S6 - E3 - Tripwire

[Ian Galloway]

[Little Mo | Deck Eight | Cetacean Lab | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Mo couldn't help but grasp at his chest as he felt the strange sensation suddenly reaching his body, wondering why he felt this way. It did not hurt, but he couldn't say he liked it. He glanced around, in confusion, looking over at Mirriam, Maddy, and finally his teacher, until it finally stopped. The little Ferengi looked shaken by the experience overall, though the offer of joining the cetaceans perked him up significantly, making him momentarily forget the strange sensation in lieu of something fun to do,

"Eeeeh?! Can I teacher, pthlease?! Can I?!"

He pleaded, looking at her with large, excited eyes that resembled a Terran puppy in adorableness.

"Oh, yeah! I know how to swim!" Mo reassured Maddy, a big smile on his face as he turned to look at her. It made him feel even more excited to have his friend along for the experience. Swimming with the doll-pheens sounded fun, after all!

He became slightly worried when they mentioned that they needed to do maths and swim, however. He had never done both things at the same time. But she trusted that Maddy and him were smart enough to figure it out,

"Y-Yeah! Maddie can do it! She is super, duper smart!"

He vouched for his human friend, hoping that she would be allowed in without issue. He liked the words he had used, 'super' and 'duper'. They were fun hooman words that other classmates had taught him. And he hoped the 'dol-pheens' would like them too.
Mo let out a squeak of happiness when he was given the wet suit, and dressed himself on it as quickly as he could. After figuring out how to place it on, of course. When he reached the water's edge, though, he felt some hesitation building up in his body. The water was deep, and he was not that used to it. Still, he took a deep breath and jumped in nonetheless. Fortunately, Sarah, one of the cetaceans, moved in closer to assist him with the swimming, and soon enough, he felt comfortable enough to swim alongside her.

His fear quickly turned into curiosity as he was questioned, his mind quick and happy to answer any queries. Even those related to math problems. It turned out, that making calculations in the water wasn't so difficult for him! After a while, though, the doll-pheens seemed to have a little reunion of their own, before they announced that Maddy and Mo would join them. He celebrated by splashing on the water, smiling at Maddy, before realizing that the Andorian boy would not be joining them.

Mo felt sad for him, but he found no words to say when he left. He just hoped he wasn't too hurt about it...

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

Once Mo was in the water and Sarah was certain the Lobling was steady in the water, in as much as a land dweller could be given their hopelessly poorly designed bodies allowed, she swam over to a locker mounted just inside her aquarium that opened above the water. Miriam and Maddy joined him along with Ruth and a Denoblian girl Phenna.

"Open the box Lobling."

Sarah encouraged.

Mo did and inside were a half dozen odd looking half helmet looking sort of things. CPO McNeal helped the three children adjust them to the size of their head, which was a challenge for Mo's ears. Once they were set, each child, with their dolphin guide, steered them to separate parts of the aquarium.

There Sarah got real close to Mo and said.

"I am with you Lobling, do not be afraid, the neural link can be disorienting at first. When you are ready, push the button on the front of the helmet."

When he pushed the button, there was a brief burst of colors and then the aquarium began to fade away and the next thing he knew, he was in space! He could see the dolphins and the other children, but they were swimming through the open blackness of the void. That was a little scary, but it wasn't cold like Mo had been told it was in space and he could breathe just fine. Once he got used to the idea that he was still safe, swimming with the dolphins like they experienced space was more amazing than he had words to describe. He swam like he would in a pool and never wanted this feeling to end.

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[Mess Hall | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

With the situation in the Mess Hall finished, Aarwendil went back to do his work. Since he had returned to the ship, the young Betazoid had been doing some experiments with samples of soil from different planets of the Federation, with the purpose of discovering mineral and nutrient richness for the use in agriculture.

Replicators were very good at producing food, but some people still appreciated fresh vegetables and cooking. Besides being an interesting way of helping these planets, since they would know what to do to improve their agriculture.

His visit in the Mess Hall was a simple break to catch something to eat. Aarwendil didn't stay around too long, not wanting to leave his work unattended for too long. After eating, the Betazoid rushed back to the laboratory.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Bridge]

Ardy nodded, trying to figure a way to broach the topic."So, you've probably heard from the chatter around the ship that we're engaged. We'd like you to officiate, simply put." She said nonchalantly. 'It's not going to be anything too crazy, but would you be alright with that?

[As Maddy}

Maddy looked at the dolphins with glee as she was suited up with Mo, much to the collective jealousy  of all the other kids. "Oh! you mean how I can hear people's feelings?" she asked as she got dressed in the wetsuit and tried to put on the cool headset. "Woah! this is SO COOL!, she said, heading into the pool with her classmate and the dolphins.

The pool was really deep, and while she was pretty good at swimming, she was still  a little scared and held on to one of the Dolphin's slippery, smooth fins.  It took a minute to get used to the headset, but when she did, she giggled and splashed some water onto Mo. "That's how dolphins see? And they help steer the spaceship like that?"

[Novi]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 7 - Sickbay]

Lahr gave a wan smile to the Trill medic, knowing that compared to how he used to look, he was still off-color with hints purple shadows under his eyes.  He was glad he had the excuse of his recently discovered hypoglycemia to blame for what he knew was just a bad hangover.

The Andorian looked back to the Commander.  "Excuse me, sir, but I need to talk to the doc privately before I start my shift... if I can steal a moment of her time?"

