Mission 4: Behind the Mask

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

Andrew heard the notification from the helm officer, and nodded in acceptance.  "Visual would be nice," he confirmed as he prepared to answer Julia's request for aid.

Swiftly, Andrew made his way over to the Science station, and began scanning the immediate area under Julia's location as his focal point.

=/\=Working on it now, Ensign.  Standby,=/\= he told her.  Considering she was whispering...his own reply was more of a whisper than his normal soft spoken tone.  

Seconds ticked by without revealing anything at first.  All of the frequencies one by one were gone through, but there was nothing to be found concerning caverns of any kind.  There was, however, a strange signature he had only seen a couple of times before.  There was the slightest bit of a temporal phase shift under the planet.

Puzzled, Andrew began tracing the temporal phase shift, and when he did....it began to form into three dimensions in what could easily be a system of caves underground that seemed to stretch for miles.  It was a rather complex system from what he could determine.  A normal scan of the planet would have missed it, but Andrew was a temporal mechanics major, and it paid off now.

=/\=Ensign Kellek, unless I misunderstand these readings...there is a whole network of caverns underground stretching for miles in every direction.  The scan is still continuing, but I am sending you the temporal phase shift to your tricorder so you can see what I am talking about.  Apparently, these underground caverns are protected by some kind of very light phase shift in the Space/Time continuum.  Almost like a type of cloak.  Whats this all about, Ensign?=/\= he explained his findings to her.

[Bridge]

"Visual's up." Derek replied, tapping a few controls. With realtime imagery lighting up the holoscreen, he magnified until they had a birdseye view of Kellek. Derek frowned slightly, seeing whom the ensign appeared seemed to be comforting. A child? What on earth is going on down there?

His frown deepened as Sheridan issued his orders, and began scanning the surface. Turning in his seat, Derek caught the officer's attention. "Lieutenant." He stated concernedly, motioning for Keldar to mute their end of the comm link. "With all due respect sir, the colony is advanced enough to detect our scans and they might not appreciate our prying, regardless of our intentions. It could also be considered a breach of diplomatic protocol, interfering with another society's internal affairs. At the very least, we should inform the Captain or XO of our actions before continuing the scans, and they get blindsided."

Alexander Wu wrote:

[Deck 7 Corridor]

"Oh, it works better than you think." Alex replied, following Safefta out of the arboretum and into the corridor. The short journey to the turbolift was unremarkable, without any falls or incidents. Once inside, Alex leaned against the bulkhead for support, observing the young Romulan idly. "Deck 6." He stated, keeping his feet firmly planted as the lift moved one deck upwards.

[Transporter Room 2]

Predictably, the duty controller was a young crewman who was more than a little anxious to finish his shift. Alex felt as though he were in no state to give orders, and simply stepped onto the pad, swaying minutely while waiting for Saf to direct the operator.

[Transporter Room 2]

"Two to beam down to the planet," Safefta stated bluntly at the mildly ancy-looking crewman at the controls. "Preferably within the vicinity of our crewmates." As much as the idea of being isolated appealed to her, she figured there'd still be people... just ones she didn't know at all. She didn't feel like making any other conversation... and she could still see Alex wavering ever so slightly in the corner of her eye. Best to get a move on quickly.

Thankfully, the crewman seemed more than happy to just comply. Pardek stepped up into the transporter and passively watched the room disappear.

[Planetside]

The bright, sunny landscape of the planet was a stark change from the relatively full transporter room. Sure, the room had been bright, but this was real sunlight and not artificial illumination. Safefta's Vulcan half found it very nice indeed.

"I believe this was a good choice."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

Andrew heard the notification from the helm officer, and nodded in acceptance.  "Visual would be nice," he confirmed as he prepared to answer Julia's request for aid.

Swiftly, Andrew made his way over to the Science station, and began scanning the immediate area under Julia's location as his focal point.

=/\=Working on it now, Ensign.  Standby,=/\= he told her.  Considering she was whispering...his own reply was more of a whisper than his normal soft spoken tone.  

Seconds ticked by without revealing anything at first.  All of the frequencies one by one were gone through, but there was nothing to be found concerning caverns of any kind.  There was, however, a strange signature he had only seen a couple of times before.  There was the slightest bit of a temporal phase shift under the planet.

Puzzled, Andrew began tracing the temporal phase shift, and when he did....it began to form into three dimensions in what could easily be a system of caves underground that seemed to stretch for miles.  It was a rather complex system from what he could determine.  A normal scan of the planet would have missed it, but Andrew was a temporal mechanics major, and it paid off now.

=/\=Ensign Kellek, unless I misunderstand these readings...there is a whole network of caverns underground stretching for miles in every direction.  The scan is still continuing, but I am sending you the temporal phase shift to your tricorder so you can see what I am talking about.  Apparently, these underground caverns are protected by some kind of very light phase shift in the Space/Time continuum.  Almost like a type of cloak.  Whats this all about, Ensign?=/\= he explained his findings to her.

