The Big Snake of the Night Sky

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: Katra Station | OOC ::

"Download complete" the computer offered in it's completely neutral, robotic female voice.

"Sure and it took ya long enough." Kyan grumbled.

"please restate..."

"Shut yer face ya great sack of...."

"please restate......"

Kyan snatched the padd off the top of the console and walked over to the conference room doors. Once they opened he stepped into the room. Most of the crew had left the room. The Hunters were still there though, as well as the Tosk female, who was still standing and looking quite uncomfortable. Without preamble, Kyan tossed the padd onto the table in front of the "Alpha".

"There. Its a list of species for yous tae be huntin the now which are not sentient, and might still kill you. And its to ALL the gods I'd be praying to that one of them does. Anyways..."

The Hunters mostly ignored his added commentary as they took up the padd. Meanwhile, he stole another glance at the Tosk and spoke up as a plan formulated in his head.  "Also, the doctors have told me that she needs to go to sickbay and get checked out...." he said cooly, indicating the Tosk with a nod. "... on account of what moving the station might do to her baby. Gravitational pull and whatnot. It's all really scientific stuff which I don't know about, and which you piss-ants wouldn't be understanding either so."

The Alpha stood up and towered over the ancient child. "Fine." he growled. "But know that if you try to help this Tosk escape, YOU will take her place."

Kyan craned his neck, peering up at the Alpha with as innocent a smile as he was capable of. "You'd nae be wantin that boyo." he replied cheerfully. "Nor would yous be the first grups to be tryin either."

Alpha gave nothing more than a smirk as he returned to his chair. Kyan walked over to the Tosk and offered his hand. "Come with me now please." he asked. "We'll go to sickbay and get you sorted for the station move."

She took his hand and together they left the Conference room as the Hunters pored over the list of potential prey species on the padd.

Of course the Doctors hadn't asked about her at all, but neither was Kyan planning....YET... to help her effect an escape. But he WAS planning to find her a chair, and get her away from the Alpha and the rest of his crew for a while. And he'd done so without causing an incident. Kirok would be proud, they boy thought as they entered the turbolift. Of course, now that they were out of earshot... if the topic of escape DID come up....

[Kirok]

[Outside Ready Room - Zex]

"This is the first I am hearing of it as well" the Deltan said in reference to to the newly arriving civilian scientist.  "Falleg was likely in the know" she added with a shrug.   "Sure, I can get the shuttle ready" the Deltan said to Sirol.

[Ready Room]

Kirok waited for all the dismissed people to leave.  He stood and walked to the monitor in the room and pulled up the information about Meridian.  Then he addressed Mr Jyur again.

"To catch you us, Meridian use to have an issue to phasing in an out of our universe.  About 28 years ago, members of DS9 helped them modify something on their planet to prevent them from phasing away.  According to the Hunters, this interfered with the length of time the snake would stay in the sky.  What I need from you is a deep dive into any communications from the Meridian over the past 30 years indicating any knowledge to their connection to their phasing and the arrival of the big snake.  Knowing if they were aware of this connection before talking with them will give us a bit of leverage in the upcoming discussion" the Captain said.

Then he tuned to Eli.  He nodded.  Agreeing with the man.

"Good planning, Mr. Ferris" Kirok said in regard to the shuttles on standby.  "The gravity plating does make sense in regard to helping to keep things from moving about.  It is a good plan, but perhaps we could use focused force fields to further limit the extent of the damage?" he asked, piggy backing on Eli's idea.

While he waited for a reply, he tapped his combadge.  -//Kirok to Mr. Mackenzie.  Please report to the Ready Room\\- he said over the link.

[Xasik]

< Katra Station /  OCC/Turbolift >

Once more looking at Zex, Sirol closed her holographic interface again and folded her arms behind her back.

