Mission 5: Let This Line Be Drawn Between Us!

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.

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."

[Bridge]

Captain Salek placed his hand on his forehead as Captain T'Koris attempted to defend her decision to interfere with this society. "Now Captain. You are attempting to support your violation of the prime directive by mis-directing your true mission. I believe humans refer to this as splitting hairs. It is highly illogical. The correct course of action would be to merely observe and catalog the phenomena. This planet has not formally requested out assistance." Salem paused for a moment. He placed both hands behind his back and straightened his posture. "Captain, I will not give you orders on your bridge. However, if you choose to go forward in this endeavor I will be duty-bound to make note in my log and report your actions to Starfleet Command."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[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.

=/\= "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?"

[Bridge]

Xarna also downloaded the research into her own PADD so that she didn't have to rely on the human and turned away from the console. She glanced at Salek for confirmation and, as she received it, then nodded to Lieutenant Rellek.

"I expect us to oversee the refitting of the torpedo," she stated. "I don't trust your crew to do it right." Without any further word of explanation nor waiting for her counterpart's response, she turned on her heel and stomped off toward the turbolift.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

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

[Bridge]

Archangel gave a faint smile at the sound of a familiar voice coming over the comm channel from an approaching shuttlecraft.  Her second officer and chief of operations had been away consulting for the Temporal Mechanics Division, a division she tried to have as little to do with as possible, but it was good to have him back.

"Welcome home, Lieutenant," she said through the channel.  "We left the lights on for you in the shuttlebay."

NPC wrote:

[Bridge]

Captain Salek placed his hand on his forehead as Captain T'Koris attempted to defend her decision to interfere with this society. "Now Captain. You are attempting to support your violation of the prime directive by mis-directing your true mission. I believe humans refer to this as splitting hairs. It is highly illogical. The correct course of action would be to merely observe and catalog the phenomena. This planet has not formally requested out assistance." Salem paused for a moment. He placed both hands behind his back and straightened his posture. "Captain, I will not give you orders on your bridge. However, if you choose to go forward in this endeavor I will be duty-bound to make note in my log and report your actions to Starfleet Command."

Her mood plummeted again as Salek decided to open his mouth.  Making an effort not to roll her eyes at the Vulcan, she managed instead to simply have a decidedly unamused expression on her face.

"I was being sarcastic, Salek, I thought a Vulcan of your intelligence would have been able to pick up on that," she replied.  "You can do what you like as far as I'm concerned.  Chances are, this little experiment isn't going to succeed anyway and if it does, we've taken a significant step forward in some very important research that may ultimately benefit the Federation.  If it doesn't, then nothing's changed.  If you're not happy with it, I suggest you go back to your ship. If you want to report my actions to Command, go right ahead. I'll still stand by them."

Leela Kaz wrote:

[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?"

Pepper had been running around Engineering, trying to ensure that she was doing what she was supposed to be doing. With such a sudden transfer, she was a bit disoriented about what exactly was going on. One second everything was fine, the next, all hell had broken loose. Typical Starfleet for you.

Pepper heard someone say her name and she perked up. "Wha? Who?" she asked as she identified who had called her name. "Yes, let's go." And with that, she stormed out of Engineering and headed for the torpedo tube.

USS ACHERON

Andrew smiled at the warm welcome from his Captain, and from Julia Rellek. It was going to be wonderful to be home again, and to see Sophie as well. Then, however, just as he docked and was centering his ties to the crew...Andrew felt some severe displeasure his Captain. Immediately, his eyes narrowed.

Whatever was going on with the supernova; Archangel was not pleased. With no such desire to have his Captain under the gun; Andrew made his way straight for the Bridge. Most of the crew seemed to be on edge more than normal. They weren't recruits anymore...they were good people, but something was causing his people to stress a lot more. The young Second Officer was not impressed, and strode onto the Bridge in record time.

Bridge

There with his Captain was the Captain from the USS APRIL...a male Vulcan. As Andrew recalled, the Vulcan's name was Selek....one of the great advantages to being in Operations was knowing who commanded what ship in the area. He didn't catch what Archangel had said to Selek, but there was something clearly not well here.