Once alone in a private treatment bay, Lahr looked to the Trill and quietly broached his request. "So... me and the guys from Beta shift got together last night to watch the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Our team won and, and well, I celebrated a bit too much.  I need an anti-intoxicant shot before I show up for work in a half-hour."

Truth was Lahr had been drinking alone quarters while his cabinmate was on shift, but the doctor didn't need to know that.

[Lieutenant JG Novi - Main Sickbay]

Novi gave a slight frown as she opened up the wall panel and tapped in her code having it open up. She quickly input a few codes of medical jargon before turning around. She remained awkardly silent as she set up the medbay before she turned around. Whether her silence was of judging or her quiet personality she gave a look into the Andorians eye's before she eventually opened her mouth.

"...y-you know I can see on your report that you have been getting these shots relatively regularly correct?"

She clutched her PADD in her hand as she finished inputting commands on the panel and the replicator lit up as a shot appeared on it. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing it and handing it off to Shran,

"As a Doctor I should say that if something is up you can always speak about it with me and I can write you an appointment with the Ship's Councilor or a Temporary leave..." she took the shot back once Shran had taken it.

"...I hope you have a good shift Chief. Remember to drink water. Those anti-intoxicants can cause severe dehydration as a side affect." She gave a small smile and directed her hand to the door.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Ardy nodded, trying to figure a way to broach the topic."So, you've probably heard from the chatter around the ship that we're engaged. We'd like you to officiate, simply put." She said nonchalantly. 'It's not going to be anything too crazy, but would you be alright with that?

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian blinked in surprise as he didn't know Jaeger and Wu that well. Sure, as captain, he had the authority to officiate a wedding, it was the request coming from them.

"I'd be honored ta do so. When would you like ta have this ceremony?"

[As Maddy}

Maddy looked at the dolphins with glee as she was suited up with Mo, much to the collective jealousy  of all the other kids. "Oh! you mean how I can hear people's feelings?" she asked as she got dressed in the wetsuit and tried to put on the cool headset. "Woah! this is SO COOL!, she said, heading into the pool with her classmate and the dolphins.

The pool was really deep, and while she was pretty good at swimming, she was still  a little scared and held on to one of the Dolphin's slippery, smooth fins.  It took a minute to get used to the headset, but when she did, she giggled and splashed some water onto Mo. "That's how dolphins see? And they help steer the spaceship like that?"

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

Ruth was paired with Maddy and found the little human's exuberance contagious as they swam. Once the head set was in place and the link established, Ruth spoke to Maddy through the link.

"Yes Little Swimmer, this is how we see our world. Either in water or in space. We swim without restriction and can see things even your sensors cannot see."

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Crew Quarters, USS Challenger]

After seeing to the people in Sickbay, or rather, ensuring that they were being seen to, Kyan decided to go to his quarters to eat. It was that or the mess hall and he wasn't in the mood for grups and their myriad problems. "Oh... can you sign this?" or "Oh Kyan, I need to get time on the holodeck." or "Hey Kyan, Ensign Snuffy took my earring an now I'm after some payback!"

It was a never-ending cacophony of dumb stuff. Sometimes he seriously considered whether being in command was worth it. Security was much more fun, that was a given, but now there were less people to whom he had to answer. But more people answered to him. And most were engineers and eggheads. Maybe being a captain would be better. He could ask Ian about that. He should have asked Peer. The old Trill was easy to talk to, and as grups go... pretty wise. Although Kyan attributed that to the symbiote moreso than Lucius being a wisened old codger, which he was. But he was the sixth or seventh Peer host... so there'd been a lot of experience even before his old Captain had come along. Kyan gave a quick glace over to where the picture of he and his old CO sat on the desk with the others.

"I really ought tae call him an see what he's about now." the Onlie mused aloud. "Bet he's back on Trill trying tae catch Spinnerfish like always said he would."

The old Trill had retired shortly after the Dominion War, before they could put a box around his pips. He'd been well into his sixties then, but still spry. The USS Avenal hadn't been the same after Peer left. He wondered if the Challenger would be the same now that Jalen and his family were gone.

"Oh well." he told himself, no time tae be thinking on dat when there's stuff tae be doing."

Deciding he wasn't hungry, Kyan ventured over to the shelf to grab Kor and his gang so they could have a go at Jim Kirk and his crew again. There was about an hour or so before he had to be back on the bridge, which was more than enough time to have a proper action figure battle. When he got to the shelf all other concerns were rendered moot.

Kor was gone.

The Da'Har master, series 1 smooth-head action figure, the pride of Kyan's extensive collection, and bane of the planet stealing, Green women's virtue taking, Captain Kirk... was gone. Kang and Koloth remained, but their comrade had vanished. Kyan looked for him elsewhere, turning over his whole quarters in the search, but to no avail.

The thief had struck. When he realized what had happened, the little XO's normally pale Scottish visage began to match his crimson mop. He snatched his uniform jacket and pounded his com badge.

Zhuk! That jobby fu....that wanker... he got in me quarters and nicked Kor! Lock it down Zhuk! Get the team up... We're gonna find him... NOW!

Once he'd called up Zhuk, Kyan put his jacket back on and angrily zipped it back up before heading out the door. Whoever it was taking stuff had gone too far now. Taking earrings and knickknacks was one thing, but messing with a kid's action figures? It was heresy, blasphemy... it was unforgivable.