The doors of the turbolift they had been waiting for hissed open, yet - for now - Sirol's main focus still rested on Zex, thus her not immediately spotting the newcomer.
"œ...The last civilian specialist I had to work with tended to pride himself with how many loopholes he could find within Starfleet regulations; constantly eating at work, occupying my lab, being late and forgetting to log out of his terminals after every. Single. Shift..."
ch'Talvin had certainly been a talented scripter, but the high maintenance of his person had outweighed his usefulness"¦
"œ...I hope Freeman will be"¦ More useful..."

As she sensed a wave of"¦ Anxiety"¦ Almost even panic flooding the OCC like a painful burst of sunlight, she stopped her small talk. With all the people in the OCC, she assumed that it might be the Uropygi  in her arms being scared in the same manner Erika had been on the Med Bay, so her wrapped arms around it instinctively tightened a little in a protective manner.
No worries, you will be safe, little hero. She mused; spoke without words.

Eventually looking at the open lift doors she spotted a Reman with plenty of luggage.
"œAt ease." She just spoke in a cool tone, giving him a casual nod and then heading for the lift - once more looking at Zex, intending to continue their original conversation.
"œ...After we picked up the new specialist, I will need to make a few calls, but afterwards, could you take care that the shuttlecraft will be sufficiently equipped and prepared while I assess the available probes?"

[Katra Station | Turbolift]

As the turbolift doors opened Xasik came face to face with two people about to step in. He heard his name mentioned in a way that he found highly insulting. Apparently they didn't think very highly of civilian specialists, or at least the previous one. He hoped his work would speak for itself because he knew his social skills could be considered lacking. He had been told more than once that the way he held himself was intimidating.
He hadn't meant to, but at the sight of the Romulan he squared his shoulders and puffed his chest. It was entirely instinctual, something that had developed after he grasped his freedom. Years of suffering oppression had turned into aggression. It was a hard instinct to suppress.
Standing as tall as possible he stared the two down, trying his best to hide the wave of anxiety threatening to overwhelm him. He was surprised to see the Romulan holding some kind of creature protectively in her arms. He tried not to let it show.

"œI am Freeman. Geologist, palaeontologist and new to Katra Station," he said a little defensively as he introduced himself. The Romulan's cool tone towards him had him on edge as she told him to be at ease. He made sure his back was facing the wall of the turbolift wall to protect the egg in the stasis chamber on his back. If indeed he was the Freeman they were talking about like he believed he was then this turbolift was about to feel crowded. He was not a fan of the thought.

[Schatzi Jyur]

[Outside Ready Room - Zex]

"This is the first I am hearing of it as well" the Deltan said in reference to to the newly arriving civilian scientist.  "Falleg was likely in the know" she added with a shrug.   "Sure, I can get the shuttle ready" the Deltan said to Sirol.

[Ready Room]

Kirok waited for all the dismissed people to leave.  He stood and walked to the monitor in the room and pulled up the information about Meridian.  Then he addressed Mr Jyur again.

"To catch you us, Meridian use to have an issue to phasing in an out of our universe.  About 28 years ago, members of DS9 helped them modify something on their planet to prevent them from phasing away.  According to the Hunters, this interfered with the length of time the snake would stay in the sky.  What I need from you is a deep dive into any communications from the Meridian over the past 30 years indicating any knowledge to their connection to their phasing and the arrival of the big snake.  Knowing if they were aware of this connection before talking with them will give us a bit of leverage in the upcoming discussion" the Captain said.

Then he tuned to Eli.  He nodded.  Agreeing with the man.

"Good planning, Mr. Ferris" Kirok said in regard to the shuttles on standby.  "The gravity plating does make sense in regard to helping to keep things from moving about.  It is a good plan, but perhaps we could use focused force fields to further limit the extent of the damage?" he asked, piggy backing on Eli's idea.

While he waited for a reply, he tapped his combadge.  -//Kirok to Mr. Mackenzie.  Please report to the Ready Room\\- he said over the link.

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

Schatzi nodded, as Kirok gave him his assignment for this mission. It seemed simple enough - look over some data and report back to him, right? Nothing he couldn't handle. He could easily do that from within his office, and hopefully get it done quickly. "Aye, sir. And I presume I will be joining you once you do speak to the Meridians?" If so, he would just come directly back when he was done with his work.

