Mason "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Matthew Mason, Prisoner , [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Bones , EMH , [NPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 0005

Mason's eyes popped wide open and he gasped for breath. As he sat up he noticed a startled doctor standing over him.

Bones nearly had a heart attack, if that was even possible for a hologram. With the swiftness of a old gunslinger he drew his tricorder. This was a remarkable situation. "Doctor Dane," he said in his prissy voice. " Would you please take a look at this."

Teilani who was adding some additional medical information to one of the Zion's crewmembers file looked up. Behind the EMH figure she saw some one sitting up and she quickly walked over.

Mason looked at Dane, finally someone he recognized, "Where is that counselor lady," he asked.

"Good morning to you too Mr. Mason. Welcome back. Teilani checked the tricorder readings it was remarkable. " I will get Ms Zoei for you."

"What happened," he asked, "I mean, the last thing I remember was running for my life." Mason coughed. He looked around, "I was trying to get back here, but I did not make it."

"You were attacked and after you were found, some of the Zion crew brought you here. You have been unconscious for some time. I began to wonder when you would decide to wake up," she said with a smile. Lie back down I will try to get Ms Zoei for you."

Mason began shivering uncontrollably, "I was being hunted," he paused, "have you regained control of the ship."

"Shhhhht, its alright. It took some effort but we regained control of the ship. We also delivered all prisoners safely to Rura Penthe and we are now on our way back to QulTuq." Teilani explained softly.

Mason continued to shiver, he did not understand why he was so cold, "Then I am not joining them there?"

"You are still here because both the counselor and myself asked that you be granted asylum here. You did save our lives remember?"

"Thank you," said Mason, "Why am I so cold?"

"You have been in stasis all this time. Your body needs to regulate itself. It will soon pass." Teilani turned around and took a hypo spray from a tray. Making small adjustment to the settings she pressed it against Mason's neck. " There this will help you." she said. She also took a blanket from another biobed and placed it over Mason's shoulders.

"What happened to Captain Rogers," he asked.

"Captain Rodgers was killed in a firefight and unfortunately Mr. Birkhoff and one of our own crew managed to escape with one of our shuttles."

"Johnson," said Mason with disgust, "The traitor." It was Johnson that decided to turn Mason into prey for the Cardassians and anyone else who wanted to hunt him. He was a very twisted individual.

Teilani nodded. "Indeed."

"Doctor Dane to Counselor Zoei. Sorry for disturbing you this late hour. Would you please report to sickbay. Someone is requesting your presence."

The sound of Dr. Dane's voice filled Zoei's head and brought her abruptly to consciousness. I will be there momentarily She quickly rose from bed and dressed. With a twist, she rolled her hair into a tight knot and clipped it in place. As she approached, her doors whooshed open, and she hurried to the turbo lift. She settled back and leaned against the wall as it hurtled through the darkened ship. The only patient in Sick Bay she could think of was Mason, but he had been in a coma since the day he was found.

She exited the turbo lift and headed to Sick Bay. Zoei peeked around the corner of the patient area. The biobed where Mason had been at was still occupied, but an unprecedented flurry of activity was happening there.

Mason say the counselor and said, "Hey there."

"Hello there. Welcome back to the land of the living. Doctor Dane said you wanted to see me. How are you doing, now that you are awake?" Zoei asked. She settled into a chair next to the bio bed. The steady thrum of the equipment vibrated against her leg.

"I am doing much better," said Mason, "The doc tells me that you and she kept me out of Rura Penthe."

"It didn't seem right that you get shipped off there after what you had done for us. You didn't exactly seem the hardened criminal type, although, I suppose, you could just be pulling the wool over our eyes?" Patia asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Mason thought back to his interview process, he was interviewed by the arrogant guy that he attacked in sickbay, Atwood was his name. Mason and he did not hit it off at all. He was rude and arrogant and demanded information that Mason could not give him. Mason had lost his temper and tried to attack Atwood and the next thing he knew he was heading for Rura Penthe. "What happened to that Atwood fellow, I did not kill him did I," asked Mason.

"No, you didn't kill him. He has been reassigned and is no longer on the ship," Zoei replied.

"What will happen to me now," asked Mason.

"I do not know, but I can help you find out," Zoei smiled softly.

Mason looked at Patia, he had to admit, she was an attractive woman, "Thank you for helping me," he reached out and stroked the side of her face with his hand.

Zoei caught his hand between her two and held it gently. She smiled slightly. "It is my pleasure, it is all part of what I do for our crew."

Whistling, Silvio entered sickbay, he could not sleep and decided that he would work on that stasis chamber that the doctor had ordered maintenance on. What he saw when he entered made his breath catch in his chest. Patia was sitting next to the only remaining prisoner, holding his hand. Silvio stopped whistling, he instantly, had a terrible feeling in the very pit of his stomach.

"Hello Silvio, Teilani said. She noticed his look towards Patia and Mason. The look was one of jealousy, or distraction. What you can I do for you."

"Hello doc," said Silvio, distracted, "I came to take a look at that stasis chamber you ordered maintenance on," he made his way past Mason towards the chamber.

"Hey," said Mason, "I know you."

Silvio turned and regarded the man, "Yes," he said with no trace of a smile on his face. Silvio did not understand the feeling he had, it was not rational to feel this way; she was just visiting with him.

"You came charging in with your phaser firing," said Mason, "You saved my life."

Silvio nodded.

"Thank you," said Mason.

"No problem," replied Silvio, making a pretense of looking for something. He needed to get out of here and he needed to get out now. He sighed, "I forgot a part I will need, I will be back in a bit," he said to the doctor, a bit uncomfortably. Silvio quickly left.

Teilani watched Silvio leave and turned her attention towards Zoei. She raised her eyebrows in question.

Zoei raised her eyebrow in return, and shrugged. She slightly shook her head as she turned her attention back to Mason.

"Something wrong with him," asked Mason.

"I am not sure. He said he forgot a part and he is very thorough. Most likely, it is bothering him that he left something behind." Patia smiled slightly. She would be talking to Silvio later, but those thoughts were not for Mason's ears.

Mason got the impression that she knew more than she was letting on but said, "I see, well he saved my life. He came charging in like a mad man with that phaser. Surprised the heck out of them Cardassian's." Mason paused reflecting back to that night, "Before I passed out he was standing toe to toe with one of them. I would not have expected that from an engineer."

Patia smiled a little broader. "That one is not your run of the mill engineer, I must say. I'll leave it to him to tell you if he likes, but you two have a few things in common."

Hey Sailor, Buy Me a Drink? "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Miranda, Lounge Manager, [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 0130

Silvio left sickbay in a hurry, having decided that he was finished working for the night, he went to Miranda's. Silvio made his way to the bar and sat down.

"What can I get you tonight," asked Miranda.

"I want some of that orange stuff, you gave me last time, the stuff that knocked me on my ass," Silvio searched the various bottles until he found what he was looking for, "that one right there," he pointed at the bottle.

The smile faded from Miranda's lips. She poured Silvio a glass of cherry cola and set it on the bar in front of him, "What's eating you," she asked.

Silvio explained the whole situation with Mason and what he saw in sickbay. "I do not understand."

Maranda chuckled, "You *are* really new to being in love aren't you?"

Silvio grunted, "I wish it was like it was before. I did not care about what any other the other women in my life did."

"Really, are you sure," asked Miranda.

"Yes."

Miranda put her hands on the top of the bar. "Ok, Silvio, I am due for a break, let's go back to my quarters and I will make you forget all about Patia Zoei." She moved towards to service entrance to the bar.

Silvio's jaw dropped, "What," said Silvio incredulously. "What about TJ...NO!", Silvio's voice was louder that normal.

"Don't think I can't do it either," said Miranda, "I will celebrate one hundred years of life next month. I have considerably more experience with these matters than she does. Let's go!"

"NO," said Silvio again.

"Why not," demanded Miranda.

"No offence Miranda, but you are not Patia," said Silvio.

"What difference does that make," replied Miranda.

"It makes a lot of difference to me," said Silvio.

"You are being very silly Silvio," said Miranda, "You need to talk to Patia before you go getting all worked up about this Mason fellow. She was probably just doing her job."

Silvio picked up his glass, "I think I will go watch the stars fly by for a while," Silvio stood and started to walk away. Turing suddenly, he said, "If I had taken you up on that offer would you have followed through with it."

"No offence Silvio," replied Miranda, "But you are not TJ."

Silvio gave her a smile and then found a booth next to the window. He watched the stars fly by one after another.

Patia paused in the doorway. Quickly she scanned the room. Spying Miranda first, she smiled grimly and nodded. In response, Miranda cocked her head toward a table near the back of the room. She nodded again, then winked. She drew herself up to her entire height, which wasn't much, but it would have to do. Confidently, she strutted across the room. "Hey, Sailor, buy me a drink?" she asked as she stood at the end of the table.

At the sound of Patia's voice he pulled his eyes form the stars and looked at her. "Hello," he said. He suddenly felt really foolish. He had hoped that she was still having difficulties reading his thoughts about her, however, the look on her face told him the truth. "How are you?"

"Other than a small problem keeping track of the many, many, many men I am involved with, I am doing just fine," she smiled, a touch too brightly to be believable. She eased into the booth. "You don't mind if I sit here while I wait for the next one to come along, do you?" Patia arched an eyebrow. Slowly, she leaned forward and perched her chin in the palm of her hand. "What was that all about in Sick Bay, Sailor? You 'forgot' a tool? Hate to tell you this, but even Mason knew you were full of it."

Silvio looked down at his drink and watched the ice melt for a few moments, "I needed to get out of there.", he paused, unsure what to say next, "I saw you holding his hand and I needed to get out of there."

"Care to tell me why?" Patia was frustrated by the entire situation. She felt questioned and doubted. It was not a comfortable position to be in.

"It was stupid, I know," said Silvio shoving his drink away from him. "You were holding his hand," Silvio's words faltered, "it was a knee jerk reaction and totally irrational." Silvio looked at her again, "I am sorry Patia."

"In the course of my job, Silvio, I touch a lot of people. Sometimes it is holding a hand, sometimes it is patting a shoulder or rubbing a back, and on rare occasions, I even hug them. I am sorry if this is an issue for you, it certainly wasn't my intention, but it is part of my job." Patia shook her head. "Your apology is accepted."

Silvio smiled, "It really is not an issue for me. I left because I did not want you to see how I felt, I needed to think it through," he paused, "The problem is you can listen to those thoughts. I could not hide them from you until I had worked them out."

"That is a minor disadvantage to being involved with a Betazoid. It could be worse, though. Imagine what it was like trying to get away with anything when I was a child. 'Patia, don't even think about that!'", Patia mimicked a female voice.

Silvio laughed, "I will just have to live with the hazards involved with caring for a Betazoid woman." Or loving them, he thought.

"Or that," Patia said with a half smile. "Now, I was called out of bed to see a patient, I chased you down, now I need to get back to bed." Patia's yawn was anything but ladylike as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Allow me to walk you home," said Silvio. Standing up, Silvio offered her a hand up.

Patia slipped her hand in his and gracefully rose from her seat. "That would be much appreciated."

The two of them strode hand in hand towards the door. Just before they got their the door opened and two of Silvio's engineers entered.

"Hey boss," they said.

"Hey guys," said Silvio, "have a good time."

Silvio and Patia left Miranda's.

Pacifica #32"
By: Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 0300

=Location Teilani’s quarters=

"Computer, start recording: personal log, tag with date, time and location." A soft beep told Teilani she could speak.

"Dear diary,

It's been a while, hasn't it? I don't think I've told you anything since. Well, when was it? I guess it was when Eric disappeared.

There! Did you hear that? I said disappeared! Diary, why can't I even say this? His ship was lost .What can he be but dead? And yet...I found this padd. Although it works now and it contains some files I still have not been able to just sit down and read them. Am I afraid what will be on it?

What if ………. I just can not accept the fact that he might be dead. Does any body understand the turmoil I am going through?

If my brother cannot accept it, and the rest of our family can't, then is it so strange for me to hesitate too?

I should call them, shouldn't I? It's been too long already. Guess that's what happens when you have something like this hanging over you like Damocles' sword.

Melissa is probably bottling it all up, meditating all day and Joshua will probably be getting angry at her for not showing her feelings, while they both know she's hurting as bad as he is. They'll argue, him getting more and more upset over her reasonability and his doubts, then he'll run off in a tantrum and fill himself up with Sauran brandy . No - of course not. Or maybe.? I'm driving myself crazy with this guessing!

I should call them, like Patia suggested, anything to let them know I'm there for them, but from the way they took Eric’s dissappearance I just can’t !

Oh diary, what should I do? If I contact them, all of my own emotions will burst out, I know they will. I've been on edge every time something reminded me of him. The counsellor will probably say I haven't grieved enough yet - like I ever will!. But I really should call, shouldn't I?

I guess that's what I'm talking to you for, sweet diary. You always listen, you never give your opinion, or judge, or down-talk my problems. I can vent anything with you, my frustration, my anger. Damn."

Silence filled the room for a good couple of minutes, interrupted by the sound of swallowing, and one or two soft sobs.

"Computer. Stop and save."

*beep*

Another silence fell in the room. Teilani stood, adjusting her loose fitting pants, the kind she always preferred when she was in her own quarters, and paced the room slowly, her thoughts swirling through her head, her eyes staring at nothing. Occasionally she would sigh, or grunt, or stop pacing altogether and just throw back her head, clenching her fists until the imprints of her nails showed read in her palms.

Finally, though, she sat down at her desk, and touched her screen and keypad a couple of times. Then she let her hands drop into her lap, and fidgeted as the computer made the connection.

Then she shook her head and terminated the connection. It was not the time, not yet anyway. She let her head sank on her hands and rested it on her desk. She had to get some sleep tomorrow was just another day.

Maintenance Day "
By: Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 0800

Moving on her scanned it's distortion matrix. The cloak worked by creating an area of distortion around the ship that makes the Zion invisible to the naked eye, and most sensors. Silvio decided that the phase coils would need to be replaced as well.

Closing his tricorder Silvio got up and made his way to the industrial replicator. He replicated the parts he would require and carried them back to the cloaking device.

Silvio tapped his comm badge, "Silvio to bridge, the cloaking device will be offline for two hours for routine maintenance."

Silvio touched the console and took the device offline and deactivated its power taps; Silvio had no desire to accidentally cook himself while working on it. Silvo again moved back to the cloaking device and scanned the power systems one more time. Taking a sonic wrench from his kit and began removing the old power supply.

