S6 E4 - The Dead and the Gone

[Kyan Mackenzie]

Lahr shook his head. "There's nothing you can do. If you feel I can't do my job as I am, I'll go to Medical and request an anti-intoxicant shot."

Under normal circumstances, Kyan would've shrugged it off and went about his business. Lahr was a decent sort of grup after all. Everyone liked him well enough, and othr than this one thing, no one ever had a bad word to say about him. Except for their former Chief Engineer, but she had a bad word to say about everyone. No, Lahr was a Chief in Starfleet, and perfectly capable of making his own decisions.

Or maybe he wasn't.

Being in Starfleet came with a lot of stress. Moreso, being in Starfleet and assigned to this ship came with a lot of stress. Well, for most people anyway. Kyan rather liked the adventure of it all, but even still he'd had to do counseling after Land. He'd have skipped it if it was up to him, but it wasn't. He'd never admit it to the head shrinks back on his planet, lest they get too full of themselves, or even to Mills, but the counseling he'd done had been helpful. If he hadn't done it, he'd probably have gotten in trouble like he used to. Someone would have popped off at him and the pair of them would've ended up in sickbay... or worse. Probably worse.

"Sure an I dinna ask if ye thought I could do sommat about it." Kyan answered after a moment. "I asked ye why yer after drinkin yerself stupid all the time. Yer a grup the now an a Chief in Starfleet. If yer after havin a bevvie sometimes den it's yer own business and no one else's. But it's plain as the nose on yer face ye got a problem, ta everyone who sees ya up close, not just me. An if I let ye go one wif it by yerself, dem I'm not a good friend or officer so.  I'll order you ta tell me if dats what it takes. An I'll tell sickbay not ta be letting ye get anymore shots. Either which way, yer no gonna be by yerself wif it any more."

He paused and looked at the uncomfortable Andorian. Lahr had been a good griend to alot of people on the ship. He'd helped Melly when she needed it, befriended Neva when she was new, helped Tora with her party back on Starbase 158, and probably countless ofther things that Kyan didnt know about. So if he was having his own issues, then he deserved to have someone help him too, whether he wanted it or not.

"So it's one more time I'll ask. What's makin ye drink so much?"

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger, Deck 1, Bridge]

The quick layover at Deep Space K-7 had been refreshing. Malik had taken the time to carry out personal admin, checking up on the family tourist business back home on Risa, and catching up with his parents and sister via subspace calls. The Risan had said his farewells to the Discovery crew after what would be his final mission with them. It was bittersweet, having spent so long with the same crew through all sorts of adventurers and Frontier Day. They would always hold a special place in his heart.

Change was part of life and what made it entertaining. The opportunity had arisen to progress his career and he took it with both hands. The extra pip to commander he wore with pride, whilst acknowledging that without his comrades he wouldn't be here today.

The tall, immaculately dressed and presented Risan entered the bridge of the Challenger. A ship his sister, Taja Grippen had briefly served on.

He presented his padd to the captain containing his official transfer papers.

"Captain. Commander Malik Grippen reporting for duty. I hope your stay at K-7 was enjoyable?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian stood and shook the hand of his new first officer. Even though they'd bantered like old family, Ian had liked Kyan and was sorry to see him go.

"Welcome Commander. I look forward ta seein' your command style."

When Malik asked about his time on K-7, Ian's cheeks reddened, he didn't reply to the question, but it was as if things might have been too enjoyable.  Instead, of answering, Ian launched into an impromptu mission brief.

"Ah, yes well, Commander, we have an interestin' mission for you. Nae even aboard a week and we're ta be tossin' you into the deep end of things. We're eight hours out of the Talinos system. Talinos IV seems ta have a lost civilization that needs ta be looked at. In addition, while you and your team are lookin' into the pottery, the Challenger will be conductin' an intense survey ta find the source of why there are spikes in the background radiation of the system.

"Bein' this close ta the rump of the Romulan Empire, there's no tellin' what the little shytes have gotten themselves up ta. In any case, you choose your team, but I'd suggest an engineer in case you find any alien tech and an Ensign Tora Zalos who is an anthropologist. Good huntin' Commander."

[Malik Grippen]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian stood and shook the hand of his new first officer. Even though they'd bantered like old family, Ian had liked Kyan and was sorry to see him go.

"Welcome Commander. We have an interestin' mission for you. Nae even aboard a week and we're ta be tossin' you into the deep end of things. We're eight hours out of the Talinos system. Talinos IV seems ta have a lost civilization that needs ta be looked at. In addition, while you and your team are lookin' into the pottery, the Challenger will be conductin' an intense survey ta find the source of why there are spikes in the background radiation of the system.

"Bein' this close ta the rump of the Romulan Empire, there's no tellin' what the little shytes have gotten themselves up ta. In any case, you choose your team, but I'd suggest an engineer in case you find any alien tech and an Ensign Tora Zalos who is an anthropologist. Good huntin' Commander."

[USS Challenger, Deck 1, Bridge]

"Aye captain, I'll start pulling a team together to be ready by then."

The Risan didn't understand what a few of the captain's words actually meant given the accent, but he got the gist of it. Human accents were so diverse. On Risa, everyone pretty much sounded the same. Malik took himself to the mission operations station off to the side of the bridge. He began with reviewing what the Starfleet database had on the Talinos system, which was very little. An unexplored world (at least by Starfleet), however recent scans detected ruined structures and unusually high background radiation.

Once finished with that, he pulled up the crew manifest. He'd have plenty of time to get to know the crew, but for now he needed a suitable team for an away mission. He would need at least 1 person each from Security, Engineering, Operations, Science and Medical.

It would be up to the most senior officer currently on duty to assign suitable away team members. At present, Malik didn't know any of them so this seemed the best course of action. But he knew a couple of folk that he needed by name.

