Mission 1.02 - And Not a Drop to Drink

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[16:20]

"I've never seen anything so blue..." Rha said, leaning his chin on his paws and his elbows on his console. Every now and then he would look down at his console and cock an ear to listen.

"Well, I'm not getting anything... how about anyone else?" He paused again to listen, then shook his head. "Nope... just a little static," and offered a toothy grin.

Fletcher came up to the bridge with the rest of the crew, as ordered, but didn't get an assignment from Julian.

He watched the crew work for a moment, and then headed over towards Rha's console, where fewer people were clustered.

He peered around Rha to look at the console. "Empty space except for that?" he asked.

Rha nodded. "Yup. I'm trying to get through the static now. Although, it might be something more. It... it almost reminds me of... sonar."

Ayan relaxed a little after Julian spoke to him, and some of the tension went out of his shoulders. He needed some time to think about the grilling he had just gotten, and get past just the embarassment.

"Geosynch confirmed," he said over his shoulder to Ainslie. "No debris or other objects in orbit, and unless they're cloaked, no ships in the area. Nothing for us to run into except for that," He added, and looked up at the planet on the viewer.

"As for the planet itself, looks like a few storm systems we might not want to fly in, but my official verdict is that it's blue. Very blue." He nodded his head. "I'd be surprised if there wasn't something alive down there. Even if it's just algae."

Adam bent to his console, comparing two readouts.

"Atmospheric composition and ice caps match the Cartography report from eighteen years ago. Looks like it's just been waiting patiently for us to come back."

Jake took the ops position and began running level 2 scans of the planet and its core.

Deepest point: 376 kilometres at the deepest point.
Depth pressure at deepest point: 545341.8938648 psi
Planetary core composition: Primarily Ice with traces of Carbo0n and other natural gasses encased in the ice form.
Average temperature on surface 20 degrees and steadily decrees deeper into the planet.

"Who are we gonna convince to colonize this place? There is no land mass other than ice formation in the polar region and the water looks like it has no real beneficial substances in it."

Just then his console began beeping.

"What the Hell?"

The Scan had reveled traces of deuterium and ionized plasma in the water but to broadly dispersed to trace any patter.

" Hey Carter! come and take a look at this. I need a second pair of eyes to check my readings here please."

"Yeah mate, I'm on it."

Carter crossed the bridge to Ops and peered over Lycan's shoulder at the readings he'd just uncovered.

"What the hell?" he echoed. "That can't be natural. Surely not. But if they're artificial, why aren't they clumped together?"

He turned back to Jake. "Do these readings extend across the planet? We could be looking at evidence of starship presence under the surface - maybe using the same shield mod we've just set up."

Snapping his fingers, he spun to face the Caitian Petty Officer.

"Rha, would it be possible for the water to be masking transmissions made beneath the surface?"

"Oh yeah... completely possible. Sound moves differently underwater, so I have to adjust for it. I'm trying to make those adjustments, but this isn't Earth. The water here is more dense, the atmosphere as well," he replied

Jake turned to his console, "Computer! from the dispersion of the chemicals in the ocean, can you determine how long since they were introduced into the ocean?"

The computer made it customary bleep and squeaks.

"Unable to comply, dispersion of chemicals indicates multiple entry and reentry into the ocean surface."

Jake ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He wasn't used to operations so had to think on his feet.

"Are there any degradable chemicals among them that can be used to determine earliest and latgest entry?"

Again the computer bleeped

"Affirmative. drive plasma is present among the chemicals. analysis shows earliest possible entry from substances scannable is 3 months. most recent is 13 days 5 hours"

So that means that if the latest entry is two weeks ago, then whoever is down there must only be coming up for supplies. which explains why Rha isn't having any radio or subspace chatter coz they would probably be under radio science. With the dispersion of the chemical between entry it makes it impossible to determine an entry point or exit point unless you see one within about 5 hours due to the currents on the planet.

Jake turned to Carter and Rha. "I don't think you'll be getting any radio chatter Rha. The way this dispersion of chemicals in the water it looks like if anyone down there does come up its only for supplies and otherwise stays inactive between. which probably means they are in radio silence."

[16:25 Hours]

The bridge hatch swung open, and Julian stepped through, leaving it free and open behind him. He walked to Rha's console, punching in a few commands over the Caitian's shoulder, and looking at the readouts. Satisfied, he turned to look at the Ops Console, nearly doing a double take at the data streaming across it.

"Dear God, another one?" he said to no one in particular. Returning to the command console, he pulled up the same data that Lycan was looking at, and made a strained sound in his throat.

"Stop all scans immediately. Helm, bring us around the backside of the moon, and keep us in a geosynchronous orbit with that side. Fleet Captain Talem, to the Bridge please."

"Aye sir," Ayan said, his hands moving quickly. The view of the ocean planet cut away sharply as the Wanderer turned hard.

The ship shot towards the moon quickly, and again turned hard to take up position on the far side.

"Geosynch on the far side, sir. No anomalies, ships, or other issues apparent on this side of the surface"

He tapped a few more times.

"I'll give the little ship credit. She turns easy and gets going quick."

Corbet stepped onto the bridge PADD in hand.

"Captain, just need your approval on the modifications report."

She passed the PADD over to him, on it's screen it read: 'Your new emergency override command code is: Jean de Arc'

"If that'll be all Jules, I was going to grab some lunch then take some downtime practicing in the forward hold."

Julian looked directly at Corbett, then down to the PADD she had handed him with the cryptic message input across it. His eyes widened a bit, and he handed it back to her.

Very quietly, under his breath, he said "As a point of contention, Miss Smyth, the next time I burst out in a fit of rage over something, please remind me to check all the facts and details of what's going on before I dole out direct orders that involve mutiny and sedition."

He looked her directly in the face, a poker expression splayed across his, and said in his normal voice again, "Change of plans Smyth, stand down on this protocol, and implement secondary procedures for Crewman Griffith's instead. Don't worry about overwriting, we'll deal with the excess coding when we get back to Kepler. For the time being, I need you below decks loading probes, and God forbid, torpedos should we need them. I'm hoping we don't. If we do need to load torpedoes, the command word will be shack. I'll need you to load some random debris or goods into the tube with the torpedo to make it look like something exploded other than a torpedo. Dismissed."

He turned to face Griffith, and said "Man the Engineering station directly behind mine, please. We're going to be enabling your new protocols as soon as I assess this new threat."