[Planetside]

As Andrew spoke Julia immediately pulled her tricorder from it's holster and began scanning. =/\="Acknowledged sir, I see them too."=/\= Julia whispered. The scientist in her was fascinated. Julia had never seen this type of cloaking technology. Ingenious! Julia thought. Then she glanced to Hope and her mind refocused on the goals at hand. =/\="Lieutenant, I think people are living there. I am with this young girl who is lost. She says they live on the 'underside.' She was separated from her mother when they came to the city looking for food. She is terrified of the inhabitants here. The President is hiding something. We've got to get this information to the Captain."=/\=

Safefta Pardek wrote:

[Transporter Room 2]

"Two to beam down to the planet," Safefta stated bluntly at the mildly ancy-looking crewman at the controls. "Preferably within the vicinity of our crewmates." As much as the idea of being isolated appealed to her, she figured there'd still be people... just ones she didn't know at all. She didn't feel like making any other conversation... and she could still see Alex wavering ever so slightly in the corner of her eye. Best to get a move on quickly.

Thankfully, the crewman seemed more than happy to just comply. Pardek stepped up into the transporter and passively watched the room disappear.

[Planetside]

The bright, sunny landscape of the planet was a stark change from the relatively full transporter room. Sure, the room had been bright, but this was real sunlight and not artificial illumination. Safefta's Vulcan half found it very nice indeed.

"I believe this was a good choice."

[Planetside]

"I do get them once in a while." Alex remarked dryly, squinting in the blinding light. He had to admit that it was quite a nice planet, at least the portion on which they were now in. A long beach with pale, white sand stretched along what seemed to be endless shoreline, gentle rollers cresting as they lapped at the beaches. A little bit further down the way, Alex's eye caught the sight of several familiar uniforms congregating, a confident sign that the establishment would soon become fairly popular.

Inspite of the early start Alex had, his head was beginning to clear with the fresh ocean air and sunlight. Knowing that Safefta hated being touched, he purposely wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the beachside bar and grinning broadly. "You get to pick the poison, first round's on me."

Alexander Wu wrote:

[Planetside]

"I do get them once in a while." Alex remarked dryly, squinting in the blinding light. He had to admit that it was quite a nice planet, at least the portion on which they were now in. A long beach with pale, white sand stretched along what seemed to be endless shoreline, gentle rollers cresting as they lapped at the beaches. A little bit further down the way, Alex's eye caught the sight of several familiar uniforms congregating, a confident sign that the establishment would soon become fairly popular.

Inspite of the early start Alex had, his head was beginning to clear with the fresh ocean air and sunlight. Knowing that Safefta hated being touched, he purposely wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the beachside bar and grinning broadly. "You get to pick the poison, first round's on me."

[Planetside]

Safefta practically hissed at Alex, but instead of forcibly shoving him away like she wanted to, she just tensed uncomfortably and walked with him. He knew she hated that... so why did he do it? There were some things about humans that just didn't make any sense to her.

What didn't surprise her much, however, was that they wound up in a bar. Seemed that Alex wanted to continue what he'd started. Safefta didn't blame him... and it wasn't like she was complaining, either. Today is evidently 'get drunk with an old friend' day.

The Romulan inclined her head politely toward the barkeep when prompted for an order. "Er.. A glass of Kanar, if you happen to carry it." Pardek was surprised to be told that they did in fact have it available... evidently a pre-dominion war stock up of some sort. She'd debated whether or not Alex would question her choice of alcohol- after all, they'd both dealt with the cardassians during the war- but then she'd decided that the amount she cared about that was outweighed by her desire to have a drink.

Pardek mentally shrugged. All yours, Alexander.

Safefta Pardek wrote:

[Planetside]

Safefta practically hissed at Alex, but instead of forcibly shoving him away like she wanted to, she just tensed uncomfortably and walked with him. He knew she hated that... so why did he do it? There were some things about humans that just didn't make any sense to her.

What didn't surprise her much, however, was that they wound up in a bar. Seemed that Alex wanted to continue what he'd started. Safefta didn't blame him... and it wasn't like she was complaining, either. Today is evidently 'get drunk with an old friend' day.

The Romulan inclined her head politely toward the barkeep when prompted for an order. "Er.. A glass of Kanar, if you happen to carry it." Pardek was surprised to be told that they did in fact have it available... evidently a pre-dominion war stock up of some sort. She'd debated whether or not Alex would question her choice of alcohol- after all, they'd both dealt with the cardassians during the war- but then she'd decided that the amount she cared about that was outweighed by her desire to have a drink.

Pardek mentally shrugged. All yours, Alexander.

[Planetside]

Through force of habit, Alex scanned the venue's occupants as they entered, recognizing several faces. For a moment, he considered shifting to another bar when he glimpsed the counselor, but reckoned she was occupied enough with Alpha. I'll have to keep an eye on her, he noted to himself with some irritation. Last thing I need is for her to take notes.

Perusing the drinks list as Safefta made her order, Alex was equal parts surprised and pleased to find that the colonists had brought with them some of the liquors of old. "I'll take a pint of your house ale, and two glasses of aldebaran whiskey." Laying two strips of latinum on the bar, he slid them across to the barkeep. "My tab, let me know when that runs out."