"Commander Grippen to Department Heads. We have an away mission to Talinos IV in eight hours. I have sent the request to your station for review and assigning of relevant team members. Grippen out."

The message sent to each DH was:

Survey mission to Talinos IV
Primary objective: Initial survey of newly discovered ruins on planet's surface
Secondary objective: Identify cause of radiation disturbance
Mandatory Team members: Ensign Tora Zalos, LT JG Nevanthi Cordon
Additional team members: Security, Operations, Medical
Assembly point: Transporter Room One, approx 8 hours

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - XO Office] (after K7 shoreleave but before departing the station)

"Sure an I dinna ask if ye thought I could do sommat about it." Kyan answered after a moment. "I asked ye why yer after drinkin yerself stupid all the time. Yer a grup the now an a Chief in Starfleet. If yer after havin a bevvie sometimes den it's yer own business and no one else's. But it's plain as the nose on yer face ye got a problem, ta everyone who sees ya up close, not just me. An if I let ye go one wif it by yerself, dem I'm not a good friend or officer so.  I'll order you ta tell me if dats what it takes. An I'll tell sickbay not ta be letting ye get anymore shots. Either which way, yer no gonna be by yerself wif it any more."

He paused and looked at the uncomfortable Andorian. Lahr had been a good griend to alot of people on the ship. He'd helped Melly when she needed it, befriended Neva when she was new, helped Tora with her party back on Starbase 158, and probably countless ofther things that Kyan didnt know about. So if he was having his own issues, then he deserved to have someone help him too, whether he wanted it or not.

"So it's one more time I'll ask. What's makin ye drink so much?"

Lahr's antennae flicked slightly as the Only didn't let up.  There had been one other that had bothered to delve into his troubles once before - kept him from throwing away his enlistment after just over a year.  He lowered his glance to the coffee table.  "It's Ruth.  I miss her ... and I'm frustrated that no one can find any concrete evidence as to what happened to her.. and drinking.. well, it's the way I cope when I've got no one else around to distract me."

[Jettis Jyur]

"Good Morning." Alex raised his mug in greeting and waited for the Ensign to introduce herself. "Hey, it sounds like Theresa really stepped up with helping out the younger kids on K-7, Maddison thinks the world of her now." They had been regaled with stories about the best blanket forts and 'camping' trips in the arboretum, so much so that their next family vacation was already planned in Maddy's opinion. "Is there anything I can send as a thank you?"

"Pleasure is all mine, sir. I'm Calindra Hejaran, latest transfer to Ops," Calindra said with a friendly smile from her side of the table before scrutinizing today's agenda on her datapad.

She whistled appreciatively when she noticed that Commander Mackenzie was being transfered and that they were receiving a new commander called Malik Grippen. Things were starting to get interesting, with a lot of changes for everyone. As to their mission: they were being sent to the Talinos system to figure out what was causing an increase in background radiation.

She wasn't sure how she would fit in with that type of particular mission, but she figured that Lieutenant Jyur would provide more context as the meeting progressed.

[ USS Challenger - Observation Lounge ]

Calindra Hejaran. Jettis filed away that information with a nod. Typically he wouldn't interact with operations much, however these past few missions had called for a lot of collaboration. Might as well start learning the department.

Bringing his tea to his lips, he smiled as  Wu brought up Theresa. "Ah, I'm glad to hear it. Theresa loves kids, but has no siblings so she tends to take it upon herself to adopt any in sight.  Sometimes against their will."

A few times she'd butted heads with a particularly strong willed toddler who'd rather not be hovered over.. Mainly because he was trying to chuck rocks at his peers. "Any form of sweets is always a hit. I keep finding a stash somewhere in our quarters that mysteriously moves if I take one." He volunteered with a laugh.

Canting his head towards Calindra, he further explained. "My daughter, Theresa. She's fifteen, so tends to help out with younger children during any crises or separation."

[8 Hours to Talinos...]

"Commander Grippen to Department Heads. We have an away mission to Talinos IV in eight hours. I have sent the request to your station for review and assigning of relevant team members. Grippen out."

The message sent to each DH was:

Survey mission to Talinos IV
Primary objective: Initial survey of newly discovered ruins on planet's surface
Secondary objective: Identify cause of radiation disturbance
Mandatory Team members: Ensign Tora Zalos, LT JG Nevanthi Cordon
Additional team members: Security, Operations, Medical
Assembly point: Transporter Room One, approx 8 hours

The call echoed through the silence of his quarters as he worked at his computer. His head cocked at the familiar name. Grippen was giving the call?
Something he couldn't exactly question at the moment. He resolved to catch up with him later, and pulled out his PADD to read the information forwarded. His Ensign Zalos was particularly called upon, which made sense given her anthropological expertise.

"Acknowledge. I will inform Ensign Zalos."

He would forward the information to Tora, so that she could prepare appropriately. He would standby on the ship for the scans and any possible complications.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the ship passed by the orbit of the outermost planet in the system, Lieutenant Evan Randall was at the Science One station conducting the scans the captain had ordered gasped and reported.

"Sir, I'm picking up an energy field around Talinos IV it appears to be vast deflector screen surrounding the planet." After making a few fine adjustments he added. "I'm detecting a battle taking place between a starship, type unknown, and forces on the ground equipped with heavy beam weapons. The starship seems to be having trouble maneuvering and is getting the worst of the exchange!"

Ian blinked in surprise as this system was supposed to be uninhabited, but it seemed someone else was interested in the newly uncovered ruins.

"Shields up. Red alert. Bring photons to ready. Bring phasers to ready. Helm, full impulse take us in."

However, long before the Challenger could reach Talinos IV, the ship exploded at which point Ian ordered a step down to yellow alert.

"You got anything else Evan?"

