The Big Snake...

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: OOC | Katra Station ::

Kyan generally tried to stay off the "bridge" of the station as much as it was possible. There was a dedicated security office where he could do most of his work, which suited him better. But today he'd come up to run some diagnostics on the shield generators and weapons systems for the move. And it was fortunate indeed that he'd chosen this time to do it. No only did he get to witness Hrafn go off on the Captain, which was pretty amusing, but he also got a glimpse of the new Romulan crew member, which the Admiral at SFI had mentioned in his last Intel brief.

He wasn't on any "official" watch list, but the Admiral had said that he was worth keeping an eye on, so Kyan made a note to do just that. He then swiveled in his chair to face Serena.

"Hey." he called out. "All the security folks are standin by to be helping people get to where they need to go, and to make sure theres no stragglers the now. So's we're ready as we'll be gettin now on that end."

[Eli Ferris]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Serena looked up, pulled her head out of her hands. "Lieutenant Ferris." She greeted as she absorbed his words, then tapped a commline open: "Spalding, Gardner, Zhai, Rahman, report to main shuttlebay. Spalding, you're with Flight Leader."

She looked over at Gideon, who had been unnoticed at the FCO console. "PO1 Spalding's one of the best. She turned down Chief Petty Officer and her own team to stay with Katra. You're also both redheads, just don't get up to any mischief!" She paused to wink in Gideon's direction before turning back to Eli: "I'd strongly recommend, sir, that you have all other flight crews ready and prepped. They don't have to be on hot standby, just make sure everything else is ready to go."

"I have them all prepped and ready. They have been drilled thoroughly in each craft. Mr. Drake, you are familiar with. Ensign Stewart has been overseeing the Seleya break in, and will be on the Beta wing lead in one of the scouts. That should give us plenty of eyes out there."

He glanced at Drake. "Ah, good morning. Here is the PADD and the majority of the Flight staff are on deck. Let me know when prepped and ready."

[Lieutenant JG Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Ops | Deck One | Katra Station]

Griff was just about bored enough. He had just decided, Sod it, I'll just man either the Tigris, or just the scoutship I brought from Earth, the Squall, and I'll just stand by for orders...then Lieutenant Ferris arrived to give Griff an assignment.

"About bloody time," he muttered to himself, then said a little louder, "Yes, sir. Absolutely, Leftenant, sir!" As he made his way to the shuttle bay, Serena stopped him and informed him of the team to meet him there, led by an apparently ginger petty officer.

"Ta," he said. "What mischief? It's nice to meet another ginger fellow."

[PO1 Samantha Spalding | Main Shuttlebay | Docking Saucer | Katra Station]

Samantha reported as ordered to the shuttlebay, per Lieutenant King's orders. Gardner, Zhai and Rahman reported with her. She was glad to still be with this bunch. She turned down being Chief Petty Officer on a new ship, especially when that ship was around for the battle with the Wanderers, because she couldn't bear leaving her old team and her old post. Besides, a huge ship like the Tempest, she was more used to a floating city like Katra than a practical city/fortress like the Tempest.

She was beginning to wonder when their pilot was going to arrive when she heard a "What ho, what ho!" She whirled around and saw an exceptionally handsome redhead...almost exactly like her hair. Almost.

"Leftenant...junior grade...Gideon Drake, mum," he said, pronouncing his "ma'am" as "mum" in British way. "So Leftenant King sent the lot of you down here, eh?"

"Reporting as ordered, sir," Samantha replied. "And...I'm no 'mum,'" she added with a smile. "I'm not even a mother."

"True, lower rank," Griff replied. "Right, get yourselves over to this one, I'm coordinating things as Alpha Flight Leader, you'll be the crew for this," he added, gesturing to a scoutship nearby.

Griff had to admit, it had been a while since he had flown the Squall. Not since he had flown it all the way from Earth, since he picked up Captain Kirok and Commander Briggs and brought the new Captain and First Officer to Katra. He had been assigned a runabout, typical for use of the usual flight assignments. Griff resolved not to use the Squall except in emergencies and in cases of combat, given the Squall can kick arse as well as fly circles. Undoubtedly, he could probably fly circles around the new starship, the Seleya. Today, with this new threat coming at any time, likely, and the chance of evacuations, Griff felt a distinguishable auxilury craft was needed to lead the way.

