S6: E2 - Truth and Consequences

[Nira Said]

[Conference Room | Starbase 185]

Carter let out an exasperated huff as he looked over to the other two in the room. "Playing the hardass is always exhausting. I'd say I didn't know how Jellico did it all the time but I suspect that's less of an act." The admiral said letting out a subtle laugh. "Am I the only admiral that doesn't keep an aid with me at all times? Not to say it isn't always lovely to see you Ruzal." He added a rye smile appearing on his lips.

He thought on the situation for a moment and shook his head. "I don't like it. By letter of the law he did violate the prime directive...but I suspect by letter of the law you're also not supposed to use the ship you're only temporarily in command of as a torpedo against a borg cube that assimilated the captain. It also wouldn't be the first time a captain has violated the prime directive in line of reasonable duty, that's a time honored tradition at this point. Hell, it wouldn't even be the most flagrant of the violations that went unpunished. As an admiral I want to say I never would have done it, but I'm not sure that in his position I wouldn't have made the exact same call."

[{NPC} Admiral Hamish Gillespie | VIP Suite | Starbase 185]

"Devil if I ken," Gillespie said with a shrug. "And I guess it seems to be the case you're the only one who dinnae have one," he added with another shrug. "I got plenty of 'em if you want one, James. It's a given being in Starfleet Security, you have a lot of aides, and they often tend to be agents. I take out a desk job fellow at times when they want a nice change of pace but nothing too exciting, like Ruzal here."

"And some people in Starfleet Security aren't available given the need for officers," Ruzal added with a shrug. "Like that narcoleptic Musiker," she added with disapproval.

Hearing out Carter, Gillespie then said, "I can absolutely agree regarding the letter of the law. It's easy to strive it so zealously, and yet sometimes the letter of the law is not always correct. I would agree, it would happen if I was also in that situation. Besides, it would easily not be the letter of the law to make such interesting overtures in regards to Minos Korva; we probably ought to remind Jellico of that. Be prepared for plenty of whinging from Burnham when he opens his mooth, though," he finished warningly.

[James Carter]

[{NPC} Admiral Hamish Gillespie | VIP Suite | Starbase 185]

"Devil if I ken," Gillespie said with a shrug. "And I guess it seems to be the case you're the only one who dinnae have one," he added with another shrug. "I got plenty of 'em if you want one, James. It's a given being in Starfleet Security, you have a lot of aides, and they often tend to be agents. I take out a desk job fellow at times when they want a nice change of pace but nothing too exciting, like Ruzal here."

"And some people in Starfleet Security aren't available given the need for officers," Ruzal added with a shrug. "Like that narcoleptic Musiker," she added with disapproval.

Hearing out Carter, Gillespie then said, "I can absolutely agree regarding the letter of the law. It's easy to strive it so zealously, and yet sometimes the letter of the law is not always correct. I would agree, it would happen if I was also in that situation. Besides, it would easily not be the letter of the law to make such interesting overtures in regards to Minos Korva; we probably ought to remind Jellico of that. Be prepared for plenty of whinging from Burnham when he opens his mooth, though," he finished warningly.

[Conference Room | Starbase 185]

James laughed steadily before replying. "Don't tell anyone at command you offered me an aid. It's less that none have been offered and more that I've avoided it. Since I've been out in the black working on reinforcing the fleet with our defenses crippled I've found myself in some precarious situations and I refuse to put anyone else in harms way ever again." His voice got soft as his mind wandered to the events of frontier day again. He couldn't shake that if he'd kept his post he could have spotted the massive red flags that just kept stacking on top of one another...but before much time had passed his attention returned to the room. "Plus all the good aids are already taken right Ruzal?" He did his best to pivot back to his usual upbeat self with a faked smile, but the genuine sadness couldn't be entirely missed.

Before waiting for an answer James glanced back to Gillespie and shook his head. "If Burnham mouths off we can remind him where the pips are." He added bluntly. "I haven't told someone to 'shut up' in a very long time. Might be a good stress reliever." He laughed again to himself this time.

[Tora Zalos]

"Q'apla! Today IS a good day to die!!" Kyan exclaimed jumping off of his defeated foe.

"No dying!" Max laughed from his spot on the floor, "...only light maiming."

Kyan heaved a theatrical sigh. "Fiiiiine. We'll agree ta yer oppressive grup demands.... but I cannae speak fer the Klingons so... Anyways... Release me honorable comrades ye great creature so's we can prepare for the glorious battle to come!"

With that, Kyan piled on Lorian's back to save his fellow warriors from the Vedek's wrath.

Later, at the party....

Kyan, the Kartoses, and Max had arrived at the party a few minutes before Tora's announcement. Having never been to a Klingon concert before, Kyan didn't exactly know what to expect. Would there be bloodewine? Bowls of Gagh set out for snacking? Pain sticks? Torches and sharp metal decorations.

Definitely torches. Klingons didn't go anywhere or do anything without some torches.

Those were the possibilities that had danced in the Onlie's head before walking into the party. What he hadn't given any consideration to was the fact that the Klingons were performing at a party. Admittedly his written Klingon was very out of practice, and when Kyan saw the four imposing warriors with their instruments in the advertisement he hadn't tried to parse the text under the picture. He'd assumed that it was some sort of concert and let his imagination steer after that.

What he saw before him as he and the others entered the party was NOT among the things that he'd envisioned. For starters, the entire room was filled with flowery decor. There wasn't a barrel of bloodwine to be seen, and definitely not a torch in the place. Then there was the size of the room and the fact that it was filled with his own crewmates in their off duty clothes.