"Captain, I apologize for interrupting. Might I suggest we go into the conference room...just the three of us. Whatever the crew is doing now is important, and I need to be caught up quickly," Mr. Sheridan stated with a wave towards the conference doors. He gave Captain Selek a slightly raised eyebrow and nod to the door. It was quite clear from his expression to both Captains that to NOT go to the conference room with him would be unwise. Oh, there was no threat made...no words spoken out of turn, but there was the hint that for either to refuse would be wrong. To make his point more clear, he stepped up and whispered softly so only they could hear. "This is neither the time...nor place, Captain Selek. You are a guest in an operation on my CO's ship. I very much doubt you would tolerate openly having a dispute on your Bridge, Sir. Shall we?" he said with a second wave to the conference room.

Ilana Telak wrote:

[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.

[Sickbay]

Henriks scooped up the nearest hypo, turned it to the right setting, and placed it gently against the Cardassian's neck. It let out a soft hiss as its contents dispersed into her bloodstream and would hopefully be enough to keep the pain at bay long enough to solve the underlying problem.

He hadn't seen her much after she had received the borg implants, so he was not able to do a personal comparison of her speech pattern and how it had been changed. Headaches, however, were never a good sign. Setting the hypo down for the moment, Henriks reached for his tricorder.

As he began to take his initial scans, he tried to recall facts he knew about other such cases, when borg implants were left in rather than being removed. Nanoprobes were tricky, wreaking havoc if left untreated and unchecked for substantial amounts of time. But with good care, they had the potential to be useful. "How often do you see a doctor about the implants?" he asked, reading over the first bits of data as they came in.

Henriks Ābols wrote:

[Sickbay]

Henriks scooped up the nearest hypo, turned it to the right setting, and placed it gently against the Cardassian's neck. It let out a soft hiss as its contents dispersed into her bloodstream and would hopefully be enough to keep the pain at bay long enough to solve the underlying problem.

He hadn't seen her much after she had received the borg implants, so he was not able to do a personal comparison of her speech pattern and how it had been changed. Headaches, however, were never a good sign. Setting the hypo down for the moment, Henriks reached for his tricorder.

As he began to take his initial scans, he tried to recall facts he knew about other such cases, when borg implants were left in rather than being removed. Nanoprobes were tricky, wreaking havoc if left untreated and unchecked for substantial amounts of time. But with good care, they had the potential to be useful. "How often do you see a doctor about the implants?" he asked, reading over the first bits of data as they came in.

[Sickbay]

With the hss of the hypo came rapid relief. While her headache wasn't completely gone, it no longer felt to Ilana that she had just stuck her head in a plasma stream. She slowly sat up, working to ignore the bizarre sloshing sensation that had replaced the majority of the pain, and looked to Henriks with a slightly unfocused expression.

"Hm? Oh, I d-d-don't g-generally s-s-see a d-doctor," she admitted sheepishly. "I j-j-just d-d-deal w-with it m-m-myself. I've only h-had th-them f-f-for about s-six m-m-months. All th-th-the r-r-research indicated th-that I sh-sh-shouldn't h-have any p-p-problems th-that d-didn't h-h-happen in th-the f-f-first t-t-two m-months."

Pepper Wilson wrote:

Pepper had been running around Engineering, trying to ensure that she was doing what she was supposed to be doing. With such a sudden transfer, she was a bit disoriented about what exactly was going on. One second everything was fine, the next, all hell had broken loose. Typical Starfleet for you.

Pepper heard someone say her name and she perked up. "Wha? Who?" she asked as she identified who had called her name. "Yes, let's go." And with that, she stormed out of Engineering and headed for the torpedo tube.

[Corridor]

Wilson had left Engineering in such a rush Leela barely had time to grab her tools. She grabbed the box that sat on top of a console and made a dash out the engineering doors behind the hurried ensign. She was quickly able to catch up to Wilson. "Oh my goodness. That was quick. I wasn't certain I would catch up. We need to have security pull a type 5 Photon so that we can access its systems and reconfigure it for the..." Leela paused she wasn't quite familiar with the research they were basing this system off of. "...What did Rellek call it? A Helium... Well Helium something or another. She tapped her comm badge to open a channel to tactical and security;

=/\=Kaz to Security. Can you please pull a type five photon from storage and have it waiting in the torpedoe bay. And you may want to be present to assist us.=/\=

Leela turned back to her partner as they made their way through the corridors. "I'm so sorry I just realized we haven't really had a chance to introduce ourselves with everything going on. Welcome aboard. We are really glad to have you. Starfleet left us a little short-handed in Engineering. Are you settling in okay?"

