From: Ranjani Sabarinathan (rantrek_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 07 2008 - 21:20:06 PDT
“Problems at Home”
(contd from Taylor ’s ‘131’)
Location: USS COMMENDATION
SD: 2.80707.1504
Scene: Bridge
TI: Following Taylor ’s last post
Matthew Haley reported. “Captain, the Dominion cruiser has received a direct hit from the MATACO and their forward shields are down to fifteen percent.” The battle between the MATACO-COMMENDATION and the Dominion lead ship continued for another few minutes with the flagship throwing out everything it got. The COMMENDATION positioned itself behind the CHANTICO, which was towing the SHIV to ensure the other vessels’ backs were covered. The raptor class vessel was fortunate enough to jump to warp first.
Still some of the weapon’s fire from the Dominion vessel flew past the COMMENDATION and hit the escort destroyer. The CHANTICO’s shields managed to hold. The GATEWAY’s attached craft worked on trying to evade the Dominion ship’s weapons fire as the SHIV would be unable to withstand the attacks.
Lt. Cmdr. Haley announced. “Dominion vessel is retreating, having sustained heavy damage. They lost their shields.”
“Is the MATACO going to finish them off?” The Trill inquired.
Daiuon informed. “Captain, the Commodore wants to let you know that the MATACO will not be pursuing the enemy and orders us to continue on our course.”
The half-El Aurian Sec/Tac reported. “Another enemy vessel on our tail but haven’t powered up their weapons.”
“It’s more like they just want to follow us now,” Daisy suggested.
Ana ordered. “Maintain yellow alert and keep an eye on that ship till the MATACO orders us otherwise.” In fact it was an order the Commodore gave to all the ships that was not attack unless the enemy made the first move.
---------------
Scene: Bridge
TI: 3 hours later
Ensign Talbo, the ship’s FCO, announced. “Captain, we’re entering GATEWAY’s security perimeter.” A tense return journey with two starships towing an out of dimension pirate vessel and the damaged saucer section of the 13th fleet’s flagship was coming to an end. The Dominion vessel only broke off when approaching the Federation border. Where they went was anyone’s guess, though they might have headed for ANDARA.
Once out of warp, the MATACO was released by the century class battle cruiser and followed the latter to the GATEWAY’s docking ring.
Lt. Cmdr. Haley stated from tactical. “Transmitting security codes.”
“GATEWAY’s given us permission to dock,” Lena informed.
Spankryz ordered. “Commander, inform GATEWAY, the MATACO is heavily damaged and requires assistance.”
“Aye Captain,” the Betazoid complied, relaying the message to the station’s operations staff. Within the next few minutes, the COMMENDATION and the CHANTICO had successfully docked in their designated areas. The CHANTICO had released the SHIV to allow the station’s tractor beam to take hold of the pirate ship and pull it inside. A docking area for the SHIV had been secured and isolated in an unused section of the ring in the Engineering module.
Daisy addressed the Ops officer. “Commander Daiuon, inform station security to prepare for an incoming transfer of prisoners. Lt. Palandora should be down there shortly to coordinate everything.”
“Yes Commander.”
“Also,” the blonde added. “Tell security to isolate the rogue vessel’s Captain from the rest of her crew.”
Lena nodded. “Understood.” The doors slid open and the ship’s CMO, Lt. Cmdr. Tran entered the room.
“Captain,” the doctor addressed. “Is it possible to have a word with you and Commander Davidson for a few minutes?”
“Yes,” Spankryz answered, having got a nod of approval from the other CO. “Let’s discuss this in my ready room.”
----------------------------------------------
Scene: Main Brig
TI: Five minutes later
The EMH had completed scanning the SHIV’s crew and reported of no contagious diseases from another dimension. The information meant the quarantine was lifted and security was able to enter the area. Matthew, followed by two security guards, began walking amongst the numerous holding cells that graced the hallways of deck 22. Upon reaching one particular cell, the half-El Aurian stopped. One quick glimpse at mirror Anaqueen and the security chief’s mouth dropped open in disbelief
Daisy cackled at the sight and strode towards the forcefield, producing a seductive smile. “And I thought it was only me, men couldn’t resist.” She stood next to Anaqueen, who was puzzled at Lt. Cmdr. Haley’s behavior. The Trill woman was slowly becoming annoyed at the hybrid’s gaze and glared at him.