Once the old power unit was removed he carefully checked each of it's connections, replacing any faulty or worn connection points. Once he was satisfied with the condition of the power connectors he began installing the new power unit. He carefully mounted the device and then connected it to the rest of the device. Finally, he connected it to the main EPS trunk. Silvio then took out his tricroder and verified his work.

Turning his attention to the phase coils, Silvio removed the phase transition housing and carefully removed each coil and set them on the ground. Silvo then slid each new coil into place and reassembled the phase transition housing.

Standing up Silvio examined each of the spent coils for any visual sign of damage. Sure enough the fourth coil was warped and charred. Silvio sighed, this meant that the cloak was out of alignment.

Silvio activated the cloaking device's power grid and brought it to standby mode. Silvio walked over to the nearest computer console and switched the device to testing mode. He spent the next hour running the device through simulated tests at varying degrees of intensity. When he was done he was confident that it was once again in full alignment.

Silvio tapped his comm. badge again, "Silvio to bridge, the cloaking device is now available again."

Call to Arms"
By: Charles Atwood, Chief Intelligence Officer, [PST]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1100

A light signaled Ensign Forrester on the ops station she sat at. "Sir!" she said investigating it, "Its Fleet Command on a secure channel. They are requesting you, the XO and Mr. Atwood."

"We'll take it in the observation lounge." said Hunter, "get Mr. Atwood up here. You have the CONN."

"Yes Sir." acknowledged Forrester.

Hunter nodded at Wright to join him.

Wright followed the captain into the conference room.

Hunter sat in his chair and activated the comlink.

A grey haired admiral appeared, behind him serious looking man in an intel uniform.

"Hello Captain Hunter" said Admiral Stone with a nod. "Hello Sir," replied Hunter.

"..and Commander Wright, you look well, I received a report about your injury, how are you?

"I am back in top shape now Admiral," replied Wright.

"Good news." said Stone.

Atwood entered the ready room. He noticed that there was a meeting going on so he stood at attention and remained silent.

Stone leaned back and took a deep breath. "Well, I wish I had better things to visit with you, but I don't."

He paused to let things sink in. "Here at Fleet Command we'd always hoped the missions of the Zion would be of peace and hope. Unfortnuately, today, it may be a call to arms."

Hunter looked over at Wright.

The Admiral continued, "I'll let Commander McBride fill you in on the details."

McBride picked up a PADD and activated a large star chart showing major portions of both the alpha and beta quadrants. "Intel has been monitoring a large build up of Federation ships along these areas." As a result, we fortified ships in this theater of operation. McBride indicated an area near Qul Tuq between the federation ships.

"Shortly after 2400 hours, we lost contact with Pacifica. About the same time Intel reported the Federation fleet began moving towards the system also. We believe that this is a major offensive." McBride stepped back.

"Gentleman, we have mobilized Tango Fleet to intercept, but they are many days away." The Admiral leaned back. He knew his orders would put the Zion in jeopardy, but he believed he had no choice. "The Zion is the closest thing we have. We need to slow them down. I'm sure you are all aware of the significance Pacifica holds as the Alliance's major producer of Deuterium.

"So you want us to get in their way?" asked Hunter.

Stone nodded, "that is correct Captain."

"Okay. we'll do our best." said Hunter.

"One more thing," said the Admiral motioning to McBride who stepped forward. McBride nodded toward Hunter and Wright. "Lt Atwood is being reassigned effective immediately. I will be transmitting his orders via secure link shortly." He turned to Atwood. "You need to prepare to depart within the hour."

"Yes Sir," said Atwood as he snapped a crisp salute.

The Admiral turned his gaze back to the view screen, "Ian, Jonathan, godspeed. Fleet Command out."

'END TRANSMISSION' and the Maquis emblem appeared on the viewer.

Hunter stood up, "Number One, you have the bridge, please get us underway, we'll have a staff briefing in one hour." He looked at Wright and Atwood, "Dismissed."

Wright and Atwood returned to the bridge. Atwood got on the turbolift and Wright took the command chair. "Helm, lay in a course for Pacifica Warp 9," said Wright.

"Aye sir," replied the helmsman.

Wright turned to the ops station, "Ensign Forrester, notify the senior staff that there will be a briefing in the bridge observation lounge in one hour."

"Yes sir," replied Ensign Forrester.

"Yellow alert," said Wright. The ship's systems immdediatly changed to to status yellow.

Forewarned is Forearmed "
By: Jeff Westfall, Tactical Officer, [PST]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1140

Jeff Westfall knew that the Senior Staff Officers had been summoned to a briefing in the bridge observation lounge in one hour, per the instructions relayed by Ensign Forrester. Things had changed rapidly when the ship went to Yellow Alert.

He had been able to ascertain that there were no "hostile ships" in the area, from what he could gather. He had gone back to his quarters to get several PADDs out with reports he had compiled since the "Re-taking of the USS Zion" following the prisoner uprising that led to their mission to Rura Penthe.

He didn't trust leaving reports about *his* tactical strategies on the ship's on-board computer system, anymore, since Birkhoff had *SO thoroughly compromised all the computer systems. He was still bothered by the fact that Birkhoff had *somehow* managed to compromise all of the key systems and override the security protocols.

He sat at the briefing table with his PADDs, comprising several different streams of amendment in proceedure to run by the Captain. First off was the recommendation that all of the ship's communications should be routed through multiple cryptographic signal processors to secure all the communications (regardless of origin). In case of a similar circumstance as the prisoner revolt/boarding party/seizure of key command personnel, they would be able to communicate as a "task group" and co-ordinate with other "task groups" by pairing off. That would make intelligence gathering a little easier.

He had plans to ask the Captain to request the Marine detail to cover "point duty" on key access and control corridors and systems. Their configuration and expertise was specific to penetration of enemy defenses, and as such Jeff thought that their counter-measures would be better to repel attack and hold "Heavy Ground" better than the the Zion's own security officer corps could, because they were able to dig in, and stay put in a static position.

He felt a real debt of gratitude to Max, the Klingon XO who had been part of the exchange program. His grill and drill till everyone "drops" method was tough, but the crew now knew that they had been well schooled in overcoming a larger and stronger enemy.

Then there was the matter of food and materiél, he'd have to make a note to speak with the new Computer Specialist, Ensign Tappert--there were undoubtedly ways that the replictor systems could be re-assigned to separate control systems to isolate them from the command and control systems.

Jeff had the thought that she would be *much* better able to camouflage their linkage in "other parlance" that would make them harder to attack.

The other thought Jeff had would make a recommendation to dedicate one of the holodecks to be a ship's training simulator with its own *ISOLATED* processing system, cut off completely from all of the ship's actual "production/processing" systems. Essentially, in a bubble, the system would have all of the ship's software and diagnostic routines from the actual ships' systems that could be run "in real time" with analysis routines to breakpoint critical failures--without compromising the ship's systems (by virtue of the fact the simulator would have its own safety back-up, being firewalled to the command and control systems. He was sure the actual sensor logs could be imported to emulate the Zion's reactions and performance in "Real-time".

How Birkhoff had managed to compromise *EVERY* critical system he'd like to torture out of him, and then kill him for it, if he ever had the chance, of that he was *QUITE* certain. He really had to make an appointment with Counselor Zoei about that. He knew well that the kind of reaction he felt was often indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder, and he needed to be thinking clearly all the time. At Yellow Alert, it would have to wait. Would he be "The Death of the U.S.S. Zion"? At times like this, he was sure of it.

He tried to push the negative and intensely personal thoughts out of his head, to concentrate on summarizing the Ship's Readiness. All the crews had responded to the Yellow Alert, all the ship's weapon systems were on-line, the ship's sensor array were working to within 1.5% of optimum shipyard specs now that he'd had the time to check their calibration.

He wasn't sure there was anything else he hadn't covered. The door to the lounge slid open, and in walked Captain Hunter. Westfall stood at attention and saluted his Commanding Officer stiffly. "Good Morning, Captain," he said.

"At ease Westfall." said Hunter. He sensed Westfall had something to discuss. In fairness, he had not really given him the needed to review tactical matters together. Hunter sat down at the end of the conference table, "you are a little early Jeff, is there something you wanted to discuss?"

"I thought I'd better get here early and go over what I've got to submit from the post prisoner revolt review. I think I've managed to come up with some ideas that *may* be of use to us, should we ever find ourselves in a similar circumstance".

Hunter took the PADD from Westfall and began reading it. "These are good points Westfall," said Hunter. "Let's go to the ready room to discuss these before the meeting."

I'd appreciate that, Captain, I've been doing some thinking about it a lot lately, and I think *some* of the ideas are worth investigating, I'm just not sure how to go about planning the implementation of whatever is worth going forward with, I'm a Tactical Officer, not a computer systems analyst...I know how to find weaknesses in weapons systems and defensive gear and exploit flaws. Basically, I think we might be able to turn the holodeck into Sim_USS_ZION, patterned after a 21st Century computer game, *BUT* we need to make sure that the safeties can't be circumvented without GREAT and SEVERE difficulty. I don't ever want any member of this crew to have to have an arm re-grown (or worse).

They walked to the ready room and sat down as Hunter contineud to read the report. When he was finished he handed the PADD back to Westfall.

"Mean while, we have some serious matters at hand. Some of these items could be beneficial. We should review them in more detail later today," said Hunter.

"I know we're at Yellow Alert, and all stations report "Manned and Ready," I know Sick Bay is ready to receive casualties and triage. And I noticed we've changed course. "Captain Sir! Your Tactical Officer bets you ten credits, "There's a direct cause and effect relationship between the course change and the yellow alert," Westfall said "Oh well, I like Miranda's better than anything on Qul Tuq anyway, and I love Miranda's coffee. Q-T's coffee always tastes like mud to me, no matter where you buy it from". That and I don't have time for a coffee break anyway {Yellow Alert}.

I'll have to talk to Counselor Zoei about my nerves too, *VERY* soon ...I cannot put it off much longer, or I'll be putting *my* performance at risk too.

I know I'll need to consult with Ensign Tappert about the computer work and the encryption, and the holosuite interface/protection, but that would require that Chief Silvio and Ensign Tappert "in the loop" as well, and I wasn't going to broach the subject with them until I'd cleared it with you. I'll see if I can speak to Counselor Zoei to let her know what's going on, just so she's informed of my situation. I'm just not feeling the most comfortable in my own skin at the moment. "

"I understand," said Hunter rising up from his chair. "We'd best head over to the meeting."

Yellow Alert... Ha Ha "
By: Krystal, Pixie Hologram , [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]
Kelly Forrester, Assistant Chief Operations Officer, [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1145

==Bridge==

Wright settled back into the command as just as the yellow alert began. He was about to pull up the commuter data on Pacifica when the computer laughed. It was not just any laugh, Wright recognized it to be Birkoff. "What the--"

The main view screen on the bridge as well as the command chair console was filled with the laughing visage of Birkoff. "Ensign Forrester," said Wright, "What is going on?"

"I do not know Sir," she replied , "I cannot override."

"Hello Wright," said Birkoff, "How is your arm?" He laughed again. "Anyway, I have waited a long time for you to call for a yellow alert. I have a surprise for you." Birkoff sneered. "Computer , initiate auto destruct."

The computer beeped and said, "Auto destruct sequence activated, one hour until auto destruct. There will be no further audio warnings."

Hunter emerged from the observation deck and stepped up beside Wright.

"No further warnings," echoed Birkoff still laughing.

"What's going on Number One," asked Hunter.

"Birkoff appears to have left us a little gift," Wright gestured towards the view screen, "he came on as soon as I ordered a yellow alert."

Hunter had a look of grave concern on his face, "Computer, countdown until self-destruct sequence."

The computer responded 57 minutes 23 seconds.

"Computer cancel self-destruct sequence, voice authorization Hunter, alpha 1, alpha 2"

The computer chirped back, "Auto destruct sequence has not been activated."

More laughter from Birkoff, "It's it active or isn't it? You will find out in an hour."

Hunter looked at Wright ruefully.

Wright punched a button on the command chair, "Ensign Tapert report to the bridge." Wright hoped she was as good as her record said she was.

Maxine blinked and looked up at the call. "Yessir! On my way, sir!" she responded immediately. Perched on her shoulder, Krystal grabbed hold of Max's hair to hang on as the ensign took off for the bridge. "Look out, coming through! Hold the lift!" the little pixie called out and indeed the turbolift waited for them, the doors closing after Max hurried through and called out, "Bridge".

"Ensign Tapert reporting, sir," Max saluted as she stepped onto the bridge then rubbed her forehead where she'd smacked it.

"Ensign, the man on the main view is Gordon Birkoff, I trust you know who he is," said Wright.

Her eyes turned to the view screen and Maxine nodded. "Gordon Birkoff, sir," she answered. Krystal was being very quiet and standing on Max's shoulder, still holding onto a lock of the young ensign's hair.

Wright quickly explained what had just transpired, "I need to verify that status of our auto destruct system is inactive, then I want to to find his little bug and get it out of the computer."

"Roight, sir," Max nodded and moved to a free terminal where she slipped her neural interface on and typed in a series of commands. "Searching, sir... One section of the computer reports it being inactive, but another section is reporting it active and counting down," she talked as she worked. "I'm trying to ascertain which section is accurate..."

"Pixie, activate trace protocol. Hunt down and pinpoint the source of origin of the Birkoff recording...." At Max's command, Krystal came to attention, clicked her heels together, and saluted. "Aye, aye, ma'am!" then she disappeared in a poofing sparkle of pixie dust.

"I'll be on the observation deck if you need me." said Hunter turning.

"I'll keep you informed, sir," Max didn't even glance in his direction. Her eyes were filled with code as she stared past the terminal and went at the problem from this end while the AI program she'd designed sought out the originating terminal

Wright watched the main view screen in frustration, the image of Birkoff continued to laugh and remind him that time was running out. "Will someone shut him up," said Wright irritably.

"I am trying sir," said Forrester, "He has my station all locked down."

"Keep trying Ensign," said Wright.

Maxine kept hard at work, the fingers of one hand tapping out an absent tune as she did. "Arrogant blighter," she murmured at one point.

"I got it!" the little pixie hologram poofed back into sight at Max's shoulder.

"Location?" Max murmured, her eyes still filled with code and her fingers still tapping.

"Deck four. Auxiliary Control," Krystal announced. "Stardate 58204.24, 0557.024 hours."

"A'roight then... That's the date 'e took control... Pull up and playback the keystrokes and commands issued on that terminal. Start your search at the time mark for loss of computer control and continue till 0630 on that Stardate, Pixie..." Max commanded.