NPC wrote:

Lt. Commander Xarna

[Bridge]

Xarna also downloaded the research into her own PADD so that she didn't have to rely on the human and turned away from the console.  She glanced at Salek for confirmation and, as she received it, then nodded to Lieutenant Rellek.

"I expect us to oversee the refitting of the torpedo," she stated.  "I don't trust your crew to do it right."  Without any further word of explanation nor waiting for her counterpart's response, she turned on her heel and stomped off toward the turbolift.

[Turbolift]

Julia scrambled to grab her PADD. Xarna had moved so quickly for the turbo lift that she was not fully prepared. As she rushed to catch up with the Tellarite the comments Xarna had made about the crew hit Julia. She entered the turbo lift behind Xarna. "Deck 26." The computer registered Julia's voice and began to make it's way down. Julia took the opportunity to defend the crew of the Phoenix. "Commander, let's get one thing straight. I am truly enjoying your company and we get along because I am familiar with your culture. However, I will not tolerate you insulting this crew. They have all earned their positions just as you and I have. They are qualified, capable officers and I ask that you treat them as such. You can say whatever you please to me but I ask that you keep that in mind when working alongside them."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

Her mood plummeted again as Salek decided to open his mouth.  Making an effort not to roll her eyes at the Vulcan, she managed instead to simply have a decidedly unamused expression on her face.

"I was being sarcastic, Salek, I thought a Vulcan of your intelligence would have been able to pick up on that," she replied.  "You can do what you like as far as I'm concerned.  Chances are, this little experiment isn't going to succeed anyway and if it does, we've taken a significant step forward in some very important research that may ultimately benefit the Federation.  If it doesn't, then nothing's changed.  If you're not happy with it, I suggest you go back to your ship.  If you want to report my actions to Command, go right ahead.  I'll still stand by them."

Salek could sense the tension rising in T'Koris' voice. He was well aware that he had prodded her. He would almost describe it as amusing to watch her anger grow with each passing moment. He had encountered many emotional humanoids in his many years in Starfleet but few rose to the level of T'Koris. "Very well captain. That is certainly your prerogative, however..." He was working to finish his thought as a young Lieutenant Commander stepped off the turbo lift and stepped up to the pair of captains.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

"Captain, I apologize for interrupting. Might I suggest we go into the conference room...just the three of us. Whatever the crew is doing now is important, and I need to be caught up quickly," Mr. Sheridan stated with a wave towards the conference doors. He gave Captain Selek a slightly raised eyebrow and nod to the door. It was quite clear from his expression to both Captains that to NOT go to the conference room with him would be unwise. Oh, there was no threat made...no words spoken out of turn, but there was the hint that for either to refuse would be wrong. To make his point more clear, he stepped up and whispered softly so only they could hear. "This is neither the time...nor place, Captain Selek. You are a guest in an operation on my CO's ship. I very much doubt you would tolerate openly having a dispute on your Bridge, Sir. Shall we?" he said with a second wave to the conference room.

Salek raised an eyebrow and examined the pips on Sheridan's collar. "Very well, COmmander. If you believe it prudent I have no objections."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Turbolift]

Julia scrambled to grab her PADD. Xarna had moved so quickly for the turbo lift that she was not fully prepared. As she rushed to catch up with the Tellarite the comments Xarna had made about the crew hit Julia. She entered the turbo lift behind Xarna. "Deck 26." The computer registered Julia's voice and began to make it's way down. Julia took the opportunity to defend the crew of the Phoenix. "Commander, let's get one thing straight. I am truly enjoying your company and we get along because I am familiar with your culture. However, I will not tolerate you insulting this crew. They have all earned their positions just as you and I have. They are qualified, capable officers and I ask that you treat them as such. You can say whatever you please to me but I ask that you keep that in mind when working alongside them."

While it could often be difficult to read the expressions on a Tellarite's face when one wasn't familiar with the species, the expression on Xarna's could easily be identified as unamused by this human inferior's words of warning.