"Just a debris field where the unknown ship was. Background radiation levels are slightly higher than normal. The planet still appears devoid of life although I am detecting the anomalous presence of two energy sources, both located underground in a deserted city. That's all I can do until we make orbit."

Ian looked annoyed as he replied.

"Bloody hell, this was just supposed ta be bloody science this time. Well, Commander, looks like your mission just got more interestin'."

[Ardyn Jaeger - Wu]

[Restaraunt]

"I know you can hear people's feelings and thoughts, but sometimes you gotta not say what you hear out loud. Some people don't really like hearing someone reading thoughts."
"But why?""
"It just is." Not everyone can do that, y'know."

Maddy wasn't quite happy with her question not being answered fully, but Ardy was perfectly fine with not having to explain the birds and the bees question just yet.  Not here in public, at least. But it was definitely clear that Maddy was a lot more astute at being an Empath than Ardy had ever thought possible.  Way more than she was ever considered at that age, and maybe even more than she was now as an adult.

She was pretty sure her mom did test her at some point. It only seemed to drive home the fact that Ardyn wasn't as naturally gifted as her brothers, as she'd expected from her quarter heritage, but she guessed that somehow it had to have skipped a generation with Maddy.  A fact that she now had minimal experience in otherwise.

"Believe me, my brothers gave her quite the run for her money. Had to stand out from them somehow." she joked

[Bridge - Current time]

Ardy nodded as she heard the new Commander come on board. He seemed like a pretty solid type. Must have came on while they were docked. She wasn't sure,but she decided to break the ice. "So, I don't think I've met you yet. The name's Jaeger, Ardyn Jaeger. she extended a hand as she heard the memo. Flight wasn't going to be needed here just yet.

Suddenly, things seemed to go from zero to 100  in an instant, before  quieting down as soon as it came. A ship had arrived and then blown to smithereens out of seeming nowhere! "Preparing for evasive maneuvers."

"

[Alexander Wu]

[Restaraunt]

"I know you can hear people's feelings and thoughts, but sometimes

Maddy wasn't quite happy with her question not being answered fully, but Ardy was perfectly fine with not having to explain the birds and the bees question just yet.  Not here in public, at least. But it was definitely clear that Maddy was a lot more astute at being an Empath than Ardy had ever thought possible.  Way more than she was ever considered at that age, and maybe even more than she was now as an adult.

She was pretty sure her mom did test her at some point. It only seemed to drive home the fact that Ardyn wasn't as naturally gifted as her brothers, as she'd expected from her quarter heritage, but she guessed that somehow it had to have skipped a generation with Maddy.  A fact that she now had minimal experience in otherwise.

"Believe me, my brothers gave her quite the run for her money. Had to stand out from them somehow." she joked

[K-7 - Promenade - naDev ghoS Eatery]

Alex was quite thankful that they had managed to defuse the loaded question, and that Maddy was reasonably distracted between Ardyn's response and the gagh. Still, he had been growing increasingly concerned about her steadily developing abilities, from being able to sense how they felt from several decks away on Challenger to now being able to listen in to their thoughts. Alex knew how to externally control how he was feeling, or at least hide it visibly, and was quite good at it. How did someone hide their thoughts though? Leaning closer to Ardyn, he asked, "She's six now, does telepathic ability increase with age, or do we think she's plateaued? Should we consider asking your mom for some parenting advice? Or maybe one of the other betazoids onboard?"

------72 Hours Later------

"I believe her father was Canadian, and grew up near the Federal Capital. Speaking of families on board a military vessel, my father felt the same as you did, I believe. He insisted my mother take me on her Trade Missions instead of having us both under foot and in harm's way," Calindra confided. "Unless both parents are part of the crew, he didn't see why he would accept civilians on his own vessel and often insisted that children be of a certain age before even considering having their family aboard."

NPC PO2 Grelek
[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge]

The Vulcan petty officer arrived exactly on time for the Operations meeting.  He eschewed the lounge replicator and headed straight for where the Department Head and others were already gathered.  He nodded blandly to the group before taking a seat and folding his hand neatly on his lap to await the start of the briefing.

[ USS Challenger - Observation Lounge ]

Calindra Hejaran. Jettis filed away that information with a nod. Typically he wouldn't interact with operations much, however these past few missions had called for a lot of collaboration. Might as well start learning the department.

Bringing his tea to his lips, he smiled as  Wu brought up Theresa. "Ah, I'm glad to hear it. Theresa loves kids, but has no siblings so she tends to take it upon herself to adopt any in sight.  Sometimes against their will."

A few times she'd butted heads with a particularly strong willed toddler who'd rather not be hovered over.. Mainly because he was trying to chuck rocks at his peers. "Any form of sweets is always a hit. I keep finding a stash somewhere in our quarters that mysteriously moves if I take one." He volunteered with a laugh.

Canting his head towards Calindra, he further explained. "My daughter, Theresa. She's fifteen, so tends to help out with younger children during any crises or separation."

[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge]

Alex nodded, taking another sip of coffee. "Personally, I don't think a starship is any place for children at all under secondary school age. A starbase or planetary posting, sure, there are support systems in place, nature, relative safety. If Starfleet hadn't recalled us..." He suddenly chuckled at a macabre notion. "You know what, maybe Command does it on purpose, as motivation to do our jobs well."

"Theresa is always welcome to take Maddison on as a ward." Alex reckoned with a laugh towards Jettis, making a note about the sweets. "I'll even pay her in chocolate if she prefers. I think I have some non-replicated treats stashed away, we'll drop by with Maddy later. It might be wrapped in some artwork, they've been doing macaroni art in school."