"Aye aye, sir." Hayley strode confidently around Lieutenant Durand's station and punched her access code into the engineering station. Its vidscreen acknowledged her login and displayed salient information regarding the status of the warp drive, impulse engines, and related subsystems. Working quickly, Hayley brought up a diagnostic of the changes that had been made to the power couplings between the warp drive and the shield generator array.

Julian nodded, and walked down the Bridge to Ayan's station, and said "What lies in wait under the surface of Aquoriat has the same energy readings as a Hideki Class Scout. They're likely jamming communications. I need you to pre-lay a course anywhere but here and prepare to execute the Picard Maneuver on my mark. The command word will be Baldy."

Ayan's hands flew across the panel and he nodded. "Baldy, huh?" he asked with a bit of a snicker. "Aye, sir. This ship's so small that we probably wouldn't put out more debris than that torpedo," he said facetiously.

Walking back to the Command Console, he nodded at Carter, and asked "You have anything yet?"

[1645 Hours]

Lanzara walked onto the bridge, and by the gods it was crowded. She knew fully well everything that was happening, but she would also like to see the crews interpretation of the current situation unfolding.

"Status" she said in a commanding tone, it didn't sound like a query or a request, but rather a simple statement of fact. She stood at the back of the bridge.

Julian quickly accessed the data stream from Lycan's system, and transferred it to the PADD he was holding. Bringing it up, he passed it to Talem.

"My days in security taught me to remember the energy output from the more common ships, Ma'am," he said. "That right there is a whole lot of trouble for a ship our size. I currently have us hiding behind the moon of the planet, running dark."

Lanzara nodded, "The Cardassians do have a habit of turning up where you least want them to be" she mused for a moment as she watched the data-stream. The new comer to the system was stationary in orbit of the planet, "Welcome to the world of Intelligence Lieutenant, most of our time is spent sitting and waiting" she smiled, "Later I would like a word with you concerning Ainslie and Smyth."

Julian smirked, and said "Sitting and waiting seems to be General Order number one for most COs, I've noticed ma'am."

He cleared his throat a bit, and replied "And as for the word you'd like to have with me, I'm at your disposal. I think what we had was a bit of a misunderstanding, and I would certainly like the opportunity to clear it up as well."

"The discussion can wait for a later time Lieutenant, and a more private arena" her attention was stolen by the data stream. The submerged vessel powered up and was leaving the planet. It was a Hideki class, and it was powering up it's main weapons. The shuttle in orbit would have no chance against it.

"I want every atom in this sector recorded" she said in a controlled tone, "It looks like we shall have an entertaining show put on for us."

Julian stood from his seat, and motioned for Talem to sit so she could view the data stream live as it was being recorded.

Something about standing here on the bridge--and this being a time for all seriousness--motivated Hayley to stand up straight and try and mask her American southern accent. "Engineering status report: Standing by for hydrostatic repulsion field trial iteration #1. All warp drive power relays reporting status ready, new power couplings operating at 93.7% efficiency. By all accounts, she's ready to be tested, sir." She turned to the Lieutenant's seat, expecting to see Julian, but surprised to see Fleet Captain Talem sitting there. "Er, that is, ma'am."

Hayley tugged awkwardly at the collar of her uniform. It was warmer in here than she expected, but then the ship was running dark. She coughed into her uniform sleeve and wiped her nose, having just begun sniffling. "By your leave, Fleet Captain," she said, bowing slightly to the ranking Trill and turning to Julian, "Once the shield generator array has been primed and is properly emitting gravitons, we'll be ready to transfer additional power to the shield." Having another thought, Hayley turned back to the engineering station, rapidly tapping out queries. "We'll be overdriving the shield generators to produce the field, so we'll want to keep a close eye on shield integrity status. I've already wired in some low-impedence redundancy fusing to the power couplings, so if one or two can't handle the increased amperage we'll have backups to keep us covered."

Hayley pulled at her collar again and swallowed to clear the congestion in her throat. "Awaiting your mark, sir."

"Hold on that for the moment, Griffith. Lycan, Carter, begin simultaneous data scanning and recording on both long and short range sensors. On my mark prepare to deploy probe," Julian ordered grimly.

Talem's orders were not ambiguous. There would be no chance for the Wanderer to save who or whatever was aboard that shuttle. He watched with a sense of mild detachment as the small but efficient Hideki Class Cardassian Scout rose from out of the planet's watery surface, and made it's way under impulse power to intercept the small shuttle of indeterminate origin that had just entered the planet's neighborhood.

He turned his face from the viewer, unable to watch what he knew was coming next, and said "Mister Retol, hold."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Holding steady in geosynch around the moon, Sir. Standing by for your order."

Eiri was not far behind the Fleet Captain. He took up the extra station behind the big Caitian, his eyes transfixed on the view screen. Time almost seemed to slow.

He flicked his gaze to Julian and Talem and back to the screen. "Sir... the Cardassians..." Were they just going to let this happen? "Sir... Cardassians."

Lanzara remained silent as she watched the scene unfolding. The call from the young Lieutenant broke her from her state.

"As you are Lieutenant. This is not our battle" she lent over the Commanding Officers terminal and a pressed a button.

"Fleet Captain Talem to Crewman Smyth" she paused, "I want you to double payload one of our photon torpedoes, when our time comes we will only have one shot, and I need it to count...can you do it Crewman?"

"I can load a single payload now, a double would take about five minutes to rig up.... sir," the response came from over the communicator.

Lanzara rolled her eyes and sighed slightly, "I want it done ASAP Crewman." She released the communication button on the terminal and spoke to the Lieutenant at her side, "Remind me to talk to you about getting your crew to tell the difference between men and woman." she smiled wryly.

Julian cleared his throat, and said with a grim smile on his face, "As I said before Ma'am, most of us are used to referring to all superior officers as 'sir.' They drill it into us in basic and at Academy."

"Then I shall have a word with the Commandant about getting some proper military protocol instilled in new recruits."

"Recommend you target the Hideki's engines for the first strike, ma'am," suggested Carter. "At best, their shields will still be set to generate a hydrostatic field and we'll be able to knock their drives out with one shot. At worst, we might have a chance to knocking something out and preventing them from going underwater again."

His suggestion made, Carter returned his attention to the unfolding situation in Aquoriat's upper atmosphere. The Hideki was clearing the planet's gravity well now, and would soon be free of the distorting effects of atmospheric lensing.

The launched probe came online at that point, adding its telemetry to his data. The Hideki was already powering up its five disruptors, its captain presumably hoping for a clean kill shot. "Hideki is fifteen seconds from firing range," he reported.