The drinks arrived rapidly enough, Alex glancing down at Saf's beverage with some distaste. "I have no idea how you drink that stuff...it's like molasses." Passing over one of the whiskeys, Alex held up the other in a toast. "To better times." He remarked solemnly, thinking of the past.

Chira Abols wrote:

[Planetside - Cabana]

It suddenly struck Chira that she had another very important reason not to be sipping intoxicants - two of them, to be precise!  She slipped out a tricorder from her satchel bag, giving the nectar a quick scan.  "Well," she grinned, putting the tool back, "matches no known intoxicants in the Federation database, so we're legal.  No offense," she said, smiling at the bartender, "but I'm drinking for three...and two us can't get drunk until they're teenagers."

With a slightly bemused look, the bartender left them alone, moving on to talk to someone else.  "Well," Chira said, sipping the sweet juice, "I scared the native off.  From the appreciative look he was giving you, it would seem to have been quite an accomplishment."

A few of the officers were giving them polite nods.  Chira knew most, by face if not by name.  The smiles and waves were guarded, though...which didn't come as a surprise.  The presence of Zero Alpha didn't exactly stimulate people into jumping into conversation.  

[Planetside - Cabana]

Zero watched with some amusement as Chira interacted with their waiter, trying to analyse the situation for any hints or tips that she could glean from it. The counsellor's words as the waiter moved off, however, suggested that it was not a successful interaction, something that puzzled the Augment a little.

The appreciative look that she mentioned was one that Zero was familiar with. It ranked up there along with the expression she often saw on other people's faces that pretty much said 'What happened to you?'. She shrugged one shoulder, sipping her drink again. "It would not have mattered if her had remained. I have a prior engagement."

She was ignoring the other members of their crew, unwilling to really interact with them. She knew that that was the whole point of her being here with Chira, but she didn't really know where to start.

Derek Black wrote:

"Visual's up." Derek replied, tapping a few controls. With realtime imagery lighting up the holoscreen, he magnified until they had a birdseye view of Kellek. Derek frowned slightly, seeing whom the ensign appeared seemed to be comforting. A child? What on earth is going on down there?

His frown deepened as Sheridan issued his orders, and began scanning the surface. Turning in his seat, Derek caught the officer's attention. "Lieutenant." He stated concernedly, motioning for Keldar to mute their end of the comm link. "With all due respect sir, the colony is advanced enough to detect our scans and they might not appreciate our prying, regardless of our intentions. It could also be considered a breach of diplomatic protocol, interfering with another society's internal affairs. At the very least, we should inform the Captain or XO of our actions before continuing the scans, and they get blindsided."

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

Nita had initially assumed that this would be a boring post - sitting on their hands in the ship while everyone else got to enjoy the first round of leave - but the old adage about thinking it was safe to be bored seemed to come back and bite them.

Her scientific mind was fascinated by the possible cloaking technology that the planet-dwellers might be using, but something that Black had mentioned earlier pinged her brain. "Lieutenant Sheridan," she called from the science station, "though it is likely too late to start worrying about it now...if those on the surface can detect our scans, would it not follow logically that they can intercept our messages, as well? Perhaps we should not deliver any more sensitive information to the captain via commlink."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

It was hard not to feel both amused and a little flattered by Gabriel's apparent protectiveness in the face of another man showing interest in her, but Archangel knew that she wouldn't be wandering off with anyone other than him.  

"You have no need to worry, e'lev," she replied.  "Your position isn't in any danger."  Making sure that there was no one really around to see it, she stole a brief kiss, feeling that it was a justifiable reward after the amount of time that she had just spent with Gorova.  It would have been nice to just hand in her report and get off the planet, but they were scheduled to stay there for a couple more days at least and it wouldn't do to cut the visit short.

"I'm afraid neither of us can hide out in the engine room anymore, Gabriel.  It's dress uniforms and formal dinners for us."  She poked him in the side.  "At least we won't be suffering through it alone, and we've yet to go through the worst of formal dinners."  She paused for dramatic effect.  "We've yet to be invited to the Admiral's Dinner."

[Planetside]

Gabriel beamed happily as his wife kissed him, wishing that they were out of uniform so they could go running along the beachline or something. Still, for a command team...even with the crew on shore leave, they always had to be 'on'. "It was a hell of a lot simpler back then, wasn't it?" He remembered back to when he was just a junior officer, and she his Chief Engineer. Back to the days of stembolts and thorium grease and chasing Seika around the ship. Were they really simpler days, though? Not really. There had been bad times, too. One "diplomatic dinner" in particular that he could remember...one that he could never forget.

No. Simplicity was just a byproduct of nostalgia. It was more complicated, now...being in charge, calling the shots. But his life now wasn't something that he would trade for anything.

"I've heard of the Admiral's Dinner," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes heavenward. "I think we'll have to make ourselves busy in the ass-end of the Gamma Quadrant when that one rolls around." He glanced upward again, as if he could see the ship in orbit. "Hope the girls are getting alone fine, up there..."