The little hologram came to attention and saluted. "Aye, aye, ma'am.." and disappeared once again.

"Commander, the autodestruct is not actually active sir. It's a virus and we're working on 'unting the blighter down now..." Max reported.

"Very good," said Wright releived that the ship was not going to blow up,"Can you restore control to the ops bridge station," he asked watching the laughing Birkoff still on the screen.

"M'working on that sir," she responded. "Looks like the bugger rerouted control back down to Auxiliary Control on deck four. We're just looking for his password..... Ahhh... Found it," Max smirked. "Computer, re-route Operation Command functions back to the bridge and restore Operations Station to full functions, authorization charlie22beta1," she commanded and within moments control was given back to Forrester and her station unfrozen.

"Sir," said Forrester, "I have control again" The laughing image of Brikoff disappeared and the normal star field filled the screen.

"Thank you," said Wright.

"Now... For bug control. Pixie, did you get me a sample of that code?" As soon as Max asked, the little pixie popped into view on her shoulder, nodding. "Yahuh." A string of the virus code appeared on Max's terminal and the ensign's eyes became unfocused as she studied it. The fingers of one hand continued to lightly tap the absent tune she'd started while she worked on the code and soon the string was dissolving into bytes and restructuring itself into a totally different string of code. "There, sir... The virus should be neutralized in...." She glanced at the pixie on her shoulder, who finished with, "Three minutes and thirty one point seven seconds." They both turned to look at Commander Wright then.

Wright was uncertain what to think about this rather odd computer specialist and her holographic pixie, he thought that Hunter was crazy for allowing it, however, he had to admit they appeared to work well together. "Good work Ensign," said Wright getting up from the command char and walking over to where she worked. "I think it might be best to run the computer though some more diagnostics," he said, "We need to make sure there are no more surprises from Birkoff." The thought that this could happen again the next time he ordered torpedos fired in battle concerned him.

Maxine thought that was a good idea herself and it showed on her face as she looked up at him. "Aye sir," she nodded. "I'll go through the computer and 'olosystems and weed out any thing that doesn't belong," she assured him with a smile. "And thank you sir." She left off saying what a pleasure it had been and how much she'd enjoyed herself because she thought that might be just a little too tacky sounding to actually vocalize.

"Please send a report on your findings when you are done," said Wright.

"Of course sir," Max agreed. "I'll make a complete, detailed report and have it for you as soon as I'm finished."

New Responsibilities "
By: Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Intel Officer, [PST]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1200

Hunter returned to the Observation deck and sat down at the console. Although distracted by the flashing amber light which some how represented Birkoff's desire for destruction, he began looking through the duty roster.

The choice to replace Atwood with Northrop was logical.

Hunter tapped the com panel, "Dr. Northrop, report to the Observation Lounge."

Alyssa looked up from her terminal when she heard Hunter's voice over the comm system. She tapped her comm badge, "Aye Sir.....I'll be there in a moment."

Standing up, she closed her terminal and left her office, making her way up to the Observation Lounge.

When Alyssa entered, Hunter was pacing back and forth in deep thought. "Please have a seat."

She took the nearest seat and look her Captain, "Sir? Would you mind telling me what this is about?"

"I know this is sudden but you are hereby assigned as acting Chief Intelligence Officer."

The Archaeologist blinked a little, looking at Hunter.

"Sir? Why the sudden promotion? What happened to Lt. Atwood?"

"Lt. Atwood has been reassigned. There will be a senior staff meeting in 1 hour, please attend. Congratulations."

"Yes Sir....I'll be there." This was all a little bit sudden...and she wasn't entirely sure what to think. She hadn't even taken her Chief Warrant Officer's Exam yet. Speaking of which....it would probably be a good idea to mention that to the Captain. "Sir.....would it be possible for me to take the CWO Exam? I've been studying and well....I'm ready." If there was one thing Alyssa Northrop was good at...it was acing tests. She'd been doing it all through school...up to and including her Thesis Defence.

Hunter smiled at her. She was as tenacious as ever. He pulled back a chair and sat down next to her. "Alyssa, we're being diverted into a hostile situation. There won't be time to take the test."

Hunter paused, "As Captain of the USS Zion, I here by promote you to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. With it, all the duty and responsibility that goes with it. It is duly noted in the ships log that this field promotion is effective immediately and will be permanent upon completing your officer's exam."

"Aye Sir.....Thank you, Sir." It felt odd. It was her first official Fleet promotion. To tell the truth, she sort of felt like she did when she sucessfully defended her Doctoral Thesis: No Different. She half expected to feel wiser and just all around better...but she hadn't. She still been Alyssa Northrop. Still she smiled and felt honored that Hunter would go out on a limb like this and promote her before she took the exam.

Hunter tapped his combadge, "Computer, grant access beta-two to Dr. Alyssa Northrop, voice authorization."

The computer responded with a chirp, "Voice authorization accepted Captain Ian Hunter. Security clearance beta-two confirmed for Chief Warrant Officer Alyssa Northrop."

Hunter stood up, "Congratulations Chief," he said.

"Thank you, Captain. I know I'm not the easiest officer to work with....but...um...", Northrop stopped there. So much to digest in such a short time. Really...she'd had two promotions. One to Senior Staff Level..and then in rank to boot. "I won't let you down, Sir."

"See you in about an hour," he said, "dismissed."

The archeologist stood and came to attention. "Aye Captain...1 hour."

That said, she left the Observation Lounge and returned to her office. She didn't have time to move into Atwood's just yet. Though she wanted to. Hunter had said something about being sent into a Hostile Situation. It would probably be a good idea to take a look at what they had on enemy ship movements....just in case.

Bye Chuck "
By: Charles Atwood, Chief Intelligence Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58205.25 1300

After leaving the bridge Atwood went to his quarters. He began packing his things. Fortunately, he made it a rule to live lightly so that he could be free to move wherever fleet command wanted him. Atwood informed flight operations of his departure and asked them to have a runabout prepped for him.

He packed everything into a small case and slung it over his shoulder. He was not sure if he should try to say goodbye to Sam. He did not understand her change of heart, but it was probably for the better; she just did not do what she was told so he did not think marrying her would have worked out. He decided to just send her a message saying good bye.

When he was done, he checked the computer and found his transfer orders. After downloading them to a PADD he made his way to the main shuttle bay.

"Good morning Lieutenant," said the flight controller, "Your scheduled for the runabout Euphrates."

Atwood nodded, he noticed that the Ensign did not even attempt to salute him. He did not like the lack of respect that was allowed on this ship; a fact that he intended to report to fleet command. In truth, he was glad to be leaving. "I will be leaving now," he said.

"Yes sir," said the ensign, "It is all ready for you."

Atwood left the flight office and walked into the shuttle bay itself. He found the Euphrates ready to go. He entered the runabout and began running pre-flight checks.

When all was ready he requested clearance to take off and left the Zion; he hoped for good.

Pacifica"
By: Sarik, Chief Science Officer, [PST]
Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Melissa Jarvis, Chief Security Officer, [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Jeff Westfall, Tactical Officer, [PST]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Acting Chief Intel Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58205.25 1300

[ON:]

Northrop stopped in the hallways just outside the Observation Lounge. She was nervous.....but if it was simply from this being her first meeting or whether that feeling of not belonging had returned...she couldn't tell. It was probably a little bit of both, she surmised. It was tough in that she wasn't sure of how to conduct herself in the situation. Yes...she was Senior Staff now...but that didn't mean a whole lot. Everyone in the room still outranked her.

The brunnette shook herself a little. This was stupid, she told herself. Hunter had promoted her because he knew she could do the job. Had he not thought so...he would have had the Fleet send them a replacement for Atwood. Looking down at her feet a moment, she calmed herself and then pulled her uniform jacket straight.

Walking forward, the Lounge Doors spread before her and allowed her to enter. Thankfully, she was greeted by an empty room. Now the only question was which chair to take. Somewhere near the foot of the table...that was her best bet. So...she moved down that way and selected a chair at random....picking the last one on the window side of the table.

Commander Wright entered the conference room to find the new Intel chief already there. "Hello Chief," said Wright, "Congratulation."

"Hello...and thank you, Commander.....," she felt like she should say more....but couldn't think of anything just at the moment. Part of Alyssa wanted to grill him...find out what he knew. But another part of her told her to relax because that's what the meeting was for. To find out what was going on.

Wright sat down and began going through the information on a PADD that he had brought with him. This was going to be a tough mission, he thought. The Federation had moved against Pacifica. Wright wished they had a few more ships with with them.

Patia puffed slightly, lifting her hair from her forehead. She clutched her PADD as she breezed into the meeting room. Silently she nodded at the senior staff members already assembled as she found her seat and settled into it.

"Good afternoon counselor," said Wright

Zoei smiled slightly, "Commander, good afternoon." Briefly, she nodded to him.

***

Teilani brushed through her hair. She had had a haircut and was quit please with her short coiffure. As she came back in sickbay an incoming message displayed that she was needed for an meeting.

It would probably have something to do with the yellow alert so after signing off some padd Xioa had given her she left for the meeting room.

As she entered she saw that Patia was already there. She nodded and sat down at the table.

Zoei smiled slightly and nodded in return.

Wright looked at the doctor something was different about her, "Hello Doctor," said Wright. He paused to look at her for a few second, trying to figure out what had changed and then again turned his attention back to his PADD.

"Goodmorning Sir," she said softly. Her keen eyes noticed that he used his arm almost to the fullest extent.

Silvio entered the room, he has just finished doing the full maintenance routine on the ship's cloaking device, he had a feeling that the yellow alert meant they might be needing it. "Hello everyone," said Silvio as he took his seat.

"Hello Silvio," said Wright

"Commander," replied Silvio with a smile.

Melissa Jarvis was the next to arrive for the meeting. She looked around the room, noticed the new face at the table. She found a spot at the table and sat down.

"Hello Lieutenant Jarvis," said Wright, "I bet you are glad to have an empty brig." Wright smiled.

"Yes sir," said Jarvis, returning his smile, "except, it is no longer empty. It would seem that a couple of crewman had too much Romulan ale last night and had a disagreement. I have them cooling their heels in the brig."

"Interesting," said Wright, "What was their disagreement about"

In truth, it was two crewmen from engineering fighting over a bet they had made regarding the nature of the relationship between their boss and the counselor. Melissa did not wish to put either of them on the spot here so she just said, "The usual drunken stuff Commander, I will file a report and let them out in a few hours."

Patia's head jerked up. She locked eyes on Chief Security Officer before she rolled them to the ceiling. Maybe they should just make a ship wide announcement. It would be the fastest way to settle the bets.

Wright nodded just as the Captain and Westfall entered the briefing room.

Sarik entered as usual just in time for the briefing. The past few days were rather busy again as he had been working on another project to get more information about the historical values of vulcana regar. It was obvious that his mind was still preoocupied as he merely nodded to all people when he entered.

Hunter looked around as he walked from the door to his spot at the head of the table.

"Let's get started." said Hunter as he pulled his chair out from the table and promptly sat down.

Hunter leaned forward on the table and folded his arms, in turn his eyes meet each person at the table as he told them the news: "One hour ago the Zion was diverted from its return course to Qul Tuq. Fleet Command has ordered us to sector 4002 to intercept an armada of Federation vessels steaming toward the Pacifica system." Behind Hunter a large display panel illustrated the various theaters of combat and the location of Pacifica. "There's more, the Alliance has lost contact with Pacifica, it is believed they may already have fallen besieged." Hunter glanced at everyone. "We've been ordered to hinder the armada and attempt to slow it down. In less than 52 hours we will arrive at the intercept point. We'll need to be combat ready....we're on our own."

He paused to let everything sink in.

"Are there any questions?" asked Hunter.

Alyssa raised her hand a little, but didn't hesitate once she had Hunter's attention. "Sir...will there be no other ships joining us at all? I know the Zion is a capable ship....but one against an Armada?"

Hunter nodded, "indeed she is a capable ship manned by a capable crew, but, she is one ship." Hunter looked sternly about the room, "We will be outnumbered. Tango fleet has been dispatched as well, but they are more than 3 days out. This mission is going to be rough."

Westfall replied to the opening, "Captain Hunter, is there any Intelligence Report as to the composition of the enemy armada? It would be helpful if I had the composition of the opposition fleet.

"There is some data Mr. Westfall." Hunter picked up his PADD and scrolled through it. There 16 ships." Hunter displayed the data on the console so everyone could read it:

USS Devlin Galaxy USS Spinoza Galaxy USS Windstar Akira USS Girabaldi Akira USS Paris Akira USS Omaha Akira USS Lincoln Akira USS Lincoln Norway USS Avalanche Norway USS Whistler Steamrunner USS Madrid Steamrunner USS McDonald Steamrunner USS Edwards Excelsior USS Baron Excelsior USS Ford Excelsior USS Remington Excelsior

Hunter turned back toward Westfall who was studying the information. "I will forward this to you after the meeting. You can see there are some good ships there."

He looked around the room. Everyone was silent.

"Okay then." Hunter glanced at his PADD again, "There are some other matters as well. Lieutenant Atwood has been reassigned. He has already departed. I have promoted Dr. Alyssa Northrop as his replacement. She will be acting Chief Intelligence officer until further notice."

He turned to Zoei, "your assessment of the crew's combat readiness and mental wellbeing?"

"Overall, the crew is showing marginal improvement. There are still pockets of people who are having issues, but they are smaller than they were. I would anticipate this situation causing a resurgence in anxiety, but the crew is already battle tested. They will be fine through the duration, but expect more issues to arise once the situation has calmed again." Zoei looked over her PADD to see if she had missed anything. Her assessment was clear, concise and covered the major points.

Hunter nodded as he accepted her assessment.

"Westfall," said Hunter next as he turning in his direction, "tactical analysis?"

Westfall said, "If we work it right, between helm and tactical, we *might* even be able to get between two ships and synchronize assaults with the forward and aft weapon systems. It would be something that they would *NOT* expect to have happen, because it's not a standard offensive strategy. I've checked our sensors and data relays, and unless Ensign Tappert knows something I don't, they all seem to be in the highest percentile of specification".

All our weapons systems and emergency damage control teams are on high alert There's more that we need to discuss, Captain, but that's the "Executive Summary" for the moment". Westfall smiled, and tried to look like he was pleased. He had put a great deal of thought into this "Sales Presentation". He was determined to protect his ship, without anyone else making "The Supreme Sacrifice".

"Good Westfall."