She didn't bother to answer Lieutenant Rellek, instead letting her expression and silence do the talking for her for the rest of the turbolift ride to the torpedo bays.

Once they arrived, she stepped out and looked around, spotting two of the Engineering personnel already there. She nodded curtly to them, deciding to let them dig themselves either in to or out of trouble depending on how they performed.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

There with his Captain was the Captain from the USS APRIL...a male Vulcan.  As Andrew recalled, the Vulcan's name was Selek....one of the great advantages to being in Operations was knowing who commanded what ship in the area.  He didn't catch what Archangel had said to Selek, but there was something clearly not well here.

"Captain, I apologize for interrupting.  Might I suggest we go into the conference room...just the three of us.  Whatever the crew is doing now is important, and I need to be caught up quickly," Mr. Sheridan stated with a wave towards the conference doors.  He gave Captain Selek a slightly raised eyebrow and nod to the door.  It was quite clear from his expression to both Captains that to NOT go to the conference room with him would be unwise.  Oh, there was no threat made...no words spoken out of turn, but there was the hint that for either to refuse would be wrong.  To make his point more clear, he stepped up and whispered softly so only they could hear.  "This is neither the time...nor place, Captain Selek.  You are a guest in an operation on my CO's ship.  I very much doubt you would tolerate openly having a dispute on your Bridge, Sir.  Shall we?" he said with a second wave to the conference room.

NPC wrote:

Salek could sense the tension rising in T'Koris' voice. He was well aware that he had prodded her. He would almost describe it as amusing to watch her anger grow with each passing moment. He had encountered many emotional humanoids in his many years in Starfleet but few rose to the level of T'Koris. "Very well captain. That is certainly your prerogative, however..." He was working to finish his thought as a young Lieutenant Commander stepped off the turbo lift and stepped up to the pair of captains.

Salek raised an eyebrow and examined the pips on Sheridan's collar. "Very well, COmmander. If you believe it prudent I have no objections."

[Bridge]

Archangel's first, positive, reaction to seeing Andrew Sheridan walk onto the bridge was soon tempered by his apparent thought that he could even attempt any kind of menace should they not follow through with his suggestion. On a normal day, she might have brushed it off, but she already had her hackles up and this was certainly not helping her put them down again.

On the other hand, he had a point. Salek wasn't about to back down and if the situation did escalate into a fight, then she didn't want it happening in front of the bridge crew. Executing an Academy-worthy turn on her heel, the Romulan strode toward the conference room, expecting the other two to follow her.

Andrew waited until both Captains were in the conference room, and the door was shut behind them.

"I will be quite honest, Captains. I have no idea why two senior officers are on the Bridge in such a demeanor. I can guess, but that matters not one bit. You, Captain Salek, owe my CO an immediate apology. Under no uncertain terms would you ever have allowed any officer of any rank...much less one from another ship to berate or challenge you on the Bridge of your ship in front of your crew. You WILL show my Captain some respect on her Bridge...a place she has earned; or I personally file a complaint with the Admiral about your unbecoming behavior as a Captain and officer of Starfleet. And if you don't think the Bridge recorder and the witnesses on the Bridge can't verify my claim...try me," Andrew stated firmly with his arms folded across his chest.

Granted, he was going off the feeling he got from the moment he walked on to the Bridge...hell, even before he got there, but he had sneaky suspicion he was on point.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Andrew waited until both Captains were in the conference room, and the door was shut behind them.

"I will be quite honest, Captains.  I have no idea why two senior officers are on the Bridge in such a demeanor.  I can guess, but that matters not one bit.  You, Captain Salek, owe my CO an immediate apology.  Under no uncertain terms would you ever have allowed any officer of any rank...much less one from another ship to berate or challenge you on the Bridge of your ship in front of your crew.  You WILL show my Captain some respect on her Bridge...a place she has earned; or I personally file a complaint with the Admiral about your unbecoming behavior as a Captain and officer of Starfleet.  And if you don't think the Bridge recorder and the witnesses on the Bridge can't verify my claim...try me," Andrew stated firmly with his arms folded across his chest.

