[USS Vanguard] OoC: Home and Away
- From: "Andy W. Ho" <andywoho@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: USS Vanguard <ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 16:40:57 -0800 (PST)
Capt. Dominic Cesar Santos
USS Vanguard - Bridge, Briefing Chambers
Following Peter-Jan's post
"Sir."
Lt. Highwaij turned toward Capt. Dominic Santos and Cmdr. Soman Drath.
(Although Soman's rank is lieutenant, he's called "Commander" as an
honorific because of his position on the Vanguard. So, Melanie, you had
it right, actually!)
Santos leveled his gaze at Highwaij.
Santos: Yes.
Highwaij: The Coba del Rey has launched from the escape port. Lts
Quetan, Tails to Ennien, Dr. Droin, Q and Ens Darkwater signal their
ready.
Soman: Notation in the log.
Highwaij: Aye, sir. So noted.
Santos: Signal the captain's yacht.
Highwaij: Channels open.
Santos: =/= Captain to Lt. Quetan. =/=
Quetan: =/= Quetan here. Go ahead. =/=
Santos: =/= Good hunting. We'll rendezvous with your party at these
coordinates in ten days. If you need to contact us ahead of schedule,
use our agreed-upon methods. =/=
Quetan: =/= Acknowledged, Captain. =/=
Santos: =/= Oh, and Quetan...? Do bring her back in one piece. I want
to hold onto this one for a while. =/=
Quetan: =/= [chuckling] Aye, sir. Quetan out. =/=
On the main viewer, Santos and the bridge staff watched as the Coba del
Rey's crew activated the Borg shield plating, its nacelles turning a
brilliant sea-blue as its dilithium intermix chambers came on-line full
power. In the blink of an eye, she went to warp, the afterimage a
bright star in space.
In the cabin of the del Rey, Tails to Ennien piloted while Quetan
monitored their progress in the co-pilot's position. Dr Droin sat
behind Tails to Ennien, trying not to be too obvious as she stared at
Qbed.
She needn't have worried. Qbed stared out starboard as the galaxies and
planets hurled by at fantastic speed.
Kieran Darkwater and Crewman Challis rounded out the third row,
Darkwater directly behind Qbed and studying his PADD.
Quetan: So what campfire songs should we sing?
Droin: Anything with a female chorus, right, Q?
Droin nudged Qbed, who grunted "Huh?" and returned to her view.
Zena Quetan turned around, a puzzled expression on her face. She had
been on her share of away missions. With the additional hosts, one
could more than double those initial numbers. Except for one other
occasion, this had to be one of the quietest groups.
She focused on Darkwater.
Quetan: Ensign.
Darkwater: [looking up] Yes, Lieutenant?
Quetan: Talk to me.
Darkwater: [looking around] What would you have me say?
Quetan: [shrugging] Well, tell us something about yourself. How many
times are you going to find yourself stuck in a shuttle with five
beautiful women?
Droin: [chuckles]
Darkwater looked around, grinned sheepishly and returned his gaze to
the PADD.
Quetan nudged Qbed, indicating for her to snatch the PADD from his
hands. Qbed gave Quetan a dazed expression and returned to rubbing her
hands together uneasily.
Quetan sighed. Something told her this would be an unusual mission.
[Melanie? Randi? Alexa? Steven? Chantal?]
=====
Back on USS Vanguard:
The senior male officers convened in the Vanguard's new Briefing
Chambers. [Images of the Briefing Chambers will shortly be distributed,
along with a new entry on our Web site.]
As all the officers took their seats, Santos and Soman studied them
from the front of the room, each taking a console astride the
viewscreen.
With some surprise, Santos watched as one last person entered the
Briefing Chambers.
Desdemona Barrett-Brown peered around the room with her alert gaze. Her
look finally found its way to Santos and she lifted her eyebrows with
an endearing "May I?" gesture.
Santos: Come in. Don't be shy.
Barrett-Brown: Me? "Shy"? Never!
The men chuckled.
Barrett-Brown: Hello, boys! My, my--here I am, the only woman in a
roomful of handsome men. [More laughter.] I'm just here to make sure
you stay out of trouble and don't say anything nasty about my sisters.
Santos: [Smiles] Very well. Take a seat. And activate your console.
Santos touched a panel on his console, bringing up a display on the
viewscreen. The screen was divided into quadrants.
Santos: The development of trilithium and its storage is known and
approved at only four known locations.
[An image of a standard Federation starbase fills the screen, seems to
shrink, and fills quadrant number one on the viewscreen.]
Santos: Starbase Omaha, deep in the heart of Sector 0-0-2.
