Mission 5: Let This Line Be Drawn Between Us!

Kintiss wrote:

"No argument here." Kintiss smiled, showing off his fangs again. There was just something about today that he couldn't put a finger on, but he really wanted some cake. He'd sampled some of the baked food on the Gygax, and it was one of the better foods he'd eaten in his life.

"Feel free to ussse our replicator." he said. "But firssst, Lieutenant, you sssshould resssst." He threw the remains of the Lieutenant's pants in the replicator and keyed the matter reclamator. With a swirl of light, the replicator deconstructed the material and absorbed the particles. "Jussst to be sssafe."

[Sickbay]

The headache was getting beyond a joke now. It felt as if the implant in her head was pulsing thudding against her skull, so Ilana had finally relented to the voice in her head telling her to go to sickbay. Strangely enough, the voice sounded awfully like Raynor.

She knew that adapting to the piece of Borg technology that had replaced her Broca's area and her voicebox in order to allow her to speak had been difficult due to her skinny frame. It had never been more clear that she was far weaker and less developed than a normal Cardassian, but Raynor had pulled her through.

Stepping into sickbay, it was an effort for Ilana just to stay upright and, through squinted eyes, she searched the department for any sign of a doctor or nurse.

[Bridge]

Julia stepped from her console and made her way to a replicator for coffee. I think I'm going to need this today. She thought as her coffee materialized. She made her way back to her station and took her seat.

Julia looked to Xarna and held up her glass as if it were champagne. "This is the best stuff humans have ever invented. Caffeine suspended in beans that are ground into a delicious beverage. So what do you think their discussing in there? Do you think we'll try to save these people?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

"Of course I took the Kobayashi Maru," Archangel countered.  "All captains do.  You undermine me when you question my judgement.  That's not your job, that's Gabriel's, understood?"

Backing down from the physical confrontation she could sense was brewing, the Romulan moved away to sit behind her desk, propping her chin up on one hand with her elbow resting on the desk as she surveyed them.  "We have a planet of apparently intelligent beings about to be vapourised by their sun.  For all we know, they're on the brink of discovering space flight, or they're already aware of warp technology, but choose not to use it.  Who are we to decide that we're more important than they are?"

[Ready Room]

Salek merely quirked an eyebrow in consideration of the barrage of deflection that the other captain was presenting. He recognized well the obstinate look that had settled into her dark eyes, though. He'd seen it many times before, when she was a child at the Academy.

She still *is* a child, he thought, hoping that whoever in Starfleet Command who had decided on this particular publicity stunt of a captain's selection was happy. "For all we know, yes. They might also be listening to those frequency modulated airwaves on vacuum tubes. However, you are correct. Cross-examination of your motives and actions is your First Officer's job, if he feels he can adequately fulfill the role, without allowing his obvious emotional attachment to you to exert undue influence."

There was an indignant sound from Commander Arthur, but Salek fell silent again.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

"Of course I took the Kobayashi Maru," Archangel countered.  "All captains do.  You undermine me when you question my judgement.  That's not your job, that's Gabriel's, understood?"

Backing down from the physical confrontation she could sense was brewing, the Romulan moved away to sit behind her desk, propping her chin up on one hand with her elbow resting on the desk as she surveyed them.  "We have a planet of apparently intelligent beings about to be vapourised by their sun.  For all we know, they're on the brink of discovering space flight, or they're already aware of warp technology, but choose not to use it.  Who are we to decide that we're more important than they are?"

Salek wrote:

She still *is* a child, he thought, hoping that whoever in Starfleet Command who had decided on this particular publicity stunt of a captain's selection was happy.  "For all we know, yes.  They might also be listening to those frequency modulated airwaves on vacuum tubes.  However, you are correct.  Cross-examination of your motives and actions is your First Officer's job, if he feels he can adequately fulfill the role, without allowing his obvious emotional attachment to you to exert undue influence."

There was an indignant sound from Commander Arthur, but Salek fell silent again.

[Ready Room]

Gabriel had been largely silent, his thoughts growing darker by the second, most of them involving strangling the smug Vulcan.  Not that it'd do much good.  He had been trained, in a rudimentary fashion, in some Vulcan martial arts.  It was amazing how many ways a species of logician peacenicks knew to kick someone's ass.  