"Lanora has raised shields but is holding position. No increase in weapon power. Captain, I think she's going to cloak."

The idea hit him suddenly, but it made sense. The Lanora's single tactical advantage in this fight would be its ability to disappear and reappear at will. The fact that it hadn't done so yet suggested that either its crew hadn't noticed the incoming Hideki until the last minute - possible, if they were distracted - or that its captain was attempting something clever. A properly-timed cloak and evasion could cause the Hideki to waste its first shot and turn the tide of the fight. Hell, the Lanora could even cloak and bug out, either to get reinforcements or just to stay alive.

"Ten seconds to firing range," he reported. If the Lanora was going to do something, now would have to be the time.

(Joint post by the whole damn family)

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1648 Hours]

Julian looked sidelong at Eiri. It was clear the science officer was looking at him expectantly, for him to override the command, and to do something.

He moved to an aux station, re-routing the sensor data to it. The Hideki was moving on what could only be an intercept course to the Lanora, it's weapons powered up and locked on.

"They're firing," he heard one of his bridge crew say.

And surely enough, the Hideki opened fire on the much smaller Lanora Class Scout...with no effect. The phaser fire dissipated on it's shields. A sickly green glow began to formulate from the bow of the Lanora. Julian remembered somewhere in the back of his mind what this usually meant, and looked back down at his sensors.

"A Thalaron weapon! Retol, shields to maximum!" he shouted.

The sickly green glow formulated, and blasted into the Cardassian ship, punching through it like a knife through hot butter. In abject horror, Julian watched as a single lifeboat deployed from the rear of the small Cardassian scout, and the Romulan vessel broke combat, and warped out of the system.

"Lycan, trace their path of egress. Get us a heading and speed. Carter, get me everything we know about Thalaron radiation and it's effects, and copy Petty Officer McNeil. Retol, set a cour..."

"Belay that order, Crewman," Talem interjected. "Maintain current holding pattern."

[Tag Talem for next bit of Plot Exposition]

"Belay that order, Crewman," Talem interjected. "Maintain current holding pattern." she kept her voice neutral, yet it was tinged with the air of a seasoned battle-field commander, “The thalaron based weapon was somewhat unexpected” she mused to herself, “Although not totally without warning” she paused, “Lieutenant, if you have any issue with my orders, please state them in your log, I don’t have time to give a fuck right now.”

Julian turned and said “I think it would best suit us to find out where the hell the ship with the ‘outlawed amongst generally every species in the known galaxy’ weapon is going, ma’am, but if you think a Planetary Survey is more important, then by all means proceed. Who am I to argue with the Deputy Director of SFI?”

"Well it's about time someone on this god damned gnat’s dick of a ship worked that one out. Think big picture Lieutenant...one Thalaron weapon on a ship limited to warp 6 with a dodgey cloak...or, well let's just say bigger fish" she stared at him, "There is a reason why I have the more pips on my collar...Lieutenant."

She looked to the front of the ship, "If you or your crew are going to have trouble following my orders Lieutenant I can and will remove you from duty."

“Yes, I’m aware you have the bigger picture in mind, ma’am, and far be it from me to spoil your mission. I have no intent on disobeying a direct order, but if we’re not here after that monstrosity we just witnessed, then what the hell exactly are we doing here?” Julian demanded.

Lanzara didn't look at the Lieutenant, "You want the truth?"

“It would be a refreshing change, comparatively, yes ma’am. I understand that a Junior Officer isn’t privy to most of the various side dealings and other sneaky shit that goes on in SFI, but enough is enough. I refuse to be left in the dark on my own damned command!”

Lanzara turned and spoke in a cold tone, "There is not such thing as the truth. It is the most important lesson you will ever learn. The truth is subjective, the truth is the story that best suits my needs and the needs of the Federation" she watched as the Romulan ship suddenly jumped to warp.

Julian watched with detached interest as the small Romulan scout broke off and headed away. What was going on aboard his own ship at the moment took precedence.

“So you’re telling me you flat out lied to my crew and I to get us out here? They have a phrase for that, Fleet Captain. Conduct unbecoming. What exactly are you here for, and more to the point, what the hell did you drag us out here to do, if it wasn’t for that ship that conveniently just left?”

"Did you miss the whole conversation with the President of the United Federation of Planets giving me express permission to do whatever I deem necessary to complete my mission and your oh-so-secret communique with Admiral Alae?" she bared her teeth, "Take us in to the debris of the Hideki..."

“Fine, we’ll continue to play this charming little game until we all get killed. Retol, take us into the debris,” Julian said.

The Wanderer lurched forward a bit, at the helmsman’s commands, and moved at slow speed, dodging the larger portions of wreckage. Julian looked down, monitoring the sensors for anything large enough to be a hazard, and maintaining a clear look for any leftover radiation. A blip suddenly appeared on his sensor readout.

“Three lifesigns,” he stated plainly. “One adult, one child, one infant. Appears stable.”

"I'll remind you to remember to whom you are speaking Lieutenant. I have let several matters slide because this is your first command and the inconvenience of having me on board, but you just damned well remember who you are, and who I am" she then looked to the viewer, "Hail the life-pod. Send the following message. Theta-Thea-Epsilon" she did not react to the children being on the vessel. At times like this she needed to keep her head.

He snorted, and watched as Rha quietly sent the message, turned his head, and nodded. The response was garbled as it came back, but relatively audible.

“...Taurus...Dionysus Omega. Rep...ysus Omega!”

Lanzara wanted to sigh heavily, but she kept her demeanor. She did not respond at first and simply looked at the Commanding Officer's terminal. The double loaded torpedo had been stocked and was in a tube ready. She walked forward and stood directly behind the helmsman.

"Back us off to a safe distance Lieutenant Retol."

Ayan nodded his head at the order, tensing slightly with the presence of the Fleet Captain behind him.

“Aye, Ma’am,” he said, backing the ship off slowly to avoid any other debris that might be lying about.

"Lieutenant Retol, once clear I want you to target the lifepod, and fire loaded torpedo" she said in a matter of fact tone.

“Ma’am?" he said, his tone rising with surprise. He turned his head to look at the Fleet Captain, his eyebrows furrowed. “You said target the lifepod?” he asked, although his tone indicated he had heard her correctly the first time. This wasn’t clarification, this was requesting justification.

“You heard me Lieutenant. Time to avenge all those who died in the Occupation. Now is your time to kill the spoon-heads.” she continued to stand behind him, “It is an order. You’re good at following orders, just like you did on the White Star.”