The glare snapped Matthew back to his senses but the officer was still unable to look away from a woman, who looked to be a spitting image of his beloved wife. “You look exactly like her,” Haley commented, his voice no louder than a whisper.
Ana remarked snidely. “Except I don’t have that thing inside me.” Byrne pressed the shorter woman’s shoulder, indicating her to be quiet.
Sniggering, Daisy deduced, checking Matthew out with her brown eyes like she did with all her lovers. “Well it seems this Captain Spankryz has her very own boy toy. And she has amazing taste.” Her gaze was clearly making the El Aurian uncomfortable and the remark angered him.
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Matthew warned sternly. His warning only amused the SHIV’s CO.
“Touchy, Touchy,” the blonde chided playfully, wagging her finger at him. “Sounds like you have deep feelings for her, poor thing.” She began taunting the young man. “I know women like her. They love power and only use gullible men like you as playthings.”
Matthew bit his lip, preventing himself from yelling at her and only remarked sarcastically. “You don’t know Ana…I mean Captain Spankryz.”
“No it’s you who don’t really know her,” Ana stated coldly. “Anaqueen doesn’t exist. It’s Spankryz the symbiont inside her who controls everything. She’s just a vessel for the creature.”
Daisy ordered gently, grabbing the other woman’s arm. “That will be enough.”
--------------------------------------------
Scene: CO’s Ready Room
TI: Ten minutes later
“Commander, initial scans made by the EMH revealed something interesting about Captain Byrne,” Lt. Cmdr. Tran Anh Qui informed calmly.
Daisy inquired, leaning forward. “What did you find?”
Qui sighed before answering. “Commander Davidson, Captain Byrne is a clone.” The revelation made the GATEWAY CO angry. For a brief moment, Daisy believed Byrne was one of the clones who escaped from the mining camp and stole a ship from another dimension. “She has shorter telomeres.” Telomeres were repetitive DNA sequences, located at the end of chromosomes. The role of telomeres was protection of the chromosomes and the information contained within them from getting destroyed. Replication of DNA resulted in shortening the lengths of telomeres, which was the reason clones had shorter telomeres than the actual being they were based on.
Ana questioned. “Are they all clones?”
“No,” the Vietnamese CMO replied. “The rest had telomeres of the normal length.” The three women were silent for a moment before Qui brought up, her attention on the Trill CO. “Medical scans made on the alternate version of you reveal the presence of no symbiont.”
“So she’s unjoined and…not a clone.” The Trill mused. “The crew of the rogue ship is likely to originate from another universe though we need a confirmation from Cmdr. Drake to be absolutely sure.”
Daisy requested. “Dr. Tran, can you please forward all your findings to Dr. Poe so that she and her medical staff can further study them?”
“Yes Commander,” Qui agreed. “I will compile all the information obtained from the scans and send it to Dr. Poe.”
A chime was heard and Ana gave the command to let the doors open. “Am I interrupting something?” Matthew questioned, upon spotting Lt. Cmdr. Tran and Commander Davidson.
“Doctor Tran was just giving her medical report on the prisoners.” Ana informed, becoming concerned at the worry shown in her husband’s eyes. “Do you have something important to tell us?”
Matthew answered, feeling nervous at the sight of the two COs . “We just discovered a security breach.”
Spankryz stood up, colour drained from her face. “One of the prisoners?” She inquired, becoming irate.
“Actually no,” Haley stated, feeling a knot in his stomach as he recognized from Ana’s body language, a storm was about to erupt. “It was a stowaway, a civilian doctor identified as Cade Foster.” That time it was Daisy who became angry.
“Are you serious?” The blonde questioned, speaking quickly. “How did this happen? Where is he held?”