Hunter turned his attention to Jarvis, "Security?" he asked.

"The brig stands ready to receive any prisoners we might have. It is empty with the exception on two crewmembers, which I will be releasing this afternoon. " Melissa gave Patia a quick glance, "I will begin organizing my men to defend the Zion as well as assisting with any evacuations, should they become necessary."

"Ops, what is your report?"

The Ops officer answered, "All systems are ready for a good fight Sir."

Next he turned toward Silvio, "Engineering status?"

"Engineering is operating at 100% efficiency right now. I will begin making preparations for battle as soon as we leave here," said Silvio

"Dr. Dane, sickbay report?"

Teilani remained quiet. Her mind was somewhere else and she did not hear the Captain’s question.

"Dr.Dane," he repeated.

She looked up. "Sorry Captain, Sickbay is ready as always. Our one remaining patient, the prisoner Mason as come out of his coma. You can stop by to talk to him whenever you are ready. "

Hunter made a note on his PADD, "Very well."

Next Hunter looked at Sarik, "Status of Science Stations?"

"All science station are functioning within normal parameters. I will have the antimatter program shut of until further notice and alert all subordinates to stand by for security and medical emergencies."

Hunter set his PADD down on the desk. He looked around at his officers. It was going to be tough. He was going to get to see what they were made of.

Distraction "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1415

Patia watched, silently, as the other senior officers filed from the room. She pivoted slowly in her chair. The gentle sway keeping time with her thoughts. There was no way to avoid it; she was going to have to mention the men in the brig to Silvio. He would be the last one to leave before her. Intently she stared at his back.

Silvio waited at the door to the conference room as all the senior staff seemingly tried to go through at the same time. Silvio realized Patia was not among them and could feel her eyes burning a hole in his back. Smiling, her turned around and looked at her, "Are you coming?"

Absently, she nodded. She gathered her PADD and slowly rose from her seat. As Patia crossed the room she locked eyes with Silvio, her expression serious.

Silvio let the smile slip from his face as he noticed her expression. He was certain they had worked out their issues regarding Mason, but the look on her face was less than thrilled, "You look unhappy," he said, "What is the matter?"

"Do you have a minute," Patia asked, "before you need to get back to engineering?"

"Sure," said Silvio, "What's up?"

"Walk with me back to my office," Patia asked, her eyebrow arched. "There is something I wanted to discuss with you about the crew and we don't need to fuel any more rumors."

Silvio nodded as they left the conference room and got onto the turbolift. "Deck 8," said Silvio.

Patia shifted impatiently from one foot to the other, even though the ride took mere seconds. The doors whooshed open and Patia strode through them, moving toward her office at a sharp clip.

Once inside her office Silvio made himself comfortable on the couch. He absently picked up a bright yellow pillow and set it in his lap.

Patia settled into her chair. The only concession she made to proper decorum were the shoes slipped off in front of her seat. She tucked her feet underneath her and wrapped the fingers of her left hand around her ankle. "I understand you have a couple men in the brig, Chief," Patia began.

Silvio sighed, "Yes, Busch and Spencer, they got into a little fight last night." He paused wondering why she was worried about them, "Why do you ask?"

"Did you hear what the fight was about?" Patia asked. Her fingers flexed and squeezed the delicate flesh of her ankle as she waited for his reply.

"Chief Jarvis said they had a drunken fight in Miranda's," said Silvio.

"Did she tell you what the fight was about?" she continued?

Silvio shrugged, "Not really, I assumed it was just some trivial disagreement. Do you know what it was about?"

"Apparently, there was a question about the nature of our relationship. It escalated and now two members of your team are cooling their heels in the brig." Patia sighed.

"It was about our relationship," said Silvio, "What a dumb thing to be fighting about. How did you find this out?"

Patia blushed. "Chief Jarvis didn't want to go into the details in the meeting in the hopes of avoiding an embarrassment for us, since we were both present. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, she didn't restrain her thoughts on the matter. I don't know all the details, but I am a little concerned about the general principle of the situation."

Silvio sighed, "So what do you want to do?"

"I am interested in hearing your thoughts, since it was your men, but I am also concerned about the potential impact within the rest of your team. Is this relationship too disruptive to your department? Especially considering the current status of our mission?" Patia asked. She was concerned about his response, and hoped it didn't validate her question.

"Busch and Spencer are hot heads," he said, "Our relationship is not disruptive to my department." In fact, his team was doing very well right now. "Please do not think that these two hot heads are a good representation of the whole engineering department because they are not."

Patia shifted her leg and propped her chin on her knee. "So you are saying Busch and Spencer have drawn brig time for other incidents between the two of them? Or this is the first time their behavior has escalated to this point?"

"No, this is the first time they have been tossed into the brig, but I am not surprised, they both like to run their mouths off. If it wasn't us, it would have been something else that got them tossed into the brig."

"But it was us, it wasn't something else." Patia shook her head. "How much of a topic of conversation is our relationship within your group?"

"They are not talking to me about it," said Silvio, "I am sure it has been discussed, but I Just do not see that it is something that is distracting them. Busch and Spencer are an aberration." Silvio, was going to have a nice chat with those two after he let them sit for awhile longer in the brig. "Perhaps I should send them to you for an evaluation," suggested Silvio.

"I will accept your assessment of the situation, but I am concerned should this situation escalate, Silvio. The safety and serenity of the crew must be preserved, perhaps an anger management evaluation for crewmen Busch and Spencer is in order. No matter the cause of the disagreement, the reaction was extreme," Patia replied.

"I will have them report to you after the get out of the brig," said Silvio. About your other concern, it is a valid one, and I will pay closer attention to things; if there are any more problems we will have to deal with it then. ok?" Silvio smiled at her. "I need to get down to engineering, we have to get this ship battle ready."

"Please, let me know if you feel the situation is getting out of hand," Patia smiled slightly. "Although I don't think you will need the well wishes, good luck with the battle preparations." Patia stood, gracefully. "Thank you for meeting with me about this situation."

Silvio stood up, looking at Patia he gently tossed the yellow pillow at her, "It will be ok."

The corners of Patia's lips upturned gently as she caught the flying cushion. "One way or the other, it will work out, I know. I will see you later, then?"

"I will be working late tonight, I will try to stop in and see you this evening though," Silvio smiled. He thought about telling her he loved her again, but then decided that she probably already knew he was thinking it anyway. "I will see you later."

"I will be here late as well. You know how to track me down, but don't be surprised if you find me in the office," Patia brushed her palms against the pants of her uniform.

"I'll find ya," said Silvio as he headed for the door.

Modemcables and power supplies"
By: Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1450

Throwing the notes of the meeting on her bed she went to her drawer and picked up the padd. Her curiosity got the better of her and she wondered what was on there. Clutching it tightly in her hands she left her quarters and headed to Main engineering.

**Main engineering**

When she entered Engineering she was still captivated by the warpdrive, blue shimmer in the background, engineers busy with engineering tools, keeping the energy flow to peak efficiency. It was somewhat similar to sickbay only here the warpdrive was a patient who needed constant care.

" Hello pretty lady," she heard behind her. She turned around and stared in the friendly face of Craig Witmore. " Hello ensign Witmore," she said smiling. " I am looking for the chief.?"

"He just came in and.........Craig looked around, " he is over there." Craig pointed towards Silvio and a young ensign. Teilani nodded and she walked over to them, as she approached she heard Silvio giving orders to the young ensign. "Ensign Gordon, please take the flow regulators up to Hanson and give him a hand, he is working on the power flow to the port nacelle."

"Aye sir," said Gordon.

"And Jeff," said Silvio stopping the young man, "be careful."

"Yes sir."

Turning Silvio saw the doctor, "Hello Doc, what brings you here?"

"I require some technical asstance Chief," Teilani said with a smile and handed him the padd.

Silvio took the PADD and looked it over, "Hmm, Klingon. Come with me," he said as walked towards his office. Once inside he put the PADD on his desk and gave it the once over with a tricorder, "It's power cell has been discharged," said Silvio.

Flipping the PADD on its side he rummaged thought his tool kit of the right tool. He removed the back of the PADD and looked at the mess that used to be a power cell. "Looks like someone intentionally damaged it," he said.

Teilani looked at him. Now she understood what made him such a good engineer. He handled his tools the same way as she handled hers in sickbay. In a way they both were doctors.

Silvio opened his desk drawer, inside were power sources of various kinds and for many different devices. Silvio never threw away a good power cell, you never knew when you might need one again. Finding a power source that would work, he placed it in the PADD and secured the cover. Silvio looked at the PADD as it came to life. "Here you go Doc," he said, handing it back to her.

Teilani's hart pounded in her throat as she took back the PADD. She quickly browsed through it and frowned. "Darned it was all in Klingon."

"So it will keep working now right," she asked Silvio. " And without problems I can hook it up to my console right?"

"It should last for quite a while, he replied, "If I were you though, I would upload it to our computer right away." Silvio got up and went to one of the shelves in his office. He pulled down a small case and handed it to the doctor, "You can connect it to our system with this converter, there are instructions for you to follow in the case. It is not hard to do." Silvio smiled, "Just be sure to bring the converter back to me when you are done. I would hate to lose it."

"Thanks Mr Silvio." Teilani took the converter. " Dont worry I will take good care of it and bring it back to you a.s.a.p." She then turned and left.

As Silvio watched the doctor leave Engineering he noticed Witmore was also watching her go.

"Witmore," he said, "When you are done there, I need you to go up and do maintenance on the forward phaser array."

Craig had difficulty tearing his eyes back from Teilani's rear end. Compliments to those who had designed the Starfleet uniforms.

" Sure chief," he responded as he turned his attention to Silvio. " You know the Doc is quit pretty, especially with the short hair. You think she would go out with a tinker like my self?"

"Anything is possible Witmore," said Silvio with a slight smile.

" I don't know, she is pretty smart." Craig said abit sadly. " You know Chief, you and the Counselor lady seem to hit it off nicely. You care to share your secrets with me?"

Craig looked at Silvio with a sort of puppy dog eyes.

SIlvio almost laughed, "Ask me no questions Ensign," said Silvio, "and I will tell you no lies. Now, get back to work."

“Aye Chief,” Craig replied with a chuckle. “Phaser array, here I come.”

First contact - part 1"
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Joshua Dane, Teilani's brother , [NPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1500

Location Mars settlement

Joshua looked at the screen which displayed the face of Brexen Rafellian. “ Josh, set your difference aside. Lani needs you. With your parents death and Eric gone missing, you , melissa and Lani only have eachother,” he said. “It is time to forgive, you all are hotheads I know but you are the only family she has.”

“ Look Uncle, she has not contacted us in months, why should we be the first to take the step.” Josh argued.

“Joshua, someone must take the first step. I will not allow it that this family breaks apart because of just a mere misunderstanding. I know that Lani is very stubborn and has her pride but I also know she is your sister and in the heat of an argument hurtfull things are being said.

Josh remained silent for a second. “Uncle, how is she?” he then asked.

Brexen smiled. “ According to Counselor Zoei, she is just fine. A lot has happened to her but I think she has found her place on the ship she is serving. Joshua, try to contact Counselor Zoei and talk to her, perhaps you can talk to Lani as well.”

Brexen paused. “ Joshua, Lani needs you. He turned and typed something on a console. “ There I sent you the coordinates, try to contact the USS Zion and have them patch you thru to Counselor Patia Zoei.”

Joshua smiled and nodded. “ I will, he said. “ It was good seeing you uncle. See you in a few weeks. Dane out.”

The connection was terminated and Josh leant back in his chair. He closed his eyes and tried to remember Teilani’s face. He knew that he had been hard on her, trying to replace his parents as they were on their mission and now with them being dead, and Eric gone missing the burden was even harder.

He rubbed his temples and stared at the coordinates on the screen. He stood up and walked towards the window. The reddish glow of the Mars dessert highlighted the room and his face. He watched his childeren playing outside, they have never seen their aunt. Joshua turned around and walked back to his desk.

“ Computer initiate a subspace communication channel with the USS Zion, last known coordinates 235.5. Requesting contact with Counselor Patia Zoei.” A beep indicated the requested and Joshua waited.

*** USS Zion***

The shrill tone of an incoming message broke Patia's concentration. She had been working on the research to track down Dr. Dane's family. She gave the authorization for the relay and waited for the person on the other end to initiate contact.

Joshua tapped his console and with some flickering he saw the features of Patia appear. She looked delicate, shiny dark hair and eyes.

"Counselor Zoei?" Joshua asked.

"Yes," she smiled slightly, "and you are?"

"Hello, I am Joshua Dane, I believe you know my sister?"

"Hello, Mr. Dane. If your sister is Dr. Teilani Dane, then yes, I do know her." Patia nodded.

"She is," Josh hesitated. "I also believe that you have spoken to Brexen Rafellian?

"Yes, I did, recently," Patia replied.

"He told me to get in touch with you and here I am. So how may I help you Ms Zoei?"

"Please, call me Patia," she invited. "The reason I wished to speak with you was Teilani has spoken fondly of her family. She stated, though, she has not been in contact with her siblings or parents for quite some time. To be frank, Mr. Dane, she was concerned about the reception she would receive if she attempted contact. I understand there was some friction in the family and she was afraid her family members would not want contact reestablished. When I spoke with Mr. Rafellian, he told me of your parents' death. I did share that information with Teilani. I am sorry for your loss, as well, Mr. Dane."

"Thank you Ms Zoei, erm Patia," Joshua said. "There was indeed friction as Lani went to Medical school and my parents had rather preferred her to join the family business. But Lani can be very tenacious and stubborn."

"Yes, she can," Patia smiled. "And it is challenging when children do not follow parents' expectations, no matter how good the reason."

Joshua smiled. "I have been trying to keep track of her for all her academy years and even during her first assignments. I guess she is not aware of that?

"She was not. She feared you wanted nothing to do with her," Patia said.

"I thought so. Lots of hurtful things have been said during her leaving and I think it is now time to forget and forgive. You can tell her that she is most welcome in my house, she is after all my little sister."

"I will be happy to share that information with her. I am sure she will be in contact with you shortly." Patia said.

Joshua laughed. "I think you must make her, Ms Zoei. Has she told you about Eric?"

"Lani might surprise you this time. I think she is at a point where she is ready, if not eager, to reestablish contact with you. As for Eric, she has told me a little about him. She seemed very close to him," Patia remarked.

Joshua sighed. "Eric and Lani were like to peas in a pie. I know that she thinks that we blame her for his leaving. Would you tell her that this is not so and that it was Eric's own decision."