"Uh, sir," one of the other Engineers, Zhai, responded, "We've been assigned to some King Cobras over there," and he pointed to indicate. Griff noticed them...they probably won't be safe in those little buggers, but on the other hand, the more the merrier. Griff nodded in affirmation and then headed for the Squall.

NPC Post: Ensign Jessica Stewart: Flight Control Officer

Jess noticed Drake coming in, finally feeling like stuff was getting done. Eli was a freaking worrying mother hen over the details and it drove her nuts. Drake was a pilot through and through so she knew he would be eager to go.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Ready to take a flight in the King?" She said pointed at the King Cobra. "It's a modified patrol ship that the LT reworked to suit our needs. Small but tough with some tricks up its sleeves."

[Serena King]

"I have them all prepped and ready. They have been drilled thoroughly in each craft. Mr. Drake, you are familiar with. Ensign Stewart has been overseeing the Seleya break in, and will be on the Beta wing lead in one of the scouts. That should give us plenty of eyes out there."

He glanced at Drake. "Ah, good morning. Here is the PADD and the majority of the Flight staff are on deck. Let me know when prepped and ready."

NPC Post: Ensign Jessica Stewart: Flight Control Officer

Jess noticed Drake coming in, finally feeling like stuff was getting done. Eli was a freaking worrying mother hen over the details and it drove her nuts. Drake was a pilot through and through so she knew he would be eager to go.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Ready to take a flight in the King?" She said pointed at the King Cobra. "It's a modified patrol ship that the LT reworked to suit our needs. Small but tough with some tricks up its sleeves."

:: OOC | Katra Station ::

Kyan generally tried to stay off the "bridge" of the station as much as it was possible. There was a dedicated security office where he could do most of his work, which suited him better. But today he'd come up to run some diagnostics on the shield generators and weapons systems for the move. And it was fortunate indeed that he'd chosen this time to do it. No only did he get to witness Hrafn go off on the Captain, which was pretty amusing, but he also got a glimpse of the new Romulan crew member, which the Admiral at SFI had mentioned in his last Intel brief.

He wasn't on any "official" watch list, but the Admiral had said that he was worth keeping an eye on, so Kyan made a note to do just that. He then swiveled in his chair to face Serena.

"Hey." he called out. "All the security folks are standin by to be helping people get to where they need to go, and to make sure theres no stragglers the now. So's we're ready as we'll be gettin now on that end."

[Katra Station | OCC]

Serena nodded at Lieutenant Kyan and she couldn't help but smile. His eyes seemed to have an ageless wisdom... Mixed with irreverent humour. She also resisted the urge to pet him on the head or tuck him into bed at night. He was a Starfleet full Lieutenant, after all. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Can I request that when we move, have some security personnel with each of my reaction teams? Knowing them they'd never leave their assigned posts unless someone from security drags them off. Also, the extra pair of hands to go to a different panel and make changes would make reaction times better."

To Eli, she acknowledged him, then stepped forward slightly and lowered her voice a fair bit: "With a lot more of the auxiliary craft with us... Do we have enough to support the Starlifter's mission? But also if worse comes to worse... Do we have any contingency to evacuate the Starlifter as well and move them out of the system if it came down to it?"

[Kirok]

[Captain's Office]

"You best go as quickly as possible.  Beam down if you must.  Them beam your family to the shuttle.  You may not have as much times as you want, but I can give you maybe 15 minutes lead time" he said to Falleg over the howling.

Then he turned to Dillon.  "Easy, Dillon.  I know there is something coming.  You have done your job of warning me.  Now trust me to move us away from whatever danger you are sensing" the half Vulcan said to his canine companion.

[Katra Station | OPS - EQ]

Despite his smart remark, EQ went straight to work executing King's orders.  All over the other areas of Katra the consoles lit up.  "Please make preparations to leave the station.  Al current project are on hold after you upload your progress to the computer cores.  Thank you for your cooperation" blinked on and off each screen.

"Orders executed" he called out.  He was both Eli and Kyan come in.  "Sirs" he said to both and awaited more orders.

[Serena King]

[Captain's Office]

"You best go as quickly as possible.  Beam down if you must.  Them beam your family to the shuttle.  You may not have as much times as you want, but I can give you maybe 15 minutes lead time" he said to Falleg over the howling.