"And what of the Hunters right now? Do you need any assistance with them now, or shall I begin my work?" Zero would wait a beat for the main to respond, in case he had any other information or assignments. If dismissed, he would take one last scan of those in the ready room, before heading down to his office.

[Kirok]

[Bridge - USS Seleya]

"We are coming into range now, Sir.  The M class planet is the the first one in this sector.  Closed to the worm hole" the hologram at navigation called out.

[EQ]

The XB looked up and was the planet it front of them.  "Ready to divert power to scanners.  Sir" EQ added.

[Gideon Drake]

Eli had paused a moment, as others shared their options. He was a man who had come to second guess himself at every opportunity, but the use of auxillary craft and probe suggestions was right in line with his mindset.

"Captain, I have multiple ships standing by to be launched. I do believe we might be able to utilize the gravity plating of the station to serve as a modified anti-grav sled to maybe reduce the mass. However, I have no idea if the systems could sustain the strain, which is why the aux craft would be able to push it along."

[Katra Station | OCC]

Serena had sketched a brief bow to Kirok, made collegial nods to everyone else and exited. Against her instincts, she couldn't grab Gideon by the hand and lead him out, much as she wanted to. Reentering the OCC, Sirol entered the turbolift a few moments before Serena could have a chance to talk to her. Shrugging, she remembered she had to run simulations on the shuttlecraft and the station's structure. Walking over to the Engineering console, she chuckled briefly to herself. "Every time I'm here, something gets me out of my seat within 5 minutes. What's going to get me out of my seat now?"

[Ensign Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Ready Room >- OOC | Deck One | Katra Station]

Griff looked over at Lieutenant Ferris and smiled. Auxilury craft ready to launch? Brilliant! And then his suggestion of the anti-grav plating...brilliant!

"That's brilliant, leftenant," he said. "That could work. And all that craft will definitely help. Just let me know which one to man, sir, I'll be ready for it."

Seeing he was dismissed, he accompanied Serena to the OOC, and noticing her standing. He remembered her condition with the shuttlecraft and had a thought.

"Serena...Ensign King," he said, correcting himself, being on duty, "what do you think to running simulations for the craft in the holosuites, so we can get a good idea of what we might be dealing with?"

[Serena King]

[Ensign Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Ready Room >- OOC | Deck One | Katra Station]

Griff looked over at Lieutenant Ferris and smiled. Auxilury craft ready to launch? Brilliant! And then his suggestion of the anti-grav plating...brilliant!

"That's brilliant, leftenant," he said. "That could work. And all that craft will definitely help. Just let me know which one to man, sir, I'll be ready for it."

Seeing he was dismissed, he accompanied Serena to the OOC, and noticing her standing. He remembered her condition with the shuttlecraft and had a thought.

"Serena...Ensign King," he said, correcting himself, being on duty, "what do you think to running simulations for the craft in the holosuites, so we can get a good idea of what we might be dealing with?"

[Katra Station | Ready Room]

Back in the OCC, Serena had nodded abstractly at Gideon, until the words hit her gravity plating. With a flinch, she realised it was part of the answer. She had grabbed his wrist and kissed him on the cheek and led him back. Yes, it went against their rules about public interactions, but this was important.

"Done." Serena reentered the Ready Room. She nodded respectfully at Eli. "The problem is practicality. We want to have the least disruption of station life as we can without shutting everything down and life continues as normal. Classes, everything. But we can use the idea for stopping. On stop, we beam almost everyone off and turn off all gravity. The gravity is slowly turned back on and everything settles back into place. In fact, the only person that needs to remain aboard is... me. Ensign Riss can be my backup on Seleya to keep an eye on things. and we'd have transporter rooms with rapid reaction type damage control teams ready."