"I think," he said, frowning sharply as Salek went quiet, "that the letter of the law is clear.  But there's a spirit that's beyond the words on the screen.  I think we need to find out just how technologically advanced these people are.  Or if there's anything we can do to prevent, or mitigate, the effects from this collapse."

Julia Rellek wrote:

Julia stepped from her console and made her way to a replicator for coffee. I think I'm going to need this today. She thought as her coffee materialized. She made her way back to her station and took her seat.

Julia looked to Xarna and held up her glass as if it were champagne. "This is the best stuff humans have ever invented. Caffeine suspended in beans that are ground into a delicious beverage. So what do you think their discussing in there? Do you think we'll try to save these people?"

[Bridge]

The Tellarite girl snorted a little laugh as Julia got her coffee.  She had become acquainted with the beverage while attending the Academy, and was well aware of Earthers' fondness for it.  It had never agreed with her, though.  While the caffeine boost was helpful for study purposes, she often couldn't sleep for an additional two or three days.  

"I...do not know," Xarna said, her quiet voice a stark contrast to the boisterousness that had been there earlier.  "I know my captain.  He believes the Prime Directive is clear in this case...and I tend to agree.  However, there are always shades between black and white."  She tapped her lip, scanning data that she'd read a dozen times over already.  "Rellek.  Do you think it might be possible to...to maybe shield this planetoid from the harmful effects?  Even if we can't save the whole world, it might at least give what's left a fighting chance to come back."

NPC wrote:

Salek merely quirked an eyebrow in consideration of the barrage of deflection that the other captain was presenting.  He recognized well the obstinate look that had settled into her dark eyes, though.  He'd seen it many times before, when she was a child at the Academy.

She still *is* a child, he thought, hoping that whoever in Starfleet Command who had decided on this particular publicity stunt of a captain's selection was happy.  "For all we know, yes.  They might also be listening to those frequency modulated airwaves on vacuum tubes.  However, you are correct.  Cross-examination of your motives and actions is your First Officer's job, if he feels he can adequately fulfill the role, without allowing his obvious emotional attachment to you to exert undue influence."

There was an indignant sound from Commander Arthur, but Salek fell silent again.

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

Gabriel had been largely silent, his thoughts growing darker by the second, most of them involving strangling the smug Vulcan. Not that it'd do much good. He had been trained, in a rudimentary fashion, in some Vulcan martial arts. It was amazing how many ways a species of logician peacenicks knew to kick someone's ass.

"I think," he said, frowning sharply as Salek went quiet, "that the letter of the law is clear. But there's a spirit that's beyond the words on the screen. I think we need to find out just how technologically advanced these people are. Or if there's anything we can do to prevent, or mitigate, the effects from this collapse."

[Ready Room]

Archangel attempted to bite back a growl at the barely concealed insult Salek aimed toward Gabriel, but a quiet rumble still escaped. The decision to put a married team in command of a starship may have been a controversial one, but no one could say that they were a bad team. Not all married couples could pull it off, but Archangel and Gabriel had had experience of working in a command structure even before they had become a couple, back when they had served in the Engineering department of the Discovery.

"Commander Arthur is perfectly capable of serving as my first officer. His relationship with me makes us stronger as a team," she growled before turning to Gabriel himself. "Julia and Commander Xarna may be able to answer that question for us."

NPC wrote:

Lt. Commander Xarna

[Bridge]

The Tellarite girl snorted a little laugh as Julia got her coffee.  She had become acquainted with the beverage while attending the Academy, and was well aware of Earthers' fondness for it.  It had never agreed with her, though.  While the caffeine boost was helpful for study purposes, she often couldn't sleep for an additional two or three days.  

"I...do not know," Xarna said, her quiet voice a stark contrast to the boisterousness that had been there earlier.  "I know my captain.  He believes the Prime Directive is clear in this case...and I tend to agree.  However, there are always shades between black and white."  She tapped her lip, scanning data that she'd read a dozen times over already.  "Rellek.  Do you think it might be possible to...to maybe shield this planetoid from the harmful effects?  Even if we can't save the whole world, it might at least give what's left a fighting chance to come back."

