Finding Hope (original game) - Captain Fernandez

USS Essex
T'Lar's Quarters........
Admiral T'Lar and her husband Jim were enjoying a quiet evening at home when she got the communique from Admiral Dunar.
Noticing her attire, "Sorry for interrupting whatever you where doing but we have a situation and you are the closest to Gorn
space."
"Okay, so what is so important that I have to cancel shore leave?"
He explained, " The Starfleet Intelligence Listening Post of Lavarian 8 has been out of communication for over 5 days. Shortly
before the communications black out the Outpost reported unusual radiation readings emanating from just inside Gorn space.
The USS Gardino was sent there to investigate and shortly
afterwards, we lost touch with them too. I need you to investigate and find out why."
She nodded, "I sense there is more to this."
He snickered, "I could never hide anything from you." He continued, "Starfleet Intelligence reports that the Gorn has a new
weapon but the reports are so unreliable that we don't know for sure if the weapon is biogenic or transphasic. No one can
infiltrate the Gorn Military so we can't get an accurate report."
"Very well. Let me inform my crew and we will be on our way."
"Be careful. We'd hate to lose communications with you too. Keep me apprised of the situation."
The face of Dunar was replaced with the Starfleet Symbol. She turned to her husband, "Looks like we'll be skipping shore leave.
I guess I'd better let the crew know." She kissed him then went and got dressed. She entered the bridge.....
Bridge...........
"Mr. Arcia, plans have changed. Set a course for Gorn space. Mr. Fernandez, I want all senior officers to report to the
Observation room in thirty minutes." He nodded. Everyone glanced at her with a disappointed look. Deela took her seat, letting
out a slight sigh.
Fernandez had been looking forward to the shore leave, but "the needs of the service..." and all of that, he was use to plans
changing, and Rear Admiral T'Lar looked not just disappointed but bothered maybe worried, what ever canceled their plans
wasn't good, but it wasn't small either. He contacted
the senior staff and set up the meeting.
Observation Room.....
Fernandez had came in and taken his seat, one of the first in the room, as both Executive Officer and Chief of Tactical/Security
he would have two parts in this meeting. He had decided to invite his new Assistant Chief of Security in to the meeting since he
had turned the lion share of Security duties over to him.
As the doors slid open, Kal stepped out of the lift, and headed towards the briefing room, fixing the buttons on his camouflage
uniform tunic as he goes. He stopped though, as Lt. Coolidge turned
from his comm-station to him and smiled. Without a word, Coolidge reached up and rubbed a finger under his own eye, then
chuckled as Kal reached up, rubbing a bit of some sort of grease away from the area on
his own face.

"Let me guess," Coolidge inquired, "holo-deck?"
"Engineering," Reilly replied, then chuckled and shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "The damnedest thing. Turns out, when a sign
says, 'DO NOT OPEN', it means do NOT open."
The commsman laughed, getting a mental image in his head, then pointed towards the briefing room's door. "Through those
doors, my man," he directed, "Have fun." Kal gave him a pat on the shoulder, then stepped into the briefing room, stopping to
look around.
Last time he had been in one of these, it had been more like a small amphitheater, big enough to educate a platoon. This one
was much more simple, but elegant in a sterile sort of way. He smiled to Fernandez
and gave a nod as he started that way. As he approached, he turned his attention to the large ship's crest emblazoned in the
center of the table. Once he turned to Fernandez, though, his smile vanished and he
was suddenly all FleetCorps business again. He offered his hand to Fernandez as he reached the XO.
"Sir," he greeted with a more formal nod, "I can only assume this means we've got a surprise red light on our shore leave?"
T'Lar walked in as Kal asked his question, "Yes, you assumed correctly. I'm just as disappointed as are all of you but we have
our orders straight from Admiral Dunar. So, shall we all sit down and get this meeting going?"
Everyone agreed in their own way and all sat down. Mr. Arcia spoke up first, "I know we are going into Gorn space but why?"
"Listening Post of Lavarian 8 has been out of communications for over five days but before that, the Outpost reported unusual
radiation readings emanating from just inside Gorn space. Starfleet sent the USS Gardino to investigate and now, they are also
out of communication. So, we are assigned to find out
why."
She looked around at everyone, waiting for responses.
As the Captain enters and orders them to be seated, he quickly takes a seat next to Fernandez so that, if need be, they could
pass notes concerning the security portion of this mission. Resting one elbow on
the arm of his chair, he reached up with that hand, tapping his bottom lip thoughtfully with his thumbnail as he listened. He
leaned back comfortably in the chair, but shifted his eyes to Arcia as he asked
his question. After it was asked, Kal arced a brow and shifted his eyes back to the Admiral, awaiting her reply. After she was
done making it, he raised his free hand and waited to be recognized.
"Will there be an away team needed for this op," he asked, dropping the one hand, and moving the propped one slightly to the
side away from his face, "or will we have to wait and make a SitRep once we get on station?"
"Right now, I don't believe so. I'm not even sure what to expect out there. I do know one thing for sure. Whatever it is that is
causing the communication blackouts, I want to be sure that it doesn't happen to us."
Mr. Arcia once again chimed in with another question, "You said that the Outpost reported unusual radiation readings emanating
from just inside Gorn space? Could they be the reason for the communication blackouts?"
"Because no one can penetrate the Gorn military, the reports are very unreliable but there is talk of a new Gorn weapon that is
either transphasic or biogenic. No one really knows for sure. I think that we need to approach the area with caution."
She looked over at a silent Lurz and then to Mr. Fernandez.
Fernandez was taking it in, one thing he had learned from his studies of ancient literature was, "Never start drawing a hypothesis
until you have some solid data." (thanks Doyle)
So he asked the question that a Tactical Officer would ask. "If we do find the Gorn, do we have permission to evict them from
our territory, With force if necessary? Or is this just a recon mission? Since we have no idea of strength, will there be a back-up

ship on standby?
"If they are in our territory. They may not be but if they are, I have no problem using force. But like I said before, we don't even
know why communication has been lost. All we could do now is speculate." She added, "Right now, it is just us, no one else."
She looked around for anyone else to ask a question.
Sitting back, he too glances around at the others. Although his question hadn't been answered in full, he knew from experience
that with limited Intel, it was answered as well as it possibly could be. Waiting to see if any of the other officers had any
comments, he started planning what he could and began taking notes. In his writing, he wrote one question apart from the rest
and nudged Fernandez discreetly to get his attention. Cutting his eyes towards the XO, he then nodded slightly towards the
paper directing
him towards the question written on it.
(Written: "Select an away team and brief them just in case?")
Fernandez read the note and he then took it upon himself to answer, he wrote three words paused then wrote three more.
(Written: Make it so
Don't pack light)
Then Fernandez addressed the table.
Fernandez: Just so we are all on the same page, We have lost contact with a listening post and a Star Ship, the Gorn have
developed an unknown weapon, and we are to go see what's going on. Have I missed anything?
Arcia: Nope, I think that about covers it. Sounds like fun, nevertheless.
"Question, if I may... do we know how communications are being disabled? And are we certain that they are indeed simply
disabled, and not just destroyed?" Lt. Lurz interjected suddenly.
"These are all good questions and I wish I had the answers. I am in the dark as much as you and everyone else. I think that we
should expect the worse scenario and prepare for it. If the Gorn has done something to our people, we'll deal with them."
She stood up, "I guess there is no sense kicking a dead horse so let's adjourn this meeting. We will approach Gorn space with
caution. I want sensor reading set for anything out of the ordinary. Anything else?"
He smirked as he read Fernadez's reply, then gave a brief nod, turning his attention to Lurz as he finally spoke up. Everyone had
been thinking it, Kal' knew, but no one had been bold enough to voice it.
He nodded to Lurz in a sort of thanks for bringing that up, then turned and listened to the Admiral. After she was done, he stood
with the others, and took up his notebook. "No ma'am," he answered her
querie about further questions.
Fernandez looked at T'Lar with a signal that he wanted to talk to her, alone. After everyone else had left he voiced his opinion,
the one that Command Officers never voice in front of the crew, "I have a real bad
feeling about this, I think it's going to end badly."
"Let's just hope that it turns out badly for the Gorn and not us."
"I don't know, maybe it's circumstantial but the Gorn have a new weapon then we loose contact with both an outpost and Star
Ship? I want to put the ship on Yellow alert when we start getting close, have everyone ready. If we have to jump, something tells
me we won't have very much time to do it in."
Fernandez said.
"I concur. It's a very good suggestion. Nice to see you keeping on your toes. Keep up the good work." Fernandez impressed her
very much. "I'll see you on the bridge. But right now I need to talk to Admiral Sorac."

Fernandez nodded, he walked out of the conference room and onto the Bridge.
Fernandez: Arcia, how long till we are in long range scanner of the Station? Or in other words, Are we there yet?
The last part was said in a higher tone with a slight plea and impatiens, a copy of his nephews and nieces last time he had taken
them to the zoo in a nearby city.
Arcia had been given an excuse to take the engines to maximum warp and he
was glad to do it.
Arcia: We've been at maximum warp since we started our transit. We'll be in sensor range just within the hour.
Fernandez took up his station and checked everything over for it's operating status.
Kal' stepped out of the lift, heading straight towards the armory area. He already knew at least one person that would be willing
to go on this Op if it came to it, and knew he would be of a great deal of help to him when it came to recruiting others. Stepping
into the shuttle bay that had been the center of attention earlier, Kalvin looked to the door of the armory and approached it,.
looking to Ensign Mubari sitting inside, maintenancing Kal's M41-A.
"Nice piece of tech, here, Liutenant," Mubari commented in his thick Earth-African accent, looking to Kalvin. "I'd love to learn to
use it someday."
Kalvin smirked and nodded. "Tell you what, Udi," Kal replied, "You give me a hand with something and first chance we get, we'll
see about setting up a practice range in the holodeck."
Mubari nodded, standing as he placed the rifle almost reverantly on the workbench. "You don't have to bribe me, Kal'," he said
with a chuckle, but his eyes remained serious. "What do you need help with?"
At that point, Kal' closed the armory door, securing the two of them inside. He then went over what he felt Udi needed to know
about the Gorn Op coming up, and how he needed to start putting a team together right away for a possible away mission.
"I'll only need a couple of guys that can fight, just in case, " Kal' added in the end, "since myself, you and the XO will be the main
frontmen, but we'll also need at least Medic and an engineer in case we find ourselves aboard the missing vessels, or even the
Gorn weapon, whatever it is, and if we find survivors." By the time he was done, Udi was smiling.
"I have just the people to pick for you, Liutenant," Mubari promised, then opened the door leading Kal' outside the armory. He
turned and locked the door, then started back down the corridor. "Follow me,
sir," Udi said, and the hunt was on.
Before long, they had found a Junior Medic who had transfered from the Galactic Peace Corps, an engineer who had gotten her
start as a leading engineer in the Fleet's starfighter corps... ironically, she was also the cute one Kal' had been checking out
earlier when he was having drinks with the Admiral and crew... and two other men from the security team, one of which was an
avid hunter on Earth and a top rate tracker, and another who had transfered to Fleet from FedCorps very early in his career.
Smiling to Udi, he gave the junior officer a nod.
"Good job, Ensign," he complimented, then patted Udi on the shoulder as he started away. "Get them briefed. I'll take the list of
volunteers to the Admiral and Fernandez. Expect a full briefing within the hour." Then he was gone, back into the lift, which he
shortly stepped out of and back onto the bridge.
Kal' stepped back into the lift, which he shortly stepped out of and back onto the bridge.
Fernandez nodded at that, reached out and pushed the buttons on the Tactical Station that triggered the Yellow alert and opened
the ship wide comm, "Yellow Alert, all hands to action stations! Repeat Yellow Alert, All hands to action stations!"
Fernandez then brought the shields up to ready and the phasers to pre-charge, putting the torpedo crew on standby with fish in
the tubes, then he started receiving reports from all decks that every station was ready.

"Mr Lurz, I want you to sing-out if anything moves out there, even if it's one of our own." Fernandez said to the Science Officer.
Kal' glanced around, then moved swiftly to Fernandez's side, handing him the sheet of paper he was carrying. "I have a small
team assembled, sir," he reported, pointing to the list of names and assignments. "Besides myself, you and Ensign Mubari, I

have two other Gunners, plus a Medic and a Mechanic, should we find what we're looking for. They're all waiting in the shuttle-
bay for a full briefing, but Mubari's giving them a brief rundown, now."

"Move them to transporter room 2," Fernandez said, while looking over the list, "If we go it will be from the transporters." The
names on the list were ones he would have pick, "I think this team will do nicely. Make sure they are all armored with Bio combat
gear."
He nodded to Fernandez and gave him a casual salute. "I'll make it so, sir," he said to the XO, then turned and started back
towards the lift. Once inside, he tapped his comm-badge once. "Reilly to Ensign Mubari," he called, still trying to get used to the
device instead of his headset.
"Mubari here, sir," came the crisp reply. That was one advantage to the Fleet comm-badges. Their reception and output was a lot
more clear than the FedCorps headsets.
"Assemble the team in Transporter Room 2," he ordered, "if we have to deploy, it'll be from there. Also, get them all outfitted in
Bio combat armor."
"Right away, sir," Mubari answered. "Mubari out." Kal nodded, satisfied with the way things were going. He had to smile to
himself as he thought about all of the jokes and beliefs concerning Fleet's laziness as compared to FedCorps. Boy were they
wrong. These guys were on top of their game, but knew how to live comfortably, too. He imagined for a moment that he could
get to like it here.
The doors close on his words, and Fernandez starts reviewing the protocols for Bio Combat...
Finding one important task he had forgotten, Fernandez looks over the ships cargo bays... 5 has perishables, six foodstuffs,
seven empty cargo pods, bingo!
Fernandez has the empty creates sealed and strapped down, then orders an evacuation of the bay, before bleeding the air out of
it and changing the lighting to high in the UV spectrum.
Fernandez ++tap++ Kal =/\= I need you tp point to point beam re-breathers and emergency survival packs into the empty pods in
cargo bay 7. Figure one person per pod. Thanks =/\=
Kal listened as Fernandez gave the odd order, and nodded when he was done. With a brow arced curiously, he reached up to
his chest, tapping his comm-badge as well.
=/\="Will do, sir," he responded, "Reilly, out."=/\=
Reaching up, he clicked his comm-badge again, then smirked as he stepped out of the lift, heading to carry out his orders.
"Matter of fact, I'll do you one better," he muttered to himself as if speaking to Fernadez were there beside him, "I'm not even
gonna ask why."
Fernandez was looking at his Tactical boards, when he had the Conn he seemed to always command the Bridge from the
Tactical Station.
Fernandez: ++tap++ T'Lar =/\= Ma'am, we are in extreme sensor range of Listening Post of Lavarian 8 and it seems that the
USS Gardino is near it... maybe docked. =/\=
=/\= "I'm on my way.