She gestured grandly. "It actually works better. We can get everyone off. I get in a pair of gravity boots and we can be done much faster in stopping than would be done brute force wise. Yes, evacuation and re-embarking everyone might take a few hours, but that's easy enough to do."

[Gideon Drake]

[Katra Station | Ready Room]

Back in the OCC, Serena had nodded abstractly at Gideon, until the words hit her gravity plating. With a flinch, she realised it was part of the answer. She had grabbed his wrist and kissed him on the cheek and led him back. Yes, it went against their rules about public interactions, but this was important.

"Done." Serena reentered the Ready Room. She nodded respectfully at Eli. "The problem is practicality. We want to have the least disruption of station life as we can without shutting everything down and life continues as normal. Classes, everything. But we can use the idea for stopping. On stop, we beam almost everyone off and turn off all gravity. The gravity is slowly turned back on and everything settles back into place. In fact, the only person that needs to remain aboard is... me. Ensign Riss can be my backup on Seleya to keep an eye on things. and we'd have transporter rooms with rapid reaction type damage control teams ready."

She gestured grandly. "It actually works better. We can get everyone off. I get in a pair of gravity boots and we can be done much faster in stopping than would be done brute force wise. Yes, evacuation and re-embarking everyone might take a few hours, but that's easy enough to do."

[Ensign Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | OOC >- Ready Room | Deck One | Katra Station]

Griff was taken by surprise by Serena's kiss on the cheek, but he knew it was a big compliment. It was a way of saying "you genius. Brilliant!" And before he knew it, he was dragged back to the Ready Room, dragged back by Serena.

Upon getting in, he shrugged apologetically to Captain Kirok and Lieutenant Ferris. But what he heard next from Serena absolutely made him gobsmacked.

You brilliant girl, he thought to himself with a smile.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: Katra Station | Infirmary ::

Kyan led the Tosk into the pit of horrors by the hand, making sure to keep a keen lookout in case any of Xiiv's blue shirted henchmen jumped at him with one of their hypo sprays... or a padd with orders for him to get a checkup. Honestly he didn't want to bring her here, for his own reasons, but this was the most legitimate place for him to have taken her. What with her being pregnant and all. And he knew that they could figure something out. Pregnant females had to see doctors all the time anyway. Scanning the room, he saw a blue shirted crewman and motioned him over.

"Hi." he offered casually. "This one's got a baby in her the now, and she needs to be checked up to make sure its ok. You know, all that medical stuff.. for when we move the station in a little while. ALSO... she's not tae be let go back with those Hunters until you hear it from me."

The crewman, a Human male of about 20 years nodded, but looked a little confused. "Umm.. is she under arrest or something?"

"And if she were, she'd be a holding cell the now wouldn't she? Ya daft arse baby grup. Just do the scans and tests and what not. And if anyone asks, it's all neccesary... fer the baby so it is. Even Kirok. Tell him you're medical and she's yer patient and yous ain't lettin her go. I know theres a regulation on it, I seen doctors do it before.

"Umm... aye...sir?"

"Yup. You got it so ye have. Good job." As he was about to continue, his com badge chirped.

While he waited for a reply, he tapped his combadge.  -//Kirok to Mr. Mackenzie.  Please report to the Ready Room\\- he said over the link.

"Ahh, there's the man himself himself. Now I can leave and dinnae hafta stay here." Kyan couldn't suppress a grin as he tapped the delta and replied.

On me way boss, Mackenzie out.

As he turned to leave, he stopped and turned back to the crewman. "Oh... and make sure she gets a nice comfortable chair to sit in. And something to eat too. Whatever she's after askin for, you go get it."

"Aye sir." the crewman replied, still unsure of what was going on.

"Good. See ya!"

:: Katra Station | OOC ::

Five minutes later, Kyan was standing in front of the ready room door. He pressed the chime and once he was acknowledged, he walked in. Kirok was still there, with someone new who looked familiar but Kyan couldn't place him.

"Heya Captain." offered as greeting. "I gave that list of species to the Hunters, sure and they're in there drooling all over it right now the creatures. What can I be doin for ya the now?"