"Uhh Kyan?" Max spoke up from his side. "I've never been to a Klingon concert but... "

"I think we can ta da wrong place sure." Kyan answered, looking around.

"No this is the right room. Hey look, there's Ensign Tora on the stage!"

Kyan watched as a group of Klingons stomped onto the stage behind the Cardassian scientist. They were definitely the group from the advertisement. That was obvious. But what in the flowery Beltane party hell was going on? Kyan was at once shocked, confused, intrigued, and honestly a little disappointed at the lack of... well... Klingon-ness of the whole thing. He looked over at Leran and Max, who cheered and whooped as if everything was going exactly as it should. To him, Jalen and Lorian looked.... relieved? That was probably right. They were a doctor and a Vedek after all... probably not avid Klingon enthusiasts.

Looking back at his friends and seeing how excited they were to be here and see the band that they'd been waiting all evening to see, Kyan shrugged internally. And who cares if it's not exactly as ye thought it'd be?" His inner voice asked him. You came to see a Klingon band with your family and there they are! Who cares about the flowers and... Wait.. Family... was that the Immersion Therapy talking? If not, then when did that happen? Sure he thought of Max like that, they lived together, and he was an Onlie. And he'd known Jalen forever...but... family?

The Klingons began their set to raucous cheers from Max, Leran, and others as Kyan stood contemplating what his inner monologue had just said and the implications of it.

".....up by by the stage c'mon!"

Kyan only caught the tail end of what Leran had said. His reverie had been broken only when the Bajoran boy grabbed his arm. He shook off the last vestiges of his thoughts and looked him. "Huh?"

"There's room up by the stage. C'mon!" With that, he dragged the Onlie along with him and weaved through the partygoers until they were close to the raised dias where Jei'BO:L! were performing. On the way, Kyan noticed Tora was still next to the stage and waved his free hand at her. "Great choice Tora! Good party this!"

As they got to where Max was already standing and watching the Klingons play, Kyan decided that he'd think about the ramifications of his thoughts later. For now, there was a party going on, and fun to be had.

"Why, thank you, sir. It took a lot of work getting this together - some of the performers were very, very eager indeed to get things going. There's a couple of them who are making their debuts tonight, actually, if you'd like to stick around!" Rabid crowd plus raucuous Klingon music plus instruments being played way more violently than necessary plus screaming Klingon punk rocker does not make for a good environment in which to hold a conversation, obviously; Tora could barely hear the first officer as is. The slivers of his words that somehow made it unscathed to her ears got the meaning across just fine, though. "Go ahead ans help yourself to the food, there's plenty for everyone!" Tora pointed in the general direction of said food - the table itself seemed to have vanished in the crowd of undulating bodies rocking out to deafening rock music, which was a crying shame, really.

"Have fun, sir! That's what the point of tonight is for! I've gotta go." She waved to the Only and disappeared into the crowd, maneuvering her way through it like she'd done it a million times - such had life been as a dabo girl on occasion. She rejoined Zhuk at the entrance of the function room with a relieved sigh. "How long is this performance supposed to take, again? I don't think my ears can take more of this..." She just about managed to shout over the din.

[Jettis Jyur]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Function Room Mayflower | Starbase 185]

"Sounds good to me, Chook. Go grab a seat, I'll do the honors." Tora couldn't help snickering at the nickname she'd come up with for the Caitian over the past few days; as much as he was a head of department and a big, strong Caitian man it was hard not to also think of him as a cute, fluffy kitten when one really got to know him. That and the Shakespearean phrasing... which she still had yet to un-condition him out of.

She'd done it all before, working on Risa as a teen and then as a dabo girl as a young adult. Tora stepped up the empty stage with a microphone in hand and tapped twice on the head; she was glad to see her colleagues pause their partying for a moment to pay attention. "Ladies and gentlemen - and those in between - welcome to the Challenger's We're-Not-Dead celebration! I hope you're all having a wonderful time tonight!" There was an art to it, as she'd learned on the fly. Be playful, upbeat and maybe a little bit sultry if you wanted, so long as it got people interested - which had gone well with her previous job, of course.

And yes, that was the actual name of the party - she and her team had had a good laugh when coming up with it and, honestly, a few of them had a sneaking suspicion it'd had no small part in raking in the crowd present tonight.

"Now, then. I have a list of wonderful performances lined up for everyone tonight! Up first: let's get our blood pumping with some hardcore music! As our first performance of the night would surely say, today is a good day to drop some beats! Put your hands together for the one and only Klingon rock band, Jei'BO:L!"

Yes, she'd practised saying the name. Several times. Tora wasn't a polyglot by any means and had trouble trying to reproduce some words she'd heard from visitors and customers alike - which didn't stop her from trying her damn hardest.

[Coffee Shop - > Function Room Mayflower]

Once Jettis had had enough coffee and enough sequestering himself, he stood to dispose of his mug. Hardly had he taken a step out, before he heard a duo of voices.
"Hey, there he is. Mr. Jettis!"
"Daad!"
He didn't need to turn around to identify them. Slowly, he turned to face the two teens as they weaved their way through the crowd towards him. Briefly, his eyes glanced past the two of them, looking for Chigi.

"Hey, I've been looking for you. Are you going to the We're-not-dead thingy?" Jettis quirked a brow. He'd gotten the notification of the 'small' party one of his officers was  putting on, but he hadn't given much thought to attending yet. The idea of loud music, far too crowded rooms was not his choice method of relaxation, but he could already tell what the next question would be regardless of if he said yes or no.
"I was hoping to go with Theresa, and my mother has chosen to help out in the medical wing."