Fernandez: Mr. Lurz, can you pick up any details?
Fernandez: Helm, bring us right up to it before slowing down.
Arcia: Aye sir. Coming out of warp in two minutes.
2 minutes later the Essex emerged from warp. The Gardino was on screen in the distance
She arrived at the bridge. Fernandez got up and moved to his chair and she sat in her command chair once again. "Sensors find
anything unusual?"
"Well... no and that's unsual in itself." replied Fernandez.
News traveled fast around the ship, even with it's considerable size, and Kal' was soon stepping out of the lift, and back onto the
bridge. Glancing just briefly around, he fixed his eyes and on the viewscreen and made his way to the side of Fernadez's chair,
nodding politely to the XO and the Admiral.
"Sir, ma'am," he greeted them each, then back to Fernandez. "Everything you requested is in order, and my team is ready if
they're needed. I have them waiting with Ensign Mubari at the armory." He nodded, signaling he was finished with his report,
then turned back to the viewscreen, his hands clasped casually at the small of his back.
Fernandez nodded back to acknowledge the report.
"Slowly bring us in closer and scan the USS Gardino for life signs." T'Lar could feel the tension on the bridge shoot right up.
Arcia: Aye ma'am

The Essex approached the Gardino cautiously at one-quarter impulse.
Fernandez opened hailing frequencies, but no reply, checked the system then tried again, nothing. He had one more thing to try,
he reached out to the update button... Star Fleet ships and bases are continuously updating each other, the Essex for example
would have received the newest updates from the Star Base while T'Lar was in sub-space contact with Admiral Sorac. But with
the ship at yellow alert she would not update the listening post or the other Star Ship. Fernandez overrode this and the post
updated it's computers from the Essex then the USS Gardino did the same, proving that the post and ship could both transmit
and receive.
"No responds Admiral." he said and looked up, glaring at the main screen, "their communications systems are working, either
they are not answering or can not answer."
Fernandez further went on, "I am detecting no shields, or weapons, all power levels appear normal."
"Permission to lead an away team." Fernandez asked Rear Admiral T'Lar.
"Permission granted. I want everyone wearing environmental suits in case the Gorn really do have a weapon and used it on the
ship." She couldn't sense anything from that ship. She feared that something bad had happened.
"Kal' your with me, tell the team to meet us in transporter room 2," Fernandez said as he walked to the turbolift.
When they entered the transporter room they met with Mubari and the rest. Mubari gave Fernandez his Bio Armor and favorite
weapon of choice, a phaser carbine.
Fernandez don the armor and sealed it double checking the man's suit beside him while someone checks his. then taking the
carbine he slips the sling over his left shoulder (Fernandez is left handed) and adjusts it to hang horizontally at about waist level.
Kal checked Fernandez's suit while Mubari checked his and another checked his. The group was standing almost in a circle,
checking and double checking one anthers' containment suits. Everyone was then

handed their phasers, except Reilly, who opted for his M-41, his Klingon combat knife strapped inverted over his heart for easy
access.
They all step onto the transporter pads, and Fernandez calls, "Energize."
They materialized on the Bridge of the USS Gardino and the first sight Fernandez saw was a Captain sitting in his chair, normal
enough for Fernandez to start to apologize for having beamed in like commandos. then he realized the Captain hadn't moved, a
quick tricorder reading indicated that he was dead, and the abnormal stiffness that Fernandez had taken for indignation was a
rigidity of muscles, having seized up during or after death.
"Spread out in pairs, check the whole ship, scan everyone and see if you can find the source of delivery. Who's the engineer?
Help me pull a download from the computer, I want everything, including the Scientific data from their previous mission, I don't
think they are going to get to send it themselves." Fernandez gave his orders while moving to the Command chair, "Sorry
Captain but this will make it easier, Computer this is Commander Lupe Fernandez, Activate Emergency Fleet Access Program
Alpha Alpha One Alpha."
"Emergency Fleet Access Program initiated. You have half an hour to comply with Starfleet regulations."
Fernandez blinked then the thought hit him, there was a Rear Admiral sitting in the ship beside this one, no doubt the Gardino's
computer was even now asking T'Lar for confirmation on authority.
Once the group was beamed aboard the other ship, Kal dropped to a knee, expecting hostiles. Seeing none, though, he rose,
lowering the muzzle of his weapon and began to walk the bridge while Fernandez
handled the Fleet protocols. He nodded to Fernandez as the XO ordered the split and search, and nodded to Mubari, then
gestured to one of the other shooters. "Ensign, take him," then switched to the engineer,
nodding to her. "You go with the XO, and take Doc with you."
Turning to the other shooter, he smirked. "Looks like it's you and me, sailor," he quipped, getting a chuckle from the other man,
the one that had started as Fleet Corps before coming to Fleet.
"Yes sir," the man nodded back, turning towards the exit of the bridge.
Kal waited a moment, turning back to Mubari and Fernandez. "I assume you'll be checking the bridge and surrounding area, "he
commented to the XO, then turned to Mubari again. "The two of you take the rest of the outer section of the command plate,
myself and Tyler will head down to the lower section and begin checking it out."
With that, he turned and headed towards the lift, where Tyler waited for him, then they were gone, heading down.
Fernandez as temporary Captain of the ship authorized the download of the logs, all the logs, Captain's, Medical, Science,
Sensor, Engine, etc... Once that was done he then started to download the Scientific data from their last mission, the ship might
be a contained Bio hazard but why lose the data, these men and women worked hard for it. There was a lot there it was going to
take a while.
He checked his consumables, 6 hours left, why sit still for that long?
Fernandez: ++tap++ T'Lar =/\= Ma'am, we have the ship, everyone is dead that we have found, we are downloading the ships
database to the Essex. =/\=
Fernandez reached over and tapped the comm badge of the Captain.
Fernandez: =/\= I have just activated the comm badge of the Captain, you can home in on it and beam him into a containment
area for further study. =/\=
Rifle raised to his shoulder, Kal' made his way down the corridor, scanning left, his patrol companion scanning the right, holding
his phaser rifle in a similar fashion. So far they had found nothing, and they had already searched two decks. Nothing except
room after room of dead bodies, and several laid about in the hall. As they reached the next lift, Kal' stopped, turning to Tyler.

"Take five, Ty'," he told the man, who turned his back to the wall to keep a lookout.
"Yes sir," Tyler replied, "gladly." He lowered his phaser, but kept his hands on it in case he had to snap it back up. Kal' reached
up, resting his heavier balistic rifle across his shoulder and tapped his comm badge with his other hand.
=/\= "Reilly to Fernandez," he said, also making sure the line was opened to the bridge of the Essex so the Admiral could be a
part of it as well, also opening to the other away team members' comms, "We're two decks down from the upper main-deck, and
so far no signs of life." =/\=
Fernandez =/\= Understood, any sign of the point of origin? =/\=
He paused a moment, looking at a pair of nearby bodies, not twenty feet down the corridor the way they had come. One had a
cup beside him as if he had been holding it, the other had a clipboard under her hand and a pen beside the other.
=/\= "Sir, Ma'am," he stated, making sure both were listening, "I can't tell you what happened here, but it looks like these people
were caught completely unaware. It looks like they were going about their daily business... and just dropped dead where they
stood. Any ideas on either of your ends, yet? Anything from the ship's logs, perhaps?" =/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Logs are incomplete, the Captain stopped in mid sentence, we are downloading sensor logs and ship records at
this time. Ma'am, We have six hours of consumables before we have to return, how about if the Essex and Gardino go to the
listening post together, if the same thing has happened there we could dock the ship, better that then let it drift around free. =/\=
Kal' turned and looked to Tyler who shrugged as he returned the look. Kalvin smirked, shaking his head then raised his rifle,
pointing ahead, and started down the corridor. As he turned to follow, Tyler reached up and tapped his own comm badge.
=/\="Ensign Tyler to Commander Fernandez and Admiral T'Lar," he reported over the system, "the LT and I are moving ahead,
we'll keep you posted."=/\=
He the raised his own phaser-rifle and followed, scanning to the right as Kal did to the left. "Hey LT," he called softly ahead.
Kalvin glanced back, then forward again as he continued on.
"Kal'," he stated simply, continuing on.
The simple statement caught Tyler off guard. "Huh?", he asked.
"You can call me Kal'," Kalvin answered him," it's short for Kalvin, my first name."
"Shiney," Tyler responded with a chuckle. "In that case, I'm Dwayne, but everyone calls me D'." He hesitated a moment, getting a
nod from Kalvin in response, then continued. "I noticed you opted to stick with the FedCorps M41," he stated, smiling when
Kalvin held the rifle up slightly to accentuate Tyler's observation, "I was just wondering why, you'd choose a ballistic weapon
when the phasers we're carrying are much more effective and lighter."
Kalvin glanced back over his shoulder a moment, then forward again as they continued on. "You make a good point, D," Kal'
stated, "But answer me a question: you ever fought a Borg?" He glanced back to see
Dwayne shake his helmeted head.
"No sir," he answered honestly, "but I studied them at Fleet Academy. Hardest thing about fighting them is their ability to adapt
their shields to various forms of attack. What does that have to do with anything?"
Kalvin stopped and turned to Dwayne, both men coming face-to-face, and smiled at him. "Now think, real hard," he stated, "what
did you miss in that description?" He waited a moment, as the dark skinned earth
native thought, then smirked and shook his head. "They don't adapt to just ANY form of attack," Kal' answered for him, "only
ENERGY BASED attack forms." He stopped his description as he saw realization dawn in the black man's eyes.
"But they can't adapt to bullets," Dwayne finished the lesson and nodded, then nodded again, this time in approval. "Well what

do you know?", he asked in a teasing tone. "FedCorp's good for something after all." Kal laughed with him and shoved the
bigger man ahead by the shoulder.
"Y'know, I used to like you," Kal' quipped, then reached to his chest and tapped his comm-badge.
=/\="Reilly to Fernadez and T'Lar," he reported in, "Tyler and I are moving ahead, anyone find anything new yet?"=/\=
=/\="Ensign Tyler to Commander Fernandez and Admiral T'Lar," he reported over the system, "the LT and I are moving ahead,
we'll keep you posted."=/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Very good =/\=
Fernandez turned and looked around the Bridge, the Captain was gone and Fernandez had Command of the ship, but he would
not sit in the center seat, just couldn't, he was safe with his suit on but the idea...
Fernandez: Computer take helm control.
Computer: done
Fernandez: set course for the Listening Post Lavarian 8 full impulse.
Computer: laid in and ready.
Fernandez: Go.
Fernandez: Computer please list 1st Lt. Kavin Reilly as acting XO. It really did not mean much in the here and now but it would
be in his records that he held the XO slot even temporarily, and the people that read
the reports instead of being there it would sound like something more... if he ever wanted to go in that direction.
=/\= Team 3, Mubar here Sir, I have found the source of infection, it's a torpedo casing but it's been modified to deliver a gas
instead of an explosive warhead. =/\=
Fernandez =/\= Where are you? =/\=
Mubar: =/\= Deck 2 fore port quarter, we are in Stateroom 221 =/\=
Fernandez =/\= Hold your position =/\=
Fernandez was just about to call Reilly when he called first.
=/\="Reilly to Fernandez and T'Lar," he reported in, "Tyler and I are moving ahead, anyone find anything new yet?"=/\=
Fernandez: =/\=Not yet but don't worry if anything is found you will be the first one I tell. =/\=
Kal looked to Tyler who had stopped to study a location plaque. Tyler studied it, then turned, nodding to the First Liutenant, then
the two started up the passageway.
=/\= Reilly to Fernandez," he reported after tapping his comm-badge. "Me and Tyler haven't found a thing, and we've completed
our sweep. We're heading back now. Anything you want me to pick up on my way?" =/\=
Beside him, Tyler smirked. "The XO appreciates a good sense of humor," he told the Marine, "I think you two are going to get
along fine."
"Good," Reilly responded. "I've had a few too many XO's I had trouble getting along with. Just check the report involving me on
the Lexington. "He chuckled, shaking his head. "To this day, I swear with God as my witness, it was NOT my fault." The two
shared a short laugh at that as they continued along.

Fernandez =/\= Ah yes Mr. Reilly, if you please head over to Deck 2 the forward port quarter, I think Stateroom 221, there is a
little present that I would like to give to our Admiral. If you would go there and make sure the warhead and drive are secure and
transport is done in a safe manner, I think I would appreciate it. We want it but we don't want to infect the Essex with it, if you
know what I mean.=/\=
Kal' stopped, reaching over to halt Tyler as well, with his rifle held across the junior man's chest. With his other hand, he reached
up and tapped his comm.
=/\= "Reilly," he replied, simply, "go ahead." The two listened as Fernandez gave his orders, then Kal turned and nodded to Tyler.
"We read you, sir," he replied, "and we're headed that way. We'll report
back when we arrive." =/\=
Already moving, Kal' nodded for Tyler to follow, but it was a useless gesture as the other man had already moved to do so.
"About time we found something," Tyler commented.
"Yeah," Reilly replied, "now let's just hope finding it proves a good thing, and doesn't have us joining this crew."