Whomever it was...he'd better hope Zhuk found him first.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Romulan Free State Space]

It had been five days since the ship left Outpost Solaere. The majority of the systems that were unfinished due to the hurried departure from Starbase 185 were now operating. Ops and Engineering had tracked down the bulk of the older isolinear chips and replaced them by now and this had finally reduced malfunctions to within standards. Lieutenant Sunik was still telling anyone that would listen about the "point zero five four three percent differential in efficiency with the starboard power distribution system", but by now, not many people were listening.

Zhuk and Blackfeather had worn out every avenue of investigation on finding the ship thief. None of the standard procedures had worked. No one crew member was unaccounted for all of the thefts, not even a majority of them. It was possible that it was more than one person, but tracing crew movements failed to yield a suspect. Finally fed up, the two security officers went to the Science department to see if perhaps their knowledge of sensors and science might get them pointed in the right direction. Going over the sensor logs of every item reported stolen, especially Commander MacKenzie's treasured action figures and applying enhanced filtering of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums of light had finally yielded a clue. Whenever something went missing, the sensors noted a slight drop in ultraviolet light. When the sensors were adjusted for this drop, there was a faint shimmer present. It wasn't much, but when the sensors logs were rechecked with the new filtering, the shimmer was visible in every theft.

Somehow, the thief was scrambling the internal sensors of the ship to move about at will. Once aware of this shimmer, it was simple to set the sensors to track and log every time it appeared, and now, they had a pattern. The shimmer led to a specific Jefferies tube near the kitchen on Deck 8. With this information, it was now possible to plan a course of action to stop the thief.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[A couple days later]

{Quarters]

Maddy had lost her favorite stuffed velociraptor. The one with the sparkly green tummy and fuzzy blue fur that Maddy had had since she was practically old enough to sit up. By now, it already had one of the eye  buttons replaced and the stuffing had run thin in places so that it tended to be a bit floppier than it had used to be, but no matter what, it was still Maddy's dino.

And now, it was gone.

Ardyn sighed as she turned over their quarters for the fifth time today, making the room appear torn up in a tornado rather than the normal cleanliness usually expected from an Officer's quarters.   Odds were, it was just tucked away in some bulkhead or worse, dropped somewhere en route to school or the holodeck, but Ardyn could have sworn that the dinosaur hadn't been taken out of their quarters in the past week.

Picking up another pile of PADDS to return back to the proper spots, Ardyn's thoughts wandered to the thief.  Whoever it was, they were still on the run, with no sign of any of the stolen goods or who did it.

It was the talk around all the officers and crew. At this point, there was already a  bulletin in the Mess with a running list of missing items ranging from the valuable to the mundane. Why the thief would want a little girl's stuffy, was anyone's guess, but even the thought of someone coming through their quarters just to steal that made her uneasy.

Either way, she had a distraught little girl on her hands, a disaster zone of a home quarters,  and no way to fix the solution. Trying to replicate the toy to replace it in the dark of the night would be almost impossible, given how loved and worn it was.  Right now, Maddy was drawing a "lost pet" poster to put in the Mess to add to the ever-growing list of lost things. It was a good enough distraction for Maddy before she got dropped off at school.

"Come on kiddo, Let's go. We need to hang it up before we take it to school."

"Okay mommy..." said Maddy, giving the final scribbles in crayon before getting up.

[Mess hall]

The scribbled poster looked somewhat out of place among the other pictures of potentially stolen goods, but then again, it was there now. Ardy had dropped off Maddy and had aimlessly wandered back. She had some time before her next shift. Looking around, she noted the busy tables. Seemed like other people had the same idea.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 7 - Sickbay](Day 2)

[Lieutenant JG Novi - Main Sickbay]

Novi gave a slight frown as she opened up the wall panel and tapped in her code having it open up. She quickly input a few codes of medical jargon before turning around. She remained awkardly silent as she set up the medbay before she turned around. Whether her silence was of judging or her quiet personality she gave a look into the Andorians eye's before she eventually opened her mouth.

"...y-you know I can see on your report that you have been getting these shots relatively regularly correct?"

She clutched her PADD in her hand as she finished inputting commands on the panel and the replicator lit up as a shot appeared on it. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing it and handing it off to Shran,

"As a Doctor I should say that if something is up you can always speak about it with me and I can write you an appointment with the Ship's Councilor or a Temporary leave..." she took the shot back once Shran had taken it.

"...I hope you have a good shift Chief. Remember to drink water. Those anti-intoxicants can cause severe dehydration as a side affect." She gave a small smile and directed her hand to the door.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Lahr gave a shrug before offering an justification.  "It's hockey playoffs - you can't watch the game without a drink.. or five."

He was a bit surprised when the doc handed him the anti-intoxicant shot, rather than administering it herself.  Maybe she figured he'd be apprehensive of doing it himself... but she'd be wrong.  He took the hypospray with an experienced hand and placed it to his own neck - and thumbed the depressor sending the shot into his system.  Within seconds Lahr's headache was fading.

He smiled appreciatively as he handed back the hypospray - until Tora made mention of the Ship's Counsellor, then Lahr's smile became more of a frown.  "An appointment with the counselor ain't necessary."

His frown continued as it seemed to him that her 'helpful reminder' to drink plenty of water seemed to be more tonue-in-cheek than actual concern for his well-being; same with her offer to help with anything else.