"I will pass that information on to her when I talk to her about our conversation today."

"Don't tell her that he is gone missing.

"She is already aware of that. You two might be able to compare notes and make some mutual progress on finding him, I believe," Patia nodded.

Josh's face became a bit stern. "Perhaps. Anyway Ms Zoei, erm Patia, " Joshua said with a smile. I believe your time is valuable so I will not take up anymore of it.

The changes in his facial expressions were telling a story that didn't match his words, Patia observed. It wasn't her problem to decipher, though. She just needed to put the two of them in contact. "Thank you for contacting me, I will speak with Lani today."

"Thank you Ms Patia, Dane out."

The Mason Case "
By: Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Acting Chief Intel Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58205.25 1605

Hunter closed the file on his console. He had just finished reading all the reports from both Counselor Zoei and Dr. Dane regarding the prisoner, Mason. Both where fine officers and neither were prone to exaggerate such serious matters.

The Counselor and the Doctor had urged Hunter to use his authority to grant Mason temporary asylum. It was time to meet him. Captain Hunter to Dr. Northrop, please meet me in my ready room.

Alyssa had just been about to contact her counterpart back on Qul Tuq to see if there was any information available on the ships the Federation was sending to Pacifica when her comm badge chirped. "Northrop here, Captain. I'll be there in a moment, Sir."

She tapped off the channel and shut her Terminal. Atwood had left the office a total mess. It was going to take her about a year to get it in any semblance of order. How the man had ever been effective was beyond her comprehension. Anyway, that was a job for later. Northrop stood and left the otherwise empty Intelligence Offices and headed for Hunter's Ready Room. As was the norm, it didn't take all that long to arrive there. A moment after the chime was pressed, the door slid open and she entered the room.

Hunter turned his console around so Northrop could see the file. "This is Lt. Matthew Mason. A prisoner who was bound for Rura Penthe. He didn't make it because he intervened in a confrontation between a Cardassian,Zoei and Dane. He saved their life and suffered a concussion that left him comatose for a month."

Hunter leaned back. "According to the logs, Atwood interviewed him and I've not been able to locate the file."

"Mason has asked to speak with me. I would like you to accompany me to Sickbay."

"And I suppose he wants asylum? Despite the fact that he's a Prisoner of War?" Alyssa didn't buy it. This guy was simply trying to save his own skin. Despite the Alliance between the Federation and the Cardassian Union....there was really no love lost between the two groups. It didn't surprise her to find out that a Federation Starfleet Officer had killed a Cardassian to save himself. "I suppose you want me to be the voice of skepticism through all this? As for the record of Mason's interview.....it could be buried under the pile of PADDs and other crap that Lieutenant Atwood left on his desk. For the record, Sir...it's going to take me a while to dig the desk out and organize everything. The location of Jimmy Hoffa could be on one of those PADDs and we'd never know it."

Hunter arched his brow, "Jimmy...Hoffa? Who?"

Northrop thought about explaining....but at the same time she didn't really want to get into it all that much. "Um.....he was a Union Boss in the Early 20th century that vanished and was never found."

She left it at that and let the conversation move on.

"Of course, anyway..." continued Hunter, "The Counselor and the Doctor have requested assylum on his behalf."

"Well then....I suppose we ought to at least talk to the man. Though as it stands now...I still think he's trying to save his own skin." She shrugged, "At least you'll know that he's sincere if he manages to convince me."

"Alright then, let's see what Mr. Mason has to say," said Hunter standing.

"Yes Sir." The brunette shot to her feet seeing that the Captain was already getting up. She followed him to the door as the two headed for Sickbay.

Hunter stopped at the door, "After you."

"Ah...and Officer and a Gentleman." She smiled...and stepped through the door out onto the bridge. It was only a quick few feet to the Turbolift.....and then down into the ship towards Sickbay.

=Sickbay=

Hunter and Northrop entered sickbay and sought out Dr. Dane. "Hello Doctor," greeted Hunter.

"Hello Captain, Miss Northropp." Teilani responded. She closed a tricorder and stuck it in her overcoat pocket. "How may I help you?"

"We've come to talk to Mason, what is his condition?"

Teilani looked from Hunter to Alyssa. "He is fine, actually better then I expected. You can talk to him for 20 minutes. He still needs his rest."

Hunter nodded in acknowledgment.

Mason watched as the captain entered sickbay. He had an intel officer with him. Mason figured, it was time to be questioned. He had been previously assured that he would not be tortured but the stories he had heard about the Maquis were very bad. He hoped they were all lies.

They went over his bed, "You are Matt Mason?" asked Hunter.

"Yes sir," he said.

"I'm Captain Hunter, this is Chief Warrant Officer, Northrop." he said gesturing.

Mason nodded.

"I understand I owe you a debt of gratitude for the safety of Dr. Dane and Zoei?" said Hunter studying his reaction.

"You do not owe me anything sir, I would not have been able to live with myself if I had not intervened."

"I'm here also because they have requested asylum on your behalf. Is this something you wish to pursue?"

"I wish to join the Maquis sir," he said.

Hunter crossed his arms and looked sternly at Mason. "Northrop here and I think you are just trying to save your ass," he said looking for Mason to justify himself.

"You know, from day one of this war, we have been told by our commanding officers that the Maquis were barbarians, that the tortured their prisoners, yet I have yet to be tortured by any of the Maquis." Mason looked at Hunter, "You *are* probably saving my ass, even if you throw me in Rura Penthe, you would be saving me from more of their lies."

Alyssa nodded at Hunter and then moved a little just to get more comfortable. Inwardly she smirked, knowing that her normal methods of getting the information she needed wouldn't be usable here. At least not in this uniform. In the short amount of time she'd known Atwood, she had found that there was little she couldn't imagine him doing. The fact that the report on this man was missing from the computer lent his story a little credence. It was time to do a little probing. "Mr. Mason.....you said that Mr. Atwood got violent with you. What exactly happened....and can anyone verify your condition? Perhaps one of Dr. Dane's medical staff? Surely you must have still been carrying any damage done to your person when you were brought aboard the Zion."

"Assuming that you have recordings of the interview you should be able to watch as he applied pressure to certain pain points on me, you would be able to see him choke me until I was almost unconscious. You can see him using that Klingon pain thing on me. It did not look like much of a weapon but it sure hurt." Mason stopped, why were they asking questions they should already have the answers to, "Wait a second, you don't have the recordings, he destroyed them didn't he?"

"I wouldn't know. All of that would be in the computer back on Qul Tuq. Rest assured that it will be checked out."

Mason did not believe her for a second. She knew.

Northrop nodded.....now it was time to get a little more into the heart of the situation. She leaned forward and put her hands, palm down, on the table. "A little while ago you told Captain Hunter here that you wanted to join the Maquis to get away from the 'lies' your Starfleet Commanders were telling you. Up till the time you arrived in our custody....you had no way of knowing if they were indeed lies. So you expect me to believe that in the short time between your capture and your interrogation on Qul Tuq that you decided to abandon everything you knew to join a group of rebels? Simply because you thought that you were being lied to?"

Mason thought of his wife and daughter, but decided he did not want to tell them about his family just yet, he did not completly trust them, yet. He looked at the intel officer and smiled, "We are told, and even shown visual evidence that you Maquis are ruthless butchers. We haved seen terrible pictures of what you had supposedly done to innocent people, yet since my capture, I have not once been tortured by a Maquis person. I have, on the other hand been tortured by my own Federation comerades and their allies. I have watched with incridible shock as a Cardassian, who was supposed to be my ally, clearly was about to violate one of your crew, for no other reason than the fact that he could." He looked the intel lady right in the eyes, "You tell me, how much convincing would you need if our circumstances were reversed."

"Well...not long ago our circumstances were reversed. And look at what uniform I'm wearing. Of course....the fact that several of the Federations oldest member worlds pulled out didn't throw up any warning flags for you?"

Mason looked at Northrop; he nearly laughed. "Our situations were not reversed. You were not facing the reality that what you have believed was false. You were not hunted and tortured by the very people you thought were your friends." said Mason, "Spare me the insults chief warrant officer, I believed what my commander told me."

Leaning back against another piece of equipment, "I find it hard to believe that someone would become a traitor to their government simply because of a little propaganda." Crossing her arms across her chest, "Myself...I became a member of the Maquis because of that Starfleet did to my family....and the countless other atrocities they've committed in the name of preserving a treaty. And you sit there and tell us that you want to change sides because you were lied to? Excuse while I say that that's hardly a convincing reason."

Mason shook his head, intel officers were all the same, paranoid, distrustful and above the law. He was certain that if the Captain left she would use the same tactics on him that Atwood did. "I have committed no atocities and up until recently I beleived that the Federation was defending themselves and other innocent worlds from the Maquis butchers. I have, been shown plenty examples of Maquis barbarism." Mason paused taking deep breaths, it was becoming a litte harder to breath. "Now I am faced with the possibility, that just maybe, those images were all lies and I have been on the wrong side in this war." I should have listened to Mara, he thought, I should have left with her. This nightmare would not be happening. "Dispite what you might think," he said, "I am not a barbarian, I am not capable of committing atrocities. I was a Starfleet Officer, I did what my Commander ordered, but I do have a clean conscience."

She smirked, "Just following orders, hmm? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah...the Neuremberg Trials after World War II."

"You know," said Mason, "you have a remarkable skill for only listening to the things you want to hear." He glared at her, "I was ordered to defend the federation and my ship, I was not ordered to exterminate an entire culture. I could not and would not participate in that kind of activity."

Hunter cleared his throat and said, "that's fine Mason." Hunter gave Alyssa a quick sideways nod, gesturing for her to follow him. They walked away from Mason's bed.

"If he's telling the truth, I would hate to subject him to a situation where he might change his mind about the Maquis." Hunter rubbed his chin and reflected on Mason's testimony. "Here's what I what we're going to do," said Hunter, "find ensign Tapert. She has some sort of A.I. entity, perhaps they can recover Atwood's logs. Hunter glanced over his shoulder at Mason. "I will go talk to the counselor, the three of us will interview Mason later this afternoon. Zoei will be able to tell if he's lying."

Keeping her voice low, "Yes Sir...I understand....but....I'm not buying his story sir. And you know as well as I do that 'just following orders' hasn't been a legitimate excuse for hundreds of years. He was on a front line ship....how could he have not known what the Federation and Cardassians were doing?"

Hunter looked back at Mason, "Ok, we'll know soon enough," he said. He turned back to Northrop and nodded, "See if you can find those recordings." he said, "...dismissed." Hunter smiled as he watched her exit sickbay. She was tenacious.

Returning to Mason's bed Hunter updated him. "We're going to reconduct a formal interview into the matter of your request for asylumm."

Mason looked at Hunter and nodded.

"Alright, we'll be back later." said Hunter dismissing himself.

He turned and walked to the farside of Sickbay to visit Dr. Dane.

Pacifica #24"
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1620

"Excuse me Doctor," said Hunter, "do you have a couple moments?"

"Captain," Teilani said with a smile. "But of course." She placed the slides down and gestured to her office.

Hunter followed Dane to her office.

"Please sit, what can I do for you Sir?" He looks tired, she thought, I wonder if he has taken up my advice to schedule some more holodeck time.

"About Mason," said Hunter, "we're going to interview him later today. Is he up to it?"

"Yes Captain," she responded.

"Good." Hunter stood up to leave, but turned around. "Would you care to join me for dinner tonight?" said Hunter bluntly.

Teilani blinked a few times as his question surprised her. "I loved to Sir," she responded softly.

"Good, I'll pick you up at your quarters around 1800."

"I will make sure I am ready."

Standing up, Hunter said, "Okay, I'll see you then." he said with nod as he turned to go.

Watching Hunter leave, Teilani walked back to her slides. A dinner date, she thought, What am I going to wear?

--Counselor's office--

Next Hunter went to Zoei's office and entered the reception area, shortly after he was greeted.

"Good afternoon, Captain. What can I do for you?" Zoei asked.

Hunter nodded, "thank you Counselor, do you have a few minutes to visit?"

"Of course," Zoei replied. "Why don't you have a seat?" Zoei gestured toward the seating area.

"Its about Mason," said Hunter, taking a seat. "I would like you to be present when we re-interview him. Would you have time a little bit later? say, 1900 hours?"

Mentally she reviewed the remainder of her appointments for the day. The last one was scheduled for 1730 and was scheduled for an hour. That should give her ample time to attend the meeting. "That will be fine. Will this take place in Sick Bay? Or has he been released to the brig?

"I guess it depends on what Dr. Dane suggests." replied Hunter.

"Also, can I ask what the purpose is of my attendance?"

"I am hoping that you can validate the authenticity of his testimony," answered Hunter.

Zoei nodded. "Unless he is a truly rare bird, that shouldn't be hard to do. Is this an interview or an interrogation? And who will be in attendance?"

"Northrop and myself we be conducting the interview," said Hunter stressing the word interview.

She nodded again. "Please let me know where you need me to be at 1900 and I will be there."

Hunter stood up and nodded, "good...good. I'll contact you when we are ready to start."

Hunter turned and left. It was time to get ready for dinner.

Fact Finding "
By: Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]
Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Acting Chief Intel Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58205.25 1635

Alyssa left Sickbay grumbling. Yeah...maybe Atwood did beat the crap out of Mason.....and yeah...maybe he shouldn't have....but this guy just tripped each and every one of her warning bells. Something wasn't right here. Definitely not right.

Once she made it down the hallway a little ways, she tapped her Comm Badge. "Northrop to Tapert. I have a job for you."

"Tapert here," Maxine was a little startled to hear from the Intel Commander, but her answer was prompt. "What did y'need, ma'am? I'm at your disposal."

"Ensign....I need you to dig something up for me. In Sickbay right now is a Federation POW....by the name of Matt Mason. He's requested Asylum with the Maquis....but something's not feeling right here. Anyway...what I need you to do is this: One...find the sensor logs from Mason's interrogation back on Qul Tuq. Two...find anything you can that resembles a report on Mason from a Lieutenant Atwood. And three....see if you can find anything at all on Mason himself." She waited a tick before adding, "Thank you, Ensign. You're helping me out of a bind here."

"Give me a couple hours ma'am, and I can have whatever I come up with ready for you," Maxine told her. "Would y'like to meet me somewhere then?" Max was already accessing the computer as she spoke to Alyssa and activating Krystal.

She mulled that over for a moment, "Just let me know when you've got something. I'll come to you. I'm not sure where I'll be in a few hours. And just so you know....the sooner you can get the digging done the better. Time is a factor, Ensign."