Ah. That's why he didn't spot her earlier. His gaze moved back over towards the Klingon boy, assessing. As much as the party wasn't what he felt like doing at the moment, the idea of the two kids running around alone was more bothersome. "Sure, I can take you down for a bit," He agreed.
Met with a couple cheers and thanks, he held up a finger. "Just don't wander off too far. Stay nearby our crew, remember this is a station. Not everyone is an officer."
"Right. Of course, sir."
"Yeah, yeah, of course."
Jettis tossed a glare at each one for different reasons, before turning to head towards the function room. They managed to catch the tail end of Tora announcing the first performers, something lIr'el lit up at. "Come on, lets see if we can get a bit closer," Theresa urged, moving up towards the stage. Jettis followed much less enthusiastically, choosing not to move all the way to the front, but just close enough to keep them in view, peering over the crowds.

[Alexander Wu]

[ACEO Lt.JG Neva Cordon|Starbase 185|Promenade Pub]

Neva did a little wave and lopsided grin when Ardyn and...man...came over. "Hey Ardyn! Good to see you! Sit, sit, sit!" She made a shooing sort of motion towards the seats across from her. She raised an eyebrow at the other woman and nodded her head towards Alex.

"Ardyn, when were you going to tell me about this man who adores you?" Neva winked at her friend and pointed at herself. "Half Betazoid here. Granted, it's obvious if you pay any attention."

The Engineer then looked past them and held up her now empty glass. "Need a refill and some food over here, m'dear barkeep!" She called out, then turned back to the couple before her with a jovial smirk."So...any idea on how long we'll be here? I'm beginning to wonder with how much grilling I've heard people are getting."

[Promenade pub.]

"œIt's definitely strange. Last one I was a part of didn't nearly take this long, probably because the president was assassinated and they needed to tell something to the public fast, but even still, that was way less impactful than whatever sweet time they're taking for this one." she said as they walked along into the tastefully-decorated joint.  "œI think they were waiting for Mackenzie to get better, but he's been up and at "˜em for a while now, so I don't know why we have been waiting so long."

Ardyn grinned and laughed as they saw Neva. "œYup.  Same. I'm part Betazoid as well, but it's not really much of a secret that we're together, I'll admit. Alex is my partner and as of recently, my fiance. Haven't set a date yet." she smiled as she snagged a couple of peanuts from the container. "œ I wish I knew. Was hoping to update the Mjolnir when I got the chance, but they've locked it down pretty good."

[Starbase 185 - Main Promenade - Promenade Pub]

"Hi, Alex Wu." He offered his hand, before pointing at his eyes. "Yeah, those kind of give it away. But I cheated anyways, had to look you and the others up during your away mission to Land. Talk about a crash course in 'knowing your ship'." Alex briefly perused the bar menu as a waitress came over, waiting for Ardyn to place her order first before adding, "I'll get a pint of the Frontier pilsner. Can we get the pretzels and dip to share?"

"I only popped the question a month ago, and someone's already pushing for a date." He teased, stealing one of her peanuts. "To be fair, we did do things sort of opposite." Alex explained for Cordon's benefit. "Long story short, there was a mission several years ago where...complications happened. Our daughter's six now."

"Have you gone through your interview already? I just came out of mine, wouldn't exactly say I got grilled, but it certainly was uncomfortable. I did some time as JAG on Starbase Columbus, the investigators are just following a script. They try to make you uncomfortable, you say something emotional, big aha moment. There's clearly an agenda, but at the end of the day, there's only a handful of people they'd be able to charge. For the big ticket item, they could only really go after Captain Galloway, and maybe Commander Mackenzie." Alex felt surprisingly unbothered by the investigation for his part, considering the potential repercussions. Back in the day, he would've been on the edge of his seat, chomping at the bit to defend his actions, and those of his crewmates. Now, so long as noone went to Club Zed, he wasn't overly worried. Amazing what some time away from wearing this uniform does.

"Have you been chief engineer long?" Alex changed the subject as their drinks arrived, giving the barkeep a quick smile. "Thank you."

[Ch'e N'ok Savyn]

[Starbase 185 | Function Room Mayflower]

Savyn entered the party in an awkward shuffling motion, significantly slower than he usually walked. The sights and sounds of a packed gathering were weighing on his Vulcan sensibilities, but more than that, they were making it head pound. It was something he had grown used to since he joined Starfleet, as the constant transfer and restructuring of personnel meant such gatherings were a regular ritual. Though this was meant to be celebration of his new crews recent survival of... Something... Savyn's enthusiasm and willingness to socialize had been steadily drained away almost the instant he arrived. He felt rather silly, having agreed to attend a social gathering that he knew he would not enjoy, and then subsequently being upset he wasn't enjoying it, but... Still. These people... His new crewmates, he supposed-- something he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about-- were loud and foreign. Discovery hadn't always been peaceful, sure, but these people were... Different. Savyn could respect different, he could respect change, but that didn't mean he liked it by any means.

Awkwardly, he tucked himself against a wall and crossed his arms, observing with his best attempt at a neutral expression as his head pounded with a firm, unyielding ache.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Kyan, Max, & Leran | At the party, Starbase 185]

After his reply to Tora was likely lost amid the cacophony of sounds and she herself had melted into the crowd the three boys weaved and ducked through the mass of people to get to the front, where the Klingons were just starting their set.

The singer, a young Klingon with midnight black hair that covered one eye and a leather outfit of the same color nodded to his companions, who began playing a tune that reminded Kyan of something he'd heard on Earth before. It was definitely not a traditional Klingon melody, but it did seem angry.