Bridge

"Mr. Black, I agree that normally we would need to discuss this with the Captain, but this world has applied for Federation membership.  With the final stages of this admission being our presence to see if they are indeed worthy; any scan can fall under Article Four of the UFP Charter, Chapter Two:  Membership.  If they can indeed sense our scans, and very likely they can, then so be it.  It does not stop the need for such an investigation.  If there is indeed an internal matter currently happening on their world that would deny them access to the Federation...then we need to find out what that is," Andrew stated when he turned back to the Helmsman.

"Ensign Walking Proud has also made a good point.  Contacting the Captain directly would be unwise at this point unless through secondary measures or code.  No doubt our communications have been monitored since we arrived.  Which means...," Andrew's voice trailed off as the implications of the current open channel to Julia hit him.  =/\= Ensign Kellek, standby for transport with the child for site to site. =/\=  Muting the channel so the people possibly listening in couldn't hear his idea; Andrew shook his head in dismay.  He had to act quickly.  A moment later, Andrew ordered Mr. Keldar, "Beam Ensign Kellek and the child as close as you can to Mr. Wu and Ms. Pardek without any of the inhabitants seeing them."

=/\= Ensign Kellek, be careful.  Bridge out, =/\= was all he could say to her in the end before closing the channel completely.

There was only one way to get a hold of the Captain...or any away team member at this point without the inhabitants figuring out what was going on.  He just hoped they all remembered their Morse Code, because the inhabitants wouldn't have access to it.  Of course, he would need to modify it somehow...some way in which would further confuse the people, but give extra credence to the severity of the issue.  Morse code in the Romulan language would do it, and there were only two would immediately know it:  Safefta Pardek and Captain Archangel T'Koris.  Very likely Commander Arthur would also figure it out.

Not daring to take the chance on it being messed up; Andrew had the computer pull up the Morse Code file, and then adapted it to the Romulan language.  It would need to be brief...something short enough to get the point across still.

Locking on to the Captain and Safetfa's positions was the first part.  Second came taking two PaDDs nearby, and typing out the Morse Code for them.  Then, with that done, the two tablets were beamed down with an armed Security guard to their new owners with pinpoint accuracy.  Each PaDD had the following message on them.  He could only hope they understood what it all meant....and the severity of it.

.. ... .... .- . -. .... .- .----. . -.. .... / -.- .... .-. ..- .- . / .-.. ..- .... - --- ... / .... ..-. . .... .- -. / ... -.- .... .-. .- / -.- . .-.. .-.. . -.- / -.-- .... ..-. . ...- / .. / .--. .- .-. -.. . -.-

Planetside

In both cases, the two Security personnel delivered the PaDDs directly to their new owners...one to Captain T'Koris, and the other to Ensign Pardek.

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

[Planetside]

Gabriel beamed happily as his wife kissed him, wishing that they were out of uniform so they could go running along the beachline or something.  Still, for a command team...even with the crew on shore leave, they always had to be 'on'.  "It was a hell of a lot simpler back then, wasn't it?"  He remembered back to when he was just a junior officer, and she his Chief Engineer.  Back to the days of stembolts and thorium grease and chasing Seika around the ship.  Were they really simpler days, though?  Not really.  There had been bad times, too.  One "diplomatic dinner" in particular that he could remember...one that he could never forget.

No.  Simplicity was just a byproduct of nostalgia.  It was more complicated, now...being in charge, calling the shots.  But his life now wasn't something that he would trade for anything.

"I've heard of the Admiral's Dinner," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes heavenward.  "I think we'll have to make ourselves busy in the ass-end of the Gamma Quadrant when that one rolls around."  He glanced upward again, as if he could see the ship in orbit.  "Hope the girls are getting alone fine, up there..."

[Planetside]

They started to walk together, able now to enjoy the scenery without the stress of having to behave with dignitaries from other planets.  Archangel smiled at her husband's complaints about the complicated business that came along with being command officers.

"Hm... Not sure things were much simpler.  Less paperwork, maybe, but we had our own problems to deal with."  She smiled slightly, nudging him in the side.  "Like trying to keep the warp core on the ship and not firing it at people."

As the topic turned to the Admiral's Dinner, the Romulan found herself rolling her eyes.  "Chances are you're going to be able to skip it.  Rumour has it that I'm on the list to attend the next one now that I've reached the higher echelons."  

Her expression softened as Gabriel brought up the girls.  "We'll have to take the time to bring them down here.  The sunlight would do them some good, and I'm sure they'd like to run around a real park, not just a holographic one."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

In both cases, the two Security personnel delivered the PaDDs directly to their new owners...one to Captain T'Koris, and the other to Ensign Pardek.

Hearing a polite cough from one of the security officers tailing her, Archangel paused, turning around.  She disliked the fact that she had to have a security detail with her pretty much any time she left a Federation establishment, but it was unfortunately not negotiable, especially in certain officers' (and husband's) eyes.