Alyssa hoped that Tapert didn't think she was avoiding her. She just had a feeling that she was going to be all over the place today.

"I'll get back to you ASAP, ma'am," Maxine assured her and ended her transmission.

"Thank you, Ensign. Contact me when you're finished." Northrop flashed back to school...remembering all the times she'd sent her Grad students off to dig up some obscure item from the gigantic library on campus.

Max's estimate was purposefully longer than she knew it should take. Although depending on what she found, digging could take more time that even she realized. She loosed Krystal into the system on a hunting mission while she accessed anything she could find of the prisoner's time on Qul Tuq. Instead of the "few" hours she estimated, Max was back on the comm within forty minutes.

"Tapert to Northrop. I've got that information you wanted, ma'am," she announced.

The archeologist set down the PADD she'd been reading and tapped her comm badge. The search of the desk had revealed several items that Atwood hadn't gotten around to processing.....assuming he even knew they were there in the first place. After reading the reports herself, she'd forwarded the important ones to Hunter. "If you wouldn't mind Ms. Tapert...could you come by my office and show me what you've got?"

"Wouldn't mind a bit, ma'am," Maxine told her. "I'll be there in just a few minutes." And true to her word, Maxine showed up at Northrop's office within five minutes, PADDs in hand and ringing the chime.

There was a larger anteroom between the Chief's office and the door. Since she was currently all alone in the department, Alyssa had taken to leaving the door to her office open. Yelling through the door, the main doors opened to admit Ensign Tapert into the mostly empty department offices. Empty save the tables, desks, chairs and dark terminals. The brunette in grey waved the computer specialist into her office through the glass divider that seperated them. "Thank you for coming....and good afternoon."

"Afternoon, ma'am," Max smiled as she walked into the office and stood at the opposite side of Northrop's desk. "Took a bit of doing, but I managed to retrieve the interview between Lieutenant Atwood and Mason. Seems the Lieutenant deleted it... Not that I blame him... Right nasty bu--- er..." she stopped and smiled a little wryly when she realized she was just about ready to speak ill of an officer. Not that he didn't deserve it but....

"Bugger," Krystal provided as she poofed into view on Maxine's shoulder.

"Uhh... Hush, Krystal..." Max told the small pixie. "Pardon me, ma'am. I didn't deactivate her before heading here," she explained and handed Alyssa the PADD with the interview file on it.

Alyssa smiled, "Would you please stop with the Ma'am stuff. I may be the Chief Intelligence Officer here on the Zion.....but I'm not an officer. I'm enlisted." Pulling her hair back, which was definitly not regulation, she revealed the three black pips on her collar. "One gold pip beats any number of black ones, Ensign." She smiled, "Technically, I should be calling you Ma'am."

She didn't add that she wasn't about to do that. She barely called anyone Sir or Ma'am....other than the Captain. Maybe she'd simply spent too much time in charge....but she couldn't make herself do it. "Don't worry about your little holographic friend. I heard about her through the grapevine."

Reaching down and into a drawer, Alyssa pulled open one of the lower drawers. "If my memory of my mythology classes back in school serves....Pixies like shiny things."

As she finished the statement, she lifted her hand up and showed Krystal a small silver colored anklet. "I found this when I was going through the mess that Lieutenant Atwood left. I'm not sure why this of all things was in here....but it's your's Krystal if you want it." She smirked a little, "Call it a thank you for helping me out."

"Ooooooohhhh!" Krystal clapped and giggled and flew over to the Intel Officer where she ran her hands over the chain. "Ooohhh.. It's beautiful! Thank you! Thank you!" She tried to take it, but of course couldn't, so she looked over at Maxine who rolled her eyes a bit and reached out to accept the anklet from Northrop with a smile and a "Thank you," before slipping it into her pocket. Krystal crawled right in after it.

Looking at the PADD that Tapert had given her, she scrolled through it quickly. One thing that Teaching had taught her was how to speed read. You had to...or else you could never get through 150 term papers in a reasonable amount of time. "How about you give me a rundown, Ensign?"

"Roight... Concerning the other things you wanted... I was able to find out that Matt Mason was captured in the recent battle over the defecting Federation scientists. He was listed as a tactical office on the USS Lynx which was also captured," Max told her. "Lieutenant Atwood did make a log entry. There's a copy on the PADD there," she nodded to the PADD she'd already given Northrop. "It was short... Krystal if you could please..."

The pixie poked her head out of Max's pocket and blinked huge blue eyes at them. "OH!" she nodded and cleared her throat as she climbed out of the pocket decked out in the shiny metal chain. It went around her neck and criss-crossed over her breasts and wrapped several times around a tiny waist. She was exceedingly proud and preened a bit before Atwood's voice emerged from the tiny hologram.

"Lt. jg. Matt Mason, prisoner. I interviewed prisoner Mason and found him combative. It was necessary to bind him and at times use force to control him. After a lengthy interview the prisoner did admit he was a spy for the Federation and he was to infiltrate the Maquis and await further instruction. I recommend that this prisoner be sent to Rura Penthe." Krystal grinned and curtsied dramatically. "He was very mean to the sick person," she confided in Alyssa.

It was Max's turn to clear her throat and look pointedly at the winged hologram on her shoulder before turning to Northrop. "You'll find the recording pretty clear. There's one part I couldn't restore to 100%, but I don't think it'll matter..."

"I don't suppose there's any possibility of cleaning up that section? Wouldn't want to miss something important." Looking at the PADD again, she activated the file.

"I tried. The best I could do was just fleeting images of Atwood and Mason," Maxine explained. "But I have a copy Krystal and I are going to keep playing with it."

When Alyssa replayed the interview file the images of Atwood and Mason appeared on the screen. Mason was seated at a empty table, his hands were bound.

"Lieutenant Junior grade Matt Mason," said Mason.

Atwood laughed, "Well, you're idiot prisoner Matt Mason now," he said.

Mason said nothing.

"Prisoner Mason, this interview is to determine if you should be sent to Rura Penthe with the rest of the hardened criminals or if you have something useful to share with the Maquis. What do you have?"

"I am a tactical officer, I have noting secret to give you," said Mason.

Atwood slapped Mason upside the head hard enough that Mason leaned to his right. "That was the wrong answer, prisoner Mason. "Tell me the positions of the Federation fleet," demanded Atwood as he sat him back up in the chair.

"I only knew the positions of my mission group, and you have defeated them all ready you idiot," said Mason.

"You are lying prisoner Mason," said Atwood, his eyes focused on Mason.

"I'm not, I have nothing to tell you," said Mason again.

Atwood shook his head. Suddenly, he pounced at Mason and grabbed him by the throat. Mason struggled against Atwood's choke hold, but his bound hands could not find their mark. Finally, just before Mason was about to black out Atwood released his hold. "Let's try again, what is your mission," demanded Atwood. Atwood walked around behind Mason.

"We were instructed to recover the freighters and return the defecting scientists to the Federation," said Mason.

Atwood kicked Mason's chair out from under him causing him to fall forward his head bouncing off the table in front of him before falling to the floor. "I meant your mission spy!"

The images on the screen distorted and the sound became garbled. After a few minutes the screen cleared and Mason sat in the chair with a dazed expression on his face, "What do you want me to tell you," pleaded Mason.

"I want you to confess that you are a Federation spy," said Atwood. He now held a Klingon pain stick and was pacing around behind Mason.

"I am just a tactical officer," said Mason wearily.

Atwood's eyes glimmered with sadistic ecstasy as he pressed the stick against Mason's chest and discharged the weapon. Mason howled in agony until Atwood removed the stick, "What did you say?"

"Ok," said Mason trying to catch his breath, "if you want a spy I'll be a spy. I'm a spy."

"Thank you," said Atwood, "I am afraid that all spies will be sent to Rura Penthe. Our interview is over." Atwood arrogantly strode from the room.

"I will kill you Atwood if I ever get the chance," muttered Mason to the empty room.

Once the file ended, she looked up once again. "Well...this would be consistent with what Mason told me earlier. There is evidence that he was beaten. But....something about this really doesn't sit right with me. I would really like to know what's on that missing part."

She scowled a little. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid....but how could a Tactical Officer not be aware of Fleet movements? Wouldn't it be part of their job to know things like that? Unless you were about to be planted. Then you wouldn't be told anything that could hurt them.....because they'd have to know that all prisoners are interogated."

Looking back at Tapert, "What do you think, Ensign? You've seen what's there......what's your opinion?"

"Well.... On the surface it looks legit," Max said. The fingers of one hand drummed in a rhythmic motions on her thigh as she thought and put her musings to words. "But it's rather like code hidden within code. Y'can't find it, but y'know it's there.... I'm a skeptic. To me it seems *too* legit, if y'get my meaning.." she offered. "If I wanted to infiltrate the Federation computers I'd write a very benign program and hide my stealth code inside the legit code. If y'get my meaning... So maybe Mason really *is* legit and even believes he is.... And he's just chocked full of stealth code... Waiting."

"You mean like brain washing or something?" Northrop scowled. That prospect would make it very hard to trust anyone wanting to defect ever again. "I'd hate to think that the Federation would stoop so low....but I know that the Cardassians would."

Her fingers tapped on the desk, "And....well....if you'll remember, that battle with the Lynx's battle group was fairly easy."

Maxine nodded in agreement. "I just don't think y'can always judge a program by it's surface code... And anything's possible," she said.

"I'm not a tactician... But I do know it's fool hardy to underestimate your enemy. It's like underestimating a hacker, if you get my meaning. Just when y'think they can't, or won't do something... They've already done it and you're left trying to salvage what you can...."

Alyssa nodded again. Apparently she wasn't the only one that Mason bothered. Or maybe it was just the entire situation. She shrugged inwardly. Something felt off. That man was here for a reason....and defecting because of a pack of lies simply wasn't it. That was the biggest crock of horse manure she'd ever heard. Too many things just didn't add up here. And now...she had another opinion on the matter...which meant she wasn't making it up.

"Thank you for your time, Ensign....I appreciate everything you and Krystal did. I hope we can work together again soon." She smiled....and let Tapert know she could go about her other duties. That was one smart lady....the Zion was lucky to have her around.

Once she was gone, Alyssa decided it was time to go find the Captain.

Dinner date "
By: Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1800

Hunter showed up at Doctor Dane's quarters precisely on time and rang the door chime.

Teilani smiled as she opened the door. She could have guessed it that he was punctual.

"Shall we go?" asked Hunter.

Teilani nodded and put on her shoes. Then she and Hunter left her quarters.

Arriving at Miranda's they were greeted by a waitress. "The usual Captain?" Hunter smiled and nodded, "sure." "And you Doctor? what can I get for you tonight?"

"Just some tagiatelli with chickenstrips please." she ordered.

As they waited for their food, Hunter leaned forward inquisitively, "What do you think about this Mason?"

Teilani glanced at Hunter. "He is an honest man, he feels guilty by being manipulated by the Federation. Filling his head with stories about the maqui, bluring his vision." she answered.

"Why do you ask?"

Hunter shook his head, "just looking for input." As the waitress returned with beverages Hunter took a sip and set his glass on the table. "In a way, he is like all of us. I want to believe him but we have to be careful."

"I know Captain," Teilani said softly. " However, he saved my life as well as Patia's, he could easily have turned away and then you and I would not be sitting talkng here.

Hunter looked out the forward window and watched the star field for a moment as he contemplated that thought.

" You have been listing too much to our chief intell to much," Teilani said a bit harsh. "They see spooks all over the place."

Hunter chuckled, "I don't know what it is about the job, it seems to bring out the worst in people."

" I only want to make clear that the Federation is filling their people with ideas of us which are not true. If we can reach one person and show him that these are not true, perhaps others might change their mind as well and leave the Federation. They might be joining our cause or maybe they stay with the Federation and undermine it from the inside."

The waitress returned with their food and set it before them. Hunter looked at it and then responded to Dane's comments, "Its as if their minds are plugged into some vast machine that pumps their minds with illusions," he paused for a moment, "we have to disconnect it." Hunter took a bite of food.

"You and I know that the war between the Rebellion and the Federation has flared up again and that it does not look good at all.

"It certainly looks like it is far from over," said Hunter.

The conversation grew quiet as Dane and Hunter ate their dinner. Many things were going through the Captain's mind.

"Give him chance Sir, who knows he might surprise us."

Hunter nodded as he put his napkin on his finished plate. "It is up to him, I guess. We'll know shortly if he is sincere."

Teilani nodded as she whiped her mouth and placed the napkin on the table.

"Well, I suppose we should go?" said Hunter, "Mason's future awaits him."

"After you Captain."

Maxine's Report "
By: Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1830

It had been seven hours since the incident with Birkoff and the virus he unleashed on the Zion's computer, and Maxine had been through the system with a fine tooth comb. She was just now making her report to Commander Wright....

To: Commander Wright, XO From: Ensign Tapert, Operations

Re: Computer analysis and recommendations.

Sir-

As per your request, I've made a thorough analysis of the Zion's computer systems. I discovered several "back doors" that Birkoff left and some inert traces of his virus. Rest assured that they have all been eradicated. Please see the attached file, Tapert-CA101, for a detailed description of everything I found and what I did to neutralize it. I have installed a "back door" of our own so that we can regain control of the computer in case this ever happens again. Please see the attached file, Tapert-BD377 for instructions on how to access and activate it.

I would also recommend that we take this opportunity to upgrade our security protocols and encryption algorithms. I have designed a program that would insert into the system a series of coded failsafes which should make the computer virtually impossible to hack into, and would require voice authorization from either you or the Captain to perform certain functions. Please see the attached file, Tapert-FS2009 for approval.

I have also taken the liberty of adjusting and rerouting the replicator system in the Mess Hall to operate independent of the main computer - if necessary.

If you have any questions I am at your disposal to address them.

Ensign Maxine Tapert, PhD Computer Systems Specialist

Cc: Lt. JG Riaan, Operations Manager

Maxine read over her report again and checked the attached files before sending it off with a, "Computer, deliver the missive complete with the attached files to Commander Wright and copies to Lt. JG Riaan. Mark it 'Urgent'."

"The messages have been delivered," the computer promptly responded. And with that out of the way, Maxie decided it was time for something to eat.

Questions and Answers "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Matthew Mason, Prisoner, [RNPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Alyssa Northop , Chief Intel officer , [NPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 1845

Captain Hunter and Doctor Dane entered Sickbay together making small talk. A few minutes later Northrop arrived.

Hunter greeted Northrop and then cut to business,"Were you able to find any of Atwood's logs," he asked.