Granted, he was going off the feeling he got from the moment he walked on to the Bridge...hell, even before he got there, but he had sneaky suspicion he was on point.

[Conference Room]

Salek was surprised by the young Commander's behavior. He and T'Koris had a sordid past, to say the least, and Salek knew he had to tread lightly. She had, after all, put him into the infirmary on one occasion. He raised his eyebrow and looked to the Commander and began to calmly address him. "Commander, you accuse me of stepping out of line. However, I would like to point out that you, addressing a Starfleet Captain in this manner, is highly inappropriate. I have clearly yielded to the Captain's authority. I even gave my CSO permission to join in this endeavor. We are, after all, on your bridge. I have simply offered my opinion of current affairs to her. She chose to escalate the situation and allow her emotions to overcome her judgment. And commander, I would caution you to tread lightly."

NPC wrote:

[Conference Room]

Salek was surprised by the young Commander's behavior. He and T'Koris had a sordid past, to say the least, and Salek knew he had to tread lightly. She had, after all, put him into the infirmary on one occasion. He raised his eyebrow and looked to the Commander and began to calmly address him. "Commander, you accuse me of stepping out of line. However, I would like to point out that you, addressing a Starfleet Captain in this manner, is highly inappropriate. I have clearly yielded to the Captain's authority. I even gave my CSO permission to join in this endeavor. We are, after all, on your bridge. I have simply offered my opinion of current affairs to her. She chose to escalate the situation and allow her emotions to overcome her judgment. And commander, I would caution you to tread lightly."

[Conference Room]

A growl actually came from Archangel's throat as she listened to her second officer and the other captain. It was at times like this (and when she was faced with massive amounts of paperwork) that she wondered just why she had agreed to take on the big chair when it had been offered to her. Things had been so much simpler when she had just been a Chief Engineer.

"That's enough!" she snapped to the two men standing in her conference room. "Right now, you're both out of line!"

Andrew was not surprised by Captain Salek's reaction. After all, a Vulcan's best defense was logic, and that meant rules and regulations as well. However, in the way his own Captain called him on the carpet; Andrew Sheridan turned on her with a briefly hurt expression that a few moments later vanished. He had come to his Captain's defense, and with good reason. Though Salek might have actually yielded to his CO; there had clearly been needling afterwards...perhaps even a threat. Of course, he could only guess based off of the sensations from both, but in the end...his CO had spoken. That was enough for him to back off...way off.

"As you wish, Captain T'Koris," Andrew said formally...his posture rigid, and his face as passive as any Vulcan's. He didn't even bother to address Salek. There was work to do, and he was not needed here. "Where do you want me, Ma'am?"

NPC wrote:

Lt. Commander Xarna

While it could often be difficult to read the expressions on a Tellarite's face when one wasn't familiar with the species, the expression on Xarna's could easily be identified as unamused by this human inferior's words of warning.

She didn't bother to answer Lieutenant Rellek, instead letting her expression and silence do the talking for her for the rest of the turbolift ride to the torpedo bays.

Once they arrived, she stepped out and looked around, spotting two of the Engineering personnel already there.  She nodded curtly to them, deciding to let them dig themselves either in to or out of trouble depending on how they performed.

From Xarna's reaction, or lack there of, Julia knew that she had made an impression. Julia had found that one thing Tellarite's seem to understand is a show of force. Julia made her wishes crystal clear and she was waiting to see if Xarna would choose to call her out.

As Julia entered the torpedoe bays she looked to Commander Xarna. "Commander. Would you like to begin to configure the Helium unit?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Conference Room]

A growl actually came from Archangel's throat as she listened to her second officer and the other captain.  It was at times like this (and when she was faced with massive amounts of paperwork) that she wondered just why she had agreed to take on the big chair when it had been offered to her.  Things had been so much simpler when she had just been a Chief Engineer.

"That's enough!" she snapped to the two men standing in her conference room.  "Right now, you're both out of line!"