"Nah, you've helped enough."
.
.
[Timeskip to Day 5 -  Alpha Shift - Deck 8 - Lounge]

[USS Challenger - Romulan Free State Space]

It had been five days since the ship left Outpost Solaere. The majority of the systems that were unfinished due to the hurried departure from Starbase 185 were now operating. Ops and Engineering had tracked down the bulk of the older isolinear chips and replaced them by now and this had finally reduced malfunctions to within standards. Lieutenant Sunik was still telling anyone that would listen about the "point zero five four three percent differential in efficiency with the starboard power distribution system", but by now, not many people were listening.

Zhuk and Blackfeather had worn out every avenue of investigation on finding the ship thief. None of the standard procedures had worked. No one crew member was unaccounted for all of the thefts, not even a majority of them. It was possible that it was more than one person, but tracing crew movements failed to yield a suspect. Finally fed up, the two security officers went to the Science department to see if perhaps their knowledge of sensors and science might get them pointed in the right direction. Going over the sensor logs of every item reported stolen, especially Commander MacKenzie's treasured action figures and applying enhanced filtering of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums of light had finally yielded a clue. Whenever something went missing, the sensors noted a slight drop in ultraviolet light. When the sensors were adjusted for this drop, there was a faint shimmer present. It wasn't much, but when the sensors logs were rechecked with the new filtering, the shimmer was visible in every theft.

Somehow, the thief was scrambling the internal sensors of the ship to move about at will. Once aware of this shimmer, it was simple to set the sensors to track and log every time it appeared, and now, they had a pattern. The shimmer led to a specific Jefferies tube near the kitchen on Deck 8. With this information, it was now possible to plan a course of action to stop the thief.

Lahr stifled a tired yawn.  He hadn't been sleeping well - he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the new form of nightmare he was having.  He was seeing isolinear chips in his sleep - which didn't help his sleep issues any.  On his overtime shift he was assigned to the replicators - replicating replacement chips, because the bulk of their usual replacement isolinear chips had been 'shared' with Outpost Solaere five days prior.

He stifled another yawn as he looked over the Menu selection...  it was technically past lunch... but this was Lahr's first and likely only solid meal of the day.  He was craving real food not replicator rations, which is what prompted him to come to the Lounge.  He wondered if they served breakfast all day?

[Alexander Wu]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian blinked in surprise as he didn't know Jaeger and Wu that well. Sure, as captain, he had the authority to officiate a wedding, it was the request coming from them.

"I'd be honored ta do so. When would you like ta have this ceremony?"

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Alex smiled, resting a hand on Ardyn's shoulder. "Thank you, sir. We were perusing the upcoming mission assignments, and thinking it might be best to wait until our next scheduled maintenance at Starbase, so in a few months. There's still invitations to send out and a whole bunch of other arrangements. Ardyn's mother wouldn't be overly impressed if we held the ceremony without her." He hesitated briefly, exchanging a glance with Ardy. "Uh, speaking of the ceremony, Captain, how familiar are you with betazoid weddings?"

-----------A Few Days Later------------

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Normally, Alex hated pulling double shifts, something which had proven to be occasionally necessary onboard a ship with so many junior officers. Starting a double on 'nights' was even worse. On this instance however, Ardyn had messaged him in his last hour of manning the conn before his regular shift with news about the big crime which had been committed in their quarters. Alex had been alarmed that someone had managed to sneak into their home, though it was somewhat muted by the rash of misdemeanor thievery plaguing Challenger since they'd left Starbase 185 five days ago. Thus far, the thief, or thieves, hadn't hurt anybody or even been seen, though the violation of privacy was still aggravating.

So while he was worried about the robbery and his family's safety, Alex hadn't found it necessary to rush back to their quarters, especially because it sounded like Maddison wasn't all too happy about the loss of her dinosaur. Not just any dinosaur either, but her favourite. With Ardyn doing the damage control, Alex knew he'd be on clean-up duty once getting home, but between 8 hours on Gamma shift and placating their distressed daughter, he reckoned bridge duty was the easier option.

Checking the chronometer, Alex shifted in his seat, looking around to check on the others. "Well into our last hour, keep up the good work." He encouraged, earning a few tired smiles.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Alex smiled, resting a hand on Ardyn's shoulder. "Thank you, sir. We were perusing the upcoming mission assignments, and thinking it might be best to wait until our next scheduled maintenance at Starbase, so in a few months. There's still invitations to send out and a whole bunch of other arrangements. Ardyn's mother wouldn't be overly impressed if we held the ceremony without her." He hesitated briefly, exchanging a glance with Ardy. "Uh, speaking of the ceremony, Captain, how familiar are you with betazoid weddings?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian chuckled at the question, because he was aware of the broad strokes of a Betazoid wedding, however, Ardy didn't strike him as a traditionalist and Alex was human so, he was fairly certain he would not be officiating in the nude.

"Aye, Lieutenant, I am aware. If'n you so declare that's the route you wish ta take, then I will accommodate your traditions, however, I nae am thinkin' anyone wants ta see me in the all together, so I'm confident that it will nae be a problem.

"I guess the five days ta reach Starbase 153 is nae long enough for all the preparations. We've got three more days in Free State space before we reach the Safe Transit Corridor between the planet Otorin and Outpost K-12, then two more days ta the Starbase. We'll be there long enough ta re-stock and refuel, but it seems there's some serious pressure ta get us on the border ta shut down the smugglin' occurrin' in the Otorin sector. I'm nae clear on when our next refit will be, as our stop at Starbase 185 was considered a refit, half-arsed as it was."