She held up the PADD that contained the sensor logs and all the other information Tapert had found for her. "Yes, Sir....we've got it. Though I still have my reservations about him."

"Very good."

Hunter, Dane and Northrop entered the sickbay conference room where Jarvis and Zoei were already seated.

"Before we start, I want to remind everyone to be objective. We need to assess if he is a threat to the Alliance or if he could become an ally."

Looking around, it appeared everyone was in agreement.

"Let's bring him in." said Hunter with a gesture.

Jarvis nodded at the security officer standing guard at the door. He returned a few minutes later with Mason.

Hunter gestured to a vacant chair, "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you sir," said Mason as he sat down. He surveyed the room. The faces before him showed no emotion. Mason folded his hands in his lap.

Hunter nodded at Yeoman Yates, "begin recording," he said as he stood and announced, "I'm convening on this day, May 25 in the year 2382 a formal hearing into the matter of granting temporary asylum to Prisoner Matthew Mason, currently in custody of the USS Zion's security department. We will hear testimony from Mason as to why he should be granted this request and supporting testimony. I will announce my decision tomorrow morning." Hunter looked around at everyone and then sat down.

Hunter turned to look at Mason, "Please state your name for the record."

Mason surveyed the people in the room. "Matthew Mason," he said.

"In swear and testify you here of your own free will?"

"I am sir," said Mason.

Do you swear and testify that everything you say is true?"

"To the best of my knowledge, everything that I tell you today is the truth," he said.

"Please, then," said Hunter, "tell everyone why you seek asylum."

Mason cleared his throat, "I do not seek asylum, this implies that I need to be protected from the Federation, I do not, I seek to join the Maquis Alliance. I want to fight with the Maquis against those who I once served."

Hunter leaned back, "Now enlighten us as to why this should be granted."

"Since this civil war began, the Federation has told us what horrible butchers the Maquis are. How else do you think they get anyone to fight for them. Up until I was captured I believed as everyone else on the Lynx that we were fighting for a just cause." Mason paused, he looked around the room. "With the exception, of your former intelligence officer I have been treated well and have not been abused, even more importantly, I have come to know some of you," Mason paused and looked at Zoei and Dane, "I cannot bring myself to fight against you further knowing you as I do now, and also knowing that while the Maquis did not abuse me my own alies did not hesitate to do so."

Mason took a breath, "After I was transported from sickbay after killing the Cardiasian who was about to hard your counselor, I found myself running for my life. My own allies beat and tortured me and then for their amusement, they gave me a few minutes head start then they hunted me like some wild animal." Mason paused, his face was pale and his eye seemed lost in the past. "The events of the prisoner revolt opened my eyes to the terrible thing that the Federation has become."

Mason felt sick to his stomach. If I had only listened to Mara, he thought, I would not be here now. "I know, some of you think I am just out to save my ass," he looked at Northrop, "And I would be lying if I said that had nothing to do with it, however, it is not my soul motivation in this case. I am positive that if given a chance, I can prove myself useful."

Hunter turned to Zoei, "I have no further questions at this time, Counselor?"

Zoei felt queasy. The emotions coursing through Mason were temptuous and the visions of the beatings which had taken place were brutal. Her eyes narrowed marginally. "Mr. Mason, do you have any other motivations to be on the side of the Maquis as opposed to rejoining the Federation?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," he stalled. Did she know about Mara. She couldn't.

Zoei nodded. "Yes, you do."

Mason's eyes got wide, she was a betazoid, "Mara," he said.

Zoei nodded again, eyes locked on Mason. She waited patiently for him to elaborate.

Mason had no choice, "My wife," he said, sadness filling his eyes, "When the war began she wanted to run to a neutral planet," he said, "I should have listened to her, she was right." Mason looked at the Zoei and continued, "When I refused to go, she took our daughter Abby and left. I have not seen them since. I hope to find her."

Mason turned to face Northrop, anticipating her skepticism, "You can verify my story easy enough," he said to her, "About ten or eleven years ago she was part of a research team that discovered the remains of an ancient civilization on Seltira IV. It was published in the Federation Journal of Archeology." He sighed, "Her name is Mara St. Claire." Mason sighed again, "I suppose that would not be standard reading material on a ship like this, would it?"

Hunter raised an eyebrow and pivoted his chair to face Northrop, "Chief?"

"No...it wouldn't be here on the Zion. But it was required reading when I was attending Yale, Oxford and Harvard. You see Mr. Mason, before I joined the Maquis, I was an Archeologist myself. Yes...I know of Mara St. Claire. I even met her once....when she lectured at Harvard about 9 years ago."

Mason smiled. Remembering a much happier time.

What he'd said about Dr. St. Claire was technically accurate. Soon after that lecture, the woman had vanished. Well...apparently she'd been hiding out here for nearly a decade. Thinking back on what she knew of Mara St. Claire....she did remember that she had a husband....and that the man had been in Starfleet. But she couldn't remember his name. That would be easy enough to track down, she supposed.

Anyway, that didn't matter just now. She had a couple questions for this man. Thoughts of what Maxine had termed "stealth-code" floating around her head. "Captain...if I may?"

Hunter nodded.

"Mr. Mason....Have you ever been a part of any special assignments? Perhaps to Cardassian bases? Do you have any memories that seem overly fuzzy to you? Like you know what happened...but can't recall the exact details?"

"I have not been on any Cardassian bases," he said, "and my memory is clear."

"Moving on....you were the Tactical Officer aboard the US Lynx. How long have you been a Tactical Officer?"

"At the beginning of the war I was in security, but transferred to tactical about 5 years ago to tactical because we were short handed at that position," Mason regarded the intel officer, unable to read any emotion on her face.

"Ok....and in all that time...was it common practice of Starfleet to keep it's Tactical Officers in the dark about fleet movements?"

"Shortly after the war began the Federation began partitioning it's battle groups," he explained, "We were given only the information that was necessary to meet out objective. Starfleet Command has become quite secretive in the past nine years."

"Now, I'm not going to lie to you. I came aboard the Zion just after your capture...but I read several reports on the engagement between your Battle Group and the Maquis Ships Zion and Atlanta. Neither ship seemed to take much damage....which makes me wonder, is the Federation simply using incompetent officers....or is the Federation starting to 'throw' engagements? Perhaps that entire episode was simply an excuse to get you here? Other wise...how could an entire Joint Cardassian/Starfleet Battle Group be defeated so easily?"

Mason managed a laugh, "the Lynx was the most experienced of the ships, at least in the experience of her Captain. Perhaps your report noted that the USS Bezar was an Excelsior-B Class ship. DO you have any idea how old that ship was? It was held together by spit and determination. It was supposed to be conducting a cadet training mission not fighting in combat."

Mason paused to pour himself a glass of water from a pitcher that sat on the table in front of him. After a quick drink he continued, "If you had captured the Bezar instead of destroying it you would have been shocked. The Captain was barely out of diapers," he said with disgust, "a good portion of the crew compliment were cadets."

"In the case of the Lynx," Mason continued, "Many of my crewmates were tired of fighting, they turned on the Captain and when the Maquis came on board, they chose to help the Maquis." Mason looked at Northrop, "I guess to answer your question, you had an easy time defeating our battle group because we were either too in-experienced, or too tired to put up a good fight"

Hunter looked at Dane, "Doctor, do you have any questions?"

"Mason, why did you save us," Teilani asked. "You could have easily let the Cardassian have their way with us. You wouldn't have to run for your life then?"

Mason looked at the doctor, "To be real honest, I do not care for cardassians all that much," he said, "His intentions were clear to me, and I had to stop him. I remember thinking, what if it were Mara in this turbolift instead of the counselor?" Mason glanced quickly in the direction of the counselor, "It just wasn't right, I knew I had to stop him, so I did."

Hunter turned to Jarvis, "Lt Jarvis, do you have any questions?"

Melissa fixed him with a stare, "Mr. Mason, you expect us to believe you, however, one of the first actions you did after getting to sickbay that day was assault a senior officer of this crew," said Melissa referring to Atwood, "These are not noble actions, how do you account for yourself."

This was the one question Mason was afraid of. He had responded to Atwood with a great deal of pent up rage because of the manner in which Atwood had treated him in their first interview. At that to the manner in which he was treating the sickbay staff; Mason had just snapped. Still, Mason could not deny that he had been wrong to attack Atwood. "I was wrong in doing that. I can give no excuse because there are none, however, I do have a reason."

Melissa waited for him to continue.

"He was the person who initially interviewed me. He was a very nasty person, and in the end he forced me to admit I was a spy, even though I told him I was not. Anyways, when he came into sickbay and started being a jerk to everyone, I just snapped and went off on him."

"You say Atwood forced you to admit you were a spy," said Melissa with and arched eyebrow, "How?"

Hunter interrupted her, "I understand Tapert and Northrop were able to recover some of the original interview. Let's look at it."

Melissa watched the video, and she could hardly believe what she saw. She just shook her head as she watched Atwood abuse the bound Mason. When Charles used a ceremonial klingon painstik on Mason her shock turned to anger. This was supposed to be used when in conjunction with the Klingon Age of Ascension ritual, Charles has used it in a dishonorable manner. She hoped she would get to speak to him again about this someday.

"It was not only the abuse which drove Mason over the edge Sir," Teilani said softly. Atwood also ignored my orders and started to pull rank on me, preventing me to do my job.

Hunter rolled a stylus between his thumb and his fingers. He recalled a report to that effect. Turning again to Melissa, "I find this disturbing. Please do a full report. Any other questions or concerns for Mason?" Hunter gestured toward him.

"Mr. Mason," said Melissa, "Your cause would be helped if you could give us something useful in our battle with the Federation."

"The cardassian's have the ability to cloak their ships," he said.

Melissa fixed Mason with a stern look, "That is not new news Mr. Mason. We already know that."

Mason smiled, "Did you also know that in their haste to get it into production, he installed a flawed cloak. It does not properly mask their warp signature. You can configure a tactical sensor panel to detect the very weak signature."

Hunter smiled. A tactical advantage would definitely help sway his decision. "Does anyone else have any questions for Mr. Mason at this time?" He looked around the room. It was quiet. He stood up and announced, "This session will reconvene tomorrow morning at 0800. Meanwhile Mr. Mason will furnish the technical data to Westfall. Have Westfall report to me as soon as the information is assimilated." Hunter nodded, "Dismissed"

Anger Management Part I "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Crewman Spencer , Engineer , [NPC]
Crewman Bush , Engineer , [NPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 2000

==Counseling Office==

"Chief Silvio was not happy," said Busch as he and Spencer got off the turbolift on deck 8.

Spencer laughed, "He is a young punk. I have been an engineer longer than he has been a man."

"Do you think he knows what the fight was about?" asked Busch.

"Who cares," said Spencer. The two of them entered the counseling center and rang the chime to the counselor's office.

"Enter," Patia called. She stood slowly and placed her palms on the desk as the door slid open. As the two men entered and crossed the room, Patia silently watched. WHen they finally rached her desk, she asked, "Are you aware why you are here today?"

"Yes Ma'am," said Busch, "We had a diagreement that got out of hand and Chief Silvio ordered us to see you for an anger management evaluation." Spencer nodded but said nothing.

"Crewman Spencer, as you saw outside my door, there is a chair in the waiting area. Please feel free to use it while cewman Busch and I are meeting. When he is done, it will be your turn." Patia nodded as she dismissed him.

A dark scowl covered Spencer's face, "Yes Ma'am," he said turing on his heal he left her office.

Patia gestured to the chair across form her, "Have a seat, crewman." Patia slid her chair up to the desk and gracefully sat down. She retrieved the personnel filed she had reviewed earlier. The diciplinary report was displayed on her screen. Her dark eyes quickly flicked over the information before settling on the man across the desk.

Busch sat quietly. His palms were sweaty, he had expected that she would talk to them both at the same time. He studied her face, looking for any sign that she knew what the fight was about. With any luck she did not. When the Security chief had interviewed him, he had broken down and told her that he and Spencer had too much to drink and were arging about a bet they had made. He and Spencer had placed a wager on whether or not the counselor and Silvio had slept together yet.

The tips of Patia's ears felt hot. THe rumors were worse than she thought they were, "Crewman, I understand you recently spent a little time in the brig."

"Yes Ma'am," he said. His placed his trembling hands in his lap.

"And that was the result of a...?" The open ended question hung silently in the air.

Busch, sighed, "A disagreement, Ma'am." He looked at her with pleading eyes, please don't ask, he thought.

Patia sighed. She thought of all the questions that she would like to ask, but she was a professional. The problem at hand appeared to be an anger management issue. Aditionally, the majority of the infactions listed on his record were alcohol related. Becasue of this, the question he feared would remain unasked. "Crewman, disagreements don't generally land a person in the brig."

"No Ma'am, we had too much to drink," said Busch.

"And?" Patia asked.

"Well," Busch stuttered, "we made a bet a few weeks ago and he tried to claim that he won and wanted me to pay up. I did not think he won and refused." Busch paused remembering the night. Spencer had said that the couselor and the boss had slept together on the holodeck but would not offer proof. As the night went on, Spencer had gotten drunker and he becamevmeaner. Spencer hurled insults at Busch. "He started insulting my family. I got mad and all hell broke out."

Patia nodded slightly, "Now that you are sober, how do you think you should have handled the situation."

Busch shrugged, the images of his wife and children on Bajor popped into his head. "I had to hit him, I love my family."

"So, hypothetically speaking, if you insulted me or someone I loved, I would be justified in hitting you," Patia asked one eyebrow arched.

Busch gave it some thought, "I am not sure it would be justified, but I would understand why you did it." He relaxed a bit; she had not asked what the bet was about and was concentratig on the action. He might just get through this.

"In the end, what did your violence accomplish?" Patia asked.

Busch shrugged. He absently rubbed the sore knuckles on his right hand. "Nothing I suppose, but it felt good at the time."

"I wouldn't say it accomplished noting, crewman. You spent the night in the brig. There will be an official notation in your record. You jeapordized your standing. Those are accomplishments."

"I guess those are not very good accomplishments," observed Busch/

"I suppose not," she replied. "If hadn't been drinking last night, what do you think would have happened differently, or would everything have happened the same?"

"I probably would have not been with Spencer at all if I had not been drinking. It probably would not have happened."

"How do you feel about that," asked Patia.

Busch shrugged, "Come to think of it, we made the original bet when we were drinking too. Jimmy is my best friend though," he said.

"Out of curiosity, why would someone you consider to be your best friend insult your family?"