When the singer began the first verse Kyan wasn't sure that he he'd heard him correctly. He looked like he was appealing to Kahless or something, with his arms outstretched and eyes toward the ceiling, but the words were... off.

"rInDI' ghu'vam, vaj Qu'wIj. DaHjaj puqwI'" (My father was Ferengi, My mother was a targ.)

"What?" Leran asked, seeing the confusion.

"Sure and my Klingon's not the best but..."

The singer continued, screaming now. "Qu'vam vIta'meH jIH' reH 'e' vIpIH" (I cut my father's lobes off with a rusty old dak'tagh.)

Someone beside them asked "Did he say he cut his dad's ears off?"

Kyan laughed. "Sure an he did... with a rusty knife!"

"mInDu'wIj vIghoS'a'!" (Then I look the latinum and bought a new guitar.)

The singer continued on about how he was going to carry on playing music and there wasn't anything his petaq of a father could do about it. The chorus was more of the same, but Kyan had to admit that the song was catchy... and if you weren't a fan of your dad you could probably even relate to it.

Max laughed. "This guy doesn't like his dad at all."

"That's sad." Leran noted. "He shouldn't make songs about his father like that."

Leran didn't speak any Klingon, aside from the few phrases that he'd learned from playing Bat'leths and BiNuchs, and Max only knew a little more, from hearing Kyan speak it when they played with their action figures. At one point Kyan had been close to fluent, but he was out of practice now. The song was interesting in that it was way different than anything he'd expected a Klingon to write, but the lyrics were a distant second to the instrumental melody, which was actually pretty good. Kyan found himself tuning out the angsty lyrics and listening to that instead.

When the song ended, the bang jumped into the next one, which was about some girl that spurned the singer for a warrior, and how the warrior was a jerk. Looking around, it seemed as though most of the crowd was like him, just vibing to the instrumental parts. They were having fun and some even danced to the music, which in Kyan's opinion wasn't bad. The other two seemed to like it too.

"They'd be really good if not for that singer." Max offered.

Kyan nodded. "Aye. He's kinda whiny so he is."

Leran agreed. "Yeah. No wonder he didn't get that girl."

Max and Kyan laughed in agreement with that. "He'll never get a girl acting like that, specially a Klingon girl." Kyan noted. "He'll probably make a song about how she bites too hard."

"Owww... baby you bit my finger off!" Max sang/screamed. "Now I can't play my guitar!"

Once they'd stopped laughing, Leran glanced over at where they'd seen the food table. "Do you guys wanna go get some of the food?"

"Yer always hungry!" Kyan shot back.

"Yeah well I'm growing! Unlike some people!"

"Hey we're growing!" Max replied flippantly. "I've grown almost a half an inch since Kirk showed up!"

It was true, technically. The doctors had charted the Onlies' aging at around a month per hundred years. So for an Onlie, Max was in the midst of a growth spurt. And while the only ones who could possibly notice it were Jalen and members of other long lived species, it was a point of pride for those Onlies who had gotten any taller in the past couple centuries.

Kyan just shrugged. He had not grown any since he could remember, but it wasn't something he really cared about. "Maybe ye can get that since tae cook up his mom for you. She's a targ after all." he grinned.

Leran feigned throwing up. "I'd rather eat Cardassian food!"

"œMmmmm Taspar eggs with yamok sauce!" Kyan teased him. "œ"¦with a side of roasted targ an fish juice!"

Max made a face. "œGross."

Leran rolled his eyes. "œProphets save me. C'mon." The Bajoran boy started for the food table and the Onlies followed. As they waded through the party goers, Kyan spotted a familiar face. He hadn't talked to Jettis since they'd bailed out of the shuttle on Land-ta. And although he technically wasn't supposed to be talking about work right now, he'd wondered how the El-Aurian Scientist was doing. Even given everything that had happened to him on that mission, he still felt bad about having to leave Jettis with the An-shok.

"œGo on and get sommat fer me too.. I'm gonna talk ta someone." He told Leran and Max, breaking off from them and going over to where his old CO ws standing.

Jettis tossed a glare at each one for different reasons, before turning to head towards the function room. They managed to catch the tail end of Tora announcing the first performers, something lIr'el lit up at. "Come on, lets see if we can get a bit closer," Theresa urged, moving up towards the stage. Jettis followed much less enthusiastically, choosing not to move all the way to the front, but just close enough to keep them in view, peering over the crowds.

"œHey Jettis!" Kyan called up once he'd gotten to where Jettis stood. "œHavin fun?"

Awkwardly, he tucked himself against a wall and crossed his arms, observing with his best attempt at a neutral expression as his head pounded with a firm, unyielding ache.

After getting some food from the table, Max and Leran had spotted an empty table toward the back of the Mayflower room where there weren't so many people. When they reached it, Leran tapped the smaller boy to get his attention. When he had it, Leran nodded toward a stoic young Vulcan standing against the wall in his uniform. "Do you know him?"

Max, had just shoved a cookie of some sort in his mouth, most of which was still sticking out when he turned to look. He considered the lanky grup a moment before finally shaking his head.

"He looks lonely. I'm gonna see if he wants to sit with us."

"Well... Kyan says that Vulcans....

"Hey! Hey mister!" Leran waved to get the blue shirted Vulcan's attention. "Wanna sit at our table? We have food!"

"....don't really like kids." Max finished, mostly to himself."

Unphased, or simply not having heard him, Leran smiled at the Vulcan and continued waving him over.