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

Once Mo was in the water and Sarah was certain the Lobling was steady in the water, in as much as a land dweller could be given their hopelessly poorly designed bodies allowed, she swam over to a locker mounted just inside her aquarium that opened above the water. Miriam and Maddy joined him along with Ruth and a Denoblian girl Phenna.

"Open the box Lobling."

Sarah encouraged.

Mo did and inside were a half dozen odd looking half helmet looking sort of things. CPO McNeal helped the three children adjust them to the size of their head, which was a challenge for Mo's ears. Once they were set, each child, with their dolphin guide, steered them to separate parts of the aquarium.

There Sarah got real close to Mo and said.

"I am with you Lobling, do not be afraid, the neural link can be disorienting at first. When you are ready, push the button on the front of the helmet."

When he pushed the button, there was a brief burst of colors and then the aquarium began to fade away and the next thing he knew, he was in space! He could see the dolphins and the other children, but they were swimming through the open blackness of the void. That was a little scary, but it wasn't cold like Mo had been told it was in space and he could breathe just fine. Once he got used to the idea that he was still safe, swimming with the dolphins like they experienced space was more amazing than he had words to describe. He swam like he would in a pool and never wanted this feeling to end.

[As Maddy]

Maddy looked at the dolphins with glee as she was suited up with Mo, much to the collective jealousy  of all the other kids. "Oh! you mean how I can hear people's feelings?" she asked as she got dressed in the wetsuit and tried to put on the cool headset. "Woah! this is SO COOL!, she said, heading into the pool with her classmate and the dolphins.

The pool was really deep, and while she was pretty good at swimming, she was still  a little scared and held on to one of the Dolphin's slippery, smooth fins.  It took a minute to get used to the headset, but when she did, she giggled and splashed some water onto Mo. "That's how dolphins see? And they help steer the spaceship like that?"

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

Ruth was paired with Maddy and found the little human's exuberance contagious as they swam. Once the head set was in place and the link established, Ruth spoke to Maddy through the link.

"Yes Little Swimmer, this is how we see our world. Either in water or in space. We swim without restriction and can see things even your sensors cannot see."

[Little Mo | Deck Eight | Cetacean Lab | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Mo took a moment to paddle around, realizing how much he missed swimming. Still, he quickly nodded and made his way towards the locker. It took him a little moment to open it, amazed by what he found inside. Some strange set of helmets. Chief Petty Officer McNeal instructed Mo to place it on, and though he was a bit worried about it having mechanical components that could get wet and thus, fizzle out, he did. It did not fit him too well, so he had to be helped by McNeal to get it properly over his ears.

Mo did not appreciate the way his ears had to be constrained by the helmet, and no shortage of 'ow's' and 'ouchies' came from him. Still, he knew that he had to be a good sport about it, so he did his best to keep calm and not make too much of a fuzz. He didn't want to get taken out of the pool like the Andorian boy, so he remembered the 74th Rule of Acquisition: 'Knowledge means profit'.

And he believed they would be able to obtain great knowledge from this. Oh, he was so excited still~

As Sarah got close to Mo, he nodded, taking a deep breath as he determined that he would feel weird in a moment. Afterward, though, he pressed on the bottom. His head began to spin with a barrage of colors that assaulted his eyes, and he felt a little nauseous. Suddenly, though, he was in space, with the 'doll-pheens' and his friends. He gasped, though a sense of dread now overtook him.

He flailed for a moment, yet Sarah was there to calm him down, placing a flipper on his back, which reassured him that he was alright. Taking deep breaths, he calmed himself down, which allowed to spread his arms, feeling the rush of be flying in space. Wow! How cool it would be to do this all the time?!

At the playful demeanor of Maddy, he made sure to reply in kind with some water splashing of his own. He was utterly delighted by the way he apparently soar through the sky, "I think so?! But I dunno! How do you do it, Sarah?!"

He answered Maddy, eyeing his new aquatic friend, hoping that she could answer Maddy's question. Ruth was faster, however. Tehee. These 'doll-pheens' were fun! It would be day he would fondly remember for the rest of his life, most likely.

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Crew Quarters, USS Challenger]

After seeing to the people in Sickbay, or rather, ensuring that they were being seen to, Kyan decided to go to his quarters to eat. It was that or the mess hall and he wasn't in the mood for grups and their myriad problems. "Oh... can you sign this?" or "Oh Kyan, I need to get time on the holodeck." or "Hey Kyan, Ensign Snuffy took my earring an now I'm after some payback!"

It was a never-ending cacophony of dumb stuff. Sometimes he seriously considered whether being in command was worth it. Security was much more fun, that was a given, but now there were less people to whom he had to answer. But more people answered to him. And most were engineers and eggheads. Maybe being a captain would be better. He could ask Ian about that. He should have asked Peer. The old Trill was easy to talk to, and as grups go... pretty wise. Although Kyan attributed that to the symbiote moreso than Lucius being a wisened old codger, which he was. But he was the sixth or seventh Peer host... so there'd been a lot of experience even before his old Captain had come along. Kyan gave a quick glace over to where the picture of he and his old CO sat on the desk with the others.

"I really ought tae call him an see what he's about now." the Onlie mused aloud. "Bet he's back on Trill trying tae catch Spinnerfish like always said he would."