Then he turned to Dillon.  "Easy, Dillon.  I know there is something coming.  You have done your job of warning me.  Now trust me to move us away from whatever danger you are sensing" the half Vulcan said to his canine companion.

[Katra Station | OPS - EQ]

Despite his smart remark, EQ went straight to work executing King's orders.  All over the other areas of Katra the consoles lit up.  "Please make preparations to leave the station.  Al current project are on hold after you upload your progress to the computer cores.  Thank you for your cooperation" blinked on and off each screen.

"Orders executed" he called out.  He was both Eli and Kyan come in.  "Sirs" he said to both and awaited more orders.

[Katra Station | OPS]

Serena put her head in her hands again: "Nono, Crewman!" She chuckled as she walked back over: "We're not evacuating the station for the move, only for the stopping bit to reduce the risk to all personnel. But we are getting people into the station core where it's safer. That's still the plan. The plan's designed to minimize disruption to life aboard."

[Kirok]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Serena put her head in her hands again: "Nono, Crewman!" She chuckled as she walked back over: "We're not evacuating the station for the move, only for the stopping bit to reduce the risk to all personnel. But we are getting people into the station core where it's safer. That's still the plan. The plan's designed to minimize disruption to life aboard."

[Katra Station | OPS - EQ]

EQ tilted his head slightly.  Like he didn't her here right.  "Are you sure, Ma'am?

I thought the plan was to evacuate everyone.  To keep them from being harmed" he said.  Then he turned to Eli and Kyan.

It was then that the audio feed from Sirol's team could be heard on the open channel.  It sounded like a swarm of some type.  Kimball thought he remembered it though but could not remember from where.

http://free-loops.com/4335-cicadas-sound.html
[Its the first wave file on the left side 0.59 second long]

[Serena King]

[Katra Station | OPS - EQ]

EQ tilted his head slightly.  Like he didn't her here right.  "Are you sure, Ma'am?

I thought the plan was to evacuate everyone.  To keep them from being harmed" he said.  Then he turned to Eli and Kyan.

[Katra Station | OPS]

"Crewman..." Serena paused to compose herself and exercise patience: "I wrote the book on this. We have enough auxiliary craft. Moving at 0.5 metres per second is not a strain on the space frame and we wouldn't feel it at all, as long as the outer sections are evacuated and everyone relatively safe in the core. Even 1 metre per second isn't going to stress anything out. But it depends on the telemetry from Flatwoods and what Science tells us next."

Serena let out a sharp breath: "If we have time, then the move is easy. If we don't have time and the snake starts appearing sooner, then we're all-" She said some words, but the mouth movement was wrong and it rendered into English as "Broccoli."

[Hrafn Falleg]

[Captain's Office]

There is was.  The apology he needed to so that no formal action needed to be taken.  So he finally turned and faced her.

"Thank you.  I wasn't concerned with the hug.  In the future, though, I would prefer it if you would ask to speak to me in private when there are disagreements like this.

You are dismissed.  I have two things to do and then I will be right out.  You are dismissed" he said.

But before either of them could move, Dillion raised his head and sniffed the air.  He got up on all fours and walked to the window.  Then started howling.

[Captain's Office]
[Hrafn, plus NPCs Crista LePrant, James Dalton, Ujosso Cuzisht, Mary V'lur, Anth McCutcheon, Tekin Tidu, Tekin Nerys, Tekin Lamar and Transporter Chief]

"Understood, Kirok, it's better to keep things like that!" the CSO answered with a smile.

Suddenly the Captain's dog put his head up and sniffed, walked to the window and started howling.

"Dillon boy, what's out there?"  Hrafn said.  While she was more used to cats, she was an animal lover and it was quite obvious the dog had sensed something.

[Captain's Office]

"You best go as quickly as possible.  Beam down if you must.  Them beam your family to the shuttle.  You may not have as much times as you want, but I can give you maybe 15 minutes lead time" he said to Falleg over the howling.

Then he turned to Dillon.  "Easy, Dillon.  I know there is something coming.  You have done your job of warning me.  Now trust me to move us away from whatever danger you are sensing" the half Vulcan said to his canine companion.

[Katra Station | OPS - EQ]

Despite his smart remark, EQ went straight to work executing King's orders.  All over the other areas of Katra the consoles lit up.  "Please make preparations to leave the station.  Al current project are on hold after you upload your progress to the computer cores.  Thank you for your cooperation" blinked on and off each screen.