Meeting...........
It was a strange request, a meeting in the midst of a crisis but she had no choice. She entered the holodeck, called for the
program which interfaced with the CO's of TF86.
The meeting didn't last long but it was annoying in the least. Good thing was that she got to meet her TFXO, Brigadier General
Jacobs and her TF2nd officer Captain Bawden.
Deela left the meeting and went back to the bridge. As she sat in her chair, something in her mind said help me. She sensed that
someone was in pain or near death.
=/\= T'Lar to Fernandez. Are all of you okay?"
Fernandez =/\= Yes Ma'am, I, and the whole team, are fine. =/\= *he double checked the suit readouts for all of his away party to
make sure of his statement.*
=/\= I am sensing that someone is alive. Check every inch of that ship, every nook and cranny. This person may be able to tell us
what happened."=/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Will do Ma'am =/\=
Fernandez to Lt. Reilly =/\= Kal, I'm sending the med tech down to be with Lurz, I need you to organize a new search. The
Admiral says she senses someone over here and I haven't seen her wrong before so there is someone alive over here.
Resweep and this time confirm each one dead, activate there badges so I can match them to the ship's manifest. =/\=
Fernandez looked at the medtech and she nodded and left.
She turned to Lurz, "Lurz, I want you to beam to the other ship and take a look at the torpedo that they have found and see if you
can find out anything about it."
The Tholian rose from his platform at the sound of the Admiral's voice and quickly he responded, "I will depart immediately."
Skittering to the turbolift, the amber hued creature disappeared from the bridge, headed for the transporter room. Once there, he
had the transporter chief fetch a tricorder for him, which he produced quickly before the Tholian climbed upon the pad and
dematerialized into the matter stream of the ship's transporter.

=Seconds Later, USS Gardino=
The Tholian materialized just outside of the room that had been harboring the warhead, and just in time to find Lt. Reilly walking
up.
"What is the situation here, Lieutenant?" the Tholian asked.

Sitting on a shuttle for several hours flying through dangerpus space not knowing what was going on was not exactly fun in his
eyes. Star Fleet contacted him and tore him away from Dana Monroe and that tore
him up inside. Knowing fleet called for his specific talents and ordered him to the Essex. He looks up as the Ensign looks over
his shoulder at him.
"Sir the Essex is coming within range shall we contact them?"
Jason looked at the security displays and the area and nothing of note came up on the sweeps. Looking at the Ensign he
nodded.
"Go ahead and let them know Lt. Commander Jason Darkbringer new Chief Engineer is on final approach."
The Ensign turned and began relaying communication to the Essex. He new the Essex was a new ship and wanted to be sure
he could enjoy her as much as he did the Nimitz. Looking up he stood and began scanning the area outside of the ship and
noticed the other ship and began scanning that one as well. Noting the life signs on the other ship.
"Interesting, very interesting."
Noting all of the information as he noted the Essex as the shuttle drew closer.
Aeryn had been sitting quietly in the shuttle alongside Jack for most of the trip to the Essex, finally managing to catch up on
some reading she smiled as she stood to stretch her legs.
"I'm heading up front Jack, from what I'm sensing I'd say we're approaching the Essex."
It was certainly going to seem strange serving alongside Jack aboard the Essex without him actually being her XO anymore.
He'd spent a lot of years as the XO aboard the USS Wildcat and yet here he was now transferring as the Chief Ops officer.
Walking up front she smiled as she greeted the other officer up front who was also transferring aboard.
"You're Jason Darkbringer aren't you?." she looked at him curiously, "I think we've met before, I'm Aeryn Jameson Chief
Counsellor. I'm transferring over from the USS Wildcat, looks like we're arriving right in the middle of something."

Kal' smiled as he and Tyler made it to the door only split-seconds after Lurz. Kal' nodded with a smile in reply to the alien's
greeting. "Good to see you, too, Lurz," he said, "Looks like we got some work for you here after all." Reaching out, Kal' made to
open the door when Fernandez called out to him, and reached up to tap his badge instead.
=/\= "Reilly," he reported back, "go ahead" =/\=
As he listened, he gestured for everyone else to listen as well to the report. He looked to each in turn to make sure they
understood, then nodded. At one comment, he arced a brow, but shook it off, then
reached up at the end and tapped his comm.
=/\= "Yes sir," Reilly replied crisply, dropping back into combat mode instead of the relaxed state he was fading into with the lack
of any findings. "I'll report back as soon as we have word. Reilly out!" =/\=
At that, he tapped his comm-badge again and adjusted his grip on his rifle. "You heard the man," he barked, "spread out and

search every crack and crevice. I don't know how, but the Admiral KNOWS someone's still alive over here and I want them found
ASAP! Got me? Move out!" As he moved to match deed to words, he paused, grabbing the sleeve of Tyler's uniform, drawing
the man's attention.
"Yeah?", Tyler asked curiously.
"Remind me when this is over," Reilly told him, "to ask you how..."
"The Admiral," Tyler interrupted with a smirk, "gotcha." The two men then parted ways, fanning out to check the rest of the ship,
leaving Lurz to wait for the new Doc and the room with the torpedo.
"Admiral, a shuttle is approaching."
"Ah yes, I've been expecting them. As soon as the shuttle is in the bay, let me know. I'd like to meet them there.". Fernandez
usually meets them but since he was on the away team, she'd be doing it.
T'Lar had so much on her mind and she started to feel a little overwhelmed. She was also anxious to find the injured crewman
from the other ship.
Kal continued down his corridor, his rifle raised as if expecting trouble. He'd already been through the ship once, though, and

truly wasn't expecting any. But the flashlight mounted on it was very helpful, coupled with the one on the helmet of his enviro-
suit. He stopped at a junction between passageways and took a knee, reaching up to tap his comm-badge.

=/\= "Reilly to search team," he reported, "all searchers report in at five-minute intervals starting now."=/\=
He wasn't in charge of the mision. Of course, Fernadez was, which made all the sense in the world. But the XO had put him in
charge of the sweep, and that was his turf through-and-through. While running this
search, he decided to do it as he was trained in FedCorps, and that meant constant contact, especially when you were searching
alone. Patiently, he waited for the reports to come in, especially from Lurz and the new doctor concerning their find in the room
he'd been forced to leave them at.
Fernandez had found a cargo hold with no one in it and minimum of stores, as the combadges of the dead crew had been
activated he would check them off against the crew manifest then point to point beam the body to the cargo hold, placing them in
neat rows.
The Gardino neared the Listening Post of Lavarian 8 she slowed then stopped near a docking portal, Fernandez was not going
to dock this ship till they had found and removed the person that T'Lar had felt.
Shuttle....
Looking at Aeryn and he nods respectfully. Looking at her curiously he smiles. Slightly remembering.
Jason: Yes i believe a few years back. You are a good officer I checked your records and obviously kind of surprised your
transferring. Then again a career field is a career field.
Chuckling slightly he tucks a picture of Dana Monroe away. Tapping his pocket and he looks out at the stars his mind wanders a
bit. he then turns and looks at Aeryn.
Jason: Sorry i must be easy to read.
Looking down he kind of cups his hands together.
Jason: You known the hardest part of going to new a new ship is the loved ones left behind.
Jason touches the pictures edge in his pocket.
Jason: I know we will be close as friends, but distance people tend to grow apart and that kind of depresses me.

Looking over as the Essex loomed large in the front of the shuttle.
Jason: I accepted the new challenge. Boy did i accept a huge challenge.
Smiling weakly he looks on at the new ship.
Aeryn smiled and nodded understandingly, she and Daniel's relationship had gone south a long time ago but perhaps there was
something there.... she turned to look back at Jack for a moment before looking back at Darkbringer.
Aeryn: It's going to be a challenge for us all, leaving loved ones behind is a part of Starfleet life. At least you can keep in touch
with her ::she motioned to where he'd put the picture in his jacket pocket.::
They're attention turned to the shuttle crew as a message was relayed from the Essex granting the shuttle permission to dock.
Aeryn: ::Turning to Solomon:: We're about to Dock Jack.
Jack saw Aeryn go up front to see the Essex as they got clkoser to her and he too took a look out of the window as well.
Soveriegns were alwasy big ships an Jack thought how much easier it might be to get used to her after being on a small ship like
the Wildcat.
Solomon: This is definbitely gonna be different. Shes a bigger ship alright. This is gonna get interesting.
He looked across at Aeryn and also the other new officer joining the Essex. Looking at his Rank pips on his collar he noticed that
the officer was a Lieutenant Commander. He extended his hand to him.
Solomon: Commander? I'm Commander Jack Solomon, Formerly of the Wildcat, same as Aeryn here. She's a fine ship isn't
she? i look forward to serving on her with you both. I'll be the new Chief Ops Officer on her. What about yourself?
Jason turns and looks over at the other Gentleman from the Wildcat. He nods and takes his hand and shakes it firmly.
Jason: I am Jason Darkbringer and i am the new Chief Engineer.
Rubbing his chin he looks over at the Essex.
Jason: She is a big ship, but so was the Nimitz. I look forward to the new challenge. Also i am looking forward to serving with you
two as well. At least we are semi familiar with each other especially between the relationships between the Nimitz and the
Wildcat from the past events and happenings.
Jason holds a padd up and taps it.
Jason: I made sure i was somewhat familiar with who i was traveling with. You two are familiar faces so this transfer will be
somewhat comfortable and as i said i look forward to serving with you both.
Jason smiles weakly and then turns his gaze back to the Essex.
Jason: She certainly is a big ship.
He watches the Cargo bay doors begin to open as the shuttle begins to enter slowly.
Jack saw Aeryn go up front to see the Essex as they got clkoser to her and he too took a look out of the window as well.
Soveriegns were alwasy big ships an Jack thought how much easier it might be to get used to her after being on a small ship like
the Wildcat.
Solomon: This is definbitely gonna be different. Shes a bigger ship alright. This is gonna get interesting.
He looked across at Aeryn and also the toher new officer joing the Essex. Looking at his Rank pips on his collar he noticed that

the officer was a Lieutenant Commander. He extended his hand to him.
Solomon: Commander? i'm Commander Jack Solomon, Formerly of the Wildcat, same as Aeryn here. She's a fine ship isnt she?
i look forward to serving on her with you both. I'll be the new Chief Ops Officer on her. What about yourself?
Jason turns and looks over at the other Gentleman from the Wildcat. He nods and takes his hand and shakes it firmly.
Jason: I am Jason Darkbringer and i am the new Chief Engineer.
Rubbing his chin he looks voer at the Essex.
Jason: She is a big ship, but so was the Nimitz. I look forward to the new challenge. Also i am looking forward to serving with you
two as well. At least we are semi familiar with each other especially
between the relationships between the Nimitz and the Wildcat from the past events and happenings.
Jason holds a padd up and taps it.
Jason: I made sure i was somewhat familiar with who i was traveling with. You two are familiar faces so this transfer will be
somewhat comfortable and as i said i look forward to serving with you both.
Jason smiles weakly and then turns his gaze back to the Essex.
Jason: She certainly is a big ship.
He watches the Cargo bay doors begin to open as the shuttle begins to enter slowly.
< A few mins later - USS Essex Shuttlebay >
Safely on the deck aboard the Essex Aeryn returned to where she'd been sitting to pick up her bag, the rest of her baggage
would be transported to her quarters for her, as would everyone else's, not that she had that much.
Stepping out of the shuttle she looked to Solomon.
Aeryn: The message said we'd be met on arrival and to wait in the shuttlebay.
RAdm.T'Lar was informed of the shuttle's soon arrival in the bay and left the bridge to meet them. Unfortunately, this, she would
be doing alone. She stopped off her quarters to freshen up then made her way to the shuttle bay.
She stood there tall and straight, her hands folded behind her, eagerly awaiting the arrivals. The shuttle bay doors opened and
the shuttle, with help of the ship's tractor beam, brought the shuttle in smoothly and came to rest on the shuttle bay floor.
Once it was safe, she stood at the shuttle's door and waited for the door to open. As they stepped out, T'Lar greeted them with a
warm and friendly smile.
"Hi, I'm RAdmiral T'Lar. Welcome aboard." She glanced at each of them as they began to introduce themselves.
Standing in front of the Rear Admiral he looked over at Aeryn and Jack and he grinned slightly.
Jason: I am Lt. Cmdr. Jason Darkbringer former 2nd Officer and Chief Communications onboard the Nimitz. I am proud to accept
the Chief Engineers position aboard the Essex.
Standing at attention he looked at Admiral T'Lar. His nervousness was definitely showing as he was not happy with how nervous
he was. Only a betazoid would know.
"Thank you Admiral" Aeryn nodded and smiled, "I'm Aeryn Jameson and this is Jack Solomon."
Handing over the padd containing their transfer orders Aeryn smiled as she looked towards Darkbringer. He was feeling quite
nervous.