[Hrafn Falleg]

[Seleya, bridge]

Kyle turned to face the Engineering station. "Good catch, Ensign." he began just as sparks began flying and he watch in slow motion as the the engineering officer reached over to push another out of the way with fast, (no pun intended) cat like speed but not before he was hit in the face. "MEDICAL!" Kyle called as he jumped up. As the doctor moved to attend to the wounded officer, Kyle turned back to the Caitian. "Stay on top of any other faulty issues and repair them as quickly as possible. Call for as much help as you need from your department."

He walked over to the injured man. "How's he look, Doctor?" he asked.

With the Medical staff taking care of the injured, Kyle turned his attention back to the others on the Bridge.

He couldn't help but to grin at Hfran. He'd forgotten how excited she got over science stuff. "You'll get a chance. I promise. Like I said, we'll just all all the kinks workout first and then you can go have fun."

[Bridge - Seleya]

"I'll forgive ya then, cuz those in my department will want to get their teeth into this too potentially and far from I to deny them that privilege!" Hrafn said with an echoing grin.

Rinaya nodded politely to the officers. "œPleased to meet you." She said as she replaced the access panel and stood, checking to make sure the console wouldn't cause any more problems.

Ears pricked for any audible variances, she approached the science station and gave it a quick once-over. "œDoesn't seem to be anything wrong. That light is just letting us know that something happened to another station." She said, nodding to the one that just put on the little light show. "œNothing to worry about." She tapped a few more commands in and the blinking ceased, leaving the console as it was before. Before stepping back to her own station, she turned back to the science officer. "And dinner sometime would be lovely, thanks. I look forward to it." She grinned a sharp-toothed grin again, warmed by the welcoming atmosphere of the crew. She was going to like her post here, she thought.

"On it." She acknowledged, nodding curtly as she pulled up the most recent reports of the Seleya's systems. Several more blown relays, but again, nothing critical, and no serious damage done. She remotely shut down power to the effected areas and notified main engineering via the console and they confirmed what she'd seen. Looked like repair crews were already being sent out, too.

"I'm alright. Nothing here but some singed hair." Rinaya said, brushing some of the slightly burnt fuzz from her cheek. "Thanks, though." She offered the CMO a grateful nod before her assessment of the Seleya's apparent technical hiccup.

If she remembered the schematics she'd looked over, there was a supplies locker down the corridor that should have some spare relays, as the parts were common enough throughout all starships that a few could be found in just about any store room. She excused herself briefly to retrieve the needed parts, then returned and got to work in earnest on the damaged console.

"I figured it was either major or nothing..." Hrafn said to Rinaya.  "...Normally the case in my experience with Engineering, however, and I'll tell you another time, but last time I tried fixing something on a console on a Bridge I walked with a limp for around 18 years as I fractured my patella and since we were in the middle of a battle I couldn't get it seen to for several days, by which time I'd started to heal... incorrectly.  I only had the kneecap replaced last year!"

She chuckled.  "Needless to say, I tend to let those qualified do that job now, but... in the case of a light show, I can run other tests to see if the lights in question pan out or if it's a false reading, that's just a scientific failsafe!  And Science as Lt. Cmdr Briggs there will tell you, is something I can do!  Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, 'Mother Hen' mode enabled as the smell of burnt fur hit her nostrils.

[Bridge - USS Seleya]

"We are coming into range now, Sir.  The M class planet is the the first one in this sector.  Closed to the worm hole" the hologram at navigation called out.

[EQ]

The XB looked up and was the planet it front of them.  "Ready to divert power to scanners.  Sir" EQ added.

She sat up a little straighter in her seat as EQ announced that they were approaching the planet.  While she had, for now, been vetoed from actually going down there she really wanted to see the results of any scans and was eager to see what they brought up.