"Orders executed" he called out.  He was both Eli and Kyan come in.  "Sirs" he said to both and awaited more orders.

"Thanks, it's enough, we've had less before!" she said with a grateful nod.

Falleg to LePrant, Dalton, Cunzisht, V'lur and McCutcheon, I'm calling for a beam down to shuttlebay for you and the children, the station is being evacuated.  Ujo and Mary I'm trusting the children to you until you join up with Crista and James... and you two I'm giving you 5 mins to get some stuff together for the kids and yourselves.  Anth, all non-essential personnel are being evacuated.  While you're a valuable member of staff, and not non-essential to me I'd rather not have to answer to Daystrom later.  I'll explain more to you when I get down there.  Meet in 5 mins in Shuttlebay 1

She opened another channel as she ran into the OCC and called up to Serena, "You'll have to send any stuff to Tidu via his PADD!  Be back soon!"

Falleg to Transporter Chief.  Several beam downs requested, authorised by Captain Kirok.  Crista LePrant, James Dalton and Tekin Lamar plus 4 cats from my quarters, Mrs Ujosso Cunzisht, Mary V'lur, Tekin Tidu and Tekin Nerys from the station school and Anthony McCutcheon from wherever he is at present, and myself to Shuttlebay 1.  Thank you.

Confirming, 3 people plus 4 felines from your quarters, 4 from school, and Mr McCutcheon from... oh the Mess Hall, Ma'am

And myself.

We're ready Hrafn... Crista said on the unclosed channel.

...with the cats... confirmed James

And us... confirmed Mary V'lur from the school

Yup, do bacon sarnies transport?! Anth said on a laugh from the Mess Hall.

Executing now Ma'am... the Transporter Chief said.

[Shuttlebay 1]

6 adults, 4 children and 4 cat baskets arrived together, close to one another in the Shuttlebay, the shimmering blue lights dissipating as the shapes materialised into people or the cats.

"Right I don't have long, Captain Kirok gave me 15 mins and that's not because he was being stingy, you know what animals are like?, well Dillon started going mental howling at the window when I was having a um... chat with him just now.  He's given me 15 mins and permission to beam you all so that we have as long as we can."

Thankfully the adults were well used to Hrafn talking at 100mph so they could follow her.  She slowed down for the next part so the children could keep up.

"You're being evacuated to New Bajor, I'm going to contact Amar and Afar for you so that you can all stay there, yes all of you, they'll be more than happy to have you there.  I'll contact you as often as I can and please leave messages once you're there and whenever so I know you're safe.  I can't promise how often I will be able to answer but I'll try.  Nantie Sirol and Auntie Serena will send you some work to do if time permits.  Be good and I love you.  Crista and Uncle James have packed clothes, and a few things for you to do."

Crista and James nodded affirmation of this fact.  The Trill hybrid took a knee to be more at Lamar's level and took the cuddles of the children then stood and briefly hugged all the adults.

"What exactly is going on Hrafn?" Anth asked intrigued.

"Access the file 'Big Snake' I'll send to your PADD soon as I'm back in the OCC, that will explain better than I can in the few minutes we have.  Stay safe, chat to Nerys...she might be interested in your particular branch of science."

"I'm interested in all Science but I'll be intrigued to chat to Uncle Anth to keep him from being bored!"  Nerys said slipping a hand into Anth's and giving it a quick squeeze.  The unusually perceptive young girl realised that the Daystrom scientist felt a little out of place amongst the greater family group.

"And I'm sure Ms V'lur can teach us some things too!" Tidu said following his sister's lead and taking a hand of Mary's.

"Oh well, I'm not entirely sure what I could teach you!" Mary said mildly shocked.  "I'm grateful for you including me Mrs Falleg-Tekin, but I'm not sure why or how I've earned the distinction."

"Mary, you're family as far as I'm concerned." Ujosso cut in, "...and if you're family to me you're part of the greater Katra family and Hrafn is the mother hen, we're her chicks!  So you get included, like it or not!" The Klingon winked at Hrafn then started herding them all into the shuttle.

"Miss you already Mammy, give our love to everyone!"  Tidu said being practically pushed into the Shuttlecraft by James.