[Bridge]

Julia was shocked by the Tellarite's reaction. She found it difficult to believe that she would disagree with her Captain. Julia, however, was careful to hide her surprise. "If I know my captain I would have to say that there has already been at least one 'emotional outburst' as Captain Salek would call it." Julia sighed and then she heard Xarna mention shielding the planet. "Oh my gosh Commander, I thought I was the only one thinking it. If there's a way to do it I would love to try. I'm just not entirely sure how we would go about it. Let's be honest; our shields would not survive that explosion. How could we deploy a stronger shield on a planetary scale? I don't think its possible and even if we could. The climate without the star would kill off any inhabitants that did survive the explosion. I think our more feasible angle is to try to avoid the explosion. I mean what is a supernova. At its core its merely the exhaustion of the star supply of hydrogen. I'm just not sure we could stop it. At least not without decades of research." Her head sank again...

Kintiss wrote:

"Feel free to ussse our replicator." he said. "But firssst, Lieutenant, you sssshould resssst." He threw the remains of the Lieutenant's pants in the replicator and keyed the matter reclamator. With a swirl of light, the replicator deconstructed the material and absorbed the particles. "Jussst to be sssafe."

Ilana Telak wrote:

[Sickbay]

The headache was getting beyond a joke now.  It felt as if the implant in her head was pulsing thudding against her skull, so Ilana had finally relented to the voice in her head telling her to go to sickbay.  Strangely enough, the voice sounded awfully like Raynor.  

She knew that adapting to the piece of Borg technology that had replaced her Broca's area and her voicebox in order to allow her to speak had been difficult due to her skinny frame.  It had never been more clear that she was far weaker and less developed than a normal Cardassian, but Raynor had pulled her through.

Stepping into sickbay, it was an effort for Ilana just to stay upright and, through squinted eyes, she searched the department for any sign of a doctor or nurse.

[Sickbay]

The hiss-like quality of Kintiss' voice brought Henriks' focus back to the patient. "Whether or not you were joking about the cake," he added, "you should still get some good food into your body, something more substantial than just sugar and carbs. Healing can take quite a toll." Henriks was loathe to send someone back on duty after they reported to sickbay, unless the ship was facing some sort of emergency. And as far he could tell, there were no red or yellow alerts currently in place. The severity of the injury made little difference. It was at least enough to bring them here, and he had picked up Oswald's habit of being overprotective towards patients.

Suddenly the doors hissed open and a familiar Cardassian stumbled in. From the way her eyes were squinted, as if all her energy was focussed on keeping a load of pain at bay, Henriks wondered if she could see at all. Discarding the padd that had been in his hands, Henriks quickly made his way across the room. "Let's get you to a biobed."

Henriks Ābols wrote:

[Sickbay]

The hiss-like quality of Kintiss' voice brought Henriks' focus back to the patient. "Whether or not you were joking about the cake," he added, "you should still get some good food into your body, something more substantial than just sugar and carbs. Healing can take quite a toll." Henriks was loathe to send someone back on duty after they reported to sickbay, unless the ship was facing some sort of emergency. And as far he could tell, there were no red or yellow alerts currently in place. The severity of the injury made little difference. It was at least enough to bring them here, and he had picked up Oswald's habit of being overprotective towards patients.

Suddenly the doors hissed open and a familiar Cardassian stumbled in. From the way her eyes were squinted, as if all her energy was focussed on keeping a load of pain at bay, Henriks wondered if she could see at all. Discarding the padd that had been in his hands, Henriks quickly made his way across the room. "Let's get you to a biobed."

Squinting through one eye, the Cardassian managed to see Henriks moving toward her and felt an immediate surge of relief. He would be able to help her, she was sure of it. He had always seemed to be a capable physician in the short time they had worked together.

She managed to stagger toward a free biobed, leaning against it. "M-m-m-my i-imp-p-plant! I-i-it's m-malf-f-f-functioning!"

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Bridge]

Julia was shocked by the Tellarite's reaction. She found it difficult to believe that she would disagree with her Captain. Julia, however, was careful to hide her surprise. "If I know my captain I would have to say that there has already been at least one 'emotional outburst' as Captain Salek would call it." Julia sighed and then she heard Xarna mention shielding the planet. "Oh my gosh Commander, I thought I was the only one thinking it. If there's a way to do it I would love to try. I'm just not entirely sure how we would go about it. Let's be honest; our shields would not survive that explosion. How could we deploy a stronger shield on a planetary scale? I don't think its possible and even if we could. The climate without the star would kill off any inhabitants that did survive the explosion. I think our more feasible angle is to try to avoid the explosion. I mean what is a supernova. At its core its merely the exhaustion of the star supply of hydrogen. I'm just not sure we could stop it. At least not without decades of research." Her head sank again...

