, "We were putting Widdlywot on New Bajor with the Animal Doctor last time, remember?"

"Oh!  Oh, yes.  Because of the babies she was going to be having," the Pakled relaxed into relief once more, "Odelot forgotted it."

All of the Pakleds were smiles once more, the second crisis averted.

Unfortunately, this new peace did not last long, as it became clear that the Wonderland was careening in space, and an alarm on the bridge sounded a loss of cabin pressure.

Aldo blinked and looked about, "That is not being good."

Odelot glanced around, too, and then hastily fished around in his multi-pocketed engineering jumpsuit, pulling out a bottle of milk which he'd put in there after breakfast.  It was doubtless very warm by now, and probably well on the way to curdling.

"Oh," Odelot said, suddenly realizing his new situation, "Odelot is not any more being an engineer."  He reached out with the bottle, as though intending to hand an important tool to the resident mechanic.

NPC Juraan Ren
[Freighter Wonderland]

Everything had been going so fast. After his success in shots that damaged the Dominion ship and Cathy's plan of letting them fly into the gas pocket, Juraan allowed himself a little grin at Cathy's cheer of victory. Which had been premature as they all realized only a moment later when the Dominionship seemed to be determined to drag them all with them into the grave. The ship went on collision course and several alarms started to sound at the nearing ship. However, before they could evade, the Yadyam crashed into the Dominion ship before that crashed into the Wonderland. Unlike Cathy Juraan had neglected to activate the seatbelts on his seat and at the impact was thrown forward, hard into the view screen and his torse into the console in front of him, only to be then thrown back and off his feet.

A pained groan escaped him, the crash on onto the ground had pressed the air out of his lungs and he rolled on his side as his whole body began to ache. While he tried to come to his senses, he heard the whine of the transporters. Glancing up he saw that the Pakleds were safe on their ship.
Juraan sat up and something dripped on the bridge of his nose. He frowned and felt for his forehead only to see then blood sticking to his fingers. He sat there on the floor a moment longer, his head hanging as he tried to register what had happened to him. Then he stood up on slightly shaky legs just as Odelot handed Finn a bottle of milk. Or he believed it was milk. He thought to see small chunky bits in it. Maybe it wasn't milk.

The cacophony of alarms due to the hull breach and the loss of cabin pressure drew his attention back to the task at hand. They weren't safe yet. The Bajoran looked to Odelot. "You're still an Engineer. And I would appreciate some help."

Seeing the Pakleds appear on the transporter pad was such a relief.  So much of a relief that Cathy happily accepted the hug offered her by Aldo.  "I'm so glad that you and your family are safe!"  Her words were barely spoken before Odelot began wailing about someone or something forgot.   Cathy's looked over to him equally horrified.

She'd had the transporters lock onto all biosigns.  If it was living, it should have been transported over.   But then Asile explained to her brother about Widdlywot being on New Bajor.  Cathy sighed in relief.

No sooner was that calamity resolved than alarms regarding cabin pressure sounded.  Cathy turned to Juraan and for the first time noticed that he'd been injured at some point during the battle.  "You're hurt!  How badly?" she asked but then thought 'screw it!' "Computer - activate EMH."

As funny as Cathy thought it would be to have 'Joey' say his famous line upon being activated.  She doubted the men would ever use the doctor if she did so...  so she left the initial greeting as the same - and the 'How you doing?' greeting would only activate if there were no medical emergencies to deal with.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"Juraan seems to have struck his head during the ship's impact...see to that please."

She unbuckled from her chair.  "I'll help Odelot while you get yourself seen by 'Joey'."

[Wonderland]
Just like Juraan Finn hadn't been buckled up when the impact happened because he had no time for that. He got thrown sideways against the controlls panels on the side of the ship where he'd been standing and then lost his balance stumbled back and landed flat on his back near the platform where the Paklets materialized.

Finn didn't even have time to count his bones and realize whether he had carried away any injuries from the impact when one of their saviors tackled him and pulled him into a tight embrace. That's when he noticed how much that well meant gesture hurt, probably not only from the Paklets strong arms.
He briefly scanned his body but didn't have time for more as the ship went into a sideways rolling motion and slowly lost cabin pressure.

With a glance at his crew he noticed Cathy was still in her seat and seemingly unharmed while Juraan had blood streaming down his face and looked quite beshevelled.