"Get them to let us know what pressies to bring back!" Nerys said.

"I'll give Amar and Afar cuddles for you Mammy!" Lamar promised.

A final kiss to the children was given and waves all around, the adults distracting the kids long enough for Hrafn to escape without them feeling that she'd left them without waving them off, already seeing the signs of their mother starting to leak around the eyes.  They managed it successfully, the CSO managing to get into the Turbolift back to the OCC before she allowed tears to fall, and the shuttlecraft being airborne before the children noticed.

[OCC Katra Station]

"Right what gives?" Hrafn said getting back into the OCC at a run.  "Everyone, the kids send their love and say to send any requests for things to fetch back from DS9 and New Bajor to their PADDs, they miss you already!" she tried to keep a bright tone in order to stop herself from feeling so depressed.

She set up her console how she wanted it and sent a quick note to her in laws to expect the influx of people to their doors for as long as it took for Katra to be safe again, then sent the 'Big Snake' package to Anth's PADD..

[Katra Station | OPS]

"Crewman..." Serena paused to compose herself and exercise patience: "I wrote the book on this. We have enough auxiliary craft. Moving at 0.5 metres per second is not a strain on the space frame and we wouldn't feel it at all, as long as the outer sections are evacuated and everyone relatively safe in the core. Even 1 metre per second isn't going to stress anything out. But it depends on the telemetry from Flatwoods and what Science tells us next."

Serena let out a sharp breath: "If we have time, then the move is easy. If we don't have time and the snake starts appearing sooner, then we're all-" She said some words, but the mouth movement was wrong and it rendered into English as "Broccoli."

"I'll know more soon as I get more info thru from the telemetry."

[Gideon Drake]

"I have them all prepped and ready. They have been drilled thoroughly in each craft. Mr. Drake, you are familiar with. Ensign Stewart has been overseeing the Seleya break in, and will be on the Beta wing lead in one of the scouts. That should give us plenty of eyes out there."

He glanced at Drake. "Ah, good morning. Here is the PADD and the majority of the Flight staff are on deck. Let me know when prepped and ready."

NPC Post: Ensign Jessica Stewart: Flight Control Officer

Jess noticed Drake coming in, finally feeling like stuff was getting done. Eli was a freaking worrying mother hen over the details and it drove her nuts. Drake was a pilot through and through so she knew he would be eager to go.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Ready to take a flight in the King?" She said pointed at the King Cobra. "It's a modified patrol ship that the LT reworked to suit our needs. Small but tough with some tricks up its sleeves."

[Lieutenant JG Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Shuttlebay | Docking Saucer | Katra Station]

Griff nodded at Lieutenant Ferris and took note of the PADDs with all the flight personnel in mind.

Down at the shuttlebay, Griff met with Ensign Stewart and noticed her indicating to the King Cobras. There was no denying the little buggers were quick and tough. Though quick is what they needed now, and the toughness had to lay in the tractor beams. At least, as far as he knew, to move the station.

Griff looked over at the old Squall when Ensign Stewart mentioned the Kings and told her, "Actually, I'll be aboard that," gesturing at the Squall. "That way, you all will know which to find. The old girl will be a lot more handy than a runabout."

With that, he boarded the Squall and prepared it for takeoff, opening comms to the other Kings in the process. He reported in, using his old Academy call sign, "Gryphon," the call sign that eventually became his nickname.

[Kirok]

[Captain's Office]
[Hrafn, plus NPCs Crista LePrant, James Dalton, Ujosso Cuzisht, Mary V'lur, Anth McCutcheon, Tekin Tidu, Tekin Nerys, Tekin Lamar and Transporter Chief]

"Understood, Kirok, it's better to keep things like that!" the CSO answered with a smile.

Suddenly the Captain's dog put his head up and sniffed, walked to the window and started howling.

"Dillon boy, what's out there?"  Hrafn said.  While she was more used to cats, she was an animal lover and it was quite obvious the dog had sensed something.

"Thanks, it's enough, we've had less before!" she said with a grateful nod.