When Grelek walked in and sat quietly in an available seat, it finally clicked that Cheizex was on bridge duty that day. "Okay, we may as well get this started. From the pre-mission briefing report, it sounds like our next few weeks will be fairly science oriented, which is a relief after the past months. Ever since the Landser incident, there's been new maintenance issues appearing on a near daily occurrence. We're keeping ontop of it for the most part, but Challenger's starting to show her age. The last thing I want is for the power to go out while the science teams are doing their work, so I'd like to prioritize whatever systems you need, maybe temporarily assign some of our members to your department to troubleshoot any problems that occur right away. What do you think, Jyur?"

-----8 Hours to Talinos-----

"Commander Grippen to Department Heads. We have an away mission to Talinos IV in eight hours. I have sent the request to your station for review and assigning of relevant team members. Grippen out."

The message sent to each DH was:

Survey mission to Talinos IV
Primary objective: Initial survey of newly discovered ruins on planet's surface
Secondary objective: Identify cause of radiation disturbance
Mandatory Team members: Ensign Tora Zalos, LT JG Nevanthi Cordon
Additional team members: Security, Operations, Medical
Assembly point: Transporter Room One, approx 8 hours

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 - Personal Quarters Office]

The message caught him just as he was about to log off for the day, and Alex was thankful he'd spent that extra hour catching up on paperwork. He was mildly surprised that this was the first time their new XO, a Commander Grippen, had reached out to them and that it was immediately work related instead of an official meet-and-greet. It'd been a week since they left K-7 and Kyan behind after a well attended party organized by Grippen, but Alex shrugged it off as just bad timing. Their former XO had some personal preferences which wouldn't work well with a full sized adult, so he just put it off as a period of adjustment, tying up loose ends, and moving quarters and offices. He really hoped Grippen hadn't kept those back breaking beanbag chairs.

Going through his duty roster, Alex quickly narrowed down his candidates to two individuals. In her short time onboard, Hejaran was showing promise, and he had just the mentor in mind to nurture her enthusiasm. He quickly forwarded Grippen's memo to both of them, and then tapped his commbadge to follow up.

"Lieutenant Wu to Lieutenant Cheizex and Ensign Hejaran. I'm assigning you both to tomorrow's away mission, report to the XO in Transporter Room One in eight hours. The mission parameters have been sent to your inboxes. Acknowledge receipt of message please."

-----Current Time-----

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Responding to the red alert, Alex had hurriedly shoved the remnants of his breakfast into the replicator and rushed two decks up, arriving just as the indicator lights switched from red to yellow. Pushing aside his annoyance at now not having his morning coffee at his station, he relieved Greenway at the Ops console, switching the template to his own personal settings and listened in to the tail end of Randall's report. "Should we make preparations to beam some of that debris onboard, sir? Might help us identify who they were."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 12 - Primary Maintenance Support Center

Lahr was not happy this past week, as was evidenced by the Andorian's antenna positioning each and every day.  Previously, the engineering team had gotten used to Lahr's sad and droopy antennae, however this was something different; rarely seen before now.  Lahr's antennae lay flat against his head, in a display of anger.

It was damn good thing the Only had quit, cause Lahr was considering murder at the moment.

It seemed the last departing order the Only gave, was for Sickbay to deny Lahr any and all requests for an anti-intoxicant shot.  Which left the alcoholic Andorian having to deal with the fallout of his addiction.  Two days in a row this week, Sunik had reported him to the new XO for being hungover on the job but it seemed the new First Officer was a little pre-occupied to be dealing with Lahr's crap. So instead the Vulcan Chief Engineer told Lahr the next time it happened he'd have him charged with dereliction of duty and sent to the brig.

Now, before each days work, Sunik required Lahr to pass a medical scan before the Andorian was permitted in Engineering.  Lahr was so not happy.  He needed this job to pay for the investigator... so he stopped drinking 'cold turkey', which meant he no longer could sleep dreamlessly at night (one of the main reasons he first starting drinking til he would passed out).

And what was worse, rather than have Lahr at his usual spot as the tertiary monitoring of the EPS flow, Sunik had assigned Lahr to the Primary Maintenance Support crew.  Which meant Lahr had to work in a team the entire day.  The Vulcan also confiscated his earbuds during work hours, claiming they were a distraction.

Yeah, so it wasn't only the Only that Lahr was considering taking revenge on.

Suddenly out of the blue, the ship went to Red Alert.  Roozh! What now?!

He started for the exit thinking to meet up with his usually battlestation assignment of Damage Control Team One, until he remembered that as part his new assignment he got do the repairs down in the bowels of the ship, instead of up by the Bridge.

Grumbling, he grabbed up his kit and met with the other DCT4 team members.  His look and folded armed stance told each of them not to bother talking to him.

[Calindra Hejaran]

[ USS Challenger - Observation Lounge ]

Calindra Hejaran. Jettis filed away that information with a nod. Typically he wouldn't interact with operations much, however these past few missions had called for a lot of collaboration. Might as well start learning the department.

Bringing his tea to his lips, he smiled as  Wu brought up Theresa. "Ah, I'm glad to hear it. Theresa loves kids, but has no siblings so she tends to take it upon herself to adopt any in sight.  Sometimes against their will."

A few times she'd butted heads with a particularly strong willed toddler who'd rather not be hovered over.. Mainly because he was trying to chuck rocks at his peers. "Any form of sweets is always a hit. I keep finding a stash somewhere in our quarters that mysteriously moves if I take one." He volunteered with a laugh.

Canting his head towards Calindra, he further explained. "My daughter, Theresa. She's fifteen, so tends to help out with younger children during any crises or separation."

"Quite the responsible older sister, the other children must adore her," Calindra stated as she watched a Vulcan Petty-Officer walk in. "Must be extremely useful to have her around to help with the other children when the going gets tough. My brother's never been so helpful," she chuckled.