[Bridge]

The Tellarite folded her arms over her chest, glaring at the console screen as she mulled over the information in her mind. This human had said something that caused the EPS relays of her mind to start firing, remembering something that she had studied a while ago.

"You may be on to something, Human..."

Almost thoughtfully, Xarna reached out to the console and accessed the ship's memory banks, bringing up the research done by one Doctor Timicin of Kaelon II. He had been conducting research into how to revive his own planet's dying star. It wasn't quite the same problem, but maybe they could find at least a few answers in his research.

NPC wrote:

Lt. Commander Xarna

[Bridge]

The Tellarite folded her arms over her chest, glaring at the console screen as she mulled over the information in her mind.  This human had said something that caused the EPS relays of her mind to start firing, remembering something that she had studied a while ago.  

"You may be on to something, Human..."

Almost thoughtfully, Xarna reached out to the console and accessed the ship's memory banks, bringing up the research done by one Doctor Timicin of Kaelon II.  He had been conducting research into how to revive his own planet's dying star.  It wasn't quite the same problem, but maybe they could find at least a few answers in his research.  

[Bridge]

Julia's eyes lit up. "Of course Doctor Timicin's work. I remember reading about it while I was working on a cosmology internship. I believe he called it 'Helium Infusion Enhancement.' Hang on. Let me pull his research." Julia's hands motioned across the console and in short order. "Ah here it is. It looks like he utilized photon torpedoes as a helium delivery system. We have less then seven hours... Do you think we can continue his research, equip a torpedoes and stop the implosion?"

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Bridge]

Julia's eyes lit up. "Of course Doctor Timicin's work. I remember reading about it while I was working on a cosmology internship. I believe he called it 'Helium Infusion Enhancement.' Hang on. Let me pull his research." Julia's hands motioned across the console and in short order. "Ah here it is. It looks like he utilized photon torpedoes as a helium delivery system. We have less then seven hours... Do you think we can continue his research, equip a torpedoes and stop the implosion?"

[Bridge]

Again, Xarna took a moment to think over what would be necessary to try to achieve their goal. The Tellarite's brow furrowed further as she tried to determine a timescale.

"It should be possible. We will require the assistance of the Security and Engineering personnel to modify and deliver the torpedo." She turned a grumpy frown to her younger counterpart. "That is, of course, assuming that you think you're up to the task." Then, tapping her commbadge, she opened a channel to her captain.

"Captain Salek, we may have a solution that doesn't require us to even be known to the population."

NPC wrote:

Lt. Commander Xarna

[Bridge]

Again, Xarna took a moment to think over what would be necessary to try to achieve their goal.  The Tellarite's brow furrowed further as she tried to determine a timescale.

"It should be possible.  We will require the assistance of the Security and Engineering personnel to modify and deliver the torpedo."  She turned a grumpy frown to her younger counterpart.  "That is, of course, assuming that you think you're up to the task."  Then, tapping her commbadge, she opened a channel to her captain.  

"Captain Salek, we may have a solution that doesn't require us to even be known to the population."

[Bridge]

Julia smiled at Xarna. The two had quickly struck a mutual understanding and a strong working relationship. She flashed a smile to the Tellarite. "I an assure you, Commander, our teams are definitely up to the challenge." Julia was hoping her Captain would follow Salek to the bridge.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Ready Room]

Archangel attempted to bite back a growl at the barely concealed insult Salek aimed toward Gabriel, but a quiet rumble still escaped.  The decision to put a married team in command of a starship may have been a controversial one, but no one could say that they were a bad team.  Not all married couples could pull it off, but Archangel and Gabriel had had experience of working in a command structure even before they had become a couple, back when they had served in the Engineering department of the Discovery.

"Commander Arthur is perfectly capable of serving as my first officer.  His relationship with me makes us stronger as a team," she growled before turning to Gabriel himself.  "Julia and Commander Xarna may be able to answer that question for us."

[Ready Room]

The inflections in Captain T'Koris' voice made her anger apparent. "Yes, yes. I'm sure Commander Arthur is a... capable... officer. Starfleet doesn't make a habit of placing officers in roles that they are not properly equipped for. As far as the dilemma at hand. I still do not see anyway that we can achieve your goals without it being a clear violation of the prime directive..." As the Captain was finishing his thought a familiar voice came through his comma badge.