Falleg to LePrant, Dalton, Cunzisht, V'lur and McCutcheon, I'm calling for a beam down to shuttlebay for you and the children, the station is being evacuated.  Ujo and Mary I'm trusting the children to you until you join up with Crista and James... and you two I'm giving you 5 mins to get some stuff together for the kids and yourselves.  Anth, all non-essential personnel are being evacuated.  While you're a valuable member of staff, and not non-essential to me I'd rather not have to answer to Daystrom later.  I'll explain more to you when I get down there.  Meet in 5 mins in Shuttlebay 1

She opened another channel as she ran into the OCC and called up to Serena, "You'll have to send any stuff to Tidu via his PADD!  Be back soon!"

Falleg to Transporter Chief.  Several beam downs requested, authorised by Captain Kirok.  Crista LePrant, James Dalton and Tekin Lamar plus 4 cats from my quarters, Mrs Ujosso Cunzisht, Mary V'lur, Tekin Tidu and Tekin Nerys from the station school and Anthony McCutcheon from wherever he is at present, and myself to Shuttlebay 1.  Thank you.

Confirming, 3 people plus 4 felines from your quarters, 4 from school, and Mr McCutcheon from... oh the Mess Hall, Ma'am

And myself.

We're ready Hrafn... Crista said on the unclosed channel.

...with the cats... confirmed James

And us... confirmed Mary V'lur from the school

Yup, do bacon sarnies transport?! Anth said on a laugh from the Mess Hall.

Executing now Ma'am... the Transporter Chief said.

[Shuttlebay 1]

6 adults, 4 children and 4 cat baskets arrived together, close to one another in the Shuttlebay, the shimmering blue lights dissipating as the shapes materialised into people or the cats.

"Right I don't have long, Captain Kirok gave me 15 mins and that's not because he was being stingy, you know what animals are like?, well Dillon started going mental howling at the window when I was having a um... chat with him just now.  He's given me 15 mins and permission to beam you all so that we have as long as we can."

Thankfully the adults were well used to Hrafn talking at 100mph so they could follow her.  She slowed down for the next part so the children could keep up.

"You're being evacuated to New Bajor, I'm going to contact Amar and Afar for you so that you can all stay there, yes all of you, they'll be more than happy to have you there.  I'll contact you as often as I can and please leave messages once you're there and whenever so I know you're safe.  I can't promise how often I will be able to answer but I'll try.  Nantie Sirol and Auntie Serena will send you some work to do if time permits.  Be good and I love you.  Crista and Uncle James have packed clothes, and a few things for you to do."

Crista and James nodded affirmation of this fact.  The Trill hybrid took a knee to be more at Lamar's level and took the cuddles of the children then stood and briefly hugged all the adults.

"What exactly is going on Hrafn?" Anth asked intrigued.

"Access the file 'Big Snake' I'll send to your PADD soon as I'm back in the OCC, that will explain better than I can in the few minutes we have.  Stay safe, chat to Nerys...she might be interested in your particular branch of science."

"I'm interested in all Science but I'll be intrigued to chat to Uncle Anth to keep him from being bored!"  Nerys said slipping a hand into Anth's and giving it a quick squeeze.  The unusually perceptive young girl realised that the Daystrom scientist felt a little out of place amongst the greater family group.

"And I'm sure Ms V'lur can teach us some things too!" Tidu said following his sister's lead and taking a hand of Mary's.

"Oh well, I'm not entirely sure what I could teach you!" Mary said mildly shocked.  "I'm grateful for you including me Mrs Falleg-Tekin, but I'm not sure why or how I've earned the distinction."

"Mary, you're family as far as I'm concerned." Ujosso cut in, "...and if you're family to me you're part of the greater Katra family and Hrafn is the mother hen, we're her chicks!  So you get included, like it or not!" The Klingon winked at Hrafn then started herding them all into the shuttle.

"Miss you already Mammy, give our love to everyone!"  Tidu said being practically pushed into the Shuttlecraft by James.

"Get them to let us know what pressies to bring back!" Nerys said.

"I'll give Amar and Afar cuddles for you Mammy!" Lamar promised.

A final kiss to the children was given and waves all around, the adults distracting the kids long enough for Hrafn to escape without them feeling that she'd left them without waving them off, already seeing the signs of their mother starting to leak around the eyes.  They managed it successfully, the CSO managing to get into the Turbolift back to the OCC before she allowed tears to fall, and the shuttlecraft being airborne before the children noticed.

[OCC Katra Station]

"Right what gives?" Hrafn said getting back into the OCC at a run.  "Everyone, the kids send their love and say to send any requests for things to fetch back from DS9 and New Bajor to their PADDs, they miss you already!" she tried to keep a bright tone in order to stop herself from feeling so depressed.