Jason: Uhm look Aeryn i would like to schedule a meeting. It will be needed.
Sighing a bit he turns and salutes the Admiral.
Jason: Thank you for welcoming me aboard Admiral.
Aeryn nodded in acknowledgment of Jason's request for a meeting it was something she'd schedule once they were settled in
aboard the Essex.
Aeryn: We saw that the Essex has company, so what have we missed Admiral?
We lost communications with the USS Gardino and we were supposed to find out why. Well we have. Almost everyone is dead
except for one and they're searching for that one crewman. Also, they've discovered a torpedo and our Science Officer is looking
into it. Follow me and I'll tell you all the rest while we walk."
She motioned to them, "There has been rumors of a weapon that the Gorns have developed a weapon that may be phasic or
biogenic. I have a feeling that the USS Gardino was hit by this new weapon of theirs. Cmdr.Jameson, if that one crewman
survives, we may need your services. You two" pointing to the two men, "Get settled and then report to the bridge. If either of
you feel that yiou can be of some help on the other ship, go ahead and beam over but make sure that you are wearing
environmental suits. If that torpedo has anything to do with the crew dying, I don't want to lose my own men."
An Ensign joined them. T'Lar finished by asking, "If you have any questions, now would be the time, otherwise, Ensign
Rodriguez will show you to your quarters."
"Admiral" Aeryn looked at T'Lar as she finished speaking.
"With your permission I'd like to join those aboard the Gardino, being Betazoid yourself you've no doubt sensed someone over
there or you wouldn't have people have searching for a survivor" she smiled, "I'm guessing the away team could use someone
with empathic senses to help locate that survivor."
She looked at T'Lar and waited to see what her new CO would say.
"Go ahead but be careful."
Jack followed the Ensign to his quarters and when he go here he thanked him for the tour. Jack made a mebntal note of getting
a quick your done of the ship himself so he knew the quickest way to get about. The Essex was a lot bigger than the Wildcat and
that would have to be factored in.
As he went into his quaretsr he noticed they were smaller and for one person. Ah the heady days of being XO and having bigger
quarters! He chucked his bag down on the bed and then sorted out a fresh uniform after a good shower. After Admirals
Explanantion of things he decided it best to get himself to the bridge for now and get accquainted with the Ops station, then
setting about work on this new Gorn threat. He'd never dealt with the Gorn before, one of the federations elder enemies.
Reilly continued along the corridor, this time opening every door he could find: closets, cabinets, ready-lockers. So far, his search
had turned up nothing, nor had anyone elses' according to their reports, and he
was beginning to get a little edgy. Taking a knee at a junction in the corridor, he listen to the reports coming in, the tapped his
own comm-badge.
=/\= Lurz, this is Kal' You gotten into that space yet? Have you found anything? =/\=
Lt. Lurz had just pried the panels off the device when the commbadge chirped at him.
"I have not had a chance to examine it entirely, but from what I can tell it is rigged to explode if we attempt to move it or beam it
off the ship. I may be able to disable it but I'm not sure if I can disarm it. I believe a person with more engineering skills than I
would be better suited for this task," the Tholian replied as his kaleidoscopic eyes beheld the complexity of the interior of the
explosive.

Fernandez listining in on his own comm, called the Essex.
Fernandez: =/\= Admiral, we need someone with more engineering skills then Lurz to disarm the torpedo, I saw that shuttle
arive, did it have the new Chief Engineer? We could use him over here. =/\=
"Yes, you did. As soon as I can, I'll send him to you ASAP."
Lt. Cmdr. Jason Darkbringer walked to the enviro suit storage closet and opened it removing his environment suit. He walked to
the cargo bay shuttles and looked over at the Ensign he nods.
Jason: Please take my stuff to my quarters. I really think i could be of use abord the other ship.
The Ensign salutes and Jason smiles.
Jason: No need to salute son. I have asked you a request.
Smiling Jason made his way to the cargo bay transport chief. He stepped onto the transport pad.
Jason: Transport me to the engineering section of the other ship. I will make my way to the weapon from there. There are things
i need to examine before i go completely about disarming a weapon i have not
seen yet.
Seconds passed by as Jason was transported aboard the other ship. He calmly walked over to the computer touch-board in
engineering and hooked his padd up to it. he began with gathering trajectories the impact of the weapon and how many decks it
had breached. He then broke down the portion of the facts that described the weapons impact and timing of the peoples
disappearance. He then began to make his way to the weapon as he stood as the doors opened he walked across the area and
then looked into the space where the weapon was.
Jason: So that is the wonderful little toy i need to disarm.
Crawling in next to the weapon he began opening panels on the torpedo. he removed the main panel and stared down at the
weapon and began inspecting it thoroughly. He had seen some chemical weapons in
his early days of his service. He follows race lines and then notices a small canister.
Jason: Uhm we have a problem.
Jason looks up at anyone nearby.
Mubari and his partner were rechecking the Engineering section one last time when they found something... or rather someone.
Mubari: =/\= (In an African accent) Commander, we found a girl, still alive but in a bad way. She was stuffed in a nook and a
shield was put over the opening, so she isn't infected, that we can see, but she is asphyxiating because there is not life support
in there. =/\=
He looked around and found a woman, in engineer yellow, lying beside a nearby console. She had the same hair and facial
features as the 12-15 year old girl.
Mubari: =/\= Aii, the poor devil, it looks like her mother put her there then died in front of her... =/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Give me transporter coordinates! Essex! Essex, one to beam to total isolation chamber, emergency transport,
straight to isolation! =/\=
Jason looked slowly through the wiring knowing the torpedo was still armed. he slowly looked at each portion carefully. He called
up something in his padd that recalled a torpedo similar to this from
the return of Voyager. Wiping his forehead he made exact details of the torpedoes internal portions. He slowly scans something
and turns to the crewman near him.

Jason: Create a force shield around me and this torpedo. I need a complete containment field. I don't trust this thing for not going
off and i do not want to cause anymore deaths because of a weapon.
Jason looked down and began to disarms the weapon as many thoughts went through his mind. He slowly began tracing wires
as he heard the containment field come up. He stood up and went to a wall terminal in the quarters and locked out the
commands for the containment field for only him to unlock and drop. He turns and presses three command codes. Allowing the
Commanding Officer, Executive Officer and the Chief Medical officer to drop the shield and override it for emergency purposes.
Slowly he begins to disconnect wires and such. He listens as he hears a slow hiss. He looks around quickly as the canister was
not breached he did notice a cooling line in the bulkhead was leaking he shook his head as he was nervous enough. removing
the canister he gently placed it on the floor near him as he sat back against the wall as he shook slightly. Tapping his
commbadge.
-/\- Lt. Cmdr. Darkbringer to the Essex device deactivated. I am quarantined within the room and the container is free of the
device.-/\-
Sitting back he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep being exhausted and with little to no sleep in the last four days.
With the torpedo disarmed and the survivor off the ship Fernandez felt ready to dock with the station. A deep scan of the station
showed that it would not matter, everyone on the station was also dead.
Fernandez activated the station docking clamps by remote from the Bridge and once the ship was securely docked he told the
computer to shut down the ship to standby, then opened a channel to the new Engineer.
Fernandez: =/\= Chief Engineer Darkbringer, I need you to go to the Gardino's engine room and secure the anti-matter reactors
for long term storage. =/\=
He got to the turbolift a short time later and headed up to the bridge. Once there when the doors opened he was taken aback by
the size of the Bridge itself. Bigger ship, Bigger Bridge. It made sense. He walked over to the Duty officer and stood there waiting
to announce himself.
Solomon: I'm Commander Jack Solomon, your new Chief Ops officer. Where do you want me to begin?
T'Lar smiled at him, "We may have to enter Gorn Territory. Sensors are on, scans are being conducted to make sure what
happened to them, doesn't happen to us. Just make sure that our weapons and shields are operational and ready."
Having made her way to the bridge to update herself on events prior to beaming aboard the Gardino, Aeryn was about to leave
to make her way to the transporter room when Fernandez voice came over the comms.
Fernandez: =/\= Give me transporter coordinates! Essex! Essex, one to beam to total isolation chamber, emergency transport,
straight to isolation! =/\=
Looking towards Jack who was busy acquainting himself with his new position at Ops she waited as the survivor was beamed
aboard into isolation in sickbay.
Solomon: The survivor is in sickbay, quarantine fields are in place.
Jameson: I'll be in sickbay if I'm needed.
She nodded to Jack before leaving the bridge, the Admiral had said she'd need her if indeed a survivor was found aboard the
Gardino. Making her way down to sickbay she walked inside to where the survivor was lying quarantined, the medical staff
doing what they could to find out if the survivor was contagious and if so what type of contagion it was.
Nodding to the medical staff she stood outside the quarantine field her senses trained on the young woman inside. She wasn't
very coherent, right now she was barely conscious, highly confused and very, very scared.
Jameson: It's alright.... you're aboard the USS Essex. We're here to help you.

The young woman looked at her as if for that brief moment, she understood her. The young woman closed her eyes and the
emergency signals went off, "She's gone into V-fib." The doctor jumped her heart, her body jerked as the electric impulse went
through her heart. "Again!" The anticipation filled the room as they all focused on the monitor. Cheers came as her heart started
to pick up the beat. The doctor wasn't ready to let her go just yet.
The young woman slowly opened her eyes, tears falling from her eyes, wetting her temples and hair. Blood samples, hair
samples...every sample that was available was taken from her. The lab technicians started to work diligently to find what it was
she had. All the doctor knew was that whatever it was, the young woman may only have hours to live. She would now have to
rely solely on her crew.
T'Lar looked around, realizing that Solomon was the only commander on the ship. "You have the bridge Mr. Solomon. I'll be in
sickbay."
T'Lar walked in moments after the woman's heart was revived. T'Lar looked over at Jameson, who was sensing the same thing
as she was, "Sometimes I wish that I could turn off that part of me that feels. The agony that she is in, it's heart-wrenching." T'Lar
continued to watch the poor woman.
Yes it is" Aeryn nodded as she spoke her eyes never moving from the young woman lying in the quarantined area in front of her.
"right now we're all she's got."
Aeryn turned her attention to T'Lar for a moments. "The medical staff have been busy taking as many samples as they can get
for analysis, all we have to do now is hope that one of the tests comes back with something that can help."
She turned her attention back to the young woman who was looking wearily around her enclosed area, she was doing her best
to hang onto what life she had. As their eyes met Aeryn offered an understanding and friendly smile trying to help the woman
relax a little.
"You just have to hang on...." she would have offered a reassuring hand for the woman to hold but being quarantined ruled that
out from the start. "We're doing our best to find out what's happening."
Kal stopped at a junction and listened as the report went out that the survivor had been found and transported to the Essex. He
waited a moment, listening for the new ChEng's report on the bomb. Once he reported all clear, he breathed a sigh of relief and
nodded, tapping his comm-badge.
=/\= "Reilly to Darkbringer," he called, "good job. And welcome to the Essex." =/\=
He then paused a moment, thinking of his next move, then nodded as it came to him and tapped his comm again.
=/\= "Reilly to Mubari and Tyler," he called again, "The survivor has been found and taken to the Essex. Break off your search
and head to the Gardino's armory, I'll meet you there." =/\=
He signed off his badge, then activated it once more, directing the call to Fernandez and T'Lar.
=/\= "Reilly to Mr. Fernandez and Admiral T'Lar," he announced himself, "I'm taking Ensigns Mubari and Tyler with me to the
armory to see what we can offload from the Gwrdino to the Essex. If we're going
deeper into Gorn-held space, we may need more hand weapons than the Essex currently has available. Do you concur?" =/\=
He took a few more steps down the passageway, holding his rifle low, as he stepped up to a ship's layout holomap on the
bulkhead. As he listened for T'Lar and Fernandez's reply, he began checking areas and
planning a quick route to the ship's armory. He also took this time to see if there were any other store-rooms he might be able to
salvage equipment from for the Essex.
Upon the CMO hearing the message, she put her hands up, signaling the Admiral. "We don't know if this stuff is airborne or
what. For all we know, any residue from this stuff could get everyone sick. I'd advise against it until I know for sure."
=/\= Um, belay that order. I'll tell you what. Go ahead and load everything in the transporter room. As soon as we know for sure

and it is safe, we'll then beam the weapons over." =/\=
Kal' smiled and nodded to himself, then tapped his comm-badge again.
=/\= "Yes ma'am," he replied as he turned and started walking, "I had no intention of beaming them over until you cleared it. Just
wanted to check and make sure it was a valid idea. I'm en route to the armory
now to help sort through the supplies there, and I'll let you know what we find. Reilly out. =/\=
Reaching up, he tapped his comm-badge again, cutting the connection and muttered to himself. "Come on," he protested
jokingly, "we Marines may not be that bright, but we're not stupid, either."
Jason heard Fernandez's order as he stood up slowly feeling a bit weak and somewhat fatigued. He was sweating and for some
reason feeling really weak. He punched the computer console on the wall and
tapped in the computer to execute a sight to sight transport while continuously keeping him quarantined. "Computer execute
transport." The computer chirped a garbled message and Jason was materializing in
the Engineering section of the ship as he pushed his hands to the right and left to be sure the shield was quarantining hima s
well as the weapons bio unit. He began punching in codes to secure the Gardino's Warp core.
Slowly Jason staggered a bit and accidentally activated the ships holomedic program and she appeared before him. Jason
looked a bit surprised. "You are not the standard holo program?" The program
looked at him and turned her head. "I am an upgrade from the previous doctor program. They wanted someone more friendly
and open to friendly conversation." Jason turned his attention back to the
console and began tapping the prolonged storage locks for the warp core as he coughed hard and he felt dizzy headed suddenly
and then he turns as the Holoprogram looked at him. "You ok sir?" Jason waved his
hand and motioned he was ok. He tapped his own personal padd and downloaded the holoprogram onto it. "You are an
interesting program it would be a waste to leave you on the ship. Lost in the computer
systems." She smiled at him as the warp core started running at a lower level and the systems broke down to all reserve
systems. Minimal power, but enough to keep the ship running until necessary.
He stood to a standing position and shook his head as he staggered back and forth. he fell forward as the ships holoprgram ran
over to him and checked his bio signs. She looked around and spoke "This is the ships bio medical program. Medical emergency
in the engineering section. Quarantine contamination protocols suggested." She instantly sent an emergency medical beacon to
the Essex as Jason laid on the floor slowly trying to get his bearings back about himself.
Aeryn was still in sickbay when the emergency from the Gardino rang bells in the heads of those in sickbay. Catching up to the
nearest member of the medical team she stopped the young woman for a moment.
Jameson: "What's happening?"
Doctor: There's a medical emergency aboard the USS Gardino. Someone's been quarantined by the EMH.
Jameson: Is that person being transported back here?
Doctor: Not at this present time, if ths contagion is spreading then it may be safer to set up a quarantine area in the Gardino's
sickbay. It's less risk to those aboard the Essex.
Aeryn nodded as the Dr spoke, it made sense.
Jameson: I'd like to accompany your team when they leave for the Gardino Dr, I had the Captain's permission to go previously
but then this young woman was beamed aboard. :: she motioned to the young woman lying on the biobed in quarantine.::
whoever is infected over there may have information we need.
She watched as the Dr opened his mouth to say something before he closed it again and simply nodded.
Dr: Very well Counselor but under the condition that you do as your told when you're told to do it. If anything goes wrong over
there I don't want more infected people. Is that understood?.