[Conference Room]

Salek's eyes widened as Captain T'Koris reached her boiling point. "Captain. I apologize if you feel that I am encroaching on your bridge. You must understand that I have to abide by my own ethics and the oath I took. I would feel negligent if I didn't point out my own concerns." Captain Salek made his way around the conference table as he addressed both officers. "Captain, we have a past, one that cannot be changed. I feel you are allowing your emotions regarding something that happened many years ago to cloud your perspective on our current situation. I by no means wish the inhabitants of that planet ill-will but I did take an oath. It has become apparent to me that we are treading in a grey area of the non-inference protocol. Your bridge, I yield to your authority. When two vessels are engaged in a joint mission the superior vessel automatically assumes command. Captain T'Koris, you are clearly in command of this operation."

Andrew said nothing...he just stood rigid...waiting to see what orders his CO had for him. Perhaps he had helped after all; considering the explosion had happened in the privacy of the conference room. Still, at this point, it was better to remain silent. He had already angered his Captain...a woman he admired and respected a great deal. To say more was suicide, and so he kept his mouth shut. Hopefully things would die down. They, after all, had a job to do.

He wondered where Julia was. She wasn't on the Bridge when he came in, but as she was head of the Science Department...she was no doubt involved in the immediate problem being investigated and dealt with. His mind briefly reached out to Sophie, but he dared not let his mind wander considering the current atmosphere in the conference room. One misstep at this point would be unwise on his part.

Ilana Telak wrote:

[Sickbay]

With the hss of the hypo came rapid relief.  While her headache wasn't completely gone, it no longer felt to Ilana that she had just stuck her head in a plasma stream.  She slowly sat up, working to ignore the bizarre sloshing sensation that had replaced the majority of the pain, and looked to Henriks with a slightly unfocused expression.

"Hm?  Oh, I d-d-don't g-generally s-s-see a d-doctor," she admitted sheepishly.  "I j-j-just d-d-deal w-with it m-m-myself.  I've only h-had th-them f-f-for about s-six m-m-months.  All th-th-the r-r-research indicated th-that I sh-sh-shouldn't h-have any p-p-problems th-that d-didn't h-h-happen in th-the f-f-first t-t-two m-months."

[Sickbay]

Henriks simply nodded to her sheepish confession, to focused on the data to actually reply. But he wasn't surprised by her comments. Doctors, it was said, often made the worst patients. He knew he himself would easily fall into that if he wasn't married to one.

"Research and practice are two different things," he reminded Ilana, a phrase Oswald had often liked to repeat. Just because research said one thing didn't mean things could go in a totally opposite direction. That was why constant monitoring was important. "It appears some of the nanoprobes are beginning to wander a bit," he said, at last commenting on the data from the initial scan. Another scan would be able to tell him more.

NPC wrote:

Salek's eyes widened as Captain T'Koris reached her boiling point. "Captain. I apologize if you feel that I am encroaching on your bridge. You must understand that I have to abide by my own ethics and the oath I took. I would feel negligent if I didn't point out my own concerns." Captain Salek made his way around the conference table as he addressed both officers. "Captain, we have a past, one that cannot be changed. I feel you are allowing your emotions regarding something that happened many years ago to cloud your perspective on our current situation. I by no means wish the inhabitants of that planet ill-will but I did take an oath. It has become apparent to me that we are treading in a grey area of the non-inference protocol. Your bridge, I yield to your authority. When two vessels are engaged in a joint mission the superior vessel automatically assumes command. Captain T'Koris, you are clearly in command of this operation."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Andrew said nothing...he just stood rigid...waiting to see what orders his CO had for him. Perhaps he had helped after all; considering the explosion had happened in the privacy of the conference room. Still, at this point, it was better to remain silent. He had already angered his Captain...a woman he admired and respected a great deal. To say more was suicide, and so he kept his mouth shut. Hopefully things would die down. They, after all, had a job to do.

He wondered where Julia was. She wasn't on the Bridge when he came in, but as she was head of the Science Department...she was no doubt involved in the immediate problem being investigated and dealt with. His mind briefly reached out to Sophie, but he dared not let his mind wander considering the current atmosphere in the conference room. One misstep at this point would be unwise on his part.

[Conference Room]

Making a significant effort to take a deep breath and rein back her temper before she did something she regretted, Archangel leaned her hands on the conference table. She wasn't about to lose her temper with Salek completely, not again.

"Salek, my 'emotions' about that incident were dealt with years ago. You're the one that insists on implying that I'm incompetent at every turn. You stated your thoughts toward the mission clearly, and I stated that I was going ahead anyway. It should have ended there, but you just had to drag it out."