Xarna wrote:

"Captain Salek, we may have a solution that doesn't require us to even be known to the population."

Salek raised his left eyebrow. He was intrigued by Xarna's proposal that they may be able to save the planet without violating the prime directive. He tapped his comma badge to open a channel to Xarna. "Understood Commander. We will join you on the bridge momentarily. Salek out."

He looked back to Captain T'Koris. "Well Captain. It would appear our Science officers have been busy in our absence. If we are finished here? I would like to review there findings."

NPC wrote:

[Ready Room]

The inflections in Captain T'Koris' voice made her anger apparent. "Yes, yes. I'm sure Commander Arthur is a... capable... officer. Starfleet doesn't make a habit of placing officers in roles that they are not properly equipped for. As far as the dilemma at hand. I still do not see anyway that we can achieve your goals without it being a clear violation of the prime directive..." As the Captain was finishing his thought a familiar voice came through his comma badge.

Salek raised his left eyebrow. He was intrigued by Xarna's proposal that they may be able to save the planet without violating the prime directive. He tapped his comma badge to open a channel to Xarna. "Understood Commander. We will join you on the bridge momentarily. Salek out."

He looked back to Captain T'Koris. "Well Captain. It would appear our Science officers have been busy in our absence. If we are finished here? I would like to review there findings."

[Ready Room]

It was probably lucky for the other captain that Xarna's communication came through when it did, otherwise Archangel might have lost the last threads of control she had over the urge to punch his face in. Instead, she simply raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting. Since we're short on time, I would suggest that we go and find out what they've been plotting without us."

Not bothering to wait for his answer, the Romulan strode out of her ready room toward the science station where Julia and Xarna were apparently up to their necks in plants on how to save the planet. She offered her young Chief Science Officer a reassuring smile. "What have you found, Julia?"

Ilana Telak wrote:

Squinting through one eye, the Cardassian managed to see Henriks moving toward her and felt an immediate surge of relief.  He would be able to help her, she was sure of it.  He had always seemed to be a capable physician in the short time they had worked together.

She managed to stagger toward a free biobed, leaning against it.  "M-m-m-my i-imp-p-plant!  I-i-it's m-malf-f-f-functioning!"

[Sickbay]

Ilana managed to stagger towards the nearest biobed, which was thankfully empty. Most biobeds were, save for the one that Davis still occupied, because little had been going on in sickbay. Helping her onto the biobed, Henriks quickly rushed back to the padd he had just discarded and picked up a tricorder as well.

"What symptoms have you been feeling lately?" he asked her. Even though he could gather much of that information himself from his padd or tricorder, he found it helpful to hear it from the patients themselves. Sometimes symptoms were purely psychological, and other times what they told him could make a vague set of data make more sense.

Henriks Ābols wrote:

[Sickbay]

Ilana managed to stagger towards the nearest biobed, which was thankfully empty. Most biobeds were, save for the one that Davis still occupied, because little had been going on in sickbay. Helping her onto the biobed, Henriks quickly rushed back to the padd he had just discarded and picked up a tricorder as well.

"What symptoms have you been feeling lately?" he asked her. Even though he could gather much of that information himself from his padd or tricorder, he found it helpful to hear it from the patients themselves. Sometimes symptoms were purely psychological, and other times what they told him could make a vague set of data make more sense.

[Sickbay]

It was something of a relief for Ilana to be able to lie down again. It stopped the room spinning quite so much. She hadn't even noticed that Henriks had left for a moment, only noticing that he had suddenly acquired a PADD and a tricorder. Of course he would, idiot, she reminded herself with faint irritation.

"H-h-h-headaches a-and m-my s-s-speech p-patterns h-h-have b-been d-d-degrad-ding again," she managed to get out. The headaches had been a somewhat constant presence in her life, but they were never this bad, more of an irritating fly that kept buzzing around. Her stammer, on the other hand, had cleared up greatly with the Borg vocal subprocessor that had been implanted several months ago.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Ready Room]

It was probably lucky for the other captain that Xarna's communication came through when it did, otherwise Archangel might have lost the last threads of control she had over the urge to punch his face in.  Instead, she simply raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting.  Since we're short on time, I would suggest that we go and find out what they've been plotting without us."