Aeryn nodded affirmatively.
Jameson: Understood Doctor.
< Time lapse - a few minutes later >
With the Doctor having sought permission for the medical team to go, Aeryn suited up alongside the small medical team that was
departing for the Gardino each member checking someone else suit to make sure all the seals on the isolation suits were
secure. Nodding Aeryn took one last look at the young woman lying in sickbay, reaching to tap her badge.
=/\= Jameson to bridge... Admiral we'll be departing for the Gardino soon, you may want to have someone else watching the
young woman in sickbay in case she wakes up. The medical team is about to depart. =/\=
The few members who were going gathered together with what equipment they'd need, the transporter whisking them out of
sickbay and over to the sickbay aboard the Gardino. Leaving the others to set up ready Aeryn accompanied the Dr to
engineering.

< Engineering - Minutes later >
Walking into engineering Aeryn looked at the Dr as the two walked up to the quarantine field that was already in place.
Dr: Do you know him Counselor?
Jameson: Yes, his name is Jason Darkbringer. He came aboard the Essex the same time I did.
Dr: In that case Counselor I'll leave you to keep Cmdr Darkbringer entertained while we try and find out just what is happening.
Aeryn nodded and looked at Darkbringer.
Jameson: Cmdr... Jason... it's Aeryn Jameson can you hear me?. We're here to help you.
Having made a successful jaunt through the Gardino's armory, Second Liutenant Reilly and Ensigns Mubari and Tyler left the
hardware and ordnance stacked neatly, ready to be beamed aboard the Essex when
cleared. Then they were on their way to the airlock. About half way there, Kal' motioned silence from the other two, and recieved
nods as they continued on.
"Computer," he requested, a little concerned for the young opfficer in engineering, "Give me a SitRep for Cmdr Darkbringer,
please."
"Yes sir," the computer replied, "Cmdr. Darkbringer has sealed himself inside a quarantine/containment field in engineering. The
ship's medical hologram has sent an alert to the nearby USS Essex. A medical
team from the USS Essex has been beamed aboard and are with Cmdr. Darkbringer, now."
"Thank you," Kal' replied looking to his men and recieving relieved smiles and nods from them."
"The good news just keeps coming," Mubari quipped lightly, reciving chuckles from the other two. Everyone went silent, though,
as the XO's orders went out.
With Darkbringer down with a posable infection from the warhead, Fernandez wasn't going to take any chances.
Fernandez =/\= All personal on the Gardino, please double check your environment suits and check your partners. Once that is
done then make your way to the main airlock, we are transferring to the station now, all except Darkbringer and the med staff.
=/\=

As he was saying this he walked over to the Engineer Tech that had stayed on the Bridge with him, and started checking over his
suit.
When he and the Tech had confirmed their own and each others suits Fernandez opened a com channel to Kal'
The three turned to one another and immediately began going about a check, but Reilly stepped away as the next call went out,
leaving the two to check one another over.
=/\= "Kal'?", Fernandez called. =/\=
Kalvin reached up and tapped his comm-badge to reply.
=/\= "Go ahead, sir." =/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Kal' I want you to be the first one through the door, sensors say nothing alive over there but just the same... =/\=
He didn't need to finish the statement. Before his explanation was even that far, Kal was nodding and checking his weapon. By
now, Mubari and Tyler were also checking his suit.
=/\= "Affirmative, sir," he replied crisply, "myself and Ensigns Mubari and Tyler are all at the airlock now. We're at the air-lock
now, and Tyler is getting ready to open it. I assure you, I'll be first through. =/\=

Then Fernandez told the computer to open the main hatch and finalize the shut-down, before he himself started heading for the
main hatch.
He turned and nodded to the other two, who also were readying their weapons. "Okay, here's the plan," he informed them, "Tyler
opens the airlock and I'm the first through. Once inside, I'll sweep left and
cover. Mubari right behind me, sweep right and cover. Tyler, you're up last. Close the hatch behind you so that if it turns out there
IS something there, it won't get in here without getting past us. Then relieve me, and I'll sweep forward and begin investigating.
We need to clear the airlock on the other side for the rest of the away team before we can bring them over. Green?"
"Green," they both replied in unison with a nod, each. Tyler then reached out for the airlock control, and turned. Kal' checked the
magazine and the safety on the ballistic portion of his weapon once more, tapping the magazine against his helmet to make sure
the rounds were seated properly, then slapping it back into place. He then nodded to Tyler and Mubari. Mubari retuend the nod,
then nodded to Tyler. Tyler, too, returned the nod to Kal', and worked the controls, opening the lock.
Quickly, Kal' dashed through the lock, rifle raised and leading the way. He turned to the right while moving to the left, then swept
swiftly across until he was facing left just outside the airlock with part of the bulkhead to block. As soon as he was completely
through, Mubari followed, mimicing his movements but moving from the left and kneeling to cover the right. They both heard the
airlock hiss closed behind them, and then Kal' was moving back so that Tyler could get to the controls here. He sealed that hatch
as well, then took Reilly's place, kneeling behind a portion of the bulkhead. Moving to the center and forward a bit, Reilly took a
knee and, holding the rifle steady in his forward hand, he used the other to tap his comm-badge.
=/\= Reilly to Fernandez," he called, "we're aboard the station with both airlocks sealed behind us. All clear so far, awaiting
further orders." =/\=
Jason staggered to his feet and stumbled sideways and slammed into the terminal nearby nearly knocking himself unconcious
as an instand black and blue welt rose on his temple as the world began to spin
worse and his head throbbed. He turned and looked around dazed and confused as he looked at Aeryn. "Uhm hi are you an
angel?" Jason touched his forehead and grimaced. "Man i feel really really wierd."
The holodoctor walked over to Aeryn. "I think he just recieved a concussion." She spoke ina rather cold computer voice and
then looks back at Jason. "I can't help him because there are no hard light holo
terminals here."
Jason sits against the wall his eyes focusing on Aeryn. "Where is Dana?" He looks around confused as he has no clue as to

what is going on at the moment having a concussion and being very ill.
he stood up slowly and staggered over to the area where Aeryn was. He looked at her and squinted his eyes dialated very
heavily and his pupils huge a sign of a very serious concussion. " I know you don't i?"
He smiles and lays down on the floor. "I am tired i need to sleep."
He lays his head on the floor near the shield at Aeryns feet. The Holomedic quickly chimed in. "He has Pneumonia and a flu
compacted with sinus infection and a headcold. He is not carrying any biological
components that we can detect." Lookign at the Holomedic Jason gins. "I am gonna go to sleep now." YThe Holomedic quickly
reaches down and passes right through Jason. "Don't go to sleep!" Jason
struggled to keep his eyes open.
Aeryn looked at the holographic Dr then at the Dr standing beside her who was busily working doing what tests he could do
given that they were in engineering and not sickbay.
"Dana isn't serving aboard the Essex Cmdr remember?."
She sighed, what she was sensing from him was confused at best. He certainly didn't seem to be affected in the same way as
the young woman in sickbay.
"Just stay awake for now, talk to us Cmdr. Tell us about Dana..."
Jason looks over at Aeryn. He nods slightly his eyes half closed. He smiels softly. Rubbing his temple as his nose bleeds a litte.
He breaths a deep breath and leans against the cool wall.
"Dana was great. I love the world with ehr around. I feel so lost knowing she won't be around me any longer. I mean she is smart
intelligent and has a great child. Yeah she has a child. Wish he was mine because he had a great dad that disappearred he was
my friend too."
Looking up he reaches up and touches the blood trickle from his nose and looks at the air ducts.
"Air is way too dry."
Standing he sways a bit, but gets his feet under hismelf. He walks to the control terminal and adjusts the air in the ship area. He
checks the bio signs and finds they aren't the same as when the weapon struck the vessel.
"Computer quarantine fields off. Vent systems return to normal secure off areas where weapon was found and secure."
The computer chimes in and responds as Jason drops to one knee hand still on the console. He smiles and then raises his head
slightly.
"I met Dana in the ten forward. She was listening to me complain about all the transferring i was doing. Yet she listened to me
and understood. I put myself in so many dangerous positions i must have
worried the hell out of that woman. She was with me when i losy my fiance at the time and she never left my side. I got infected
with some sort of borg bug and she stayed with me when i lost it. She is a great woman and before you know it she will eb a
commanding officer somewhere."
Jason closes his eyes and leans forward onto the console.
"I just can't seem to stay awake."
His eyelids are beginning to get ehavy on hismelf as he slowly begins to slump forward.

Listening Post of Lavarian 8

Fernandez was one of the last off the Gardino, giving the final order to the computer before walking onto the Station
Fernandez: =/\= Computer, transfer command authority from the Gardino to Lavarian 8 =/\=
Computer: Authority transferred, counter authorization will be required within 30 minutes
Fernandez knew that T'Lar would love him to death for the extra paperwork confirming his command transfer to a new ship
would cause her. But it really was the fastest way.
As Fernandez and his partner headed for the OPS they checked bodies and activated badges.
On sweeping the OPS area they had started the data transfer to the Essex, let the boys in grey see if they could find anything.
Once that was underway they started to point to point transporting the crew that had been confirmed dead, checking them off the
master list at the same time, to a storage bay, that like on the Gardino, Fernandez turned off life support and bled into a vacume,
that being the best long term storage for a body and he hadn't a clue what they were going to do about them.
His line of reasoning ran like this: With a Bio hazard infecting their bodies they could not be taken to their home planets, there
was no star handy to commit their bodies to and he wasn't sure if, with some, that was acceptable. He couldn't leave them were
they lay for more then one reason; it was direspecful, it would be more work later to ever restore the ship and station to
operation, and they did nothing for the decor... He worked on the premise of, "If you don't know what's going to happen then tidy
up and
leave it to the next person." He would secure the station, confirm the dead and the source of contamination, and leave it for Star
Fleet to decided what to do with it.
Fernandez: =/\= All away team members please report. =/\=
After all were aboard the station from the Gardino, and the hatch sealed behind them, Reilly had taken Tyler and Mubari and
began a sweep of the place. He was leading them in a V formation down a
particularly long corridor when he heard Fernandez call out, and held up a fist for the other to to halt. Reaching up, he tapped his
comm-badge to respond.
=/\= "Reilly to Fernandez," he reported, "Ensigns Mubari and Tyler are with me. We're conducting a thorough sweep of the
corridors deck-by-deck. So far, we're all green. Copy?" =/\=
Waiting for a reply, he turned, glancing into a room that appeared to be a member of the crew's living quarters. The crewman...
or woman, rather... sat at a desk, slumped back in her chair, as dead as the
rest. He shook his head sadly, glancing back at the other two, who simply noded in reply. It wasn't the first member of the former
crew they'd found dead. And it would certainly not be the last.
"Good God, almighty," Tyler exclaimed quietly in his Southern United States accent, "what've they got that could do all this and
not cause a bit of structural damage?"
In reply, Mubari nodded to Tyler, then looked to Reilly. "He's right, Kal' That one torpedo couldn't have done all of this could it?"
Reilly shook his head glancing about. A bit further down the corridor he spotted two more bodies, fallen as if they had been in the
middle of a conversation, then he glanced back the way they had come to the two civilian children who had died while playing in
the hall.
"I don't know," Kal answered honestly, "Chemical weapons are nasty. They can do just about anything they're programmed to do.
Kill massive amounts of life without leaving a trace, kill people with certain DNA
traits, whatever. That's why the United Nations of the old days outlawed them in the mid 20th Century."
Fernandez: =/\= Very Good =/\=
Well it wasn't good, looked like 100% kill on the station, he wanted to lead the Essex on a avenging raid, but that's probably why
he was XO and not CO on a ship, he was also worried about Darkbringer. He was pretty sure how they could transfer him to the
Essex, since he contained no contaminate. If they beamed him to an isolation ward but only him, and left his environmental suit

behind. that way they wouldn't contaminate him while taking his suit off. Well that was nothing new, each and every one of them
would go through a similar thing before rejoining the Essex proper.
Fernandez heard from the other away team members and wondered were there Science Officer was and why he hadn't reported
yet, probably waiting his turn. The Tholian had seemed different then he expected, and always professional, Fernandez would
not be surprised if when he called in it was from the source of the contaminant.
Not long after the rest of the crew had called in their reports, the voice of the Tholian Lieutenant crackled in, much degraded by
something. It took the Operations officer some time to clear the signal before it was audible.
"This is Lieutenant Lurz. I believe I have found the source of the radioactivity contaminating the station. It would seem that one of
the reactors has been tampered with, emitting high levels of radiation into not
only the ventilation shafts, but the power relay system as well. It seems to me that whoever performed these modifications
wished to make absolutely sure they would not be counteracted in time for the deaths of the crew. Fortunately, the radiation is of
a type and kind that is most agreeable with my body. It is a rather nice... snack..." the Tholian reported.
Bio contaminated torpedo on the ship and sabotaged reactors on the station?!? One attacked the other killed from the inside?
Great that's what we needed! Fernandez thought to himself before saying, "Your snack killed a whole station worth of people and
we really are not wearing the right gear for long term exposure."
"Perhaps snack was a poor choice of words given the situation... but the fact remains, I don't believe our saboteur intended for a
Tholian to discover his handiwork and be able to get close enough to the reactor core. It is a balmy three hundred degrees
Celsius," Lurz remarked with a small hint of translated glee.
Rather patiently Fernandez said, "Can you shut it down?"
"I can shut the reactor down, but the radiation will likely linger for roughly six years, or one week if I contact some of my people
to come by for dinner..." came a chuckled status report.
Fernandez: OK shut it down, the Admiralty will have to decide on whom they are inviting to dinner."
Then he opened his comm to the rest =/\= All away party we have 15 minutes to finish our sweep then we need to get out of
here, meet back at the airlock to the Gardino. =/\=