Ayan looked at the Fleet Captain for a long moment, and his hands fell from the control panel. They had backed up, but perhaps not far enough.

“No Ma’am,” he said firmly, but without passion. If he was going to do this, he sure wasn’t going to rise to the bait. “I have no justification for firing on an unarmed lifepod. That could be construed as an act of war, and an illegal order.”

"I'm glad to see you know when and when not to follow an order Lieutenant." she walked from him and looked at Durand, "Open a visual with the lifepod."

Julian exhaled sharply, inwardly very proud of his helmsman for not obeying that order, and brought up an image of the lifepod on screen. It looked no different than a standard Cardassian lifepod. He’d seen them numerous times before. The lifesigns didn’t read any different than normal either. He turned, and glanced expectantly at Talem, both eyebrows raised, not saying a word.

"Ma'am?" came the voice of the Cardassian man on the screen, one child sleeping on his lap, the other one still in swaddling cloths in his arms, "I'm sorry."

Lanzara stepped closer to the screen, "You did well Andy." she looked at the children, "I didn't expect the girls to be with you."

The man remained stoic, "My wife was killed when my cover was breached" he paused, "I would rather they die with me than alone on Cardassia"

Lanzara nodded, "The package?"

"We jettisoned it on the planet before we broke surface"

"I'm sorry Andy."

"It's nice to hear my name again, I've been Dukaran for too long."

"You will be remembered as Andrew McKay" she smiled, "How are the girls?"

"I sedated them when I realized I was infected."

Lanzara nodded she wanted to cry, it was all she could think of doing, but she had a job to do.

"I know what has to come Ma'am. I knew that the moment you recruited me."

"I didn't know the girls would be with you Andy...I am so sorry."

Andy smiled, "You're the one who told me never to apologise Ma'am, something I have lived by. I have done my duty to the Federation, this mission gave me my daughters." she paused a tear formed on his Cardassian face, a mask he had worn for some 25 years, "It must be done to make sure others children are safe."

Lanzara nodded, "It has been an honour to serve with you Andy."

"No Ma'am, the honour has been mine." he raised his hand to a salute, "We who are about to die, salute you"

Lanzara walked back up to the terminal that Duran occupied, she did not break eye contact with McKay as her hands moved towards the weapon control panel. She raised her right hand to her brow returning the salute, “Good job Commander.”

Julian turned, seeing her hand move towards the panel. He stepped behind her, rested a hand on her shoulder in an attempt at comfort, and moved her hand aside.

Very quietly, he said “No one should have to make the decision to kill a good friend, ma’am.”

With a deep sigh, he fired the double payload towards the lifepod, and watched as the torpedos impacted it, atomizing it in one burst.

Lanzara's voice quivered for a moment, "I want you all the remember this moment, the moment when a dedicated Officer gave everything in his world for the defence of the Federation. He gave himself and his children so we may live. One day you will all be called to make the same sacrifice, I just hope you can do it with 1 per cent of the gallantry that Lieutenant Commander Andrew McKay did" she looked around. She looked to Durand, "Follow the Romulan vessel, she will need 24 hours to build up enough power to fire again...her cloak is leaking a trail. Find them and destroy them." without another word she walked from the bridge.

Julian returned to the CO console, and said "Ayan, follow their trail out of here. Maximum Warp."

(JP by Talem, Durand, Retol. Rha added in as NPC because she wasn't online )

Once alone in her quarters Lanzara removed her uniform jacket, and under shirt, leaving her in a simple grey vest. She threw her jacket on the floor and screamed at the top of her voice, the tears began to cascade down her face. Why were the girls with him? Why the fuck were the girls with him? She could have gotten them removed from Cardassia with one word, no-one would ever know. They would have been safe with her. They would be without their father, but they would have at-least been alive.

For several minutes she just let the tears over-come her, it was the worst part of her job. She had to make the decisions that no-one else could, she had to live with those choices every day. Living so many life-times didn't make it any easier, you could never forget those people you sent to their death, you only remembered the faces of the ones you knew personally.

Once the tears abated she activated her computer. No-one would ever know the truth about Andrew McKay, he had ceased to exist some 30 years ago, when Talem was man and a General, his entire history was removed. No-trace of him remained, only in her mind and that of SFI did he ever exist.

"Computer send encoded message to Director SFI. Message reads; Padfood infected, isolated and removed. Packet location identified, collection after clean-up" she paused, "Send message priority one"

The computer beeped to confirm her order had been carried out. She stood up and wiped the tears from her face, she looked at herself in the mirror of the small head in her escape pod, it took her only a few seconds to remove any sign of her upset. She returned to the main area and redressed in her uniform, she pressed her combadge, "Lieutenant Durand, I would like to speak to you in private."

Tags

[Bridge and Escape Pod, USS Wanderer]
[1700 hours]

Standing up after hearing the communication, Julian straightened out his uniform, and turned to his crew.

“Let me know when we have them on visual,” he said, and quickly left the Bridge.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head as he descended the two decks down to where the escape pod was located. He chose, for the time being, to brush them aside, and stopped at the replicator.

“Coffee, two cream one sugar,” he commanded. The cup quickly materialized, with the ship’s mission patch emblazoned on the front of it. The ship that, given his actions moments ago, he may stand to lose.

He sighed deeply, and walked across the bay to the escape pod hatch. Pressing the panel, he said “Lieutenant Durand ma’am.”

Lanzara smiled weakly, “Come in Lieutenant” she said stepping aside of him to enter her microscopic temporary quarters, “I would offer you a drink but you appear to have already been furnished with one” she waited as he walked in, she looked at him. “I wish to express my thanks.”

“You probably shouldn’t do that, ma’am,” he said as he sat down on the very small seating unit within the lifepod. “It might ruin your reputation.” He attempted to say it with a poker face, but a small hint of a smile crept in despite himself.

“In all seriousness, I meant what I said. No one, regardless of rank, position, or deity status, should be forced to make the decision to kill a friend, a family member, or a commanding officer. It’s one of my fundamental beliefs. It changes you on a level so deep that you become something...else.”

"I became that thing hundreds of years ago Lieutenant." she sighed, "I have been around for a long time, don't miss the old mind within this young shell." she looked at him, "What you did was commendable, but please do not think I was not willing to euthanize Andy. He understood what had to happen, he knew from day one that if he lived long enough his life would have to end by my hand. It is one of the sad facts of our lives."