"It was just the alcohol talking," he said.

Silently Patia watched his face, waiting. She wondered if he would make the connection between his troubles and his drinking.

Busch looked at Patia and waited for her to say something.

"Crewman, I will be sending you someting when the yellow alert has passed. It is a tool to help you self evaluate how alcohol impacts your life. Once you have had the chance to honestly complete it, I expect to see you in my office within one week of seeing the paperwork."

"You think I have an alcohol problem," he said shortly.

"By your own account, there are two incidences where something happened when you were drinking that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been. I am not judging you or trying to give you a problem you don't have, I just want you to take a few minutes to honestly examine yourself. You may find you have an alcohol problem, but you might find you don't. Or, you might find that you have the potential to have a problem. We will be better prepared to deal with any of those situations once the evaluation is done." Patia smiled reassuringly.

"I will do your assessment, but I do not have a alcohol problem," he said defiantly.

Patia nodded. "That is all I ask. Did you have any questions for me before you report back to duty?"

"No ma'am," he said.

"Then you are free to go." Patia stood as she released the young crewman back to his duty station.

"Thank you ma'am," he said, feeling a bit foolish about the bet he had made he added, "Sorry ma'am," without thinking.

"Your apology is accepted. I would appreciate it, though, if your future betting centered on something other than my personal life," Patia's lips smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Busch's eyes opened wide and the color drained from his face, "It will never happen again, ma'am." He quickly left the room.

Anger Management Part 2 "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Crewman Spencer , Engineer , [NPC]

Stardate: 58205.25 2030

Spencer watched as Busch exited the counselors office. He looked like a animal with its tail between his legs. Busch rushed past him and left the counseling seciton before Spencer could say a word.

Spencer shurgged and entered the counselor's office. He noticed the counsleor sitting at her desk and approached.

Zoei glanced up at his approach. "Crewman, have a seat." She gestured toward the chair across from her desk. "I will be a moment with this and then we can talk." Zoei glanced back at the computer screen to enter a few more notes.

Spencer sat down in the chair; slighly slouched. After making himself comfortable he just sat there staring at Zoei.

Efficiently, she wrapped up her thoughts regarding Crewman Busch before turning her attention toward the man in front of her. "Did you have anything you wanted to say before we get started?" she asked, her expression neutral.

"Nope," said Spencer.

"As you know, we are hear to discuss the situation that landed you in the brig and help you figure out a solution so you can avoid a repeat stay. I reviewed your jacket. This isn't the first incident noted in your file, Crewman." Zoei leaned forward slightly.

"Nope, it wasn't and it probalby won't be the last," agreed Spencer. "I tell it like it is, and if people don't like that, tough."

"How does telling it like it is turn in to the incident on your record?" she asked.

"Busch did not like what I had to say," said Spencer with a grin, "That is what started our fight." Spencer was hoping she would ask what the fight was about. He would tell her. He didn't care.

"I don't need to ask, I already know. We aren't here to discuss the cause of this incident as much as we are here to figure out how to help you break the pattern of the incidents." Zoei leaned back in her seat.

Spencer smiled, she is one of those mind leaches, he thought. "Busch cracked and told you everything. He is such a wimp." He rested his right ankle on his left knee. "It is a good quesiton," he said, "just what are you going to do with me? Can't demote me any lower, so you will jsut have to kick me out."

"Actually, he didn't have to tell me either." Zoei shifted as she crossed her legs. "Is that your goal?"

"Naw, I ain't got nothing else better to do," he said. Spencer began mentally undressing the pretty counselor in his mind hoping that would keep her out of his thoughts. He had to admit, he could see why Silvio was interested in her.

Zoei had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "I noticed the majority of your infractions involved alcohol."

Spencer Shrugged, "Yeah, I drink too much. But I'm happy." He smiled.

Zoei nodded and made a note on the file. "I have an alcohol evaluation questionnaire for you to complete. It is a standard procedure in instances like yours."

"I've done them before," he said.

"Then you should have no trouble filling out another one." Zoei pulled out a PADD. "Here you go. Please let me know if you have any questions as you go along."

Spencer picked up the PADD. Let's see he thought, Question one, Have you ever missed or been late for a shift becasue you had too much to drink the night before, Yes, Spencer indicated.

Question number two: Has your behavior while drinking casued you to lose friends or loved ones? Spencer entered Yes for that one as well.

Question number three: Have you ever drank so much that you became physically ill? Spencer rolled his eyes. He could see the common theme here. He answered Yes and continued down the rest of the questions with the same answer. He placed the PADD on the deck. "There you go."

Zoei reviewed the information listed. It wouldn't hurt for Crewman Spencer to have a medical consult for his potential alcohol dependency issue. Without the doctor's evaluation, she wasn't ready to state he was an alcoholic, but the traits were certainly there. Next, she pulled out a PADD which addressed coping methods. She handed it across the desk to him. "This series of questions addresses how you would choose to react in certain situations. Have you taken one of these before?"

"I'm sure," he said picking up the PADD. He glanced at it and then tossed it back on her desk. "I probably do have an alcohol problem, but you just do not seem to get it. I don't care one way or the other."

Zoei glanced up. She handed the PADD back to him. "You don't get it. I don't care if you care. This evaluation process is geared to assist you as needed, and as you would like, but it is also designed to ensure the safe operations of this ship and her crew."

Spencer grunted and picked up the PADD. He answered the questions half heartedly. When he was done he adjusted the mental image of the counselor, who was not completely undressed, that he had been building to include a nice pair or horns and a beard. "There you go," he said acidly, "Anyhting else?"

Zoei scanned the PADD. Slowly, she raised her eyes. "Not at this time, Crewman. You are free to go."

Spencer smiled as he got up, "Thank you for such a wonderful time, we will have to do it again some time." He turned and headed for the door.

Zoei bit back a laugh. "We could book that appointment for you now, Crewman, if you like?"

Spencer did not respond as he walked out of her office.

The doors closed behind him and Zoei shook her head as he chuckled. That was an interesting gentleman she had to say.

Anger Management, Part 3 "
By: Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 2100

Slowly, she rotated her chair from side to side. No two ways about it, he needed a medical referral. Teilani might not find anything wrong, and she hoped there wouldn't be anything, but she didn't want him in the position where he faced a preventable medical issue.

"Computer, begin dictation" Patia said.

"Dr. Dane,

Crewman Spencer was in my office today for an evaluation. A copy of the results of the alcohol dependency evaluation is attached to this message for your review. You will find he answered affirmatively to all twenty five questions. For this particular evaluation, any more than five 'yes' answers is indicative of a dependency issue for the person completing the test. During the course of the evaluation, I had no indication his answers were anything but truthful.

When you have the opportunity, I would appreciate if you could request a complete physical examination to ensure he isn't experiencing any health issues related to alcohol consumption. Also, I would like your medical opinion regarding his alcohol use noted for his file.

If you need additional information, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Counselor Zoei

Computer, end dictation."

Patia scanned the missive, uploaded the test results from the PADD and attached them to the message.

"Computer, send to Dr. Teilani Dane with copies to correspondence file and Crewman Spencer's file." Patia sighed as she glanced at the chronometer. 2345. 0600 felt like a long, long time ago. Unfortunately, 0600 tomorrow morning felt like it would be far too soon.

Mason, Mara, and Abby "
By: Matthew Mason, Prisoner , [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 2300

Silvio was a busy man. After the meeting he had updated his men and then set them to work on the shi['s systems. He was a firm believer that a ship going into battle with all her systems fully operational would emerge from battle. Silvio would not accept equipment failure during battle.

So far his crew had remodulated the ship's shields, fine tuned the matter/anti-matter reaction mix, and did maintenance on the ships weapons systems. There was still more to do.

Silvio had worked though supper, he was tired and hungry but decided now would be a good time to run a check on Sick Bay's systems. During battle sickbay was an important place, especially to the crew members who were wounded.

Silvio grabbed his tool kit, pausing at the door of his office to watch the warp core as is gently pulsed. It was running perfectly and it was music to Silvio's ears. There is nothing more harmonious to a starship engineer than the perfect rhythm of the warp core.

Silvio left engineering and made his way into sickbay. He noticed two things as he entered. First the doctor was working in her office and second, there was not one security guard stationed near Mason.

Silvio walked to the doctor's office, "Hi Doc."

Mr Silvio," Teilani said with a smile. Twice in one day. How may I help you?"

"I wanted to make sure that all of your systems were ready for the upcoming battle," he said, "I will also fix that stasis chamber that I forgot the parts for last night."

"That would be appreciated Chief. You might also want to check the diagnostic display on the wall, it seems to have a glitch in it."

Silvio moved past the security guard with a nod and set his tool kit down on the biobed next to Mason. Taking out his tricorder he approached the diagnostic display that the doctor had complained about. He placed the monitor in a diagnostic test run and began searching for the problem.

"You got a thing for that pretty little counselor, don't ya," said Mason.

Silvio did not even take his eyes off of his tricorder as he studied the readout. "Yes," he said.

"She has a thing for you," he continued.

Silvio began re-calibrating the display; he did not bother to respond.

"She does, trust me," said Mason, "Last night you came in and saw her holding my hand and you were threatened."

"I do no think I need to discuss this with you," said Silvio sharply. Silvio began scanning the stasis chamber.

"Good. Just listen," said Mason, "You need to be more confident boy," he continued, "Why in the world would you be worried about that. You would think you ain't never been in love before."

Silvio began tearing apart the control mechanism and pretended to ignore Mason's remarks.

"At any rate, you have nothing to worry about with me. I already have a wife. I do not want a second one, said Mason.

Silvio looked up from the control mechanism, "I bet you wish you could get back to her don't you?"

Mason looked at the young engineer, "Actually, I might be closer to her now that I am here."

"Why is that," asked Silvio.

"When the war started she wanted to leave. She wanted run and hide." Mason looked at the ceiling, "I should have listed to her," Mason shook his head sadly, She took our daughter and left. I have not heard from her since."

"You think she is with the Maquis," asked Silvio.

Mason appeared not to have heard Silvio's question. Still looking at the ceiling, he continued, "I was too bound up in my duty to the Federation. I was too proud."

Silvio replaced the faulty part in the control mechanism and began putting the unit back together.

"I sure hope she is here," said Mason, "If I get out of this mess I am in, I hope to try and find her." Mason frowned, "Your Chief Intel officer is a hard person to convince," said Mason.

Silvio chuckled, "She is new, I am sure she is trying to do a thorough job, that's all, besides, you do not need to convince her, it is Captain Hunter you need to convince." Silvio fired up the stasis chamber and scanned it with his tricorder. "There, that's fixed."

"Let me ask you this," said Mason, "Why did you rescue me from those prisoners like you did?"

"They were torturing you," said Silvio as he began running the unoccupied biobeds through their diagnostic modes. "A few months ago I was captured and tortured by cardassians, I could not let them do that to you."

"I thought you were going to say it was because I saved that counselor friend of yours from being assaulted by a cardassian," replied Mason.

Slivio looked at Mason with a blank expression on his face.

"She did not tell you eh," asked Mason.

Mason told Silvio about the encounter in the turbolift with the cardassian. When he was done he said, "I hate cardassians." He reached out and grabbed Silvio's arm. "Thank you for getting my butt out of trouble."

Silvio smiled at him, "Don't mention it," he said, "Thank you for saving Patia from a most dreadful experience."

The two men looked at each other and then at almost the same time said, "I hate cardassians."

Silvio laughed, "Listen, what is your wife's name? When we get to Qul Tuq I will see what I can dig up on her."

"Her name is Mara and my daughter is Abby," he said.

"I will let you know if I find anything," said Silvio, "I go now though. Listen," he said, "If you want to convince Hunter that you are sincere, it would help your cause if you gave them something, anything, that would help us fight the Federation."

Mason nodded and watched as Silvio waved at the doctor and left.

Testing, One... Two... Three... "
By: Krystal, Pixie Hologram , [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.25 2345

"Pixie. We need t'run another test program," Maxine announced. She was laying on her bed with her hands behind her head as her eyes tracked the code that moved across the screen before her.

Krystal poked her head out from between the leaves and branches = "growing" out of the replicator she'd claimed as her nest. "Another one?" she queried. "But all the tests we've run have come back within 0.01316 = percent of perfect," the pixie pointed out. "And you know =3Dnothing=3D is ever perfect. Well. Except me, of course," she grinned. "And the Spec book states that a Starfleet allowable tolerance for error is between 2.095 = and 1.783. Our tests have all been well below that," she reminded Maxine.

Maxie quirked a brow and took her eyes from the screen to look over at = the pixie. The code being displayed automatically paused where she'd read = it last. Her eyes widened as she took in the fae's appearance. There was = all manner of bobbles and shiny things stuck in the pixie's hair and on different parts of her body. She looked like she'd been raiding the reclamation units, which was impossible in a practical materialistic = way, but not in theory. In theory she could rearrange her appearance to = reflect anything she found in the physical and wanted to incorporate into her avatar. "I know that," Maxine finally agreed. "But Ensign Westfall."

"The Tactical Officer?" Krystal interposed.

"Aye, that'd be the one," Maxine nodded. "He's fretting.."

"He has issues," Krystal pointed out.

"Yeup. I know that too. But yanno. I think *I* would have issues if = my ship had been stolen out from under my nose," Maxine pointed out. = "Wouldn't you be cautious if someone came in and swiped the computer systems away = from us? And while we were looking even?"

The pixie fluttered her wings while she called on her rationalizing subroutines to process Maxie's question. "We would know if that = happened," she finally pointed out.

"You hope we would," Maxine corrected and chewed thoughtfully on the = small isolinear chip that seemed to be ever-present in her mouth. "Expect the unexpected. Plan for the worse. Anything can happen" she paused for a moment. "In other words.. Run the test scenario, Pixie. And overload = the sensor and data relays to see what happens. Make sure the fail-safes = kick in."

Krystal came to attention in mid air and saluted, complete with a small spray of golden dust. "Aye aye, boss lady!" Then she ruined the effect = by giggling.

Maxine rolled her eyes a bit but had to laugh. "Hop to it then!" she = used her best 'drill sergeant's' voice, which just made the little pixie = giggle even more. Max grinned over at her and then tapped her comm. badge, activating the communications grid before going back to her reading. =20

"Ensign Tapert to the Bridge," she waited until she was acknowledged = before continuing, explaining to the Watch Commander what she was doing in case they noticed anything unusual. With that done, she went back to her = reading and the code resumed its display on the screen before her.

Log Index | Go to Stardate 58205.26