[An image of a Romulan science outpost fills the screen, and again
shrinks to fit quadrant number two.]
Santos: The Cybex Outpost, on the Romulan planet Remus.
[At the mention of Remus, Chen'ki shifts in his seat. Santos catches it
and files it away for future reference.]
[An image of an M-class planet, brown in the heart of its two main
large continents, fills the third quadrant.]
Santos: This is the planet Hearth II. Hearth II is mostly comprised of
Terran colonists who settled the planet during Earth's second foray
into galactic colonization. They invited many outlying species to join
them in what their charter deemed a "fantastic journey, a wonderful
experiment combining the best of human freedom, worship, government,
and the arts."
Sixty years into their social experiment, famine, civil unrest and the
alien species' beliefs that the human colonists had betrayed their
initial vision and formed a Homo-Sapiens only club led to one of the
most brutal colonial uprisings of that, or any, period.
They've been slowly rebuilding since then.
Federation scientists approached the ruling party on Hearth II and
offered greater assistance and contact in exchange for land to build
their research facilities and students willing to learn the arduous,
dangerous process of turning dilithium into trilithium.
After initial quarrels in their ruling council, and various uprisings
among Hearth conservationists and students, the proposal was approved
by a narrow margin.
I don't need to tell you that the Vanguard is the fourth and final
location of trilithium anywhere in the galaxy.
Today, the fourth location will meet the third location. We're on a
mission to replenish our trilithium stock, and we've set course for
Hearth II.
[Information scrolls across the officers' displays.]
Each of you is receiving detailed instructions on what role you'll play
when we reach orbit over Hearth II. Starfleet has strict guidelines for
releasing its trilithium stock. If we broach these procedures in any
way, we risk brig time at best and utter annihilation at worst.
McCaw: I think I'll take the brig time.
Barrett-Brown: I second that.
[Laughter.]
Santos and Soman looked at each other and grinned at the senior
officers.
Soman stepped forward.
Soman: Here are your assignments.
Engineering - we need you prepped and ready to receive the trilithium
shipment. If you have any gaps in your knowledge about trilithium,
now's the time to fill them. When they hand it off to us, I want the
trilithium in warheads, armed, ready and I want us to set a time record
doing it.
Security - Dellan, you'll help oversee the transfer of trilithium. I
hope you read your Starfleet JAG manual, son, because "transfer of live
arms in peacetime" is in there. In tiny print.
Science - Sam, I need you on X-factor situations. If it can happen, no
matter how outrageous, we need to know. I don't want any surprises. I
don't want this shipment lost. If Kazon suddenly appear to hijack this
shipment, I want to know how they got here, before they get here.
Medical - Jaav, be prepared to calm everyone's nerves. I want you all
rested, relaxed (but not too relaxed) and ready to do your best. And,
Jaav, assemble a triage team in case of a live-arms accident. I don't
expect one, period...but I want to be prepared. And I want you to
prepare for it.
Santos stepped forward and nodded at Soman, clapping him on the
shoulder.
Santos: [whispering] Good job.
All right. The command staff will coordinate. And Mr Chen'ki? No one
knows trilithium like our friends the Romulans. Will you join us this
mission?
Chen'ki almost sneered, thought better of it, and nodded, once, slowly.
Santos: Let's make it happen.
=====
There are things in the galaxy beyond Terran understanding.
The bridge of a Vorgon timeship is one of those things.
Lanos turned to his superior officer, Ooya.
They looked at one another and activated their viewscreen. At least, it
resembled a viewscreen. But calling this piece of technology a
"viewscreen" is like calling a Federation shuttlecraft a "wooden boat."
Lanos and Ooya's pyramid-shaped heads swiveled as they studied the
information on their "screen."
Lanos: Coordinates locked on USS Vanguard.
Ooya: Excellent. They are on the brink of their critical mission.
Lanos: They are [Note: The Vorgon word here cannot be translated. The
closest approximation in Standard would be "ripe" and/or "chosen," but
even those are primitive compared to the Vorgon word, which is filled
with connotations indecipherable to a human.]
Ooya: [Nods] Set temporal coordinates and activate our time [engines].
Lanos nods to the "pilot."
Ooya: Outstanding.
The Vorgon vessel proceeded through the temporal wormhole it had
created, the blackness of space swallowing it whole.
[To be continued.]
[A note here: The Vorgon were last seen in the TNG episode "Captain's
Holiday." See the attached JPEG for a reminder. The full text of the
episode can be read at the following URL:
http://www.startrek.com/library/episodes_tng_detail.asp?ID=68440
Happy simming!]
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