As the Admiral had left the Bridge, Jack got that sinking feeling he thought he'd left behind on the Wildcat: That sinking, "oh hell
i'm in charge again"feeling. He looked at the Captians Cahir and thought for a second about sitting in it then went over to the
OPS station and sat down checking the sensors and scanners. So far being so close to Gorn Space was working to their
advantage in that the Gorn hadnt sent anyone just yet but that wouldnt last for long. He ran a check on everything and it seemed
ok, then he ran a check on the weapons and shileds and saw they were ready for activation.
Solomon: Dammit everybody's so organised on this ship! well thats a good thing.
He went over to the Tactical Station and saw that the ship had a full complement of weapons and also had full shielding available
to her. Thats when a sensor went off on the console. he checked it out and saw that a ship was coming to the border from Gorn
Space.
Solomon: =/\= Solomon to Admiral T'Lar, we have may have a situation brewing here. I need you on the bridge.
As Kalvin listened in on the conversation, he arced a brow and turned to the other two, recieving equally profound looks. "Did,"
he stammered, then ahalf smirked at the other two crewmen, "Did Lurz just
make a joke?"
Tyler and Mubari each chuckled. "Sounded like it to me, too," Mubari replied in his Earth-African accented lilt.
"And not even a half bad one," Tyler put in, drawing a chuckle from each of the other two. They paused, though as the comm

chirped again, then continued on at a nod from Reilly. Reaching up, he tapped his own comm-badge as well.
=/\= "Reilly to Fernandez," he calkled, responding to the XO/acting CO's order, "according to the station's wall-maps and such,
my sweep-team and I appear to be on our final set of corridors. Soon as we're done, we'll head back and secure the airlock room
once again for the rest of the away team." =/\=
>tag Fernandez<
With a nod at Fernandez's response, Kal turned to his other two men. "Okay," he ordered, "let's make this fast, but clean. We
want to get back to the airlock before the others to ensure their safety, but we do NOT wanna miss anything. Green?"
"Green," the other two replied crisply, and followed Reilly as he turned and started down the corridor once more..
On their way back to the airlock, Reilly and his sweep team came across the door for the main transporter room. Looking to the
other two, Kal' took up a position, ready to open the door, and the other
two took up covering positions on either side. Before hitting the release, Kal reached up and tapped his comm-badge.
=/\= "Reilly to Fernandez," Kal' called, "My team and I are en route to the airlock, but we just came across the main transporter
room. We're going to check it out, then finish our trip to the air lock. I'll let you know when we clear here. =/\=
He tapped the comm-badge again, shutting it off, then nodded. Instead of him going first, though, Ensign Tyler moved ahead and
took up the point position. Reilly let him have it, happy to know Mubari had
really come through in helping him choose a team. Tyler looked up, nodding to Reilly, and Reilly hit the button. As the door
swished open, Tyler stood and advanced inside, phaser-rifle leading the way.

Meanwhile on the Essex bridge.....
"Lt. Gilberts, open a secure channel to Admiral Chadwick. I'll take it in my Ready room."
She gets up and leaves. The door shuts behind her and she sits in front of her consol. "Admiral T'Lar, I'm patching through
Admiral Chadwick right now."
"Thank you."
The face of Chadwick replaced the federation logo. "Deela, what's up? What have you found out?"
All of them are dead except for one person, a girl. She is in pretty bad shape. We haven't been able to get any information out of
her. My team found a torpedo and it's suspect that the weapon is both transphasic and Biological. I believe that the Gorn have
developed this weapon. It's able to penetrate the hull of the ship without exploding. Also, Lavarian 8 has some kind of radiation
leak. Fortunately, we have Lurz and I have to say without him, we would of had to flush the radiation out of Lavarian 8. I'd like
permission to contact the Gorn and confront them."
"I'll let Starfleet know your findings and we will discuss it and get back to you. I don't want you to do anything until you've heard
from us. We have to handle this diplomatically..."
"She interrupted him, "Diplomatically? You've got to be kidding? After what they've done?"
"You don't even know if it is their weapon or not. We can't go accusing them without proof. Do you have proof that it is their
weapon?"
She sighed, "Well no but..."
It was his turn to interrupt her, "Then we are clear on this. Until you find out any different, we will be discussing our next course of
action." He signed of and the Federation logo came back on the monitor face.

< USS Gardino - Engineering >
Standing he sways a bit, but gets his feet under hismelf. He walks to the control terminal and adjusts the air in the ship area. He
checks the bio signs and finds they aren't the same as when the weapon struck the vessel.
"Computer quarantine fields off. Vent systems return to normal secure off areas where weapon was found and secure."
The computer chimes in and responds as Jason drops to one knee hand still on the console. He smiles and then raises his head
slightly.
"I met Dana in the ten forward. She was listening to me complain about all the transferring i was doing. Yet she listened to me
and understood. I put myself in so many dangerous positions i must have worried the hell out of that woman. She was with me
when i losy my fiance at the time and she never left my side. I got infected with some sort of borg bug and she stayed with me
when i lost it. She is a great woman and before you know it she will eb a commanding officer somewhere."
Jason closes his eyes and leans forward onto the console.
"I just can't seem to stay awake."
His eyelids are beginning to get heavy on himself as he slowly begins to slump forward.
Watching as the medical team moved forward to catch Jason as he fell Aeryn smiled as the Dr confirmed that what he had
wasn't the contamination that had killed the Gardino crew.
"Get some rest Commander" she smiled as she moved to Darkbringer's side, "you're not well but you're also not contagious."
She looked at the Dr as arrangements were made to move Jason back to the Essex.
"We're going back to the Essex Commander." she looked at Jason, "you'll be in sickbay in no time."
< Time Lapse - Sickbay, USS Essex >
Arriving in sickbay Aeryn waited for the Dr's all clear before removing her isolation suit. The section of sickbay they'd
transported into had already been quarantined just incase the Dr letting down their section of quarantine once he'd made sure
they were all clear of any infection. Aeryn tapped her comm badge.
=/\= Jameson to Bridge we've arrived back in sickbay Admiral. =/\=
Waiting for the Dr to give her all the all clear Aeryn made her way out of sickbay and headed for the bridge.
< Bridge - Minutes later >
Arriving on the bridge Aeryn walked over to her seat nodding to Jack as she did so. Sitting down she waited to see what was
happening.
As Aeryn sat down at her seat and the Admiral Walked back onto the Bridge looking a little upset, Jack downloaded his data
onto a Datapad and took it with him as he went over to thier positions.
Solomon: Umm Conader, Admitral, a little while ago, the sensors picked up a Gorn ship on the other side of the Border headed
this way. At their current speed and course they will intercept our postion in 3 hours maybe less. Ihave o admit Admiral i've never
dealt with the Gorn Before. Gorg, Jem'Hadar, Klingons i can do, but Gorn, thats new.
As they both looked at his data, he turned to Aeryn and looked at her.
Solomon: Hows your first day so far by the way? i heard you been busy....

He then watched as the data pad confirmed that the Gorn ship would be here in under 3 hours.....
Aeryn smiled as she looked at Jack.
Jameson: You could say it's been a busy day, Commander Darkbringer came down ill. We had to be sure he didn't have the
contagion, fortunately for us he doesn't.
She looked at the readouts on the padd the Jack was holding then at T'Lar.
Jameson: I can't say I've dealt with the Gorn before either Admiral, but from what I do know about them they're a very.... different
people. We all know that they're reptilian but apart from that we've had very little contact with the Gorn to learn a lot more. I'll
see what I can find out in the time we have.
Jason sat up in sickbay and looked at the nurse. He smiled as she gave him the all clear to go. He looked around and thanked
her. Getting up slowly he looked about as he stood up.
"Well at least i feel better now. Thanks for the boost doc."
Jason stood and walked out of the sickbay and made his way too the turbolift and stopped looking around and shrugged and
made his way down to his quarters and slipped in and opened his early star fleet
stuff on his involvement with the war with the Gorn. He shrugged and sent the file to the Admiral and XO. Opening his closed file
he sent it to the Admiral and XO as well. He did not like to open the old fiels about himself, but as a combat trained Star Fleet
officer he figured it was best to send to the proper ship people. He turned and exited his quarters and began to make his way to
the bridge and he stepped onto the turbolift he rubbed his temple and waited as his mind was onto the Gorn stuff. The turbolift
opened on the bridge and he stepped out and walked over the the Engineering officer and dismissed him and took his place as
he sat down at the console and began to check calibrations fo the Nacells and core. His mind was
still deep in thought about the Gorn leaving him to not be worried about anything his mind blank as he concentrated on a few
things. He rememebred what Dana had taught him about clearing his mind on
stressful thoughts as he concentrated on the Gorn situation. he called up old files on the Gorn from the previous war he was
involved with. He looks at his screen and speaks up not turning.
"The Gorn do not sue conventional tactics. There is no emasure to what they do. They change tactics to always try and keep an
edge over there opponents."
He slowly turns in his chair looking at everyone.
"I sent the Admiral and Xo my information about my involvement with the Gorn in the past."
He looks at everyone wondering what they were going to say.

=/\= "Reilly to Fernandez," Kal' called, "My team and I are en route to the airlock, but we just came across the main transporter
room. We're going to check it out, then finish our trip to the air lock. I'll let you know when we clear here. =/\=
Fernandez: =/\= Very good, Kal' =/\=
Fernandez was already shutting down the station, the transfer of data to the Essex was complete. The timer for the radiation was
counting down fast, they would have to be out very soon if they all (except Lurz) didn't want to spend time in Sickbay.
Fernandez took the tech that was his partner and started heading for the airlock.
"Corridor's all clear, sir," he reported, nodding sidelong towards the hatch, "Any word on what to expect when we get back to the
Essex? I mean, is there any word on whether or not we're going up against the
Gorn or not?"

Fernandez: No word at all, we will have to wait till we are back aboard to find out. My uncle had a Gorn as a shipmate, he told
me never to underestimate them, they were very smart, and had the weight to carry what they wanted through.
He nodded. "We had a Gorn in my squad," he chuckled, "He was a monster. Well, not literally. He was just really big and strong

as they come, worked as our heavy weapons guy. I've got no problem going against these guys, but I have no desire to go hand-
to-hand with any of them. Just wanna know what we're going to be taking these people into, is all."

Fernandez hesitated, he hated to show a weakness like ignorance but if Kal' thought for a moment he couldn't fault Fernandez
for not knowing.
Fernandez: I have no idea... To tell you the truth I would have to think hard about putting our ship and 1000 people into danger
without a definite reason and a good plan.
Fernandez: We will be beaming back to the ship soon, have you ever returned from a bio hazard away mission?
Fernandez: *talking louder to get everyone attention* It's a three stage process. First they will beam us into a cargo hold that has
been put into a vacuum high UV light and no heat. Then they will beam each of us out of our suit and put us in cargo containers
that are surrounded by the same vacuum. It's your job to get the survival pack off the floor and use the tricorder in it to scan
yourself. when sickbay clears you then they will beam you out of pod and back to the ship proper.
Kal' nodded as Fernandez asked if he had ever "walked the walk". "Yes sir," he said, "seveeral times. My unit was called to the
darker territories quite a few times, and Decon is always SOP when coming
back from them." He turned and watched the others as Fernandez explained the steps, then nodded and threw in his two-cents
worth.
"The key here," he explained, "is the same as in a combat situation. Don't panic. We've all been trained in hard vaccuum
survival, and this won't be even near that bad. And I know for sure we all know how to
use a tricorder. "He paused, looking to the female engineer who looked as if she was about to speak and held up a finger,
smirking."
"Yes," he answered her question before she could ask it, "even us Marines." The engineer smiled, looking down. He had
apperantly nailed her question perfectly. He then looked to Fernandez and nodded. "We're
ready to beam, sir."
All but Lurz had arrived back on the Gardino, Fernandez contacted the Essex.
=/\= Fernandez to Essex, Admiral, we have checked both ship and station and downloaded their computers. I guess we are
ready to beam back now. =/\=
=/\= I have set up cargo bay 7 for the decom. point, if you will beam us into there we can go to the next step. Lurz will be a
different matter, he won't be able to handle the cold, he will have to be beamed into an isolation ward. =/\=
As the away party dematerialized and reappeared Fernandez's suit bulged along with everyone Else's. Beamed into a vacuum
and the face shield polarized to protect them from the high UV rays. Absolute Vacuum, extreme cold and high UV all working
together to not just isolate any bio they carried back from contaminating the ship but to also kill it. Fernandez knew what the next
step would be even as he was beamed out of his Bio armor and into a cargo pod... a cold and dark cargo pod. He groped around
till he
found the survival pack and lit the hand torch inside, started the rebreather and wrapped himself with the emergency blanket.
then he took the tricorder out and set it for medical and scanned himself and uploaded the results to the sickbay. taking up the
communicator in the pack he told the others to do the same.
As Sickbay cleared them the away team was beamed out of their pods and into the ship proper. Fernandez headed for the
Bridge to give his report.