NPC PO2 Grelek
[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge]

The Vulcan petty officer arrived exactly on time for the Operations meeting.  He eschewed the lounge replicator and headed straight for where the Department Head and others were already gathered.  He nodded blandly to the group before taking a seat and folding his hand neatly on his lap to await the start of the briefing.

Calindra smiled at him when he finally reached the table. "Pleased to meet you, Pee-Oh; I'm Ensign Hejaran, looking forward to working with you and the others."
.

[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge]

Alex nodded, taking another sip of coffee. "Personally, I don't think a starship is any place for children at all under secondary school age. A starbase or planetary posting, sure, there are support systems in place, nature, relative safety. If Starfleet hadn't recalled us..." He suddenly chuckled at a macabre notion. "You know what, maybe Command does it on purpose, as motivation to do our jobs well."

"Theresa is always welcome to take Maddison on as a ward." Alex reckoned with a laugh towards Jettis, making a note about the sweets. "I'll even pay her in chocolate if she prefers. I think I have some non-replicated treats stashed away, we'll drop by with Maddy later. It might be wrapped in some artwork, they've been doing macaroni art in school."

When Grelek walked in and sat quietly in an available seat, it finally clicked that Cheizex was on bridge duty that day. "Okay, we may as well get this started. From the pre-mission briefing report, it sounds like our next few weeks will be fairly science oriented, which is a relief after the past months. Ever since the Landser incident, there's been new maintenance issues appearing on a near daily occurrence. We're keeping ontop of it for the most part, but Challenger's starting to show her age. The last thing I want is for the power to go out while the science teams are doing their work, so I'd like to prioritize whatever systems you need, maybe temporarily assign some of our members to your department to troubleshoot any problems that occur right away. What do you think, Jyur?"

.
"I'd work for peanut brittle or chocolates too," she chimed in as she listened to the others talking about their families. She didn't think that Starfleet was so Machiavellian as to use family dynamics to motivate personnel, but she focused her attention on the discussions that soon followed taking note of the particular systems science needed for the upcoming mission and asking questions as to which systems were deteriorating the quickest so that she could verify those first. In the end she had a good list of which systems to prioritize, which made her feel organized, which she appreciated in their line of work.

She was particularly stunned to hear that they were losing the head of security after the mission, which felt a bit discouraging to her. She made friends easily, but she decidedly didn't like so many goodbyes in such a small space of time. They'd already lost Commander Mackenzie who had seemed charming and laid back.

As the meeting progressed, she had hoped to find out more details about the mission itself, some kind of planet with ruins to investigate sounded very exciting to her, and while she told the lieutenant that she would be happy to assist with anything they needed help with, she secretly hoped to be chosen for the away mission.

She reminded herself to cultivate a stoic calmness and that to wait calmly requires discipline.

.

-----8 Hours to Talinos-----

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 - Personal Quarters Office]

The message caught him just as he was about to log off for the day, and Alex was thankful he'd spent that extra hour catching up on paperwork. He was mildly surprised that this was the first time their new XO, a Commander Grippen, had reached out to them and that it was immediately work related instead of an official meet-and-greet. It'd been a week since they left K-7 and Kyan behind after a well attended party organized by Grippen, but Alex shrugged it off as just bad timing. Their former XO had some personal preferences which wouldn't work well with a full sized adult, so he just put it off as a period of adjustment, tying up loose ends, and moving quarters and offices. He really hoped Grippen hadn't kept those back breaking beanbag chairs.

Going through his duty roster, Alex quickly narrowed down his candidates to two individuals. In her short time onboard, Hejaran was showing promise, and he had just the mentor in mind to nurture her enthusiasm. He quickly forwarded Grippen's memo to both of them, and then tapped his commbadge to follow up.

"Lieutenant Wu to Lieutenant Cheizex and Ensign Hejaran. I'm assigning you both to tomorrow's away mission, report to the XO in Transporter Room One in eight hours. The mission parameters have been sent to your inboxes. Acknowledge receipt of message please."

.
Calindra was ready to turn in for some hard earned sleep. She had spent the last few days cleaning out air filters and power conduits to ensure the systems wouldn't overheat with the science folks doing all the scan and analysis they would be doing in the next few days. She heard her pad chime that she'd received another assignment, but she ignored it. It will have to keep til the morning cause she was almost dead to the world.

When she heard the commbadge chirp and Lieutenant Wu assigning her to the away mission she gave an exasperated sigh -- HOW WILL I EVER SLEEP NOW --- she thought before responding to the lieutenant's hail.

"Aye sir, understood. Thank you. Hejaran Out."

She then screamed into her pillow, she was delighted!

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

Kyan nodded, glancing over at the Andorian Chief. He knew a diversionary tactic when he saw one, but if Zhuk didn't want to tell him he wasn't going to pry. This is why Kyan preferred to hang around people his own age, physiologically anyway. Kids were more honest. Sure it was a double edged sword, but at least you didn't have to expect the constant subterfuge like with grups. Take Zhuk here. A perfectly upstanding individual and a pretty likeable fellow. And Kyan DID like him; probably more than any other grup on the ship. They'd battled Jem'Hadar together, and Cardassian soldiers, and etcetera etcetera. And he had the whole Shakespearian thing too. What wasn't to like?
Well, he was always on the prowl (Kyan had to force himself not to laugh at his own thought pun.) for girls. But that wasn't a fault per se, it was just something that grups did. Or guys if that was their thing, or both, or aliens... whatever happened to get them spun up. In fact, it was Kyan's sincere belief that if grups weren't busy with work, or eating, or asleep, or doing something else unrelated to the taking of a mate within his line of vision, then they were trying to get "lucky" as he'd heard it called. He considered it the opposite. In his estimation it was like playing Russian Roulette or smoking cigarettes. Eventually it was going to end up bad for you.