[Commander Frank Burnham | Mess Hall, Starbase 185]

Frank had struck out with the Chief Medical Officer for the starbase. The self-righteous doctor had appeared personally offended that he would ask him to countermand another doctor's order for one of his patients. In the end though he should have expected as much. After all, Kartos had been working with the base's medical staff to take some of their pediatric patients while the Challenger crew was staying here so it made sense that the two physicians would have a rapport. He should have anticipated that.

So it had been back to the drawing board. Luckily, the Office of Personnel management had provided Frank with another crack at it. Looking over the Challenger's crew roster, he had learned that another doctor had recently been given transfer orders to the ship. After he'd read up on Doctor Novi, the brand new Lieutenant junior grade, he'd come down to the mess hall almost immediately. It was crowded, but once he spotted her sitting alone at a table, Frank went over.

"Doctor Novi. Hi. I'm Frank Burnham, I'd like to talk to you about something urgent. Do you mind if I sit down?"

[Admiral Edward Jellico (ret.) | Conference room, Starbase 185]

Edward Jellico had never been one for drawn-out ceremonies, or the pomp and circumstance that generally went hand in hand with having a box around your rank pips. He was about business. At least that was what he'd been about before he'd retired. Now he was about fishing and spending time with his family. But he couldn't do that now, thanks to some hothead captain who'd run afoul of the Prime Directive. He'd read the logs en route. To him the case was fairly cut and dry. The only thing holding it up was the investigation. Crossing ts and dotting is, as it were. Jellico intended to light a fire under that process if he could.

When the doors opened the old Admiral strode through them with a purpose. "Gentlemen." he greeted his fellow admirals. "It's good to see you again." That was a lie. It wasn't good to see anyone in the uniform, much less wear it himself, but one must observe the courtesies. "I hate to get right to business but there are some catfish right now living on borrowed time back in Texas. So where are we on the Challenger investigation?"

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Function Room Mayflower | Starbase 185]

"Sounds good to me, Chook. Go grab a seat, I'll do the honors." Tora couldn't help snickering at the nickname she'd come up with for the Caitian over the past few days; as much as he was a head of department and a big, strong Caitian man it was hard not to also think of him as a cute, fluffy kitten when one really got to know him. That and the Shakespearean phrasing... which she still had yet to un-condition him out of.

She'd done it all before, working on Risa as a teen and then as a dabo girl as a young adult. Tora stepped up the empty stage with a microphone in hand and tapped twice on the head; she was glad to see her colleagues pause their partying for a moment to pay attention. "Ladies and gentlemen - and those in between - welcome to the Challenger's We're-Not-Dead celebration! I hope you're all having a wonderful time tonight!" There was an art to it, as she'd learned on the fly. Be playful, upbeat and maybe a little bit sultry if you wanted, so long as it got people interested - which had gone well with her previous job, of course.

And yes, that was the actual name of the party - she and her team had had a good laugh when coming up with it and, honestly, a few of them had a sneaking suspicion it'd had no small part in raking in the crowd present tonight.

"Now, then. I have a list of wonderful performances lined up for everyone tonight! Up first: let's get our blood pumping with some hardcore music! As our first performance of the night would surely say, today is a good day to drop some beats! Put your hands together for the one and only Klingon rock band, Jei'BO:L!"

Yes, she'd practised saying the name. Several times. Tora wasn't a polyglot by any means and had trouble trying to reproduce some words she'd heard from visitors and customers alike - which didn't stop her from trying her damn hardest.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Function Room Mayflower | Starbase 185]

Zhuk gave Tora an amused smirk as he heard the nickname she had for him. Truthfully, the first time she commented upon it, it made him rather mad. He had never spoken to her about it, as slowly, he had grown accustomed to it and even learned to enjoy it. It was a term of endearment, after all, which meant that he was well-liked by the Cardassian. She was pleasant company, he found, and their talks were usually quite pleasant to partake in.

He had yet to find a way to refer to her though. He was not good at coming up with funny honorifics. In time, he reassured himself.

Taking a seat as she indicated, his full attention was turned towards Tora as she presented the upcoming band. He could see right away that speaking up on a stage was as natural to her as breathing. Zhuk was indeed glad to have made the suggestion, as he did not think that even he could have done such a good job of - wait, Klingons?

He raised an eyebrow as he took a good look over at the schedule once more. That did not sound right, yet he quickly discovered that was what the schedule said. The cheer Zhuk felt swiftly became obscured by an intense, if swift rage at the mistake that had been made. The band seemed to be correct, else an even bigger ruckus than when the band started playing would have followed. But someone had listed them as Bolians, and not Klingons.

He was unsure who had prepared the list, but he would have a good and thorough talk with them. Mrekrerhas accepted nothing less than perfection, and this mistake could have been costly. At least, things seemed to be right on track for the rest of the acts. Still, he made sure to revise three times to ascertain this was the case.

Oh well, no more issues for now. He slowly began to relax again, his true feelings masked by his stoic face, even as the sound of Jei'BO:L began to grind at his gears, and hurt his ears. Deciding it would be best to be as far as way from the horrid show as possible, he made his way as close to the entrance as he was able to, greeting newcomers. Now, he was regretting ever inviting the band here. First and last time, he thought.