She accepted the PADD, frowning as it asked her for her access codes before revealing the information it contained.  She typed it in, starting to feel a sense of dread creeping into her stomach to form a cold, hard ball.  

Quote :

.. ... .... .- . -. .... .- .----. . -.. .... / -.- .... .-. ..- .- . / .-.. ..- .... - --- ... / .... ..-. . .... .- -. / ... -.- .... .-. .- / -.- . .-.. .-.. . -.- / -.-- .... ..-. . ...- / .. / .--. .- .-. -.. . -.-

Finding herself confronted by a couple of lines of dots and dashes, Archangel had to switch tracks in her mind and settle back into her Intelligence training.  Morse code wasn't something that came up all that often in the day-to-day running of the ship.

Her upswept eyebrows furrowed as she made her way through the somewhat broken Romulan, wondering what was so important that it had to go through this many levels of concealment.  The eyebrows furrowed further as the message became clearer to her, and she looked to Gabriel.

"This is not good.  If there's evidence to back this up, I'm going to have to bring this to the President and the Federation Council." Still looking concerned, she tapped her commbadge.

"USS Phoenix, this is Captain T'Koris. Message received. Do we have evidence to back this up?"

Bridge

=/\= Further information of the Q Christmas party is being gathered, Captain. I hope to have more for you soon. Such a bother those Q are, =/\= Andrew answered.

Considering the chaos of the Christmas party so mentioned; he hoped his Captain understood that such information was not to be given over the comm freely. There were people listening in possibly, and if they were indeed hiding such horrid things about their culture; then the last thing he wanted to do was put his officers and comrades down there in danger. He put as much of himself into the words that there was an empathic feel to them. Having touched her mind before...this was not hard, but the distance did not make it easy either.

Over and over in his mind; Andrew just kept thinking: 'Be careful....be careful....be careful.' He could only pray the Captain picked up on his concern.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

=/\= Further information of the Q Christmas party is being gathered, Captain.  I hope to have more for you soon.  Such a bother those Q are, =/\= Andrew answered.

Considering the chaos of the Christmas party so mentioned; he hoped his Captain understood that such information was not to be given over the comm freely.  There were people listening in possibly, and if they were indeed hiding such horrid things about their culture; then the last thing he wanted to do was put his officers and comrades down there in danger.  He put as much of himself into the words that there was an empathic feel to them.  Having touched her mind before...this was not hard, but the distance did not make it easy either.

Over and over in his mind; Andrew just kept thinking:  'Be careful....be careful....be careful.'  He could only pray the Captain picked up on his concern.

[Planetside]

The return communication had Archangel even more confused than she had been before. What was more, she could feel the fingers of telepathic communication brushing against her consciousness and flinched, concentrating on maintaining her mental defenses.

She sighed heavily, rubbing her brow ridges. "I'm going to have to go back up there and find out what's going on. I had enough codes and questions when Conwell was around." She smiled slightly at him, touching his arm. "You stay here. Enjoy a bit of off duty time. I'll be back as soon as I can." Hitting her commbadge, she opened a channel to the ship. "T'Koris to Phoenix, beam me to the bridge."

Bridge

Andrew didn't want to bring the Captain back, but to disobey was a very bad idea. If he pulled the Captain from the planet now...the people down there might become even more suspicious, but he could think of no way around denying her access. Thus, Andrew agreed silently, and personally beamed her back up from the secondary Ops station, and directly to the Bridge.

Once she materialized, Andrew turned to face his Captain. Then, with a nod to the Science station; Andrew went over to show her what he had found. The computer had recorded his conversation with Julia Kellek earlier...that was simple standard procedure in case there was need to review things during a mission...or after.

"From what I can gather so far," Andrew began after she had time to examine the data, "is that there is an entire secondary populace being hidden from us deliberately. The fact Ensign Kellek mentioned these under dwellers as being frightened of the ones on the surface only adds more to my suspicions, Captain."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

Andrew didn't want to bring the Captain back, but to disobey was a very bad idea.  If he pulled the Captain from the planet now...the people down there might become even more suspicious, but he could think of no way around denying her access.  Thus, Andrew agreed silently, and personally beamed her back up from the secondary Ops station, and directly to the Bridge.

Once she materialized, Andrew turned to face his Captain.  Then, with a nod to the Science station; Andrew went over to show her what he had found.  The computer had recorded his conversation with Julia Kellek earlier...that was simple standard procedure in case there was need to review things during a mission...or after.

"From what I can gather so far," Andrew began after she had time to examine the data, "is that there is an entire secondary populace being hidden from us deliberately.  The fact Ensign Kellek mentioned these under dwellers as being frightened of the ones on the surface only adds more to my suspicions, Captain."

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

As she materialised on the bridge, Archangel looked decidedly unhappy. She had her arms folded as she stepped toward Lieutenant Sheridan, a few lines apparent between her brow ridges.

"Lieutenant, all I needed was a 'yes' or a 'no' to that question," she grumbled, stepping toward the science station to have a look at the data gathered.