“I understand that ma’am, all too well unfortunately. And trust me, I didn’t miss the name behind the rank. My dad used to tell me stories about Ioan Talem that people had told him, et cetera. But that doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t have been the one to push that button. You knew you had to, and you would have. That’s enough.”

"I lost the right to any personal feelings or life the moment I took the position of Deputy Director, my life is forfeit in the greater good." she looked at him, "Remember that, no matter whatever happens; remember that" she turned away from him, "Dismissed Lieutenant."

Julian nodded, and quickly made his way back to the Bridge.

[1700]

It took Ayan a moment to recover from the Fleet Captain's test of him, and he quickly caught up with the conversation on screen.

He made a muted sound when it became clear that the man in the pod --obviously an officer undercover -- expected to die because of whatever the Romulans had hit them with. He made another muted, sad sound when the pod was destroyed. He didn't understand, didn't know what had just happened, but someone had been killed because of that.

At the order to pursue the Romulan ship, he growled an "Aye, Sir," and plotted the course, his hands tapping the console slightly angrily.

"Anything extra you can give me would be appreciated," he said over his shoulder to Hailey. "Prophets..." He whispered to himself, offering a silent prayer for the people who died. "C'mon," he urged the ship on.

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1700 Hours]

Who the hell, thought Adam, invited the damn Romulans?

They knew about Harkening. They had to. It was the only way to explain the presence of what had to be an experimental and presumably-top secret ship, conveniently just as the transfer was supposed to take place.

How the hell could they have known, though? As he worked on compiling his report on the weapon that had popped the Hideki like a balloon, he got to work on a trace of all communication and trade activity between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire in the past month. Hopefully, his new security clearance would do the trick. If someone in the Federation had tipped off the Romulans, he wanted to find them.

The half-finished report for Durand and McNeil stared bleakly at him. The Wanderer would be in for a fight when they caught up to the Lanora - he hoped it wouldn't be as one-sided as their target's fight with the Cardassians.

To: Julian Durand, USS Wanderer
CC: Fletcher McNeil, USS Wanderer, Lanzara Talem, SFI
Subject: Thalaron - Data and Analysis

Sir,

Please find below the sum of what I've been able to discover on Thalaron weapons. The important note here is that we're not dealing with anything like an ordinary Lanora-class scout. Given the likely presence of a Thalaron reactor, it is likely that the ship's entire power grid has been overhauled if not replaced, and as such its speed and defensive power should not be considered normal for the class. The same can, of course, be said for the ship's weaponry.

The weaponised use of Thalaron was first recorded in 2378, when Romulan Praetor Shinzon used a man-portable device to assassinate the entire Romulan Senate in order to seize power. Shinzon's personal ship, Scimitar (class ship of the Scimitar-class battleship) was also equipped with both a Thalaron weapon and a Thalaron reactor.

In carbon-based life, Thalaron is almost instantly fatal. Exposure to even a few particles is enough to cause rapidly-spreading necrosis resulting in a dust-like corpse. Make no mistake - if you are unfortunate enough to encounter raw Thalaron radiation, you will die very quickly. In this raw state, Thalaron appears to have no effect on inorganic substances, like for instance the Wanderer.

We have less data on Thalaron's use in power generation. We know that the Scimitar used Thalaron as a power source, but as the ship did not survive its encounter with the Enterprise-E we have since had no opportunities to study this form of energy. We know that Lt Cmdr Data destroyed the ship by setting off a chain reaction from the reactor and can assume that this was accomplished simply by shooting it, however as both the ship and Lt Cmdr Data were destroyed it is impossible to be certain.

What we do know is that a Thalaron weapon has been successfully miniturised and installed in a Lanora-class scout, suggesting that the reactor has been similarly modified and installed. Again, the impact of this modification on the Lanora's performance specifications will be impossible to estimate.

As Fleet Captain Talem noted, Thalaron particles will leak from a standard cloaking device, allowing us to get a fix on the Lanora's position even while cloaked. In the event of ship-to-ship combat, I would recommend avoiding at all costs the possibility of boarding actions due to the likely presence of man-portable Thalaron weapons. In the event of hostile boarding action, I would strongly urge you to seal the bridge and engineering deck and vent the rest of the ship. Remember, even minimal exposure to this stuff will be almost instantly fatal.

That concludes the report. We have until 16:48 tomorrow until the Lanora can fire its Thalaron weapon again - assuming Fleet Captain Talem's data is accurate. I would note that even at base performance specifications the Lanora is rated for more speed than the Wanderer. Their maximum cruising speed almost matches the Wallace-class' emergency power record. We won't catch them - if we do find them, it'll mean they're playing silly buggers. Expect a trap.

Respectfully,

Adam Carter

-----

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1745 Hours]

His report finished, Adam forwarded it to the relevant people and rose from his station.

"Captain, my report's in your tray." He nodded to Durand as he left the bridge and made his way to the wardroom. It wasn't quite dinnertime, but he needed to eat and wasn't sure when he'd get another chance. After this, he'd return to his station and start sifting through the massive pile of comm traffic he'd dug up. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, but going through the motions would make him feel better about what he'd seen today.

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[17:45]

Rha shot out of his chair like he'd been hit with a dart. He pounded his communicator. "Julian... Now... I need to talk to you now, Captain. Like... I'm on my way to meet you. Where are you?" His thick tail twitched back and forth wildly. "I'm serious... like now."

<Fluffy tags Julian>

Eiri turned away from the screen, unable to watch. He hung his head and whispered a Vulcan prayer. Lanzara's pain was tangible. It changed Eiri's view of her completely. She did have feelings, under her tough exterior. If he had had to, he could have followed her feelings like a trail they were so intense. It was hard for him to resist following her and trying to be a counselor.

He took at deep breath, continuing to resist the urge, his eyes on Julian, his expression sort of desperate as soon as the captain returned. She knew the man who died, intimately and possibly the children as well. All of this reinforced the feeling Eiri had had since the beginning. The virus needed to be destroyed. All of it. No studying, not trying to put it in stasis, just complete destruction.

The next big question on Eiri's mind was how. How could they destroy something they knew so little about. It was unlikely that they would get another sample any time soon.

Hayley felt her heart catch in her throat as she watched Julian send two innocent children to the afterlife. She crossed herself and then held a clenched fist to her lips, unsure whether she was trying to stifle tears or a creeping nausea that had just made its presence known.

Quote :

"Anything extra you can give me would be appreciated," Ayan said over his shoulder to Hayley.