With shaky fingers Finn took the bottled, got to his feet and eyed it. "What is that?"

That's when he notice the smell of smoke.
"Shit, we have a fire."
He dashed for the good old fashioned fire extinguisher while screaming at Cathy.
"Check our systems....what's going on? And shut of the power to whatever is burning!"
With the extinguisher in his arms like a football player he ran towards the loading area of the ship. The smoke was coming from back there, so he grabbed one of the oxygen masks to protect himself, slipped it over his head and advanced but noticed how much every step hurt his lower back. The fire was more important right now, so he pushed through the smoke filled area on the right side of his beloved freighter, trying to see where it came from. Another crack and suddenly the smoke got sucked out of the ship.
In disbelieve Finn stopped and stared at the smouldering panels behind which some of the ships side stabilizers had to be. The fire was out before he could put it out and the smoke slowly but surely vanishing. That could only mean one thing. There had to be a hole or a crack in the hull caused by the impact.
Gasping, he turned on his heel.
"Cathy, can you hear me? I think the hull is cracked. What do I do?"
He was panicking and could now feel the loss in pressure.
"I need one of the packlets back here. Seal of the cockpit."
There was only one way of 'fixing' this. They had to patch it from the inside with whatever the containers in the back held....

Cathy's well-meaning offer unfortunately didn't happen as planned.  No sooner was it out of her mouth than Finn was calling out about a fire.   Cathy looked over towards him.  There did seem to be a slight haze in the air.

She was ordered to check the ships systems.  Cathy sat back down and began a step-by-step check of all ship systems while Finn ran off.   The fact that the computer hadn't alerted them to the fire, meant that the fire-suppression system was one the systems damaged in the impact.

"Fire suppression is down!" she called out redundantly.

Because of the Pakled intervention rather than taking a direct hit which would had torn the Wonderland apart the strike had been a hard but glancing blow to their hull on one side.    Cathy checked systems on that side first and discovered that there wasn't much that hadn't been lost on that one side.

"We've lost all power on the starboard size - there is a break in the EPS line.  It's likely a plasma fire in the walls. Stabilizers on that side are down..  oh and of course - we've lost communications.   Dammit!"  Cathy called out towards Finn as he disappeared into the cargo area one level below.

Even one level up... the metallic 'crack' sound was audible.   What the hell was that?

Then Finn called up saying that the hull might be cracked...  then realization hit...without power to that side of the ship, the forcefields that might otherwise 'patch' such breaches couldn't take place and instead the air inside the ship would eventually be sucked out.   At his question to her as to what to do... Cathy looked a bit lost.   How the hell was she to know?   She was a Starfleet enlisted flunky... not an officer!

"I don't know..?  Patch the hole or fix the break in the EPS line so the ship's forcefield generator can have power and seal the break?  Either one should work."

Finn's request for one of the Pakleds to help, had Cathy looking to Odelot and Juraan both.

"He's gonna need help all the help he can get."

NPC Ambassadorial Aide Rhienn tr'Hei (Telmuk tr'Lhoell undercover)
[Katra Station - Deck 11 - Romulan Embassy]

NPC Ambassador Virahk Jarok - Romulan Free State
[Katra Station - Deck 11 - Romulan Embassy - Jarok's office]

Jarok looked up from his work when Rhienn's call came in. That he was surprised about that call was an understatement. But he surely would not decline the invitation of the Tholian Commander for a meeting. Especially not if there was the prospect of gaining an advantage in technology. Jarok really wished he would have had more time to prepare, so he could have thought of a tactic to get as many information as possible and giving out as few information as possible. But he could definitely check out what the Tholians had to offer.

"Confirm the meeting, Rhienn. Do I remember correctly that we will need environmental suits on the Tholian ship? Please organize whatever we need for this meeting. I will meet you at the docking ring in half an hour."

[30 minutes later...]
[Tholian ship Etain, docked at Katra Station]

With a datapad in his hand, Jarok waited to meet Eydis. He didn't like to feel unsufficiently prepared. But he had spent the time until this meeting to refresh his memory of the backgrounder briefing report on past Tholian encounters and intelligence report on their known technology his aide had provided him with.