After a few moments to read over the information, she raised an eyebrow, looking up at Sheridan. "This isn't nearly enough information to create a scene with the President, Lieutenant. The words of one child... Seika makes up stories sometimes. We need more."

Bridge

His Captain's reaction was confusing, at best. She was clearly unhappy with being interrupted, but what choice did he have...

"Captain, with all respect, while children may make up stories all the time...I might point out that children do not normally make up stories that just happen have an entire underground network hidden away by a phase temporal cloaking ability. First, such a network alone collaborates the little girl's story. Second, the fact that no other investigations have found it until now further makes this very suspicious. If there was nothing to hide...why hide it? Why not simply have told the investigators about it from day one of the application? I might further point out the fact that this girl is quite a bit different from the ones on the surface. Her bone structure alone seems different in the visual...indicating a secondary species on the planet hidden from us. Thus, I had Ensign Kellek and the girl transported as close to Ensign Pardek and Mr. Wu as possible without drawing further attention to them. And while these pieces may not, as yet, allow you to confront the President...it is concerning to be sure, and warrants further investigating. How do you wish to proceed?" the young Second Officer responded as calmly as possible in the face of his unhappy superior.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

His Captain's reaction was confusing, at best.  She was clearly unhappy with being interrupted, but what choice did he have...

"Captain, with all respect, while children may make up stories all the time...I might point out that children do not normally make up stories that just happen have an entire underground network hidden away by a phase temporal cloaking ability.  First, such a network alone collaborates the little girl's story.  Second, the fact that no other investigations have found it until now further makes this very suspicious.  If there was nothing to hide...why hide it?  Why not simply have told the investigators about it from day one of the application?  I might further point out the fact that this girl is quite a bit different from the ones on the surface.  Her bone structure alone seems different in the visual...indicating a secondary species on the planet hidden from us.  Thus, I had Ensign Kellek and the girl transported as close to Ensign Pardek and Mr. Wu as possible without drawing further attention to them.  And while these pieces may not, as yet, allow you to confront the President...it is concerning to be sure, and warrants further investigating.  How do you wish to proceed?" the young Second Officer responded as calmly as possible in the face of his unhappy superior.

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

Archangel pinched the bridge of her nose. As much as she wanted to tell the young officer to blow this wide open, she knew that it wasn't an option. She had to tread the line of diplomacy, one of the trickiest ones to walk, or she could start an interplanetary incident during a time when what the Federation needed the most was peace.

"Keep looking into it. Be discreet. If the girl's in danger on the surface, bring her up here. I'll need a report before the dinner tonight so that I know how to proceed."

Bridge

Visibly, Andrew Sheridan attempted to relax in face of his unhappy Captain. If discreet was what she wanted; then that was what he would deliver. Already Julia had been transported as close to Safefta and Alex as possible, and between the three...he hoped they could figure things out quietly. Besides, there were other ship personnel down on the planet they could get aid from.

"If you are in need of an excuse for our scan of the planet; you can simply tell them your Ops officer happens to love temporal mechanics, and picked up something while doing such a project for any such phenomenon in the area. That should give you some room on us scanning their planet," Andrew suggested with his hands behind his back.

It was a touchy situation to be sure, but the Federation had strict guidelines about admission. The last thing the Captain would need was to be caught off guard from just such a problem on the planet. It was his job to make sure such didn't happen...if possible.

Alexander Wu wrote:

[Planetside]

Through force of habit, Alex scanned the venue's occupants as they entered, recognizing several faces. For a moment, he considered shifting to another bar when he glimpsed the counselor, but reckoned she was occupied enough with Alpha. I'll have to keep an eye on her, he noted to himself with some irritation. Last thing I need is for her to take notes.

Perusing the drinks list as Safefta made her order, Alex was equal parts surprised and pleased to find that the colonists had brought with them some of the liquors of old. "I'll take a pint of your house ale, and two glasses of aldebaran whiskey." Laying two strips of latinum on the bar, he slid them across to the barkeep. "My tab, let me know when that runs out."

The drinks arrived rapidly enough, Alex glancing down at Saf's beverage with some distaste. "I have no idea how you drink that stuff...it's like molasses." Passing over one of the whiskeys, Alex held up the other in a toast. "To better times." He remarked solemnly, thinking of the past.

[Planetside]

Pardek was more than happily ignoring the other patrons in the bar. She wasn't there to interact with them and wouldn't have cared less if they'd all become floor lamps. She was much more interested in her newly-arrived drink... and snorting when Alex commented on it.

"I despise molasses." Much, much too sweet. It made the Romulan shudder just thinking of it. Still, in terms of consistency Alex wasn't far off. What it lacked in ease of drinking, however, it made up for in potency.

Her amused expression subsided when her friend raised his glass. Pardek lifted hers in what she knew to be the appropriate response to the scenario. "To better times," she parroted, then titled her glass back until she'd obtained a satisfactory amount of the thick liquor. It tended to stick in your throat and burn, but Safefta was used to that.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge
Locking on to the Captain and Safefta's positions was the first part.  Second came taking two PaDDs nearby, and typing out the Morse Code for them.  Then, with that done, the two tablets were beamed down with an armed Security guard to their new owners with pinpoint accuracy.  Each PaDD had the following message on them.  He could only hope they understood what it all meant....and the severity of it.