The old Trill had retired shortly after the Dominion War, before they could put a box around his pips. He'd been well into his sixties then, but still spry. The USS Avenal hadn't been the same after Peer left. He wondered if the Challenger would be the same now that Jalen and his family were gone.

"Oh well." he told himself, no time tae be thinking on dat when there's stuff tae be doing."

Deciding he wasn't hungry, Kyan ventured over to the shelf to grab Kor and his gang so they could have a go at Jim Kirk and his crew again. There was about an hour or so before he had to be back on the bridge, which was more than enough time to have a proper action figure battle. When he got to the shelf all other concerns were rendered moot.

Kor was gone.

The Da'Har master, series 1 smooth-head action figure, the pride of Kyan's extensive collection, and bane of the planet stealing, Green women's virtue taking, Captain Kirk... was gone. Kang and Koloth remained, but their comrade had vanished. Kyan looked for him elsewhere, turning over his whole quarters in the search, but to no avail.

The thief had struck. When he realized what had happened, the little XO's normally pale Scottish visage began to match his crimson mop. He snatched his uniform jacket and pounded his com badge.

Zhuk! That jobby fu....that wanker... he got in me quarters and nicked Kor! Lock it down Zhuk! Get the team up... We're gonna find him... NOW!

Once he'd called up Zhuk, Kyan put his jacket back on and angrily zipped it back up before heading out the door. Whoever it was taking stuff had gone too far now. Taking earrings and knickknacks was one thing, but messing with a kid's action figures? It was heresy, blasphemy... it was unforgivable.

Whomever it was...he'd better hope Zhuk found him first.

[USS Challenger - Romulan Free State Space]

It had been five days since the ship left Outpost Solaere. The majority of the systems that were unfinished due to the hurried departure from Starbase 185 were now operating. Ops and Engineering had tracked down the bulk of the older isolinear chips and replaced them by now and this had finally reduced malfunctions to within standards. Lieutenant Sunik was still telling anyone that would listen about the "point zero five four three percent differential in efficiency with the starboard power distribution system", but by now, not many people were listening.

Zhuk and Blackfeather had worn out every avenue of investigation on finding the ship thief. None of the standard procedures had worked. No one crew member was unaccounted for all of the thefts, not even a majority of them. It was possible that it was more than one person, but tracing crew movements failed to yield a suspect. Finally fed up, the two security officers went to the Science department to see if perhaps their knowledge of sensors and science might get them pointed in the right direction. Going over the sensor logs of every item reported stolen, especially Commander MacKenzie's treasured action figures and applying enhanced filtering of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums of light had finally yielded a clue. Whenever something went missing, the sensors noted a slight drop in ultraviolet light. When the sensors were adjusted for this drop, there was a faint shimmer present. It wasn't much, but when the sensors logs were rechecked with the new filtering, the shimmer was visible in every theft.

Somehow, the thief was scrambling the internal sensors of the ship to move about at will. Once aware of this shimmer, it was simple to set the sensors to track and log every time it appeared, and now, they had a pattern. The shimmer led to a specific Jefferies tube near the kitchen on Deck 8. With this information, it was now possible to plan a course of action to stop the thief.

[A couple days later]

{Quarters]

Maddy had lost her favorite stuffed velociraptor. The one with the sparkly green tummy and fuzzy blue fur that Maddy had had since she was practically old enough to sit up. By now, it already had one of the eye  buttons replaced and the stuffing had run thin in places so that it tended to be a bit floppier than it had used to be, but no matter what, it was still Maddy's dino.

And now, it was gone.

Ardyn sighed as she turned over their quarters for the fifth time today, making the room appear torn up in a tornado rather than the normal cleanliness usually expected from an Officer's quarters.   Odds were, it was just tucked away in some bulkhead or worse, dropped somewhere en route to school or the holodeck, but Ardyn could have sworn that the dinosaur hadn't been taken out of their quarters in the past week.

Picking up another pile of PADDS to return back to the proper spots, Ardyn's thoughts wandered to the thief.  Whoever it was, they were still on the run, with no sign of any of the stolen goods or who did it.

It was the talk around all the officers and crew. At this point, there was already a  bulletin in the Mess with a running list of missing items ranging from the valuable to the mundane. Why the thief would want a little girl's stuffy, was anyone's guess, but even the thought of someone coming through their quarters just to steal that made her uneasy.

Either way, she had a distraught little girl on her hands, a disaster zone of a home quarters,  and no way to fix the solution. Trying to replicate the toy to replace it in the dark of the night would be almost impossible, given how loved and worn it was.  Right now, Maddy was drawing a "lost pet" poster to put in the Mess to add to the ever-growing list of lost things. It was a good enough distraction for Maddy before she got dropped off at school.

"Come on kiddo, Let's go. We need to hang it up before we take it to school."

"Okay mommy..." said Maddy, giving the final scribbles in crayon before getting up.

[Mess hall]

The scribbled poster looked somewhat out of place among the other pictures of potentially stolen goods, but then again, it was there now. Ardy had dropped off Maddy and had aimlessly wandered back. She had some time before her next shift. Looking around, she noted the busy tables. Seemed like other people had the same idea.

[Timeskip to Day 5]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck Eight | Jefferies Tube | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Romulan Free State Space]

Zhukdra'shar had been in a foul mood all week. Little progress had been made on his investigations, and he felt it reflected poorly on his new posting. It cast doubts about his leadership and left a poor taste in the other officers' mouths. This had become especially grave for him as Kyan had reported some of his action figures missing, and now early in the morning, he had seen a missing poster for a toy(?) dinosaur.