"Yes, environmental suits will be needed.  I'll have that organized."  the Tal'Shiar responded in the guise of the ever-efficient Rhienn.  Given that he'd already confirmed the meeting, Telmuk could forego that part of the Ambassador's orders and after the call ended made arrangements for environmental suits to be readied for them.   And with this being their first meeting with the Tholians, if was difficult to judge what might be needed.   Many of the usual props for first meetings were impractical when dealing with Tholians.   Offers of food or drink would be wasted on the Tholians, and as yet it was unknown what might be considered an item of value by them.  So, for now, Rhienn would hold off on any of that - until he could determine something that the Tholians needed.

He arrived at the docking saucer, in advance of the time the Ambassador stated to scan the environmental suits himself.  He would not trust his life to anyone.  Telmuk knew all too well how easy it was to assassinate others by means that seemed to be just equipment malfunction.

Both suits checked out in perfect condition and soon both he and the Ambassador were suited up and waiting for the Tholian Commander to greet them.

[Kirok]

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

Ensign Yakama's smile dissolved, "I'm sorry, Ma'am.  You're right, that was unprofessional.  I'm not sure what came over me."

He pointed to the message list, "Forgive me if I wasn't clear.  The messages haven't been viewed, but it seems Commander tr'Lhoell broke some of the diplomatic encryption codes before leaving the station on his current mission with the Healy."

He tapped some additional icons, "Yes, personal transmissions include anything not on official channels, including subspace messages between individuals on station, off-station, and planetside.  Viewing the time and date meta-data is no problem, even if the messages themselves aren't read.  We should even be able to see the priority level assigned to the message based on known tags."

On Zex's auxiliary console, she would see that the Dord issued priority diplomatic transmissions to their Diplomatic ship, the Obsidian Lord, both eight hours before and twelve hours after their visit to Meridian.

They also sent one routine diplomatic message to an Etrosian representative on the planet Meridian twenty-four hours before their visit to the planet.

The Numati sent a priority diplomatic message to their homeworld one hour after the Dord visit to Meridian.

The New Republic of Kahless' Ambassador Kol sent a message to a shipping company within the station twenty-four hours before the Dord visit to Meridian, but this was marked 'routine importance.'

Katra Station - Operational Control Center

"It's all right.  No harm.  No fowl" Zex said.

"Oh.  Let's be sure to see the messages the Commander opened but did not read.  Perhaps there is something interesting in them" Zex said.

"All roads lead to Dorn" the Deltan mumbled while she analyzed the data.  She checked the diplomatic logs for any connections between the various species.  "They have a volatile history with the Numati, but not prior connection to the Etrosian.  It's suspicious that their first ever communication with that race a day before their visit to the planet" she added.

"Good work, Ensign.  If there is no other information to review, I think it is time to alert the Commander" Zex said.

[Hrafn Falleg]

Lt Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Healy - Deck 1 - Bridge]  [DAY THREE]

A master pilot - that is what Solluk was.  Rayek was only now becoming aware of this fact as the Captain, at the helm, flew the ship with such skill that the maneuvers seemed panicky.  Over accelerating the impulse engine, straining them and improper attitude corrections - yet in doing so managing to avoid nearly all of Thinker ship attacks.  Nearly.

One beam struck, yet Rayek knew that even as damage reports were coming in, that they'd got off lucky.  Given the sheer volume of weapons fire the Healy had to avoid.   One hit out of a dozen shots fired... was good evasion.  And then, on top of evading most of the beams, the Captain had managed to bring the ship into the very position and run vector Rayek needed.

The Romulan tapped his console, firing off the spread of prepared torpedoes 'towards' the Thinker ship.  Each torpedo launcher, one fore and one aft, fired off in quick succession 5 torpedoes.   The aft torpedoes were programmed to arc around, and flew at greater speed so to be able to catch up with the torpedoes fired by the forward launcher.   Yet because of the vector and the torpedoes flight delay, what had appeared to be a good shot,  ended up missing the Thinker ship by a rather large margin.  Just as planned.

Rayek counted down the seconds in his head.

"Blind them now, Lieutenant!"

There was a moment's, delay then the torpodoes arc around again this time aimed for the lesser protected backside of the Thinker ship.  Ten torpedoes in all, each aimed for the aft of the Thinker ship.

[Bridge - USS Healy, DAY THREE]

Hrafn mentally nodded but automatically sent out the jamming frequency, hoping like hell that it worked.  "There you go, Commander... you are listening to Radio Healy... well they are!"