She set up her console how she wanted it and sent a quick note to her in laws to expect the influx of people to their doors for as long as it took for Katra to be safe again, then sent the 'Big Snake' package to Anth's PADD..

"I'll know more soon as I get more info thru from the telemetry."

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok came out of his office.  He stopped by the Ops station before walking to the central chair.  "Lower the volume, that is hurting my ears.  And if we have not yet started evacuating people.  Lets do so now" he said.

"Ms. Falleg.  I hope your children got off safety.  I you please we send some probes to Meridian so that we can study the affects, if any, on the planet.  Also, we might want Sirol and her team get some distance between the anomaly and them" he added after turning her way.

[Serena King]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok came out of his office.  He stopped by the Ops station before walking to the central chair.  "Lower the volume, that is hurting my ears.  And if we have not yet started evacuating people.  Lets do so now" he said.

"Ms. Falleg.  I hope your children got off safety.  I you please we send some probes to Meridian so that we can study the affects, if any, on the planet.  Also, we might want Sirol and her team get some distance between the anomaly and them" he added after turning her way.

[Katra Station | OPS]

"Captain, is there anything you're not telling me?"

Serena walked over to Captain Kirok and lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear: "The whole purpose of moving the station at 0.5 metres per second is so that we can leave everything as normal. Do you remember the numbers I originally floated? The Hunters said the Snake would only expand up to 150 feet. That's 45.7 metres. I mentioned it would take us six days to ten times that distance to give us a margin of error. We had twenty days until the portal opened. The problem is velocity and distance."

She winced slightly, how to explain it quickly? "I can't recall Meridian's exact distance from Trialus, but I think it's about 0.5AU or... 75 million kilometres. A Starship at full impulse of 0.25 the speed of light is... 75 million metres per second. A shuttle has a Delta-V of 15,000 m/s."

She took a shuddering breath: "Captain, you seem to have some information I don't. But if you want to move the station quickly, I can only guarantee 10 m/s. Anything more than that, we start getting microfractures across Katra, no matter how well reinforced we get. At 15 m/s, we're going to have hull breaches whether we like it or not and the modules will tear off their arms. At 20 m/s, the station will break its back. I'm talking the reactor housing, OPS, virtually the entire station will rupture as the spaceframe cracks apart like an eggshell. Captain, what I'm trying to say is, if this Snake gets too large or has too much effect, we may have left the move too late. Or we can only keep pace with the Snake's progression and hope we don't get too badly affected."

[Kirok]

[Katra Station | OPS]

"Captain, is there anything you're not telling me?"

Serena walked over to Captain Kirok and lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear: "The whole purpose of moving the station at 0.5 metres per second is so that we can leave everything as normal. Do you remember the numbers I originally floated? The Hunters said the Snake would only expand up to 150 feet. That's 45.7 metres. I mentioned it would take us six days to ten times that distance to give us a margin of error. We had twenty days until the portal opened. The problem is velocity and distance."

She winced slightly, how to explain it quickly? "I can't recall Meridian's exact distance from Trialus, but I think it's about 0.5AU or... 75 million kilometres. A Starship at full impulse of 0.25 the speed of light is... 75 million metres per second. A shuttle has a Delta-V of 15,000 m/s."

She took a shuddering breath: "Captain, you seem to have some information I don't. But if you want to move the station quickly, I can only guarantee 10 m/s. Anything more than that, we start getting microfractures across Katra, no matter how well reinforced we get. At 15 m/s, we're going to have hull breaches whether we like it or not and the modules will tear off their arms. At 20 m/s, the station will break its back. I'm talking the reactor housing, OPS, virtually the entire station will rupture as the spaceframe cracks apart like an eggshell. Captain, what I'm trying to say is, if this Snake gets too large or has too much effect, we may have left the move too late. Or we can only keep pace with the Snake's progression and hope we don't get too badly affected."

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok's right eye arched when King asked her opening question.  Luckily she walked over to him before he could answer.    She he tilted his head down slightly and listened.

He nodded to indicate his understanding.  "I see.  So getting the station moving right away is imperative as it seems that the snake has started to arrive.  Proceed with the 10 m/s as you said.