The half-El Aurian sighed before explaining. “We caught him snooping in the brig. He is currently detained, awaiting transfer to station security. Apparently Dr. Foster managed to knock down two of my crew with a sedative that he probably stole from sickbay.” He could hear the CMO grumbling about one of the nurses discovering some medical supplies were stolen.
“He claimed Commander Davidson brought him on board as a medical consultant,” Qui complained. “I wasn’t thrilled considering Foster’s infamous reputation in the medical community and he caused my staff a lot of grief and I should have had his claim checked out.”
Daisy apologized. “I’m truly sorry for the trouble Dr. Foster caused for you and your staff.”
Anaqueen demanded, fuming. “How did he manage to evade security? Who helped him?”
“We believe he had an accomplice who likely helped him sneak onboard,” the Sec/Tac replied.
“Any suspects?” The Captain asked, her tone filled with exasperation.
Haley suggested. “I think it could be that new bartender, Zel Rohan since his arrival coincided with Dr. Foster’s entry but we have no evidence thus far.”
“Zel? He is a bartender here?” Daisy queried.
“Yes ma’am just before we left for this mission,” the half-El Aurian nodded. “I have assigned one of my officers to investigate Mr. Zel’s whereabouts and who he was with for the entire duration of his stay here.”
“Keep me updated,” the Captain ordered. The door chime rang. “Enter,” the Trill commanded, leading to the doors sliding apart to allow Lt. Cmdr. H.H. Drake enter. Doctor Tran got up and requested permission to return to sickbay to which her CO granted.
After the Vietnamese woman left, Daisy inquired. “Well, are they from this dimension or another?”
The GATEWAY’s ILO replied, handing a PADD over to the two women. “Commander, Captain, I managed to obtain the quantum signatures of our guests.” He paused for a moment to clear his throat. “Thirty nine prisoners come from another universe and one from our own.”
Davidson questioned, becoming puzzled. “Who?”
“Thomas Varn,” the El Aurian hybrid answered. “His quantum signature matches exactly that of someone from this dimension.” The news finally forced Daisy to realize some sort of switch had taken place between the two Varns.
“If the one in the brig is my Thomas Varn, then the man recovering back in station could be a member of the rogue crew.” The blonde began fuming and kicked herself for allowing something like that to happen under her nose. She remembered her anger and sadness at the burnt up body, thinking it was her CSciO. **That one didn’t have wings. Maybe he never had them in the first place and this was all a set up. **
Ana, addressing Matthew, ordered. “Release Lieutenant Varn and send him directly to GATEWAY sickbay.”
“Yes Captain,” her husband nodded. Soon, both he and Cmdr. Drake were dismissed leaving the two COs alone in the ready room.
Daisy decided, standing up. “Well looks like it’s time for me to take leave and deal with those prisoners and the situation with Thomas Varn and Cade Foster.”
“Understood,” the Trill nodded.
-------------------------
Location: USS CHANTICO
Scene: Bridge
Closing everything up, Kate was relieved to arrive in one piece. Jake had already arranged for a team to be sent to conduct repairs on any damaged areas of the escort destroyer.
“I’m off to check that rogue vessel out with a small team of engineers,” Crichton informed.
MacNeil responded with a smile. “Well I just hope you find something useful and one that will shed light on this whole situation.”
“Well it’s not everyday you come across a vessel from another dimension,” the engineer remarked, grinning as he prepared to leave the bridge. Eishnala Kor had already left a few minutes ago to come up with tight security measures to prevent the removal of the SHIV from the station’s docking bay.
Turning to the station’s FSC who was following Jake out, Kate ordered. “Lt. Stephens, you will join Lt. Crichton and his engineering team at the rogue vessel.”
“Yes Commander,” Stephens acknowledged.
-------------------------------
Location: GS-2
Scene: Security Center
One of the security officers approached his chief looking very bewildered. “Sir, there is a slight problem with the prisoners.”
“What problem?” The Vissian inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Well,” the subordinate began explaining, his voice etched with confusion. “We were informed of receiving thirty nine prisoners from the COMMENDATION.”
“That is correct.” Sighing, Trella inquired, suddenly getting concerned. “What seems to be the problem?”
The other officer gulped before answering. “There are only twenty four in the brig.”