Not bothering to wait for his answer, the Romulan strode out of her ready room toward the science station where Julia and Xarna were apparently up to their necks in plants on how to save the planet.  She offered her young Chief Science Officer a reassuring smile.  "What have you found, Julia?"

Julia sensed the Captain approaching from behind and turned to address her. "Ah Captain. Commander Xarna had an ingenious idea." She moved her body so the research they had been reviewing could be prominently displayed to the two captains. "I'm not sure if you are familiar with the work of Dr. Timicin but he was trying to save his systems dying star. Dr. Timicin proposed a Helium Infusion Enhancement that could be delivered via a photon torpedoes. He didn't succeed but we have all of his results and Commander Xarna and I believe we may be able to continue his research and make a second attempt. However, it will require the resources of both Tactical and Engineering. We have less than seven hours to crunch the numbers, refit a photon warhead and deliver the payload into the star. At best though I say we have a 20% chance of success."

Julia Rellek wrote:

Julia sensed the Captain approaching from behind and turned to address her. "Ah Captain. Commander Xarna had an ingenious idea." She moved her body so the research they had been reviewing could be prominently displayed to the two captains. "I'm not sure if you are familiar with the work of Dr. Timicin but he was trying to save his systems dying star. Dr. Timicin proposed a Helium Infusion Enhancement that could be delivered via a photon torpedoes. He didn't succeed but we have all of his results and Commander Xarna and I believe we may be able to continue his research and make a second attempt. However, it will require the resources of both Tactical and Engineering. We have less than seven hours to crunch the numbers, refit a photon warhead and deliver the payload into the star. At best though I say we have a 20% chance of success."

[Bridge]

Not having the most scientific of minds, Archangel had no idea whether or not what they were proposingwould actually work, but the Tellaeite was nodding in agreement and she had faith in Julia's knowledge. She was passingly familiar with Dr Rimicim's work, having followed a thread she found in the Enterprise's Engineering logs. She could only hope that what hadn't worked that time would work for them.

"I think between a definite chance of the planet's destruction and a 20% chance of success, I'll take the 20% chance. I'm sure Engineering and Tactical can spare the personnel to work on this project."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

Not having the most scientific of minds, Archangel had no idea whether or not what they were proposingwould actually work, but the Tellaeite was nodding in agreement and she had faith in Julia's knowledge.  She was passingly familiar with Dr Rimicim's work, having followed a thread she found in the Enterprise's Engineering logs.  She could only hope that what hadn't worked that time would work for them.

"I think between a definite chance of the planet's destruction and a 20% chance of success, I'll take the 20% chance.  I'm sure Engineering and Tactical can spare the personnel to work on this project."

"Acknowledged Captain." She looked to Xarna who was still nodding with approval. "Sir, I am going to need Tactical to refit a class 5 torpedoes. The specs for the payload are in the system. I can have it replicated and sent down to the torpedoe bay. And Engineering is going to have to find a way to help our haul withstand extreme temperatures. Commander Xarna and I will have to execute the calculations to acertain exactly how much helium will have to be discharged and at what location within the star."

[Bridge]

Captain Salek turned to his counterpart, Captain T'Koris, and raised an eyebrow. He seemed to pass over the two science officers and addressed only the Captain. "Well that is certainly and intriguing idea.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

"I think between a definite chance of the planet's destruction and a 20% chance of success, I'll take the 20% chance. I'm sure Engineering and Tactical can spare the personnel to work on this project."

"Captain, need I remind you and the team that this is still a clear violation of the prime directive. We would be interfering with the natural evolution of this planet. It may be somber to consider letting this planet be destroyed but the prime directive is quite clear. Sometimes 'natural evolution' can refer to the end of a world."

Julia Rellek wrote:

"Acknowledged Captain." She looked to Xarna who was still nodding with approval. "Sir, I am going to need Tactical to refit a class 5 torpedoes. The specs for the payload are in the system. I can have it replicated and sent down to the torpedoe bay. And Engineering is going to have to find a way to help our haul withstand extreme temperatures. Commander Xarna and I will have to execute the calculations to acertain exactly how much helium will have to be discharged and at what location within the star."

[Bridge]

Nodding to Julia, Archangel tapped her commbadge, opening a channel to the Engineering department.

"T'Koris to Engineering, I need a team to report to the torpedo bay to help the security personnel refit a torpedo." She was aware that she probably could have done it herself, even been happy to do it, but she was a captain now and not and Engineer. She had a whole department of Engineers who could take on the project.