.. ... .... .- . -. .... .- .----. . -.. .... / -.- .... .-. ..- .- . / .-.. ..- .... - --- ... / .... ..-. . .... .- -. / ... -.- .... .-. .- / -.- . .-.. .-.. . -.- / -.-- .... ..-. . ...- / .. / .--. .- .-. -.. . -.-

Planetside

In both cases, the two Security personnel delivered the PaDDs directly to their new owners...one to Captain T'Koris, and the other to Ensign Pardek.

She was somewhere near the bottom of her glass when she was startled by the sudden appearance of a security officer bearing a PADD. They didn't offer any explination, and Safefta quickly saw why when she glanced down at the screen. Am I tipsy already or is this really gibberish? she wondered as she scanned over the dots and dashes.

"Morse code?" she muttered. Not really a specialty of hers... but she took a crack at it. She quickly realized that what she was translating wasn't Fed Standard, but instead a greco roman transliteration of the Romulan language.

Quote :

ISHAENHA'EDH KHRUAE LUHTOS HFEHAN SKHRA KELLEK YHFEV I PARDEK

Obviously the message was meant for select few eyes, or it wouldn't be so intricately disguised...

The Romulan was broken, but readable, and Safefta immediately frowned. Aside from a few misplaced words -What has sex to do with anything?- it was understandable...  This was a bad time for problems.

Quote :

Deception discovered  /  Possible servants underground  / Kellek sent to Pardek

Pardek set her empty glass down. Of course there had to be a problem with the planet. "This is a serious problem," she muttered, before turning the translated message over on the PADD to Alex, careful to avoid the screen being seen by anyone else.

"Rellek?" she looked around her for the science officer as well. What did she have to do with this?

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

Visibly, Andrew Sheridan attempted to relax in face of his unhappy Captain.  If discreet was what she wanted; then that was what he would deliver.  Already Julia had been transported as close to Safefta and Alex as possible, and between the three...he hoped they could figure things out quietly.  Besides, there were other ship personnel down on the planet they could get aid from.  

"If you are in need of an excuse for our scan of the planet; you can simply tell them your Ops officer happens to love temporal mechanics, and picked up something while doing such a project for any such phenomenon in the area.  That should give you some room on us scanning their planet," Andrew suggested with his hands behind his back.

It was a touchy situation to be sure, but the Federation had strict guidelines about admission.  The last thing the Captain would need was to be caught off guard from just such a problem on the planet.  It was his job to make sure such didn't happen...if possible.

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

Bracing herself against the console, Archangel sighed, trying to think as she looked at the main viewscreen. The planet down below looked idyllic. She had hoped that this mission was going to be straightforward, where the only thing she had to worry about was trying not to offend the President or any of the upper crust of the planet.

"I'll get back down to the planet and have a look around," she replied. "See if I can't find anything that points to there being another civilisation underground."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[USS Phoenix Jeffries Tubes - Deck 7]

Grinning at the Trill, Seika seemed to be proud as punch, but the offer to help him out had her almost wriggling in delight.  Helping her mother out in Engineering had been one of her favourite things to do as a child back on the Discovery, at least until the accident that had put an end to all that.

"Yes, please!" she exclaimed.  "Mummy always let me help her on the Discovery!  I even got to realign the sensor arrays!"  She paused then, looking a little sheepish as she admitted:  "She told me what to put into the computer."

Tufezr smiled and began to crawl along the Jeffries tubes past the child towards his destination-the stray control panel that wasn't behaving properly. It still needed to be done, and with an extra set of eyes he could surely get the job done quickly so that he and Seika could just sit back and relax.

"Well then come on! Let's go be Engineers, unless you'd rather be the boring overworked Captain?" He grinned, knowing what her answer to that option would be.

Bridge

"Yes, Ma'am," Andrew said with a slight nod of his head before having her beamed back down to where she had been only moments earlier.

Only after the Captain was gone did Andrew Sheridan take a deep breath. It seemed his course of action was okay, but having a rather disgruntled Captain was not something on his list of things to happen. In fact, it was in his job description...somewhere...to make sure his CO and XO were happy....or something like that. Wasn't there?

In any case, Andrew went back to the center chair to think for a moment. He had people on the ground capable of investigating this situation, and without him triggering further suspicions from the planetary government. To continue scans from the planet would only make things worse....not something he had a desire to do. Thus, the best thing he could do was coordinate from the cruiser any searches being started by those involved. The PaDDs would help with that without the government intercepting and understanding the messages. Now that both Ensign Pardek and Captain T'Koris had such items...it would be easier to communicate to either of them on what they found.