"Why, thank you, sir. It took a lot of work getting this together - some of the performers were very, very eager indeed to get things going. There's a couple of them who are making their debuts tonight, actually, if you'd like to stick around!" Rabid crowd plus raucuous Klingon music plus instruments being played way more violently than necessary plus screaming Klingon punk rocker does not make for a good environment in which to hold a conversation, obviously; Tora could barely hear the first officer as is. The slivers of his words that somehow made it unscathed to her ears got the meaning across just fine, though. "Go ahead ans help yourself to the food, there's plenty for everyone!" Tora pointed in the general direction of said food - the table itself seemed to have vanished in the crowd of undulating bodies rocking out to deafening rock music, which was a crying shame, really.

"Have fun, sir! That's what the point of tonight is for! I've gotta go." She waved to the Only and disappeared into the crowd, maneuvering her way through it like she'd done it a million times - such had life been as a dabo girl on occasion. She rejoined Zhuk at the entrance of the function room with a relieved sigh. "How long is this performance supposed to take, again? I don't think my ears can take more of this..." She just about managed to shout over the din.

Ugh.Some people truly had no sophistication. Why hadn't it been a Klingon opera? He did not mind the language, he found it delightful even. But not the awful music. Fortunately, at least Tora came back around again to distract him slightly. It did surprise him that they shared the same thoughts, and he quickly inspected his P.A.D.D. just to know how much of this hell they would need to endure,

"'Tis only but one song left in their repertoire! Then you can present the next musician!" Zhuk uncharacteristically exclaimed, realizing that otherwise he would not be heard through the noise. At least, there was a small relief in knowing that he had to keep his wits for five or six more minutes.

"Up next is...! Ensign S'mol, who is playing a Vulcan lute!"

Ah! A palate cleanser. Most excellent.

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

[As Maddy]

[Schoolroom]

Maddy had been making "œcookies"  in the  play kitchen somewhat distractedly when she heard her classmate, Mo  try to get her attention. Mo was a nice Ferengi boy and he had some really big ears, but he was fun to play spaceships with when they weren't doing school stuff.

"œI guess I do have lots of things to think about, Mo. "œ said Maddy, as she stirred the "œfood" in the play kitchen. I think my mommy and daddy are worried about something.  They won't tell me why though. I think it's cause they might lose their jobs or somethin', and then we won't be on a spaceship anymore."  she said,  pushing the button on the toy EZ Baker oven.

[Little Mo | Schoolrooms | Starbase 185]

Mo watched Maddy prepare something imaginary in the play kitchen. Though he could see she liked it, Mo never had much interest in cooking. He liked playing with spaceships more with her. Of course, Mo did not ask her to play now, instead replying to her worries, "Oh... sorry Maddie. But uhm... they can't lose their jobs, right? They are imporshtant people!"

He raised a finger, trying to look more confident and state it as a matter-of-fact, "But uhm... maybe we could shearch? I can ask my sis about it. She is a cool Sec offisher, so she can tell us! Maybe?"

He suggested, though the question of how to contact Zala, and where she was came to mind. He would need to get out of the classroom and look for her. And he wasn't sure the teacher would like that. Hrm...

[James Carter]

[Admiral Edward Jellico (ret.) | Conference room, Starbase 185]

Edward Jellico had never been one for drawn-out ceremonies, or the pomp and circumstance that generally went hand in hand with having a box around your rank pips. He was about business. At least that was what he'd been about before he'd retired. Now he was about fishing and spending time with his family. But he couldn't do that now, thanks to some hothead captain who'd run afoul of the Prime Directive. He'd read the logs en route. To him the case was fairly cut and dry. The only thing holding it up was the investigation. Crossing ts and dotting is, as it were. Jellico intended to light a fire under that process if he could.

When the doors opened the old Admiral strode through them with a purpose. "Gentlemen." he greeted his fellow admirals. "It's good to see you again." That was a lie. It wasn't good to see anyone in the uniform, much less wear it himself, but one must observe the courtesies. "I hate to get right to business but there are some catfish right now living on borrowed time back in Texas. So where are we on the Challenger investigation?"

[Conference Room | Starbase 185]

James eyes squinted slightly. The open secret in this room was that Jellico didn't want to be here in this room with them, and the reverse was equally true that Carter didn't want him here either. "Trust me Jelly ro-" Carter caught himself slipping into old habits and cleared his throat. "-Jellico the feeling is truly mutual." He replied flatly, the lack of enthusiasm in his voice as obvious as his subtly annoyed body language. "We just interviewed Galloway. His main argument is that the decision he made came from a variety of factors. For one being out of contact with command which meant he couldn't just get approval, another being that the species while not using warp specifically were faster than light capable simply using another form of technology that by his own description is more advanced than what we ourselves use in many ways. While I know the letter of the law says warp capable, I find myself questioning if the people who penned it would have thought differently had they known of other forms of faster the light travel would be not only achievable but viable." James sighed and leaned back in his seat slightly. "Frankly, with what we know about how sustained high warp can damage subspace now I've been questioning if warp itself is even all that enlightened or if we're still the same primitives that nearly burned our planet by using fossil fuels - and if we are...should we begin pursuing other faster than light means ourselves? Something's bound to go very wrong at some point and it will be our fault for ignoring the warning signs like we always do."

[Novi]

[Commander Frank Burnham | Mess Hall, Starbase 185]

Frank had struck out with the Chief Medical Officer for the starbase. The self-righteous doctor had appeared personally offended that he would ask him to countermand another doctor's order for one of his patients. In the end though he should have expected as much. After all, Kartos had been working with the base's medical staff to take some of their pediatric patients while the Challenger crew was staying here so it made sense that the two physicians would have a rapport. He should have anticipated that.