“Maybe the COMMENDATION hasn’t finished transporting everyone,” Palandora suggested, hoping that was the case. Apparently she was going to find out it wasn’t.
“No ma’am,” the man stated, shaking his head. “We checked with security at the COMMENDATION and they report the transport of all prisoners has been complete, including that animal, which they sent directly to one of the science labs.” The animal was alternate MacNeil’s dog, William Wallace, which was fully sedated at the moment.
Trella immediately took off to the brig, tapping on her comm. badge at the same time. “Palandora to Ops.”
[[Davidson here,]] came the reply of the station’s CO.
Palandora reported. “We have a serious security situation.” They had arrived in the brig and stopped in front of the cell, where Captain Byrne sat alone, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
------------------------------
Scene: Somewhere on the station
Makinis Ugeen stepped away from the panel in a casual manner. Disguised as one of the maintenance crew, the Bajoran had managed to integrate himself amongst the gateway’s enlisted crew. He had a quest, one which he was determined to fulfill at whatever cost. Makinis was attempting to find another piece of the USS SUTTNER that he hoped would help the SHIV return back to their dimension.
While working with the vessel maintenance staff in the docking rings, Ugeen had gotten word of the SHIV’s capture and had immediately set a plan in motion. He had hacked into the GATEWAY’s and the COMMENDATION’s systems and sabotaged the transporters making sure the transfer of the entire SHIV crew from the battle cruiser was foiled. But the Bajoran was not quick enough as his adjustments only got fifteen of the SHIV’s crew to another remote location in one of the modules.
------------------------------
Scene: Empty storage room, Engineering Module
The fifteen lucky members of the SHIV had been diverted to an isolated region of the complex’s largest module. Not all of them had intentions to find the SHIV and free their comrades from the station’s brig. Some decided to use the opportunity to explore the station for their own devious purposes and possibly attempt to escape from Captain Byrne’s tyranny.
Anaqueen, in particular, had decided to return to the COMMENDATION, despite knowing the risks involved such as getting captured or worse killed. But the resistance fighter was yearning to meet the other Ana and get some answers to questions that had been nagging at the back of her mind. If possible, she was going to perform an act of mercy killing, which Ana believed would free the other woman from Spankryz’s grip. Little did she understand the symbionts in this universe were different and more benevolent.
-----------------------------
Scene: Corridor-> Inter-module walkway
Mirror Kathryn MacNeil was one of those who had other ideas in mind besides freeing the prisoners from the brig. Placing dark blue glasses over her hazel eyes, which just transformed to indigo, the half-Nuimon strode casually down the hallway to the retractable walkway that was connected to the Operations module. Her destination was the sickbay, where she planned on conducting one experiment and then planned on freeing William Wallace from the science lab.
A delightful smile graced her lips. She was feeling gleeful at the prospect of testing her latest drug on a handful of subjects. Lifting a vial containing a clear blue-green liquid, Kate sniggered recalling how she fooled the EMH. During the scanning, the doctor had removed her shoes and placed behind the dog. The vial was hidden in one shoe at that time
She joined a line comprising of mix of engineering crew and civilians who were headed for the walkway and managed to blend in amongst the crowd. Because of the war, a security officer stood at the entrance taking blood tests for everyone to check for changelings. Since there was no security measure to test for alternate universe inhabitants, Kate managed to get past the guard with ease and entered the walkway.
************************************************************************
NRPG: I completed this post a few hours ago but had to add in the first scene to fit with Taylor ’s post, just in case anyone wondered why it looked rushed.
We’re back at the station but with some problems: Fifteen members of the SHIV crew are running around the station, doing who knows what. I have already established where mirrors Daisy, Kate and Ana are. The rest are left up to you. This is also a good chance for your characters to run into their alternates.
Ranjani Sabarinathan
Speaking for...
[/\]o..
Lieutenant Commander Kathryn MacNeil, MD
Executive Officer
GATEWAY STATION- 2
and
[/\]....
Captain Anaqueen Spankryz
Commanding Officer
USS COMMENDATION, NCC-10021 (Non RP ship)
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