Yet, to sit in the chair without further action seemed....wasteful. There had to be something else he could do, but he corrected himself a second later. He was doing something....he was thinking of a way to help. No doubt that was what his Captain and XO had to do every time they sat where he did now. No doubt, they also felt that frustration or need to act beyond coming up with solutions and coordinating.

"Ensign Black, per Starfleet's mandate on temporal anomalies...coordinate with Science and Ops on finding out the strength, size, and term of the temporal phase we discovered. By term, I mean, just how long has it been in effect. Since the Captain has the excuse of us running a sweep on such anomalies...might as well make it look good. Besides, we might just get lucky enough to figure out more to this mystery," Andrew ordered the Helmsman as he straightened in his chair.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge
"Yes, Ma'am," Andrew said with a slight nod of his head before having her beamed back down to where she had been only moments earlier.  

[Planetside]

With her feet now back on the planet's soil, Archangel took a moment just to get her bearings back again before looking to Gabriel.

"Well, that wasn't good news. We have work to do."

Tufezr Nefen wrote:

Tufezr smiled and began to crawl along the Jeffries tubes past the child towards his destination-the stray control panel that wasn't behaving properly. It still needed to be done, and with an extra set of eyes he could surely get the job done quickly so that he and Seika could just sit back and relax.

"Well then come on! Let's go be Engineers, unless you'd rather be the boring overworked Captain?" He grinned, knowing what her answer to that option would be.

[USS Phoenix - Jefferies Tubes]

Seika grinned back, starting to crawl alongside Tufezr through the tubes. The mention of being the captain, however, earned him a scowl and a tongue stuck out at him.

"I don't wanna be the captain!" she protested, holding out her tricorder. "I have a 'corder! My Daddy says that I'm a deputy engineer!"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

They started to walk together, able now to enjoy the scenery without the stress of having to behave with dignitaries from other planets.  Archangel smiled at her husband's complaints about the complicated business that came along with being command officers.

"Hm... Not sure things were much simpler.  Less paperwork, maybe, but we had our own problems to deal with."  She smiled slightly, nudging him in the side.  "Like trying to keep the warp core on the ship and not firing it at people."

As the topic turned to the Admiral's Dinner, the Romulan found herself rolling her eyes.  "Chances are you're going to be able to skip it.  Rumour has it that I'm on the list to attend the next one now that I've reached the higher echelons."  

Her expression softened as Gabriel brought up the girls.  "We'll have to take the time to bring them down here.  The sunlight would do them some good, and I'm sure they'd like to run around a real park, not just a holographic one."



Hearing a polite cough from one of the security officers tailing her, Archangel paused, turning around.  She disliked the fact that she had to have a security detail with her pretty much any time she left a Federation establishment, but it was unfortunately not negotiable, especially in certain officers' (and husband's) eyes.

She accepted the PADD, frowning as it asked her for her access codes before revealing the information it contained.  She typed it in, starting to feel a sense of dread creeping into her stomach to form a cold, hard ball.  

[Planetside]

"Hope so," Gabriel smiled, "'cause those little ladies were about to drive each other batty this morning, along with me in the process.  Seika wanted to play Old Maid with me," he said, referring to a card game.  "Aria kept lookin' over her shoulder, and Seika was complaining that Aria was cheating, even though Aria couldn't possibly have any clue what the cards meant, nor can she fully communicate in sentence form, and she wasn't even playing the game, and..."

He trailed off as a security officer handed Archangel a padd.  Whatever the news was, it wasn't good.  This was soon made manifest as he read the data himself as Arch spoke to Sheridan on the ship.  Something about deception, and...sex?  No, that wasn't right.  His Romulan was passable enough to glean the gist of the message.  

Within moments he was left on the planet's surface, trying not to feel like a gaping goldfish.  "Alright..." he said to himself.  "Guess I'll go make nice with the damn locals."  In truth, he wanted to beam right up there with his wife, but if something was going on, it'd look mighty suspicious if the captain and her XO made tracks at the same time.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

With her feet now back on the planet's soil, Archangel took a moment just to get her bearings back again before looking to Gabriel.

"Well, that wasn't good news. We have work to do."

It seemed like he'd hardly even turned around until Arch came beaming back down, the look of consternation on her face telling him all he needed to know.  Well, actually, it didn't tell him squat, and he still hadn't the slightest.  "Arch?  The hell's going on?"

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

It seemed like he'd hardly even turned around until Arch came beaming back down, the look of consternation on her face telling him all he needed to know.  Well, actually, it didn't tell him squat, and he still hadn't the slightest.  "Arch?  The hell's going on?"

[Planetside]

Placing a light hand on Gabriel's back, Archangel guided him to walk with her. She didn't want to attract any attention by standing in that one place too long. It would be better if they at least appeared to be enjoying the scenery and their time out in the fresh air.

"We have a problem," she said in a low voice, folding her arms behind her back, trying to keep the expression of concern and worry from her face. "Our new science officer has found a scared child on the street who claims to be from the 'Underside'. Lieutenant Sheridan ran a few scans and seems to have found a series of caverns under the city that have been cloaked. Whatever's happening, they're trying to hide it for some reason."