So it had been back to the drawing board. Luckily, the Office of Personnel management had provided Frank with another crack at it. Looking over the Challenger's crew roster, he had learned that another doctor had recently been given transfer orders to the ship. After he'd read up on Doctor Novi, the brand new Lieutenant junior grade, he'd come down to the mess hall almost immediately. It was crowded, but once he spotted her sitting alone at a table, Frank went over.

"Doctor Novi. Hi. I'm Frank Burnham, I'd like to talk to you about something urgent. Do you mind if I sit down?"

[Lieutenant JG Novi - Starbase Mess Hall]

Novi was sitting at the Mess Hall still doing her work. She was starting to finish up and reach a good point to stop and was getting distracted staring out the window to space beyond. She saw on her PADD there was an aparent party going on with some Challenger crew. She wasn't a big party person, her friends back at the Academy always tried to get her to go out but it was always a little uncomfortable. But maybe she go this once, just to try and get to know her new crewmates.

Her thoughts though were quickly interrupted with a voice calling her name. She quickly turned around, wondering who it could be and seeing the 3 pips on the mans neck quickly sat more straight. "Oh! Commander. Of course please take a seat!" she gave a small nervous laugh as she quickly grabbed her notes and set them in a pile to the side. "What is that you need?" she was a little curious. She hoped it wasn't questions about her time on the Discovery and her final mission. Despite the good people she met on the ship she was hoping to put that history behind her.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Starbase 185 - Sickbay >>>  Function Room Mayflower]

[Starbase 185 | Sickbay]

Savyn nodded, putting away the rest of his supplies. "Understood," he replied, glancing at the ground momentarily. Suddenly, it hit him that going to a party with music and lights like this probably wouldn't be particularly pleasant for his irritable sensory issues-- but it seemed his fate was sealed. "You are free to go, crewman."

Lahr didn't waste time with a long goodbye to the Vulcan medic.  Once freed he left the station sickbay to hurry himself to the entertainer's entrance to the Mayflower Function Room.   His ears were assaulted by the J-pop stylings of some Klingon band Lahr had never heard of.  He wondered if they were station staff or if they actually considered themselves  'professional'?  In either case, Lahr still had time.  He knew he was scheduled after a Vulcan lyrist.

He approached one of the harried stage hands.  "Inform those in charge that DJ Lahr has arrived.  Do you know if my mixer table has been replicated yet?"

The man looked to him with a frown.  "Don't know.  One sec."

He tapped his headset, activating an open comm to all other production staff.

"We got a DJ Lahr.." The man paused to look at his PADD  "up after S'mol...  looking for his mixer.  Anyone seen it?"

[Ch'e N'ok Savyn]

After getting some food from the table, Max and Leran had spotted an empty table toward the back of the Mayflower room where there weren't so many people. When they reached it, Leran tapped the smaller boy to get his attention. When he had it, Leran nodded toward a stoic young Vulcan standing against the wall in his uniform. "Do you know him?"

Max, had just shoved a cookie of some sort in his mouth, most of which was still sticking out when he turned to look. He considered the lanky grup a moment before finally shaking his head.

"He looks lonely. I'm gonna see if he wants to sit with us."

"Well... Kyan says that Vulcans....

"Hey! Hey mister!" Leran waved to get the blue shirted Vulcan's attention. "Wanna sit at our table? We have food!"

"....don't really like kids." Max finished, mostly to himself."

Unphased, or simply not having heard him, Leran smiled at the Vulcan and continued waving him over.

[Starbase 185 | Function Room Mayflower]

Savyn didn't notice as Leran tried to get his attention for a while, but eventually, he did, and simply... stared. He seemed almost bewildered, though his expression was still rather blank-- blinking slowly at the other officer the way a small child may look at a math problem they don't understand.

In time, he seemed to understand that they wanted to engage in... socialization... and though it made him a bit queasy, he made his way toward them.

"... Greetings," He said stiffly, his hands folded tightly behind his back as he glanced between the two of them.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Starbase 185 - Main Promenade - Promenade Pub]

"Hi, Alex Wu." He offered his hand, before pointing at his eyes. "Yeah, those kind of give it away. But I cheated anyways, had to look you and the others up during your away mission to Land. Talk about a crash course in 'knowing your ship'." Alex briefly perused the bar menu as a waitress came over, waiting for Ardyn to place her order first before adding, "I'll get a pint of the Frontier pilsner. Can we get the pretzels and dip to share?"

"I only popped the question a month ago, and someone's already pushing for a date." He teased, stealing one of her peanuts. "To be fair, we did do things sort of opposite." Alex explained for Cordon's benefit. "Long story short, there was a mission several years ago where...complications happened. Our daughter's six now."

"Have you gone through your interview already? I just came out of mine, wouldn't exactly say I got grilled, but it certainly was uncomfortable. I did some time as JAG on Starbase Columbus, the investigators are just following a script. They try to make you uncomfortable, you say something emotional, big aha moment. There's clearly an agenda, but at the end of the day, there's only a handful of people they'd be able to charge. For the big ticket item, they could only really go after Captain Galloway, and maybe Commander Mackenzie." Alex felt surprisingly unbothered by the investigation for his part, considering the potential repercussions. Back in the day, he would've been on the edge of his seat, chomping at the bit to defend his actions, and those of his crewmates. Now, so long as noone went to Club Zed, he wasn't overly worried. Amazing what some time away from wearing this uniform does.

"Have you been chief engineer long?" Alex changed the subject as their drinks arrived, giving the barkeep a quick smile. "Thank you."