As he walked onto the Bridge he looked around at the different station much like a First Lt. on an old sailing vessal would have
checked the sails, rigging, and helm to make sure everything is just so when walking on deck. Ferandez walked around the
Tactical Station and down to his chair beside the Admiral.
After beaming back to his quarters, Reilly took a few short minutes to hop in the shower. Sure, the Decon process was thorough,
but nothing beat the clean feeling after a real-life shower, no matter how short
it was. Before heading to the head, he requested a new set of Marine-issue BDUs and boots from the replicator, and by the time
he re-emerged from the shower some 3 minutes later, they were ready for
him to put on.
As he pulled the pants on and laced up the boots, he smirked. "Good thing about replicator uniforms," he muttered tohimself as
he stood and grabbed the overshirt and pulled it on, fastening the buttons quickly, "they never have the charcoal smell of the
ones you get at issue." Strapping his watch-band on, Kal' headed out of his quarters, fresh as a new day had just come and he
had just woke up instead of
having been up for a day and more already. He headed to the lift and stepped from it, directly onto the bridge, where he made
his way to the railing behind and slightly above the CO and XO's chairs. "Any way
I can cause trouble here?". he smirked down at Fernandez.
T'Lar looked up and smiled, "Take tactical. I'm waiting for permission to cross over into Gorn space and we may just need your
expertise."
Everyone on the bridge looked at her. She could feel the tension build and anyone who was on that bridge could feel it too. They
didn't need to be an empath. She looked around, "Opinions? Concerns? I know you have some."
Kal' returned the Captain's smile, glad to find she had a sense of humor. Being half Vulcan as she was, he wondered how that
would turn out. So far, so good. "Yes ma'am," he replied to her statement, and
moved swiftly to the tactical station. The junior officer there made to move for him, but he laid a gentle hand on the young
Ensign's shoulder.
"Stay put," he told the younger man, "this is your station, I'm just here for advice. You push the buttons and I'll guide us through.
Deal?"
The junior officer smiled and nodded to Reilly. "Not used to playing at a console are you, LT?", he asked, getting a chuckle from
Kal'.
"No," he replied honestly, "most of the time if I'm pushing buttons, something's going 'boom' at the other end." The two of them
shared a chuckle at that. It was something that Kal' could tell the Ensign needed. "What's your name?", he asked casually.
"Tran," the young man answered, "Jacob Tran. I transfered onboard not long before they brought you on from the wreckage we
found you in."
Kal' Nodded. "Kalvin Reilly," he replied, shaking Ensign Tran's hand, "But most just call me Kal'. Don't worry about what's coming
up, Jacob. You've got a hell of a CO and XO to keep things under control. Just do what they say and everything's gonna be just
fine." Tran nodded, seeming at least a little more at ease from the Marine's reassurances and turned back to his console.
Fernandez could hear Tren and Kal confer briefly.
"Let's get to work then," Tran said, getting the system ready. Kal smiled and patted the young man on the shoulder, then
straightened, turning towards the Admiral and Fernandez.
"Sir, ma'am," he called out for their attention, then nodded once he haded it. "Tactical is five-by-five and standing by," he reported
crisply and stood by to recieve orders.
Fernandez looked at T'Lar, "How far in were you thinking about going? If we are going to meet up with Gorn I recommend
sealing the bulkheads before we engage, in case they pull the same weapon on us as they did to the Gardino." He almost
shuddered, but controlled himself, "we don't want the same thing

to happen to us.
Fernandez looked at each person on the Bridge in turn the names coming to him as he saw their faces, some he knew well
some just met and some from the service files laying on his desk, the new Counselor Jameson, OPS Officer Solomon, and even
the Chief Engineer was present Darkbrigner, then he looked at the familiar faces Kal was at Tactical, Lurz at Science and of
course Arcia steering the ship. His gaze rested on Arcia for a moment longer as he remembered a fast courier they had once
rode in, to bad they didn't
still have it.
He thought about these people and the thousand crew men and women they represented, This would be a mighty ship to take
into battle, but a horrible loss if done by half measures.
Fernandez spoke, "Lurz, while we are waiting see how much information you can get from your scanners on what's over there
right now, tie into the station systems, I believe they were made for just that purpose. Darkbrigner, have you by chance looked
into the port nassel? I remember a report the last Engineer wrote about a slight in balance that he could not correct. Solomon
how is our ship? anything we need to be aware of before the heat of battle?" Then a new thought came to him, "Jameson, how
was our newest edition, that young girl we sent over?" And Arcia... "Mr Arcia, if it comes to creative flying, if you avoid those new
Gorn weapons I won't complain about seat of the pants flying, but try to keep from shearing off the warp nassels this time." he
said the last bit with a grin, and banter, Arica had never damaged the ship he was flying, his XO's dignity maybe but not the ship.
Arcia (with a grin): Aye sir. I'll do my best. No promises on the nacelles though, especially if the Gorn choose to target them.
Arcia had more of a reason to not see the nacelles damaged. He new that the nacelles were not only necessary for warp flight,
but also that warp power could be accessed from them for high strain maneuvering.
Arcia was excited and eager to put his combat maneuvering training to use.
Lt. Commander Darkbringer was not accustomed to be ignored so he simply turned and looked at everyone as Fernandez spoke
up He nodded and handed a padd to him.
Jason: Harmonic imbalance sir. Caught it while i was here at my station and made sure she was adjusted and fixed. I have shift
beta scheduled to watch and observe to be sure it does not reoccur.
Fernandez: *taking the PADD* Really? Well Good, that's great to hear, thank-you.
Fernandez looked over the PADD...
Jason turned back to his console thinking about the Gorn and their weapon. He knew they picked up some of the old Breen and
Romulan stuff. It was a war with them and it meant everyone would learn to
battle. Klingons were the only other race that he knew that was as vicious and ready for battle at all times. Making sure all of the
information he announced out loud was sent to the Commanding officer and the Executive officer about his experience with the
Gorn. He sat there his mind working out what was happening as he was remembering something told him a long time ago.
Fernandez: Mr. Darkbringer, I had no idea you had this kind of experience. Let me study it thoroughly then I think you and I are
going to have a little sit down, I am always interested in learning more and first person is always a better way then a cold
impersonal file.
As the Commander Approached him, Jack put out his hand to shake it. He preffered to be friendly with people and pointed this
out the the Commander...
Fernandez shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Mr. Soloman.
Solomon: Sir, Please, call me Jack, everyone else will eventually and did on the Wildcat too. It makes me feel easier. As far as
the Ship goes, this is the most well prepped ship i've been on. All power levels read nominal with able and ready backup and
auxiliary systems standing ready. The sensors are functioning normally and i'd say this ship is ready to take on some Gorn and
kick its backside sir...

By the way, call me Jack....
Fernandez: Very good Mr. Sol... Jack, I'm glad to hear it.
::Docking Bay::
::Starbase Camelot::
::0732hrs, Day 4::
Talem was having the day from hell, and now he was stood at the airlock in his dress uniform, flanked by a marine honour guard
and a marine band. He had just received orders that the USS Essex and Admiral Deela T'Lar would be docking to deal with the
actual diplomacy for the Federation during the trade
conference, which was a great relief to Talem, he hated diplomacy, he was a marine, the only diplomacy he knew was via
superior fire power.
Admiral T'Lar did not know of the reasons for her docking and extended down time for her crew, and it was Talem's duty to
inform her, he wasn't quite sure how she would react. He heard the slight hiss of the decompression doors. He shouted
"Attention!" and everyone came to attention as the doors opened fully he saw the attractive woman step forward and as she did
so he and the officers assembled came to salute while the band played the anthem of the United Federation of Planets.
Rear Admiral T'Lar was a little bewildered herself and worse, she hated those silly monkey suits that they called dress uniforms.
She was feeling very uncomfortable but there was no time to complain. She was put in a better mood when the music began.
She looked around and saw that she was being saluted so she
returned the salute, "Permission to come aboard?" She waited for the reply.
Talem lowered his salute and the music ended, followed by the traditional naval whistle, "Permission Granted; Welcome onboard
Ma'am" he paused for a few moments and stepped forward extending his arm, "I am Brigadier General Talem, Commanding
Officer of Camelot and the Cestus Sector and Task Force 72 Executive Officer" he was aware that Admiral T'Lar had held the
latter position prior to her promotion to commanding her own Task Force.
"Ah, nice to finally meet my replacement." She joked a little, "I'm sure you know who I am so do you mind if we forgo the
formalities General?" She hated formalities and would much rather be herself and vice versa.
Talem smiled, and inside he cheer, he turned to the Platoon Sergeant, "Dismiss the Parade" He did not wait for them to leave,
but guided the Admiral towards the turbolift, "Do you hate these bloody things as much as I do?" he asked as he tugged at the
collar of his dress uniform.
"Oh do I. Just because I'm part Vulcan, many expect me to be this anal person but just the opposite. I think it's the Betazoid part
that keeps me quite human." They walked a little further as she became a little more serious, "So General, Tell me, why am I
here? I don't like being left in the dark about things."
Talem knew very little of the Admiral, and that she was part Betazoid was a shock as he had not sensed her mind, maybe it was
because he was so used to blocking everyone else's mind, "I am sorry to tell you Admiral but you are here to act as a mediator
in a trade conference"
She nodded, "A mediator? I was wondering when I was going to get an honor like this." She was being sarcastic, "I've been busy
gathering dead people so please enlighten me. Between who is this trade conference with? Are they in dispute with each other?"
She wondered if maybe she should just read his mind. It would certainly be easier to communicate in her opinion but that wasn't
like her.
She respected the minds those around her by not invading their minds unless she had no other choice.
One of Talem's Attaches came forward to him just before he entered the turbolift and he nodded his head to her conveying
everything he needed to via their minds. He placed his hand across the sensors of the door for T'Lar to walk in ahead of him.
"It is namely between anyone who is interested, but really we want the Gorn and Tholians at peace and trading securely, to

ensure our safety with both. Although if you ask me I think the Gorn are coiled ready to pounce on us"
"Oh, don't even get me started. We don't have proof that the Gorn were the reason for the deaths of those on the Gardino and
the Listening post but I know it was them, it had to be." She did have one thing on her side, a Tholian so she could get some
insight on things. I'm not sure if I am the right person for
this. I am a bit prejudice right now."
"Your better suited for this than I am. The Romulan representative was the man who killed my brother and was responsible for
my XO's death defending his vessel. IF I am left alone in the room with him I will cause a very big diplomatic incident" he spoke
to the computer "Command Deck"
She shook her head, "Well, I guess this is where my Vulcan training will come in." She grinned at him for a moment then went
on, "Seriously, I'll have to put myself into that mindset and just focus on the matter at hand."
"Well don't worry, you have 24 hours to prepare" he paused for her to leave the turbolift before him, "I have had all the relevant
information in the XO' s office for you to use, or if you prefer I can have it sent to your ship"
"Thank you. Twenty four hours should be enough. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to have it sent to my ship. I can concentrate on it
better there." She stopped and looked at him, "Anything irrelevant that I should know?"
Talem looked at the Admiral, "Of course ma'am. I have arraigned a dinner for both our staffs this evening at 1900 hours" he
nodded towards a young woman in the purple of the Diplomatic Corp, "I have assigned Lieutenant Nayral to serve as your
assistant Admiral, but if you will excuse me, I am waiting to see my Military Police Commander concerning a mission."
She nodded too at the young woman, "That's fine. 1900 hours it is. My staff could use a nice dinner after what they've been
through." And they had been through a lot in past week..
"I assume your crew will be using Camelot for recreational purposes?"
"You assumed correctly, well, that is if it's okay with you." She really didn't need to ask but she wanted to make sure that there
weren't any restrictions.
"Of Course Admiral, I will alert the bars" he gave a small smile.
"Good. I'm looking forward to dinner with you and your staff."
"As am I Admiral, but if you will excuse me. Duty calls"
She nodded in agreement, "I understand. You're excused." She spoke in a light hearted voice still trying to get away from formal
talk.
"Thank you" he replied before walking to his office.