Being addressed directly snapped her out of it. "Uh..." she started uncertainly, "Uh... yeah, um... I'm on it." Choking her feelings back, she turned to the engineering display panel. This is what I do. This is why I enlisted in Starfleet in the first place, she thought. Despite the emotional strain, she fairly played the panel like a concert pianist pounding out Rachmaninoff. "The um... the retrofit we just finished is drawin' power from the warp drive, so that's gonna slow us down." She bit her lip, which was quivering involuntarily. "Under, um... under normal conditions, operatin' shields while at warp creates a translational field interaction, causin' about a 32% loss in energy transfer efficiency, which the warp drive compensates for automatically." She heard one of the bridge crew cough, and she realized that everybody probably already knew what she was saying. Hayley's mind raced for a moment. She tugged at her sleeve and continued, "So give me...six minutes to reverse the polarity on the new power couplings, so the translational field overlap will be additive instead of subtractive, and then we can boost our speed by powering up the shields, since their power will be redirected to the warp drive."

Hayley wasn't about to monkey with the power couplings while traveling at maximum warp without getting authorization first. "Lieutenant Durand? Permission to proceed?"

((tags Julian))

Julian laughed softly under his breath, sitting at the command console. In all the uproar of the day, it appeared that Rha had not noticed him return to the Bridge.

"I'm right here Rha. Do we need to take this to a private arena, or can you share with the rest of the class?" he asked with a wink in the Caitian's direction.

"And permission granted Miss Griffith, though I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Engineering speak is beyond me, but it sounded functional and impressive, so go for it."

Something about her Captain's demeanor caught Hayley off guard, so she momentarily forgot about the tragic events they'd all just witnessed. Hayley coughed into her fist and blushed. Approval from authority figures was always flattering to her. "You got it, Cap. And um, y'all can..." Her eyes shifted back and forth to Julian, "...y'all can call me Hayley, if'n we're keepin' it informal-like."

After but a moment's pause, and starting to feel better, she darted out the door and headed to engineering to do her daggone job.

Rha did not seem quite able to formulate what he wanted to say. "Romulans, Sir... smelly cargo... remember, Sir... what if... that smelly cargo..." he trailed off and looked back at the view screen, his long claws on his right paw scratching the back of his left paw, nervously. "He... he said he was infected sir... infected with what, Julian." The big Caitian was so full of nervous energy, he was practically wiggling. "Julian... what... that smell... if it... I mean..." he looked at Julian, something in his expression trying to say to Julian "oh my god you should know this!"

Rha's ramped up excitement was almost like a punch in the gut to Eiri. He was shaken from his thoughts by the motion of the large Caitian. Through all of the Petty Officer's sputtering Eiri also suddenly realized he was talking about the virus. Slowly, one Vulcan eyebrow begins to raise, the words "level 10 clearance" ran through his mind.

He turned and was quickly at the Petty Officer's side. One small hand around Rha's thick furry arm. "I think we should discuss this somewhere else." he said firmly to Rha and Julian, both.

[Engineering, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1750 hours]

Hayley found the power couplings she'd reconfigured and set about reversing their polarity. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Wendy, darlin'. Senseless is what it is," she said matter-of-factly, although no one was around. She shook her head and set her jaw, just thinking about it. "Cap's kinda cute, though. In the way that off-limits commandin' officers always are." She frowned slightly. "Oh well. Plenty of stars in the sky, and all."

She quickly finished her work and tapped her commbadge. "Hayley to bridge: power couplin' polarity reversed, ready to see if powerin' up the shields will spur her outta the gate. Also recommend Reduced Power mode for auxiliary systems; this ain't gonna be easy on her."

((tags to the bridgefolk))

Jake complied with Lt. Durand's orders and tracked the Romulan ship. and after seeing the sacrifice made buy those in the escape pod he couldn't help but feel distracted.

After reading crewman Carters report, Jake began running computer simulations on the possible outcomes of battle with a Thaleron Radiation Based weapon. he scoured over the scans the enterprise crew mad of the Scimitar and frankly was astounded by the destructive power of it. and looking at the reports on the types of Thaleron Radiation weapons available to the Romulans at that time, One thought entered his mind that brought panic to him. if we lose shield in any part of the ship or if they get weak enough for them to transport through. they don't even need to fire a weapon they just have to transport the radiation into the ship.

"Lycan to Griffith!"

Hayley looked up and tapped her commbadge again. "Griffith here, go ahead."

"Hayley, out of curiosity, how low would the shields have to be for someone to transport a small object through?"

The engineer scratched the back of her head and thought for a moment before responding. "Well, that all depends. Far's I could tell ya, long as shields are up at all, transporters are useless, 'cause the shields interfere with the annular confinement beam, so it can't propagate across the right subspace and electromagnetic bandwidth." She paused and thought briefly. "On top of that, the shields cook up a spatial distortion that'll fuzz up the transporter pattern and ruin your day. But all my trainin's on Federation boats, I'm as in-the-dark as a Reman miner down a dilithium shaft as far's Romulan Xtech goes."

((joint post between Jake "insert your own nickname here" Lycan and Hayley "Damn, I love having Rha's STNG Technical Manual" Griffith))

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[Est: 1750 hours]

Ayan's hand hit the panel as soon as Hayley gave the word, and the Wanderer sped up as fast as the poor little ship could be urged on.

He tapped his communicator. "That's wonderful, Hayley," he said, pleased. "Thank you." He continued to watch his panel. They were gaining slowly, cutting down on the lead the Romulans had created to begin with. It didn't look like the other ship was flying as fast as it could.

He made sure to follow Hayley's directives, and put the rest of the ship into reduced power mode, barring the lifepod, which he had no control over. Lights dimmed slightly in all compartments, and some non essential systems were offline except as requested.

[1755 Hours (giving time for Julian, Rha, Eiri to have their convo)]

"We're starting to gain on them," he said, his voice rising slightly in excitement. He tapped his combadge. "Bridge to Captain," he addressed. "Expected 30 minutes to intercept, Sir, unless they see us and pour on the speed. Or decide to turn around and fight us."

Delayed tag for Julian, et. al.

[USS Wanderer]
[1748]

To: Adam Carter, USS Wanderer
CC: Julian Durand, USS Wanderer ;
Subject: Thalaron - Data and Analysis

Carter,

A nice analysis. Thank you for copying me on it.

Cap: No medical rec at this time. Bad way to die. Response time requirements preclude even pain reduction hypospray before death. As is obvious, avoid.