He'd seen it happen time and again. A grup, usually of the male variety, would go out in search of a partner for the "no pants dance" and find one. And then they'd either A) be disappointed, B] Not be disappointed, but the other one would get bored of them and find someone else, or C] (the worst one) catch some space std and have to go to sickbay. And there were so many of them! Some made you really sick. Some made your parts turn a different color. And some were actual insects that just waited around on people's naughty bits til they could jump on someone else, like an army trying to conquer the galaxy! It was crazy! And he could never get one of the doctors to tell him, because they lied too... but he wondered if the cooties ever fought the crabs? Or what about all the alien ones? Or did all the STD bugs live together in harmony, only attacking the genitals of whomever their host happened to fall upon? Like some disgusting alliance of grossness?

And that was just the actual bugs. The viruses were far more sinister. There had been a whole class about it in school, and another one at the Academy. He'd worn gloves and a EVA helmet around the dorms for a whole week after that class.  He'd even tried to get reassigned to a new roommate. He'd requested a Vulcan, because apparently they only needed to get "lucky" every seven years or so.

Yes. A Vulcan. It was that much of a concern.

Yup.
She's here five minutes. Still got her Starfleet issue duffel bag on her shoulder and he's already doing reconnaissance. Poor Zhuk. Kyan really did feel sorry for him, and for all the grups.

"Oh her? Uhh.. she's in Ops." He replied flatly. "She's from Earth. British I think."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyan noticed another one talking to Tora. One of the medical cadets whose name he couldn't remember. And she was pointing at Zhuk too. Kyan instinctively made the invoking pentagram and silently asked Brigid to keep the  bugs, germs, and whatever else away. But he also figured that something had gone down with either her and Zhuk, or Tora and Zhuk, or maybe all three of them, given the fact that Tora was raised on Risa and thus prone to all manner of debauchery. Although he was impressed by Zhuk's tactics. Most male grups could only get one girl to like them, if that. Here Zhuk was in his green tuxedo with two of them!
Of course he was a tactical officer so he was good at strategy. In fact, Kyan was sure that he'd probably developed some sort of devious tactics to use when he was trying to get girls to like him, like all tactical officers did. And that was probably why they got more dates than engineers or pilots, even though pilots got to wear cool jackets and sunglasses.

But then another notion hit him. What if they were pointing at Zhuk because something had happened and they didn't like him? And that was why he looked sick! Maybe he was depressed? The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Maybe they were allergic to cat fur or something....or he scratched one of them. Either way, he had to take Zhuk's side. That was the rules. Brothers before mothers! Or whatever the saying was.

"Welp." He offered finally, then raising his voice to be heard by those two and whoever else might need to know, "I guess I'll see ya later Zhuk, since you have that date with those three FASHION MODELS ya be getting to!"

He gave the Caitiin a wink. Then only where Zhuk could hear him. Dinna worry, I got yer back mate! Just don't catch any nasty bugs!"

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]

Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, for the first time in a very long time, found himself robbed of a comment. Anger and shock rose and fell in his heart, his body stiff as a board as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. His mind raced, as he finally was met with the truth of the matter: the comment from Kyan had utterly and completely embarrassed him. Though Caitians could not blush, not like humans could anyway, the usual pink found in the interior of his ears turned into a bright red.

He was uncertain of what to do or how to act, though an urge to strangle the Onlie quickly grew. He decided against it after a couple of seconds, though. It would look bad that he would be trying to attack his superior officer, and he doubted it was the Onlie's intention to embarrass him. Even if he wasn't sure what Kyan was attempting to do with his words.

He just hoped it was not to stir some drama.

"A-Ah... thank... you, Kyan..." He spoke, through gritted teeth, though he tried to keep his tone pleasant, "Now, if you would be so kind as to... excuse me..."

He made his way toward the trio of ladies and offered the most apologetic smile she could muster. It was a bizarre grin, one that showcased his many sharp incisors, canines, and premolars. Maybe even a little creepy. When he realized this, however, it was too late, as he could only fix it by closing his mouth, "Ehem... mine apologies. I believe that Commander Mackenzie is mistaken as to what my intent was... I hope I have not caused thee any... ignominy. Now, if you allow me, I shalt head off to my quarters..."

He gave Tora one last, meaningful look, and headed back to the Challenger. He made sure to be out of view and mind when he finally showed his true feelings via his body language, his tail in between his legs, and his ears flat on his head...

[USS Challenger, Deck 1, Bridge]

"Aye captain, I'll start pulling a team together to be ready by then."

The Risan didn't understand what a few of the captain's words actually meant given the accent, but he got the gist of it. Human accents were so diverse. On Risa, everyone pretty much sounded the same. Malik took himself to the mission operations station off to the side of the bridge. He began with reviewing what the Starfleet database had on the Talinos system, which was very little. An unexplored world (at least by Starfleet), however recent scans detected ruined structures and unusually high background radiation.

Once finished with that, he pulled up the crew manifest. He'd have plenty of time to get to know the crew, but for now he needed a suitable team for an away mission. He would need at least 1 person each from Security, Engineering, Operations, Science and Medical.

It would be up to the most senior officer currently on duty to assign suitable away team members. At present, Malik didn't know any of them so this seemed the best course of action. But he knew a couple of folk that he needed by name.

"Commander Grippen to Department Heads. We have an away mission to Talinos IV in eight hours. I have sent the request to your station for review and assigning of relevant team members. Grippen out."

The message sent to each DH was:

Survey mission to Talinos IV
Primary objective: Initial survey of newly discovered ruins on planet's surface
Secondary objective: Identify cause of radiation disturbance
Mandatory Team members: Ensign Tora Zalos, LT JG Nevanthi Cordon
Additional team members: Security, Operations, Medical
Assembly point: Transporter Room One, approx 8 hours

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the ship passed by the orbit of the outermost planet in the system, Lieutenant Evan Randall was at the Science One station conducting the scans the captain had ordered gasped and reported.