Whenever he sat in the mess hall, he could see the doubt on their faces. The uncertainty. The sensation that he could not keep them safe. He was not sleeping well. But this ended today. Yesterday, after ripping out the board Zhuk had made with the stolen items and the threads that seemingly connected, he had decided to ask for help from the Science department, assisted by Blackfeather. All day had been spent searching for something they had missed, and though Zhuk was hesitant to have Jettis help him, he was relieved when a pattern was found.

A reduction in the ultraviolet light, and then a shimmer. Imperceptible by the sensors usually, but with Science's assistance, now quite obvious to the Caitian. Zhuk decided to wait a day to make his move, just to throw off the thief from the fact that they had his scent now. Early in the morning, though, Zhuk had assembled a small strike force that would venture into the Jefferies Tube where the shimmering had been precisely located, and find the missing items. As well as arrest the perpetrator. The team was quickly debriefed and then instructed to head inside a team, using simple phasers set to stun as weapons. Zhuk doubted that the thief would be well-armed, or put a lot of resistance. After all, no violent events had been recorded, and he was certain whoever it was, that it was certain of the technology he was using to hide himself from the sensors.

The thief would be his'. This time, the Caitian was certain of it. And he would dearly pay for all the trouble it was to find him!

[Ian Galloway]

[Timeskip to Day 5]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck Eight | Jefferies Tube | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Romulan Free State Space]

Zhukdra'shar had been in a foul mood all week. Little progress had been made on his investigations, and he felt it reflected poorly on his new posting. It cast doubts about his leadership and left a poor taste in the other officers' mouths. This had become especially grave for him as Kyan had reported some of his action figures missing, and now early in the morning, he had seen a missing poster for a toy(?) dinosaur.

Whenever he sat in the mess hall, he could see the doubt on their faces. The uncertainty. The sensation that he could not keep them safe. He was not sleeping well. But this ended today. Yesterday, after ripping out the board Zhuk had made with the stolen items and the threads that seemingly connected, he had decided to ask for help from the Science department, assisted by Blackfeather. All day had been spent searching for something they had missed, and though Zhuk was hesitant to have Jettis help him, he was relieved when a pattern was found.

A reduction in the ultraviolet light, and then a shimmer. Imperceptible by the sensors usually, but with Science's assistance, now quite obvious to the Caitian. Zhuk decided to wait a day to make his move, just to throw off the thief from the fact that they had his scent now. Early in the morning, though, Zhuk had assembled a small strike force that would venture into the Jefferies Tube where the shimmering had been precisely located, and find the missing items. As well as arrest the perpetrator. The team was quickly debriefed and then instructed to head inside a team, using simple phasers set to stun as weapons. Zhuk doubted that the thief would be well-armed, or put a lot of resistance. After all, no violent events had been recorded, and he was certain whoever it was, that it was certain of the technology he was using to hide himself from the sensors.

The thief would be his'. This time, the Caitian was certain of it. And he would dearly pay for all the trouble it was to find him!

[Jeffries Tube 127-B - Deck 12 - Beneath the Deuterium Storage Tanks - USS Challenger]

The strike team moved slowly. They each held tricorders modified to detect the narrow band of ultraviolet light that revealed the shimmer. They were in one of the most remote parts of the ship when it came to crew traffic, thus it was the perfect place to hide.

It was Zhuk's superior sense of smell that told him they were close, there was a sharp tang in the air despite the environmental system's filtration. Using hand signals, the team branched out on reaching a hub to seal off exit routes. They would have their quarry soon and the thrill of the hunt began to coarse through his veins.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Bridge, USS Challenger]

Sometimes Kyan wondered why he ever agreed to get promoted in the first place. He'd been all set to go with Zhuk and his team to catch the thief, but Ian said that it wasn't his job anymore. So now here he was, sitting on the bridge with everyone else, watching the security team trek through the underbelly of the ship in search of the thief.

First of all, Kyan was genetically predisposed to be doing something. That's just the way things worked. He needed to be moving around. Sitting in the same spot for hours and watching the viewscreen was not something. It's the opposite of something. Thats why he was never a good helmsman. Sitting down and steering the ship... or more accurately, telling the ship where to go and then watching the blip pass through space for hours on end, unless you have to make a course correction. That's why he skipped most of the piloting courses when he was at the Academy. And that was back before they'd created the LCARS systems and isolinear chips, much less the bio neural gel packs.

And now he had a job with another chair and a smaller little console that didn't even fly the ship. But at least he got to sit beside the Captain and play musical chairs with him if he decided to go the the bathroom, or go sit in his ready room or something. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he was expected to sit here during a fight, or an operation like this one, and not do anything.

It was excruciating.

Sitting cross-legged in his chair, the Onlie tried to busy himself by reading tactical reports from the Klingon border. Any other time the information would have been interesting, but the fact that several Klingon ships had recently gone missing without any explanation was relegated to the back burner. Instead, Kyan found himself getting up and walking around the bridge, "checking" on all the different stations. He'd done that three times already. The Benzite cadet manning science 2 was probably developing a complex by now. Kyan finally gave up on his padd and looked back up at the screen in time to see Zhuk motion that they were close.

"Finally!" he said to himself. Then to Galloway, "I'd be after interrogatin him when they catch him." he offered. "Zhuk can come too, but I dinnae know if he's done it much. An the jobby pillock mighta hid all the loot he got so.."