[Kirok]

[Ready Room]

Kirok nodded.  "Yes.  I need you on the call with the Meridians.  Specifically I need you to be aware of their body language.  Tell me if they are attempting to deceive us when they talk to us bout the big snake.  After we finish with the Meridians, we will go talk to the Hunters again" he said to Jyur.

Kirok turned to King.  The idea seemed clear, but the Captain did not find it acceptable to abandoned her on the station alone.  "Proceed with the plan, but I will remain on the station with us.  So a minimum of two pairs of gravity boots will be needed" he replied.

Kyan returned, but had been gone longer than expected.  Kirok studied the man for a moment before speaking.  'Curious' he thought but continued on.

"We need any intelligence you may have regarding the Hunters.  We know they were aligned with the old Dominion.  We know that they genetically engineer the Tosk.  But that information is outdated and Alpha's shift to allow the Tosk to procreate indicates to me that their ability to engineer the Tosk is not as effective as it used to be.  Otherwise they would not be so desperate for us to move the station.  Could it be that their relationship with their old alliance has changed possibly causing a shortage in engineering supplies they need to create the Tosk?" the Captain asked.

[Schatzi Jyur]

[Ready Room]

Kirok nodded.  "Yes.  I need you on the call with the Meridians.  Specifically I need you to be aware of their body language.  Tell me if they are attempting to deceive us when they talk to us bout the big snake.  After we finish with the Meridians, we will go talk to the Hunters again" he said to Jyur.

Kirok turned to King.  The idea seemed clear, but the Captain did not find it acceptable to abandoned her on the station alone.  "Proceed with the plan, but I will remain on the station with us.  So a minimum of two pairs of gravity boots will be needed" he replied.

Kyan returned, but had been gone longer than expected.  Kirok studied the man for a moment before speaking.  'Curious' he thought but continued on.

"We need any intelligence you may have regarding the Hunters.  We know they were aligned with the old Dominion.  We know that they genetically engineer the Tosk.  But that information is outdated and Alpha's shift to allow the Tosk to procreate indicates to me that their ability to engineer the Tosk is not as effective as it used to be.  Otherwise they would not be so desperate for us to move the station.  Could it be that their relationship with their old alliance has changed possibly causing a shortage in engineering supplies they need to create the Tosk?" the Captain asked.

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

Schatzi nodded as Kirok spoke, rising from his seated position. It was a simple enough task for the man - more than he actually expected to be given on his first day. He had geared up to be swamped with paperwork, and familiarizing himself with the crew. Well - now he could familiarize himself with the crew, but not impersonally by reading their files. He could actually get in on the action and see how they behaved in hands-on work.
Perhaps he could even spot the first helpless victim he would order in for a psych eval...
"Aye aye, Cap'n," he shot Kirok a goofy grin. "I'll get that right back to you as soon as I can."

Still unsure if he was dismissed, he stood for a moment, awaiting reply, before heading towards the door. Every head in the room turned though, as a young, familiar face returned. Shooting the man a smile as he brushed past him, he offered a friendly "Hey, Officer Mackenzie."

Heading back towards his officer, Zero mulled over the people he had met so far. They were certainly interesting, and sadly he couldn't get too much of an impression of them. It was too soon. Perhaps a Holodeck program was in order...

[Counsellor's Office --> A Couple Hours Later...]

Taking a seat, Zero pulled out a PADD and set to work. It was relatively light work, just the sheer quantity made it take hours. Mulling over all the details over the past 30 years took him quite some time. When he finished though, he quickly organized his notes, downloaded them from his PADD to his computer, and sent them off to Kirok, along with a quick message.

This is all that I've gathered for information over the past 30 years. The Meridians seemed to be aware of the phenomenon, but I haven't found a scrap of evidence that they thought they had a connection to it. For the majority of these 30 years, they lived on the Southern hemisphere on their planet, which consistently ended up on the wrong side of their rotation. They couldn't view the 'snake' from where they resided. Their time in real space was only 12 days, the last time they were supposed to be here 28 years ago. All in all I don't see anything that would indicate guilt, or even knowledge of the predicament.