V/r,
Fletcher McNeill

[1749]

Fletcher rose from his aux station on the bridge and stretched his legs slightly, watching the view screen, before returning to completing his medical SitRep. As soon as this mission settled down, it would be time to continue with crew physicals. Some of them had shied off so far, but Fletcher was nothing if not polite, and determined.

(Lack of Talem on CC intentional. Fletch probably can't even direct mails at her -- and she's probably reading it anyway. )

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1755 Hours]

Julian set his PADD down, and looked up, suddenly snapped out of his reverie by the comments flying at him from every side.

"Begin the modifications, Miss Griffith," he said. "While you're at it, I want you to start running damage control simulations for the flooding of the secondary cargo bay. If my hunch on what we're going to have to do is right, we may need to do that to equalize the pressure internally. Like the old submarines on Earth. Give me the best estimates you can for loss of cargo and structural integrity."

[tag Hayley]

"Rha, Eiri, we can discuss any possible...connections...at a later time when we're not under the direct and watchful gaze of a Fleet Captain. In fact, I would like both of your input on my official report, as there will be large glaring points missing, and I'm sure it will raise some heads."

[Tag Rha/Eiri]

He stood from his console, and walked to the tactical station at the front of the bridge, scooting in close to give Ayan ample space to maneuver.

"Once we get in range," he said under his breath, very quietly, "I need you to get me right on their six, Ayan. We're only going to have one shot at stopping them, and it's going to be firing a torpedo up their ass to cripple them. Remember, she'll be leaking plasma and radiation all over the place, so we'll need to do some zig zagging to stay away from the nastiest bits of it. Hopefully Hayley's shield modifications can keep it out. Once you've got a firing solution, you let me know, and I'll frag the bastards."

[tag Ayan]

Julian nodded, and turned to face the console, pulling up all of the pertinent data he could. This was supposed to have been a simple survey mission, and now it had gone horribly wrong. When everything was said and done, depending on who was looking in on this mission, he stood to lose his command, his crew, and his commission. His mood darkened, and a deep scowl cut across his face. He punched in a few commands, to find the bright red words "ACCESS DENIED" splayed across his console, the same results he'd had every previous time.

Sighing deeply, he brought up the tactical console.

"Bridge to Smyth. I need you to load the torpedo tube again. I don't wanna be caught outgunned when we run across whatever it is they've done to a simple scout ship. If you have any impressive tricks you learned in basic about how to boost the damage output of a single photorp, now would be the time for it."

[tag Corbett]

He quickly pulled up the messaging console, and typed out a message to Ainslie.

::ROBERT, START CUTTING POWER FROM SECONDARY SYSTEMS TO BOOST SHIELD OUTPUT AND PHASER FIRE OUTPUT. PROCEED WITH SECONDARY WEAPONS ARRANGEMENT CONFIGURED TO PULSE FIRE OUTPUT. GONNA NEED EVERYTHING WE CAN ON THIS ONE. ANYTHING YOU CAN GIVE ME WILL HELP::

[tag Robert]

Looking up, he said "Carter, get into whatever channels you spook types have, and get me anything and everything about this class of ship and who they've been sold to recently. I highly doubt there are Romulans aboard this particular Romulan ship."

[tag Adam]

"Lycan, McNeil, go get some bio-beds set up just in case we have wounded incoming. We may have to gun them out of the sky, but I'm not going to lose more senseless life for an overzealous mission that I am not privy to."

[tag Lycan/McNeil]

((Feel Free to start up JPs as necessary to complete the above objectives. We're coming to the next big bit of plot here soon, so this is the last "lull in activity" we'll have for a bit.))

"Aye Sir, double charge already loaded and standing by. I recommend staying a safe distance from this one when it goes off."

Corbet said as she brushed the sweat off her forehead with bleeding knuckles. Double loads were something that they barely taught in her education, as 99% of the fleet has more than one torpedo tube and have no need of such. But she managed to disassemble and weld together two different torpedoes in record time. Now she had just finished re-programming them to recognized both halves as the same torpedo. If she ever got to sleep, she would sleep well.

"Aye Sir."

Jake secured his console and left immediately for the infirmary.

after a quick jog down the corridor, jake arrived in the infirmary and began prepping bio beds as ordered.

"Thaleron radiation, you know you would think after so many centuries humanoids would learn that these kind of weapons aren't victory assurances but weapons that leave the galaxy in ruin."

"Begin the modifications, Miss Griffith," he said. "While you're at it, I want you to start running damage control simulations for the flooding of the secondary cargo bay. If my hunch on what we're going to have to do is right, we may need to do that to equalize the pressure internally. Like the old submarines on Earth. Give me the best estimates you can for loss of cargo and structural integrity."

[Engineering, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1755 Hours]

"Floodin' the cargo bay, sir?" Hayley boggled at the suggestion for a moment. "Oh! ...OH! You got it, Cap, I'm on it."

Rounding the corner from Engineering, Hayley stepped into the aft cargo bay. Three months-worth of standard-issue Starfleet supply storage containers were stacked several-deep through most of the room, with just enough space between for a criss-cross of walkways. Hayley did a quick tricorder scan of the crates, identifying each container's contents, overall mass, and static friction coefficients. When she had finished, she scanned every other object and panel in the room, and then set about analyzing various flooding simulations on her PADD.

[Aft Cargo Bay, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1810 Hours]

"Hayley to Bridge. Looks like a controlled flood'll help prevent damage to cargo bay electronics, and the cargo is heavy enough that it'd take a pretty huge splash to knock 'em around. First glance at the calculations, I'd guess that if we let the water in at a rate of less than twenty liters per second, the cargo bay'll fill up slowly enough. I am a mite concerned about the airlock control panel, I'm gonna have to figure out a way to make sure that it don't break, what with the water and the pressure and all."

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1755 Hours]

"Rha, Eiri, we can discuss any possible... connections... at a later time when we're not under the direct and watchful gaze of a Fleet Captain. In fact, I would like both of your input on my official report, as there will be large glaring points missing, and I'm sure it will raise some heads."


Rha bolted back to his seat and put his head set on, all thoughts turned to the task at hand. His tail waved and bounced behind him as his long nails clacked on the surface of the console. "I'm still not reading anything Jules... It was also too easy... There was no warning. No customary... "Heya! We're gonna blow you out of the sky now!" None of that... Like they, expected it."



[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1755 Hours]

Looking up, he said "Carter, get into whatever channels you spook types have, and get me anything and everything about this class of ship and who they've been sold to recently. I highly doubt there are Romulans aboard this particular Romulan ship."