NPC wrote:

Captain Salek turned to his counterpart, Captain T'Koris, and raised an eyebrow. He seemed to pass over the two science officers and addressed only the Captain. "Well that is certainly and intriguing idea.

"Captain, need I remind you and the team that this is still a clear violation of the prime directive. We would be interfering with the natural evolution of this planet. It may be somber to consider letting this planet be destroyed but the prime directive is quite clear. Sometimes 'natural evolution' can refer to the end of a world."

Turning her attention to other, irritating captain, Archangel once again had to resist the urge to punch his face in. In the back of her mind, the stray thought crossed her mind that there should be some sort of award or recognition for putting up with certain captains in the Fleet, and that Salek's name should be at the top of the list of those captains.

"Is it?" she asked in an almost sarcastically innocent tone of voice. "By the elements, I thought we were just conducting a scientific experiment here, Salek. This research could prove to be important in the future if other systems were threatened by dying stars." Her expression turned serious again. "We're not interfering with them directly. They won't even know we're here."

USS ACHERON: Starfleet Runabout

Lieutenant Andrew Sheridan had not liked being away from his companions, but his presence had been requested at Forever World to investigate a possible temporal anomaly. As some one who had a great deal of knowledge in temporal mechanics; Starfleet's developing Department of Temporal Investigations had called upon the young Second Officer for his expertise. He knew the crew and command staff could handle his absence, but it wasn't that which bothered him about being away. The PHOENIX had become his home...more so than any other place to him since the destruction of his Federation by the Borg. Of course, this Federation...this Starfleet was his now. The other was now a painful memory he would never forget, and a reminder of the enemy here in this timeline.

As the ship dropped from warp; Andrew found himself facing not one starship, but two. The second one was the USS APRIL...an Excelsior-class. The other was of course his own home. He wondered at the presence of the second starship, but didn't question it to deeply. After all, the runabout's sensors read the supernova in progress, and rapidly accelerating to the end that must come. At first, Andrew wondered why it would take two of Starfleet's cruisers to examine such phenomenon. Then, the next moment it occurred to him that perhaps the two crews were working together in the hopes of preventing it. Such was possible in theory, perhaps, but it would take quite a bit of work...and time.

Time, however, was something they might not have enough of.

=/\= ACHERON to PHOENIX, Lieutenant Andrew Sheridan requesting permission to come aboard, =/\= the young Second Officer sent over the comm to his home vessel...making sure the signal was clear of any interference of the supernova.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

Nodding to Julia, Archangel tapped her commbadge, opening a channel to the Engineering department.  

"T'Koris to Engineering, I need a team to report to the torpedo bay to help the security personnel refit a torpedo."  She was aware that she probably could have done it herself, even been happy to do it, but she was a captain now and not and Engineer.  She had a whole department of Engineers who could take on the project.

[Bridge]

As the captain opened communications with engineering Julia turned to her counterpart, Commander Xarna. "Commander, I'm going to download the specifications of Dr. Timicin's torpedoes to a PADD so we can review it in the torpedoe bay. We should probably oversee the installation of the device." As Julia planned with Commander Xarna she heard Lieutenant Sheridan come through the Comma system. She accessed her console to open a channel to the Shuttlecraft.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

=/\= ACHERON to PHOENIX, Lieutenant Andrew Sheridan requesting permission to come aboard, =/\=

=/\= "Shuttlecraft Acheron. You are cleared to come aboard. Welcome home Lieutenant."=/\=

Julia turned back to Xarna. "Shall we make our ways down to the torpedoes bay?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

"T'Koris to Engineering, I need a team to report to the torpedo bay to help the security personnel refit a torpedo."  She was aware that she probably could have done it herself, even been happy to do it, but she was a captain now and not and Engineer.  She had a whole department of Engineers who could take on the project.

[Main Engineering]

Leela was attempting to strengthen the shield to better withstand the extreme stress the heat was causing on the hall when she heard the Captain's orders come through the communication system.

=/\=Captain, this is Kaz in Engineering. Acknowledged, two of us will make our way to the torpedoe bay to assist the science team.=/\=

At the warp control console stood a short woman with her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Ensign..." Leela struggled to remember her name. "Ensign Wilson. The captain eeds a small team to report to the torpedoe bay to refit a photon torpedoes. Would you like to join me?"