Sending the message off, Zero leaned back in his chair and exhaled loudly. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes for a moment, intending on having just a short rest until he got a response.. And found himself quickly dozing off, until a sharp beep! roused him. Quickly checking his mail, he saw it was a message, not from Kirok, but from Jettis. A small smile graced his lip, turning and glancing at the photo on his desk. A picture of him and Jettis as children - twelve, he believed. Zero was making a ridiculous face, and clinging onto Jettis' neck, while Jettis stared sheepishly into the camera, smiling. Swivelling back, he opened the email  to read its contents, and resolved to shoot back a quick message when he was out of work. Closing that tab, he set to work on sifting through crew report files to pass the time.

[Kirok]

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

Schatzi nodded as Kirok spoke, rising from his seated position. It was a simple enough task for the man - more than he actually expected to be given on his first day. He had geared up to be swamped with paperwork, and familiarizing himself with the crew. Well - now he could familiarize himself with the crew, but not impersonally by reading their files. He could actually get in on the action and see how they behaved in hands-on work.
Perhaps he could even spot the first helpless victim he would order in for a psych eval...
"Aye aye, Cap'n," he shot Kirok a goofy grin. "I'll get that right back to you as soon as I can."

Still unsure if he was dismissed, he stood for a moment, awaiting reply, before heading towards the door. Every head in the room turned though, as a young, familiar face returned. Shooting the man a smile as he brushed past him, he offered a friendly "Hey, Officer Mackenzie."

Heading back towards his officer, Zero mulled over the people he had met so far. They were certainly interesting, and sadly he couldn't get too much of an impression of them. It was too soon. Perhaps a Holodeck program was in order...

[Counsellor's Office --> A Couple Hours Later...]

Taking a seat, Zero pulled out a PADD and set to work. It was relatively light work, just the sheer quantity made it take hours. Mulling over all the details over the past 30 years took him quite some time. When he finished though, he quickly organized his notes, downloaded them from his PADD to his computer, and sent them off to Kirok, along with a quick message.

This is all that I've gathered for information over the past 30 years. The Meridians seemed to be aware of the phenomenon, but I haven't found a scrap of evidence that they thought they had a connection to it. For the majority of these 30 years, they lived on the Southern hemisphere on their planet, which consistently ended up on the wrong side of their rotation. They couldn't view the 'snake' from where they resided. Their time in real space was only 12 days, the last time they were supposed to be here 28 years ago. All in all I don't see anything that would indicate guilt, or even knowledge of the predicament.

Sending the message off, Zero leaned back in his chair and exhaled loudly. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes for a moment, intending on having just a short rest until he got a response.. And found himself quickly dozing off, until a sharp beep! roused him. Quickly checking his mail, he saw it was a message, not from Kirok, but from Jettis. A small smile graced his lip, turning and glancing at the photo on his desk. A picture of him and Jettis as children - twelve, he believed. Zero was making a ridiculous face, and clinging onto Jettis' neck, while Jettis stared sheepishly into the camera, smiling. Swivelling back, he opened the email  to read its contents, and resolved to shoot back a quick message when he was out of work. Closing that tab, he set to work on sifting through crew report files to pass the time.

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

"Thank you, Mr. Jyur.  You are dismissed" Kirok replied.  He offered the man a nod.  Then turned back to Kyan and Eli.

"Our new Chief Overseer Hanthar from Karemma may be a good source of information.   The new Kai, as well.  Perhaps you could check with them?" Kiork suggested to Kyan.

[Eli Ferris]

Lt. Eli Ferris|[Katra Station - Ready Room]

Kirok waited for all the dismissed people to leave.  He stood and walked to the monitor in the room and pulled up the information about Meridian.  Then he addressed Mr Jyur again.