"On it," replied Carter. He wasn't sure how the captain had made that deduction, but he was perfectly willing to explore the possibility. Cracking his knuckles, he threw himself into a new search.

[18:15 Hours]

It wasn't the most successful search he'd ever performed, but he had results. Shooting his full report across to Durand's station, he turned to face the captain.

"Captain, intel on the Lanora's on your desk. You're looking at two light disruptors and a torpedo tube as standard armament, with the standard Romulan cloaking device as an added extra. Maximum speed is warp 8.6.

"I've looked into the sale of Lanoras and it doesn't look like there's a big market for them - anyone can make a quick scout ship that doesn't have many guns. Add to that the Romulans' usual reluctance to let go of their tech AND their isolationism and the list of legitimate buyers drops to zero.

"However!" he raised a finger, "we spook types know about a few illegitimate partnerships the Romulans have going. Huddling behind your borders is fine," he added as an aside, "but a star empire's got to make a bit of money now and then to keep itself in brand new Scimitars, which seems to be their big naval push right now. There's a handful of mixed-race militias, at least three nationalist underground revolutionary groups and one major power whose name may or may not rhyme with 'Klingon'. Wait, bugger. I spoiled that one."

He cleared his throat, almost theatrically.

"The one I'd tend to suspect, though - assuming the ship isn't under Romulan control - is the Cardassian Obsidian Order."

He paused to let the effect of those words sink in. "Not the real one, of course. Well, not the official one, anyway. Remnants, mostly. They're essentially an underground terror group these days, kidnapping 'race traitors' here and there, bombing the occasional school, nothing major in the grand scheme of things. But if they've got their hands on a Thalaron-powered, stealth-capable ship, the Union's facing serious trouble. Not to mention the business that just went down on Aquoriat."

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1815 Hours]

"Get to work on that Miss Griffith. I'd like to have us prepared for all possible inconveniences when we are inevitably forced to go back to Aquoriat to find this 'package' as I'm sure will be our next step."

Julian turned to Carter, and said "Good work. Now, let's hope we can blow the bastards out of the sky with the little trick that Miss Smyth prepared for us."

The next ten minutes went by in relative silence as the bridge crew focused diligently on their given tasks. Julian smiled, looking around at the concentration on his crew's faces. Despite what they had just seen, and the hell they'd been through for the better part of the last day, they were all performing to the very best of their ability.

As the ship lurched forward a bit, the inertial dampeners kicked in to compensate for the sudden deceleration from warp speed. The cockpit window was suddenly flooded with debris and the sickly green glow of what Julian could only presume was Thalaron radiation.

"Retol, break off, take us back to safe distance. Start scanning for weapons signatures other than Thalaron radiation. I want to know who did this, and I want to know now."

He tapped his com-badge, and said "Durand to Lycan and Talem. Please report to the Bridge."

He watched the debris field grow smaller as the Wanderer pulled away from the remnants of the Romulan Ship.

"Retol, set in a course for Aquoriat III at Warp 6, and prepare to engage on my mark. I have a feeling most of our answers are going to come from there sadly..."

((A joint post by Hayley "We're doing what?" Griffith, Rha "I is a kitteh," Adam "Your assumptions are interesting, and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter" Carter, and Julian "has a hunch" Durand.))

Julian Durand wrote:

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1815 Hours]

"Get to work on that Miss Griffith. I'd like to have us prepared for all possible inconveniences when we are inevitably forced to go back to Aquoriat to find this 'package' as I'm sure will be our next step."

[Deck 2, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1815 hours]

"Aye aye, sir," Hayley replied, and tapped her commbadge to end transmission. All right, waterproofin' the airlock control panel... she pondered. Her first thought was to rig up a fast-crystallizing molybdenum carbide paste to sculpt a physical cover for the panel; it would harden as strong as steel, and had a very low water solubility constant, but actually getting the element to crystallize would take time that the Wanderer didn't have. She stared out the windows in the airlock doors and sighed.

Suddenly she snapped to action, grinning. "Thanks, Wendy. I need all the help I can get," she said to no one. She rounded the corner to Engineering on the double, and scoured the area for a particular device. When she found one she cradled it in her arm and headed for the door. Having another thought, she paused, turned, and dug out the custom hyperspanner she'd tucked away earlier. Right tool for every job, she murmured. "Computer, where exactly do Wallace-class ships house the SIF generator?"

"Deck two, behind panel 482e in the hall outside the cargo bays," the computer replied.

"Attagirl!" Hayley said brightly as she made her way for the exit. "Thanks, sweetie!"

Before she got very far, Hayley was surprised to hear the computer respond. "Computer address input "sweetie" not recognized. Specify."

Hayley broke into a wide grin and hugged herself bemusedly. "Disregard, computer." It momentarily chirped to acknowledge the command. Hayley ran her fingers along the wall of the engineering station and thought for a moment.

"Computer, create new entry, filename "WendyDarling." Goin' forward, please continue to respond to all normal queries, in addition to new computer address term "Wendy" when vocal signature matches my voice record. Oh, and call me Hayley. Sound good to you, Wendy?"

"Entry created, Hayley."

"Great. Thanks, Wendy." She tapped her commbadge. "Hayley to bridge, I've got a plan to waterproof the airlock control panel if'n it comes to that. I can hook a subspace field distortion amplifier right up to the panel, and then wire it into the structural integrity field generator we got right outside the room. Shouldn't draw but a pinch of power from the generator, so our SIF won't be significantly affected, but it'll generate a force-field within the electronics of the panel itself, makin' it much sturdier when the water starts a-rushin' in. I'll report back when I'm through; shouldn't take but a couple minutes."

((tag bridge))

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[18:20]

Eiri stepped closer to Julian. At the moment, he was just an extra member on the bridge, but the tension of the captain ran the highest and he was conditioned to respond. A thousand things ran though his mind. "Julian, have they seen us yet?" was all he could muster to ask.

He had never seen a Thalaron weapon put to actual use. He knew that they had been banned by Starfleet prior to 2379 because of their biogenic properties. Thalaron radiation consumed organic material at the subatomic level. Whereas gamma radiation merely caused the mutation of an organism's genome, thalaron radiation caused instant and complete necrosis in every cell it irradiated. Following exposure, any organism would degenerate into an ash-like material, completely devoid of life.

He did not conceal his thoughts from Talem. There was no point. Thalaron weapons and deadly viruses. There was much more waiting for them on this planet then just deep, blue seas, maybe. Hopefully, below they would find what they were looking for and that this encounter would be the only one, but for some reason he had a feeling that it would not be.