Standing up straight, she looked to the two other officers in the room. "We're going ahead with this experiment, gentlemen. Lieutenant Rellek and Commander Xarna are already in the torpedo bay setting things up. Are we clear?"

Henriks Ābols wrote:

[Sickbay]

Henriks simply nodded to her sheepish confession, to focused on the data to actually reply. But he wasn't surprised by her comments. Doctors, it was said, often made the worst patients. He knew he himself would easily fall into that if he wasn't married to one.

"Research and practice are two different things," he reminded Ilana, a phrase Oswald had often liked to repeat. Just because research said one thing didn't mean things could go in a totally opposite direction. That was why constant monitoring was important. "It appears some of the nanoprobes are beginning to wander a bit," he said, at last commenting on the data from the initial scan. Another scan would be able to tell him more.

[Sickbay]

As much as she hated being a patient, Ilana had to admit that she'd walked into this one by not doing what she was supposed to do after having such a major surgery performed. She looked away from him, still feeling somewhat sheepish. She really should have known better.

"S-s-sorry," she replied. As he went on to talk about the nanoprobes, she frowned slightly, trying to remember if there were any elements that might be able to help with getting rid of this headache. "I m-m-m-might b-b-be r-r-running o-out of n-n-nanoprobes," she suggested. "I d-d-don't h-have the B-B-Borg's a-ability t-t-to m-m-m-make th-them..."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Conference Room]

Making a significant effort to take a deep breath and rein back her temper before she did something she regretted, Archangel leaned her hands on the conference table.  She wasn't about to lose her temper with Salek completely, not again.

"Salek, my 'emotions' about that incident were dealt with years ago.  You're the one that insists on implying that I'm incompetent at every turn.  You stated your thoughts toward the mission clearly, and I stated that I was going ahead anyway.  It should have ended there, but you just had to drag it out."

Standing up straight, she looked to the two other officers in the room.  "We're going ahead with this experiment, gentlemen.  Lieutenant Rellek and Commander Xarna are already in the torpedo bay setting things up.  Are we clear?"

[Conference Room]

Salek found himself in one of those rare occasions where he was lost to find words. "Understood captain. I have made you aware of my opinions. I will refrain from adding further. Captain, would you like me to join you on the bridge?" Salek knew that her emotions around that incident many years ago were still strong for Captain T'Koris. However, if she chose to avoid those feelings Salek was content to let the issue go.

Lt. Commander Sheridan merely gave a curt nod at his Captain's words. He had managed to head off an explosion on the Bridge, but at what price. Had it been worth angering his Captain?

Seeing as there was nothing else to do, and not given a specific order with which to follow...Andrew nodded politely to his CO before leaving. After the doors closed behind him with the two Captains remaining on the other side for the moment; Andrew took a long deep breath. He took another one before going over to the Ops station.

"I'll take over," he told the person manning his position. A few seconds later, Andrew was once more sitting in his old chair examining the reports. There was a lot to go over, but he had to deal with the immediate here and now. There was apparently an experiment underway in the torpedo bay by Lieutenant Rellek. Well, he now knew where she was, and apparently was with the Science Officer under Salek's command. A requisition to Engineering had come in for a Class V torpedo, and was already being taken care of. Doing what he did best; Andrew called down to Julia in order to provide support. At the same time, he kept a keen eye on the sensor readings of the supernova.

=/\= Sheridan to Rellek, I am manning Ops. Do you require anything? =/\= he inquired professionally.

In the back of his mind, the words of Archangel still hit hard. It had not been his intention to make her angry with him, but to defend her.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

=/\= Sheridan to Rellek, I am manning Ops.  Do you require anything? =/\= he inquired professionally.

Julia paused her work to address the Commander's inquiry.

=/\=Thank you Commander. While Commander Xarna and I are down here we are unable to monitor the star. Can you please monitor the readings the star is emitting and make us aware of any fluctuations. We may have to adjust the calculations based on changing conditions. It may also be prudent to monitor the planet for signs that they are eating to changes in their atmosphere. Possibly increased communication traffic. If e succeed we may have to evaluate the planet's climate."=/\=