"Sir, I'm picking up an energy field around Talinos IV it appears to be vast deflector screen surrounding the planet." After making a few fine adjustments he added. "I'm detecting a battle taking place between a starship, type unknown, and forces on the ground equipped with heavy beam weapons. The starship seems to be having trouble maneuvering and is getting the worst of the exchange!"

Ian blinked in surprise as this system was supposed to be uninhabited, but it seemed someone else was interested in the newly uncovered ruins.

"Shields up. Red alert. Bring photons to ready. Bring phasers to ready. Helm, full impulse take us in."

However, long before the Challenger could reach Talinos IV, the ship exploded at which point Ian ordered a step down to yellow alert.

"You got anything else Evan?"

"Just a debris field where the unknown ship was. Background radiation levels are slightly higher than normal. The planet still appears devoid of life although I am detecting the anomalous presence of two energy sources, both located underground in a deserted city. That's all I can do until we make orbit."

Ian looked annoyed as he replied.

"Bloody hell, this was just supposed ta be bloody science this time. Well, Commander, looks like your mission just got more interestin'."

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck One | Bridge | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zhuk took a deep breath as he gazed at the debris shown on the screen from the Tactical Console. To imagine that something had such power that could eliminate a vessel on geosynchronous orbit around a planet was concerning, to say the least. His ear pivoted over towards Lieutenant Randall's report. Two anomalous energy sources, which seemed to be located underground, in two abandoned ancient cities. Tora was most likely going to have a field day with this information, that was for certain.

Heavy weaponry would most likely be needed, he supposed. Just in case the cities were not as bare as scanners showed. He tapped on his commbadge,

"Security Team, this is thou reminder to assemble upon Transporter Room One in thirty minutes. Do not be tardy. Also, make certain to bring along Type-3 Phaser weaponry for thee and myself. Provide the rest of the landing team with Type-2 phasers, if thou would be so kind."

This was a smaller team, so Zhuk was more certain that it would be manageable. Thus far, he had remained out of the public eye as much as possible, trying for everyone to forget the embarrassing situation he had partaken in. But now, it was time to be professional, and make everyone forget what had transpired with another outstanding mission.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

NPC PO2 Grelek
[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge] Ops meeting  (first day en route to Talinos)

"Quite the responsible older sister, the other children must adore her," Calindra stated as she watched a Vulcan Petty-Officer walk in. "Must be extremely useful to have her around to help with the other children when the going gets tough. My brother's never been so helpful," she chuckled.

Calindra smiled at him when he finally reached the table. "Pleased to meet you, Pee-Oh; I'm Ensign Hejaran, looking forward to working with you and the others."

At being greeted by the new young officer, Grelek nodded again.  "Petty Officer 2nd grade Grelek. I typically man Transporter Room one; and fill in on the bridge on occasion." he informed the Ensign in a monotone.

His attention then turned to Lieutenant Wu quietly expectant.

[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge]
When Grelek walked in and sat quietly in an available seat, it finally clicked that Cheizex was on bridge duty that day. "Okay, we may as well get this started. From the pre-mission briefing report, it sounds like our next few weeks will be fairly science oriented, which is a relief after the past months. Ever since the Landser incident, there's been new maintenance issues appearing on a near daily occurrence. We're keeping ontop of it for the most part, but Challenger's starting to show her age. The last thing I want is for the power to go out while the science teams are doing their work, so I'd like to prioritize whatever systems you need, maybe temporarily assign some of our members to your department to troubleshoot any problems that occur right away. What do you think, Jyur?"

Grelek listened impassively to the Lieutenant's briefing.  When the Chief Science officer was called on to make comment, Grelek turned to look to him.  Nothing mentioned thus far was all that unusual or required his commentary, so the Vulcan remained mute.
.

"I'd work for peanut brittle or chocolates too," she chimed in as she listened to the others talking about their families. She didn't think that Starfleet was so Machiavellian as to use family dynamics to motivate personnel, but she focused her attention on the discussions that soon followed taking note of the particular systems science needed for the upcoming mission and asking questions as to which systems were deteriorating the quickest so that she could verify those first. In the end she had a good list of which systems to prioritize, which made her feel organized, which she appreciated in their line of work.

She was particularly stunned to hear that they were losing the head of security after the mission, which felt a bit discouraging to her. She made friends easily, but she decidedly didn't like so many goodbyes in such a small space of time. They'd already lost Commander Mackenzie who had seemed charming and laid back.

As the meeting progressed, she had hoped to find out more details about the mission itself, some kind of planet with ruins to investigate sounded very exciting to her, and while she told the lieutenant that she would be happy to assist with anything they needed help with, she secretly hoped to be chosen for the away mission.

She reminded herself to cultivate a stoic calmness and that to wait calmly requires discipline.

Rumor of course was already spreading about the Only Commander's sudden leaving, forcing the ship to delay at station.  The Vulcan didn't typically put any  merit into rumors, this one however, Grelek recognized the gossamer of truth within and did his best to keep things calm.

[Malik Grippen]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the ship passed by the orbit of the outermost planet in the system, Lieutenant Evan Randall was at the Science One station conducting the scans the captain had ordered gasped and reported.

"Sir, I'm picking up an energy field around Talinos IV it appears to be vast deflector screen surrounding the planet." After making a few fine adjustments he added. "I'm detecting a battle taking place between a starship, type unknown, and forces on the ground equipped with heavy beam weapons. The starship seems to be having trouble maneuvering and is getting the worst of the exchange!"

Ian blinked in surprise as this system was supposed to be uninhabited, but it seemed someone else was interested in the newly uncovered ruins.

"Shields up. Red alert. Bring photons to ready. Bring phasers to ready. Helm, full impulse take us in."