"To catch you us, Meridian use to have an issue to phasing in an out of our universe.  About 28 years ago, members of DS9 helped them modify something on their planet to prevent them from phasing away.  According to the Hunters, this interfered with the length of time the snake would stay in the sky.  What I need from you is a deep dive into any communications from the Meridian over the past 30 years indicating any knowledge to their connection to their phasing and the arrival of the big snake.  Knowing if they were aware of this connection before talking with them will give us a bit of leverage in the upcoming discussion" the Captain said.

Then he tuned to Eli.  He nodded.  Agreeing with the man.

"Good planning, Mr. Ferris" Kirok said in regard to the shuttles on standby.  "The gravity plating does make sense in regard to helping to keep things from moving about.  It is a good plan, but perhaps we could use focused force fields to further limit the extent of the damage?" he asked, piggy backing on Eli's idea.

While he waited for a reply, he tapped his combadge.  -//Kirok to Mr. Mackenzie.  Please report to the Ready Room\\- he said over the link.

"Agreed, sir. The more systems we can devote to this the better. The structural integrity field may be beneficial in this effort as well. If necessary, we can engage security protocols and lock down individual sections behind forcefields. All staff should be at stations during this move." Eli was adding his notes to his PADD to keep it sorted himself.

[Ensign Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Ready Room >- OOC | Deck One | Katra Station]

Griff looked over at Lieutenant Ferris and smiled. Auxilury craft ready to launch? Brilliant! And then his suggestion of the anti-grav plating...brilliant!

"That's brilliant, leftenant," he said. "That could work. And all that craft will definitely help. Just let me know which one to man, sir, I'll be ready for it."

Seeing he was dismissed, he accompanied Serena to the OOC, and noticing her standing. He remembered her condition with the shuttlecraft and had a thought.

"Serena...Ensign King," he said, correcting himself, being on duty, "what do you think to running simulations for the craft in the holosuites, so we can get a good idea of what we might be dealing with?"

"Thank you, Ensign." Eli was not one to take compliments but the eager junior officer was appreciated, if for his enthusiasm if nothing else.

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

"Thank you, Mr. Jyur.  You are dismissed" Kirok replied.  He offered the man a nod.  Then turned back to Kyan and Eli.

"Our new Chief Overseer Hanthar from Karemma may be a good source of information.   The new Kai, as well.  Perhaps you could check with them?" Kiork suggested to Kyan.

"Captain, I would also like to volunteer to remain on the ship. I have all auxiliary shuttles ready, and my staff will be briefed on the parameters. I believe Mr. Drake's understanding will support that."

[Bridge - Seleya]

"I'll forgive ya then, cuz those in my department will want to get their teeth into this too potentially and far from I to deny them that privilege!" Hrafn said with an echoing grin.

"I figured it was either major or nothing..." Hrafn said to Rinaya.  "...Normally the case in my experience with Engineering, however, and I'll tell you another time, but last time I tried fixing something on a console on a Bridge I walked with a limp for around 18 years as I fractured my patella and since we were in the middle of a battle I couldn't get it seen to for several days, by which time I'd started to heal... incorrectly.  I only had the kneecap replaced last year!"

She chuckled.  "Needless to say, I tend to let those qualified do that job now, but... in the case of a light show, I can run other tests to see if the lights in question pan out or if it's a false reading, that's just a scientific failsafe!  And Science as Lt. Cmdr Briggs there will tell you, is something I can do!  Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, 'Mother Hen' mode enabled as the smell of burnt fur hit her nostrils.

She sat up a little straighter in her seat as EQ announced that they were approaching the planet.  While she had, for now, been vetoed from actually going down there she really wanted to see the results of any scans and was eager to see what they brought up.

NPC Post: Ensign Jessica Stewart: Helm-USS Seleya

"Preparing for standard orbit, sir." Despite the explosion, she was a bit nonpulsed by it. Stopping the ship seemed unnecessary, with the helm still responding to commands.

[Kirok]

[Katra Station - Ready Room]

Eli was known to be a quiet man.  But intelligent.  He had much to add to the discussion.

"Good ideas.  Proceed with implementing them and coordinate with King, please.  And of course you can stay on the station" Kirok replied.