But unless there is a reason that we can not start evacuating people by shuttle or vessel while we move, I think we need to do that as well.  At least the civilians.  And ambassadors and their delegates" he replied.

[Kyle Briggs]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kyle entered the madness of the wheel house known as the Command Center. The first thing he heard was the CO and the Engineer, Serena King, discussing evacuation.

"I thought we were doing this without evacuating anyone? Has something happened to change this?" he asked as he approached the duo.

[Kirok]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kyle entered the madness of the wheel house known as the Command Center. The first thing he heard was the CO and the Engineer, Serena King, discussing evacuation.

"I thought we were doing this without evacuating anyone? Has something happened to change this?" he asked as he approached the duo.

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok turned slightly to the XO.  Making sure to include him in the discussion.

"Ah, Kyle.  Good to have you back.  Yes.  The snake is coming earlier than we expected so we need to get the civilian and ambassador staff off the station to avoid liability" Kirok replied.

[Serena King]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok's right eye arched when King asked her opening question.  Luckily she walked over to him before he could answer.    She he tilted his head down slightly and listened.

He nodded to indicate his understanding.  "I see.  So getting the station moving right away is imperative as it seems that the snake has started to arrive.  Proceed with the 10 m/s as you said.

But unless there is a reason that we can not start evacuating people by shuttle or vessel while we move, I think we need to do that as well.  At least the civilians.  And ambassadors and their delegates" he replied.

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kyle entered the madness of the wheel house known as the Command Center. The first thing he heard was the CO and the Engineer, Serena King, discussing evacuation.

"I thought we were doing this without evacuating anyone? Has something happened to change this?" he asked as he approached the duo.

[Katra Station | OPS]

"Carve pear mix fluff elevate affirmative!"

Serena spoke fluent English. She had to. When she reverted back to her Cantonese, the Universal Translator rendered her words literally, as opposed to figuratively and it also took two full seconds before the UT provided a much mangled translation. As Serena continued a steady stream of Cantonese, the UT stopped completely, with the end result everyone listened to a bunch of nasal sounding words that... Were her mother or grandparents there would've gotten her mouth washed out with soap.

She returned to her console, fingers flying furiously. It galled her to think her responsibilities had dramatically increased. Idly, she wondered if she should take a holiday. Although OPS was in a state of controlled chaos, she forcibly shut everything out, grateful that her mind had been refining the game plan.

"Alright! Here's how we'll do it!" She took a deep breath, forcing down her volume. Everyone was already paying attention anyway and OPS was full of people. "The evacuations are to ensure that if the Snake's effect reaches Katra, at least everyone is relatively safe. While I do have the maths, that doesn't mean the station won't have more structural damage as we move." She cleared her throat.

"EQ, Takima, Mackenzie, Ferris. Put your heads together. Airlocks in the north to east sectors. Apart from Drake's Alpha Flight, everything else is to evacuate civilians. Don't go near the other sections because that's where the tractor beams are going to go. They'll interfere with transporters, that's why we need airlocks and docking bays. Take the civilians and diplomatic personnel off. Fly them to New Bajor. Play it by ear. If it's safe, return for a round trip and relieve Alpha flight, because their tractor beams and engines will be pretty overtaxed by then. All of you and everyone left is going on Seleya."

Taking another deep breath, she turned. "XO, you'll be taking all nonessential staff not already spoken for to staff Seleya. That's everyone except for Drake's Alpha Flight, plus my reaction/damage control teams. I recommend you use all your resources to tell us what the portal will do and help Flatwoods. Make sure Ensign Riss is with you. You two might be our Engineering ace in the hole. You're also our early warning. If you find the portal and Snake is going to overtake Katra's position, we'll get off using the shuttles making the move."

Turning to Hrafn, she smiled crookedly and passed over her Engineer's Ring: "Have Tidu hang onto this. I want it back when we're done here. You go on Seleya, we need more Scientists to figure this out."

She looked at the Captain and her lips twitched: "I have an urge to request that you go with Seleya, sir, but I suspect you'll want to stay."

She took a look around OPS: "If I haven't called your name, go down, make sure everyone gets off the station and report to Seleya."

"Gideon, I'm going to start feeding coordinates and the updated flight plan. We move the station as soon as everyone's evacuated. Just be warned you're our only pickup off the station if that Snake gets worse though."