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Jeffries Tube 127-B - Deck 12 - Beneath the Deuterium Storage Tanks - USS Challenger]

The strike team moved slowly. They each held tricorders modified to detect the narrow band of ultraviolet light that revealed the shimmer. They were in one of the most remote parts of the ship when it came to crew traffic, thus it was the perfect place to hide.

It was Zhuk's superior sense of smell that told him they were close, there was a sharp tang in the air despite the environmental system's filtration. Using hand signals, the team branched out on reaching a hub to seal off exit routes. They would have their quarry soon and the thrill of the hunt began to coarse through his veins.

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck Twelve | Jefferies Tube 127-B | Beneath the Deuterium Storage Tanks | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Romulan Free State Space]

Even though this whole ordeal had been highly distressing for him, he couldn't help but take a small amount of pride in the way that his Security team had so smoothly taken their positions, and combed through the service ducts. All exits had been covered, so the thief would be captured successfully even if he failed in this first capture - which wouldn't happen.

All of his senses were alert and ready, supplementing the technology that allowed him to track his quarry. It was his sharp scent, however, that allowed the Caitian to determine he was almost upon him. Blackfeather and Zala, who followed behind the Chief of Security, were having a hard time keeping up, his natural agility and flexibility being a boon in these tight corridors. Suddenly, he stopped, as they almost reached a central node. A quick chatter with his teeth was emitted, and Zhuk dropped his tricorder, much to the other two's surprise. He did not even retrieve his phaser, instead falling into all fours, and accelerating towards something still unseen. Zhuk's sensitive nose now fully guided him, into the dim illumination of the thief's nest. He narrowly avoided tripping over a simple, makeshift trap, so when he jumped at the middle of a hammock-like structure, the only thing that the Rigellian could see were a pair of glowing eyes and pointy claws and teeth going right towards him.

The latter were swiftly embedded upon the Rigellian's collar, narrowly avoiding his actual skin as he was thrown onto the floor. In the fall, they narrowly avoided crashing upon the many stolen items that had been carefully and deliberately propped around by the thief over a small crate, much to both's relief. Soon enough, however, the Rigellian thief attempted to get the upper hand by brandishing his weapon, a small pistol implement. Far too slow for Zhuk's superior reflexes, he found himself scratched for his efforts, and forced to drop the gun as the Caitian rolled around with him, far from the coveted objects. Growling followed the combat, as the Rigellian resorted to punching, scratching and generally trying to get the Security officer off his body. Zhuk's claws, however, made that difficult as they pierced the clothing and tore it apart. The shimmering became more and more diffuse until finally, his true form was revealed. The thief managed to hit the Caitian often, though Mrekerhas swifly discovered that he had little in the way of combat skills, barely managing to score any actual strikes that hurt him. A cruel laugh followed... then, Zhuk let go.

The Rigellian let out a cry as he pushed aside the Head of Security and made a run for it, only to find himself lightly disoriented as the illumination levels rose. It took him just a moment to realize that he was in the crosshairs of two other Security officers, who gazed at him with a scowl. As he turned, he found the upright, significantly smaller-than-him Caitian that had just attacked him brandishing his own phaser, the thief's weapon safely under his boot. With his voice breaking, he raised his hands and fell to his knees,

"A-Alright, a-alright, I surrender! S-Stop!" Came the pleading as he looked over towards Blackfeather and Zala, unable to meet Zhuk in the eye, "P-Please, don't hurt me! Y-Yes! I-I stole your crew's things! They were so pretty! I did not meant to s-stay in your ship, but I-I saw... oh s-so many pretty things!"

Through sniffles, he motioned over to the stolen objects, before shaking his head, "I-I did not meant to stay, but w-when I tried to leave... t-the ship left early. I am sorry, I-I couldn't help it! A-And I had to survive until you r-reached the next S-Starbase!"

He crawled closer towards Zala, glancing behind himself, "P-Please... d-don't... don't let him take me!"

As Zala took a look over towards Zhukdra'shar, he observed her for a moment, then shrugged, "Ah, such exaggeration... I but only roughed you a small amount... besides, you attempted to fire at me with a weapon. I was supposed to allow you to fire upon me? Ah... by the by, there lays a tripwire just in front of thee. Be careful."

Zhuk tsked, shaking his head as he straightened his uniform, making sure everything was in place. Both his pips and commbadge. Zala sighed and proceeded to jump over the trap, then placed a shoulder on top of the scared Rigellian male, "You are... safe now. But you won't be leaving the brig and be handled by the authorities for the rest of our trip. After we visit Sickbay, that is..."

She stated, sternly, and motioned for the Rigellian to stand up, which he did. Meekly, he placed his hands behind his back, "Y-Yeah... I won't fight... I surrender...

He reassured them, before Zala took him away, assisted by Blackfeather.

"Esteemed members of the crew. Captain. I must gladly inform thee that we have managed to apprehend our interloper, and have found his little... 'nest' he was using to abscond the stolen items. I believe everything is here, and thus, shalt be returned shortly to thee. Our pilferer, a Rigellian, is on his way to Sickbay. And then, the brig."

Zhuk announced, with great pride in his words. He smirked, wondering if he had roughed him too much. Oh well, he deserved some punishment for the headache that he had caused, didn't he? He chuckled, proceeding to recover the items so that they could be given back to their rightful owners...