However, long before the Challenger could reach Talinos IV, the ship exploded at which point Ian ordered a step down to yellow alert.

"You got anything else Evan?"

"Just a debris field where the unknown ship was. Background radiation levels are slightly higher than normal. The planet still appears devoid of life although I am detecting the anomalous presence of two energy sources, both located underground in a deserted city. That's all I can do until we make orbit."

Ian looked annoyed as he replied.

"Bloody hell, this was just supposed ta be bloody science this time. Well, Commander, looks like your mission just got more interestin'."

[Bridge - Current time]

Ardy nodded as she heard the new Commander come on board. He seemed like a pretty solid type. Must have came on while they were docked. She wasn't sure,but she decided to break the ice. "So, I don't think I've met you yet. The name's Jaeger, Ardyn Jaeger. she extended a hand as she heard the memo. Flight wasn't going to be needed here just yet.

Suddenly, things seemed to go from zero to 100  in an instant, before  quieting down as soon as it came. A ship had arrived and then blown to smithereens out of seeming nowhere! "Preparing for evasive maneuvers."

"

[USS Challenger, Deck 1, Bridge]

Malik listened to the unfolding events with interest, this was most unexpected. Their limited intelligence on this Talinos IV had indicated it was uninhabited, well apparently that intelligence was lacking.

"It would appear so captain. Perhaps this may be a First Contact situation."

Malik smiled at their flight officer and shook her hand with a firm grasp. "Pleasure to meet you lieutenant Jaeger. Take us into transporter range. Lieutenant Randell, how many life signs were aboard that ship?" This raised to many questions. Who did that ship belong to, why was it attacked, how many people just lost their lives...

"Commander Grippen to away team. Assemble at Transporter Room One for imminent departure."

"Captain, I would suggest we hail the planet first to let them know we intend to beam down. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for the occupants of that ship by the locals..."

[Calindra Hejaran]

[Ensign Hejaran - USS Challenger - Transporter Room 1]
It was a rather subdued Ensign Hejaran that reported to Transporter Room 1 at the appointed time. It wasn't really her fault that she tossed and turned all night, dreaming about her first away mission, excited as she was and dreading the entire thing at the same time.

Not to mention the Red Alert scaring her awake, only to have it drop to yellow alert.

No, she was not in a particularly good mood, her usual cheerful self replaced by a somewhat serious-looking brooding junior officer who radiated a -- let's get this done -- attitude, rather than her cheerful 'teamwork makes the dreamwork' rosy disposition.

In hindsight, that was perhaps destiny's way of putting her in the correct mood for this mission. Especially when one of the security officers started handing out Type-2 phasers and keeping their hands on the larger Type-3s. She nodded her thanks as she took the offered phaser and holstered it.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Responding to the red alert, Alex had hurriedly shoved the remnants of his breakfast into the replicator and rushed two decks up, arriving just as the indicator lights switched from red to yellow. Pushing aside his annoyance at now not having his morning coffee at his station, he relieved Greenway at the Ops console, switching the template to his own personal settings and listened in to the tail end of Randall's report. "Should we make preparations to beam some of that debris onboard, sir? Might help us identify who they were."

Malik listened to the unfolding events with interest, this was most unexpected. Their limited intelligence on this Talinos IV had indicated it was uninhabited, well apparently that intelligence was lacking.

"It would appear so captain. Perhaps this may be a First Contact situation."

Malik smiled at their flight officer and shook her hand with a firm grasp. "Pleasure to meet you lieutenant Jaeger. Take us into transporter range. Lieutenant Randell, how many life signs were aboard that ship?" This raised to many questions. Who did that ship belong to, why was it attacked, how many people just lost their lives...

"Commander Grippen to away team. Assemble at Transporter Room One for imminent departure."

"Captain, I would suggest we hail the planet first to let them know we intend to beam down. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for the occupants of that ship by the locals..."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian nodded in respect at Malik's suggestions, they showed an excellent grasp of tactics and science. Looked like the new First Officer knew what he was about.

"Excellent idea on the debris, Lieutenant Davenport, tractor some of that debris into cargo bay one and once you've done that try and hail the planet."

Ian then turned to the science department.

"Mister Jyur, seems like summat right up your alley. Head down ta cargo bay one and get me some answers. Evan estimates on crew size of that ship."

"Since their shields were up and they blew up before I could get a close scan, crew size will be conjecture on my part, but my best guess is around thirty Sir."

"Small then, still it is a mystery and it looks like the answers are on the planet. Good luck Commander."

Malik nodded and headed for the transporter room. As eight people were assigned to the away team, two transporters would be used to beam everyone in a single lift. As the away team made their final checks before departing, on the bridge, Davenport reported.

"Sir, I've got roughly twenty-five tons of debris in the cargo hold and I'm getting a transmission in binary code from the site of the northern power source, it seems to be a challenge."

At that moment, in the transporter room, Malik said "Energize."

As soon as the transporter engaged, multiple sensor beams locked onto the ship and seconds later the Challenger was rocked by disruptor fire from several points on the planet's surface. With the shields down, these beams struck the hull with only the ablative armor to defuse some of the damage. Klaxons sounded all over the ship as emergency force fields snapped into place to contain multiple hull breaches.

"Shields up! Shields up! Raise the bloody shields!"

Ian shouted as he dragged himself off the deck where he'd been thrown by the unexpected attack. Most of the bridge crew had been tossed around along with the bulk of the crew and sickbay suddenly found itself swamped with calls for medical evacuation.

On the planet, simultaneous with the disruptor fire, the planet's deflector screen engaged and had the horrible timing of catching the away team in mid-transit, the screen partly diffused the transporter beam and throwing them off target. This resulted in the entire away team arriving scattered and battered from the rough landing with each person materializing alone with no sign of the others.