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

[Little Mo | Schoolrooms | Starbase 185]

Mo watched Maddy prepare something imaginary in the play kitchen. Though he could see she liked it, Mo never had much interest in cooking. He liked playing with spaceships more with her. Of course, Mo did not ask her to play now, instead replying to her worries, "Oh... sorry Maddie. But uhm... they can't lose their jobs, right? They are imporshtant people!"

He raised a finger, trying to look more confident and state it as a matter-of-fact, "But uhm... maybe we could shearch? I can ask my sis about it. She is a cool Sec offisher, so she can tell us! Maybe?"

He suggested, though the question of how to contact Zala, and where she was came to mind. He would need to get out of the classroom and look for her. And he wasn't sure the teacher would like that. Hrm...

[As Maddy]

Maddy nodded .  "œI dunno. I know my mom flies the ship. That's pretty important."  at the mention of searching for his big sister, she nodded.   She knew that her mom and dad would probably wouldn't like it that she went off again, but she had to know, and this time, she wasn't alone. Mo was with her.

"œYeah! let's go search for her!" said Maddy excitedly, looking at the teacher. It was still recess, so  the teacher was watching some of the other kids, and looking closely at her mind, the teacher seemed busy. "œ Teacher's busy, so I think we can go now." She wasn't sure where his sister would be either, but they could find Mo's big sis. She knew it. "Maybe we can ask the computer?"

[Pub]

Ardyn nodded as the server came over and took Alex's drink and pretzel order. "œI'll pick up a couple shots," she said, adding her order to the tab. " She could hear the thumping of the Klingon music from the party even from here.

[Ian Galloway]

[Function Room Mayflower - Starbase 185]

The two figures in the shadows spoke softly before the Klingons began their set. Because of the dim lighting, all you could really tell was it was a pair of humanoids, but what species of humanoid was impossible to tell.

"I've seen both of our targets."

"Confirmed, which one do you want to ambush?"

"I've been after that Onlie for a long time, so he's mine."

"Fine, I'm good with Jyur as my target."

"This may be our only opportunity, so whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes."

The two figures split up and slowly began worming their way through the crowd, taking advantage of the distraction of the thundering music to approach the two Starfleet officers.

[Jettis Jyur]

Leran rolled his eyes. "œProphets save me. C'mon." The Bajoran boy started for the food table and the Onlies followed. As they waded through the party goers, Kyan spotted a familiar face. He hadn't talked to Jettis since they'd bailed out of the shuttle on Land-ta. And although he technically wasn't supposed to be talking about work right now, he'd wondered how the El-Aurian Scientist was doing. Even given everything that had happened to him on that mission, he still felt bad about having to leave Jettis with the An-shok.

"œGo on and get sommat fer me too.. I'm gonna talk ta someone." He told Leran and Max, breaking off from them and going over to where his old CO ws standing.

"œHey Jettis!" Kyan called up once he'd gotten to where Jettis stood. "œHavin fun?"

The two figures in the shadows spoke softly before the Klingons began their set. Because of the dim lighting, all you could really tell was it was a pair of humanoids, but what species of humanoid was impossible to tell.

"I've seen both of our targets."

"Confirmed, which one do you want to ambush?"

"I've been after that Onlie for a long time, so he's mine."

"Fine, I'm good with Jyur as my target."

"This may be our only opportunity, so whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes."

The two figures split up and slowly began worming their way through the crowd, taking advantage of the distraction of the thundering music to approach the two Starfleet officers.

[ Function Room Mayflower ]

Jettis had to admit, while the music wasn't what he typically listened to, it was certainly interesting. In all his travels he'd never seen a Klingon rock band. That said, he knew a Vulcan who enjoyed Folk and pop music, so anything was possible. He kept an eye on the two milling at the front of the crowd, before someone else caught his eye.

"Kyan!" He grinned, turning as he saw the boy approaching him. "I should have known I'd spot you here." No wonder, since the invite had highlighted the klingon band amongst the lineup.

"You're looking no worse for wear. How are you feeling?" His voice was tinged with concern. While he didn't have full details on exactly what happened - medical laws an all that, he knew enough. And he could sense a difference as well, some shift. Then again, amongst so many people it was hard to get a feel for much of anything. His brow furrowed, as something struck him ill, but even as he looked around for any signs of danger there was nothing for him to spot. Just people dancing and talking amongst the crowd. Briefly he looked over to check on the kids again - a small surge of panic when he didn't immediately spot them. But quickly after he saw then moving back towards the food table and relaxed.

[Theresa Jyur-Moore and lIr'el]

"Come on - it looks like they actually have Gagh here! Theresa's nose wrinkled immediately, groaning as lIr'el dragged her through the crowds. "Ew. You already got me to try it once, I'm not trying it again, Relly."

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad." He scoffed, letting go of her hand once they got out of the huge crowd. Glancing absently over his shoulder, he was mildly relieved to not see the Lieutenant's eyes locked onto him, and strutted over to the table. "But I bet they'll only have frivolous things like cupcakes and pasta."
"Pasta?" She echoed questioningly. When he didn't budge on his choice, she laughed. "Calling it frivolous is certainly a choice."
"A correct one," he doubled down as they stepped into line for food.

Theresa glanced around for a table once she'd gotten everything she wanted, and pointed out a couple to the Klingon. "Hey, we've seen him when changing classes, right? Let's go introduce ourselves." She started over to the duo, pausing when she noticed they were already engaged with an officer. One who had just come off shift, by the looks of it.
"Oh! Um, sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt." She gave them a shy wave. "I'm Theresa, this is lIr'el. I don't think we're in the same class, but I've seen you around I think." She motioned toward Leran. "Do you mind if we sit with you guys?"