Essex

Since they were now, effectively, in port, Kal' decided the field uniform wasn't proper. Before heading for a shower, he stopped at
the replicator and thought for a moment before speaking. "Computer," he began.
"Yes, first lieutenant Reilly?", the computer replied. Kalvin smiled at that. These fleet computers were so much more cordial than
the ones used by FedCorps. He hadn't been insulted by it once since coming aboard.
"Can you simulated Federation marine Class-A uniforms?", Kal' asked the computer. "Just one should be enough."
"The ship's replicating system," the computer replied crisply, "is fully capable of replicating any clothing worn by the people of all

Federation loyal worlds, including ones visited by the Federation and all military uniforms worn by Federation personell."
Kal chuckled. "A simple 'yes' would have been fine," he muttered, half to himself, half to the computer. "One set of FedCorps
Class-A's, please," he requested, then headed to the shower as the comupter acknowledged his request. Three moments later,
as Kal' emerged freshly shaved and clean, the uniform he had requested was waiting for him. As he picked it up, looking at the
blouse, the computer chirped in.
"I took the liberty of accessing your record," it announced, "and replicated your apporpriate awards and rank upon the uniform
blouse."
Kal' chuckled and nodded as he layed the blouse out on his bunk and pulled on a t-shirt and skivvies. "Thank you," he told the
computer, though he knew it was a needless gesture. The computer, as expected, replied with an acknowledging chirp and went
silent. Kalvin quickly finished dressing and looked
in the mirror as he straightened his shirt, but paused as something caught his eye. On his breast, above his Assault Team
Leader's badge was his Starfleet Comm-badge, and on his shoulder, where his unit insignia went was the Essex's insignia.
Further up, on his collar, where the rank insignia should have been, his
Seargents' insignia was gone, now replaced by the pips of a Star Fleet First Lieutenant. He could only imagine Admiral T'Lar had
had something to do with all of that. He'd have to thank her for it later.
With a deep sigh, he looked into his own eyes staring back at him. For a moment, he was back in the black, half conscious, half
not-so-much, inside the damaged pod that he'd already decided would be his coffin. He knew his team was gone and that he
was the only one left. He also knew that his hybernation
system on the pod was damaged, or he wouldn't be knowing anything. So he knew he'd die a slow, agonizing death.
And then there was light.
He remembered those first moments, waking up to Admiral T'Lar's face on the sickbay exam table aboard the Essex. He was
quickly put to work, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. Why the field promotion was given, he wasn't sure, but he
wouldn't question it either. Now that they were docked at a
Starbase, he'd likely be offloaded and dumped into a local FedCorps unit. Back home. Back with the boys. He thought that over
for a moment, and found, to his surprise, that he had to talk to the XO. "Computer," he said, half aloud, and waited for the
computer to chirp it's acknowledgement once again. "Locate Mr.
Fernandez, please."
"Commander Lupe Fernandez," it announced formally, "is currently on the bridge. Shall I contact him for you?"Kal' gave a sharp
nod.
"No, thanks" he replied, "I'll go speak to him in person." He waited for the computer to sign off, then turned, heading out. He
grabbed his cap and stepped through the door, barely noting it's closing as it swished behind him. It was only moments before
he reached the nearest turbolift, and only andother
second before he was stepping out on the bridge. He paused a moment to scan the area before locating Fernandez and stepped
crisply to his side.
Bridge
Fernandez was on the Bridge while T'Lar was doing the meet and greet, he was doing final checks and shut-down for the mighty
ship Essex. He was also going though his list of naughty and nice, for R&R.
Fernandez: *looking up from his PADD* Soloman, I'm transfering the list of consumables back to you, I signed off on all of it, I
think this station will have everything. So do you have any plans while we are here?
Fernandez was almost finished with his watch and had the ship shut down to standby when Kal' came on the Bridge, Fernandez
knew what he was going to say, and he would miss the Marine, the short time he had been on the ship he had proven his worth.
"Sir," he said, quietly announcing his presence, "if you're not too busy, I'd like a moment of your time."

Fernandez: My arn't you spiffy in that shore going rig? Yes Mr. Reilly, I have time now.
"Since coming aboard the Essex, I've been of alot more importance and use than I ever was with the Corps," he announced, "I
know this station offers me a chance to rejoin a Corps unit...", he paused there, unsure of how this was going to be taken. He'd
either appear to be unreliable, or he'd be welcome
warmly, he wasn't sure which. But it was too late to turn back now. "Sir, I'd like to formally request a permanent assignment to the
USS Essex." There, it was said, and as profesionally as he could imagine. Swallowing nervously, he stared steadily at
Fernandez awaiting the XO's reply, unsure of how he'd react to
either decision. He'd genuinely come to like the Commander, and felt he'd have made a good Marine had his career gone that
route. Now to see what Fernandez thought of him.
Fernandez had commanded a 63 ft 12 gun Sloop-of-War as a teenager, he had been in StarFleet for 14 years (counting the
academy) He didn't easily get thrown off, but for this he had to pause for a moment. The Admiral had left orders in case of this,
Fernandez took a PADD and downloaded the proper file, and
handed it to Kal'
Fernandez: Very well, Admiral T'Lar left orders in case you asked to stay. Here are your new orders 1st Lt. Kalvin Reilly, you are
assigned to the Star Ship USS Essex, to the position of Assistant Chief of Security and Tactical, and may God have mercy on
your soul.
Then Fernandez broke out in a grin, and held out his hand to shake.
Kal' was stunned for those first few moments as he took the PADD and stared at it. When he looked back to Fernandez, his grin
mirrored the Commander's. Taking fernandez's hand, he shook it firmly with a nod. "Thank you, sir," he said, "but even though
the Admiral's a... well... y'know... even she couldn't
have known this was going to happen. I just came to the idea a few minutes ago myself."
Fernandez smiled "She might be able to read minds, but she does not do it under normal conditions, invation of privicy you
know. But she didn't became a Rear-Admiral for that talent alone, to forsee possible outcomes, other peoples choices, and
planning for it have to play a part of it."
He shrugged. "Well, she's an Admiral for a reason," he agreed, "that's for sure. You don't get that high without knowing your
people." He paused a moment to look at the unit again, then nodded once more, signed off on the orders, and handed it back to
the Commander.
"Welcome aboard," Fernandez greeted him, "and I am heartily glad of it to, so I am. What are your plans for R&R?"
Another moment's hesitation, then Kalvin straightened himself and smirked. "Actually," he stated calmly, "I was thinking of hitting
a pub, first, and a beer I could talk them out of. Seems that stuff they serve on board isn't real." He smirked half sarcastically,
letting Fernandez know he was joking. "And now I feel like a steak. Wanna join me?"
"I cannot, I have to talk to another 'guest' on ship yet then find out who we have to deliver her to. As far as the steak... You do
remember the dinner the station has offered, oh you might not you where not a formal member of the Senior Staff at that time.
The Station Officers have invited us to a dinner later, sorry I don't know when or the dress code yet..." Fernandez thought for a
moment, "After that I'm all for it, I haven't had real rum in to long of a time."
Counsellor's Office
Aeryn was just updating the last psychological profile she had to do, putting down the padd she smiled as she thought about
having some time for shoreleave not that she knew what she was going to do with herself. There were some answers she
needed from Jack but whether he'd be willing to give her those
answers was another thing, Jack was a very private person that much she knew from the years they'd served aboard the USS
Wildcat together.
Getting up and heading out of her office Aeryn headed for her quarters to change into civvies, it was nice to get out of uniform for
a while.

Walking into her quarters a few minutes later she headed into the bedroom to undress and grab a shower before heading to the
station. Standing by the bed she tapped her comm badge.
=/\= Jameson to Solomon, if you have spare time later would you like to meet up on the station?. =/\=
Engineering
Lt. Commander Jason Darkbringer continued to browse the engineering logs and dabbled a bit int he communication files from
the Space Station and Starship that they had just departed from. His mind concentrated on the files and transmissions and he
send his finding to the Commander and the Executive officer of the ship and he stood up looking at everyone in engineering.
"Everyone feel free to enjoy your base lib. The skeleton crew assignments have been assigned. Please be sure to follow them
closely."
Jason looked around and sat back in his engineering chair as he browsed over the last of the files filling out his reports.
XO Cabin
Fernandez was now off duty, as he rode the turbolift to his deck he grumbled about being assigned the Grave yard watch for his
duty shift. He thought poorly of the fool that would give the XO of a Ship of the Line the third watch. He grinned, he must be tired,
he had forgotten that it was he himself that made that duty list. He had wanted to be there when the Essex came into port, and to
be Officer of the Watch to oversee all the little details while his CO paid courtesy calls on the station as tradition and good form
required.
As soon as the doors of his cabin closed he took off his clothes, and took a shower. The heat from the shower eased the knotted
muscles of his back. The great scar, running from the ribs under his arm and around to his back had cut several muscles and the
poor job of putting it back together had always left a
spot that would bunch and knot. He did not let the Doctors fix it, he viewed it as penance for getting his beloved killed...
Fernandez took a new uniform and put it on. he transferred the pips, comm badge, and two phaser 1s to the new uniform
(concealing the phasers in hidden pockets on his trousers). He then picked up his family heirloom, he thought about not carrying
it, for the first time in years, the Starbase personal might not like him carrying a .45 cal handgun around. He thought long and
hard before deciding that the subject could be discussed if they found out he had it. He slipped the SOB holster into the back of
his pants and covered it with his uniform jacket.
He had one last stop to make, a certain young lady that would have to be transferred to the station before heading to wherever
her new home might be.
Fernandez went to Sickbay, the one place on the ship he did not want to ever be. Earl was lying across the door. "Earl, move!
You know better then that." The Admirals cat just looked up at him. "Move! Someone might trip on you." With insolence of an
animal that knows that you won't kick it out of the way,
Earl got up and moved out of the doorway.
Fernandez walked in and saw Hope sitting up in bed. She had been cleared and moved out of the isolation ward. "Hello, I am
Commander Fernandez the Executive Officer of this ship. You must be Hope."
Hope looked at him, "Yes, do I call you Commander, Fernandez, or XO?" she asked very direct and straight faced, with no hint of
joking in her demeanor.
Fernandez was taken aback, then he realized that he probably had sounded a bit stiff, children were not his strong suit, and this
one had the same look as T'Mar had... before... "Well you can call me Lupe I guess or Commander Fernandez might be better."
"OK Lupe, what is to became of me?" she asked.
"Well that was what I was going to talk to you about, we have found a relative on a colony world and we are going to send you
there."
"No! I don't want to live on a planet, I never have before and don't want to start now. I don't even know the relatives there. Don't
make me go, Please!"

There was a look in her face that made Fernandez want to help any way he could, but what could he do?
"Where would you go? We can't dump you off with nothing..."
Hope replied like she had put thought to it before Fernandez ever came to her, "I could stay here, on the Essex. There is room
and I will be good, I might be able to help out in Engineering, I can fit places in the Jeffiries tubes that no one else can... Please!"
The pleading look in her eye was to much for Fernandez, "OK, I'll talk to the Admiral about it, but don't hold your breath. Now I
have to go, I have many other things to do."
With that Fernandez turned and all but ran out of Sickbay.
One last call before heading out to the station, Fernandez tapped his badge, Commander Darkbringer =/\= could you meet me at
my quarters? =/\=
Fernandez walked into his cabin, and picked up the PADD which Darkbringer had given him earlier and that he had studied, he
had to have some of this explained, what was there was clear but Fernandez was the kind of person that wanted the hows and
whys that files cannot always give. He walked over to the replacator and ordered a tankered of lime water with suger, then
picking it up he walked over to his desk and poured a small amount of rum from a wide bottom ship's decanter into the tankered.
He sat down and waited for Darkbringer.
Darkbringer slowly walked to the quarters of Fernadez and chimed the door panel. His mind was working out the details of the
Gorn and why they had become more than what they were when he had infiltrated their home world with the other Marines and
Fleet personel. He waited for Fernandez as he quietly looked about.
With the chime came the permission, "Come-in."
The first thing to meet Darkbringers eye was the Spartan decor of the office, the Standard Issue furniture was gone, and in it's
place were only a few pieces giving the room an even larger look then it really was. there was a couple of wood footlockers set
out as low tables and a chair made out of rope woven and knotted together hanging from the ceiling by the windows, there were
only three pictures hanging on the wall, one was a sail vessel in a harbor with two masts and square sails (brig rigged) with
multi-color
bunting in the rigging and young men and boys on the rail and rigging in the ceremony of "manning the
side." The second was taken at sea, and it was the same vessel chasing or racing a second vessel with two masts in a fore and
aft sails (schooner rig). The third was a holograph shadow box that would scroll through different items, flintlock pistols, ship and
mission patches, rank pins, honor medals, etc.... There was a dress dummy in the corner dressed in the uniform of a 1810
English Naval Captain, the hat hanging from the peg where the head would be, silver buckle shoes at the foot of the dummy and
an epee with
a lion headed pommel hanging in it's scabbard on the wall by the dummy. And where the Star Fleet issue desk would be was a
large oak table with PADDs on it and a wide bottom decanter half full of a honey brown liquid. two severe looking wood arm
chairs were on one side
of the table and Fernandez was sitting on the other.
"Come in, sit down. Would you like something to drink?" Fernandez stood ready to get something out of the replicator, "I wanted
to talk to you about what's on this PADD," pointing at the PADD in the center of the table. "I read it but I would like to hear it, that
way I can put the emphases in the right places. There is nothing like hearing the writer to know what he or she feels and what is
important or not as much."
Darkbringer walked into the quarters and examined everything in the room. A habit he has had for years to know your
surroundings with every advantage to ones self. He quietly listened to the drink offer and spoke up.
"No thank you sir. I am not thirsty."
Looking around he stood at parade rest and looked at the Commander as he spoke.
"Which parts would you like to know about sir?"

Standing he awaited the questions about his involvement with the Gorn before he became a Star Fleet officer and his
involvement when he was stationed planet side.
Fernandez remembered what his Tia (aunt) always said, "Start at the begining and work your way to the end, when you reach
the end, stop." But he wasn't going to be like that to his new Chief Engineer.
Fernandez: "First sit, you make me jittery standing like that, looks like a court of review or something, the chairs are more
comfortable then they look, honest. What I am really wanting to hear from you is their
action/reaction, I read it in the report but want to hear what you have to say." Fernandez thought for a moment then asked, "did
you see them face to face, if so did you have to fight with them? Tell me about that."
Darkbringer looked over at Fernandez and shook his head as he sat. He rubbed his chin for a second and then leaned back. He
brought his hands together furrowing his brow as he had to pick and choose what he said carefully since some of it was still
restricted information.
"I am going to give you certain spots of information, but not give the complete story for some of it is still classified unfortunately.
So here is what went down in short detail."
Darkbringer leaned back as he began to explain.
"When I was around seventeen I signed up for the Marines. Our first mission was to go to a Gorn controlled moon and infiltrate
there command structure and take certain unmentionables. During the combat I had come face to face with several Gorn. Not
exactly the friendliest group of species I want to be around. They make Klingons seems like tribbles when they are mad. They
have the knack for a blood rage. That was what we were facing anyways. The Colonel commanded us to get out. Without
hesitation we all made our ways back to the shuttles and then that when everything went horribly wrong. three of us got on the
shuttle and the rest died. The colonel was one of the ones who made it back. There was a private like myself who departed as
well. He would never finish his career with Star Fleet or with the Marines."
Darkbringer stopped his mind trying tor emember what they were their for.
"We were their for some sort of report on Bio Chemical weapon. We never retrieved anything that I knew of. Being there was
enough and everything about that mission has been swept under the rug."
Darkbringer looked over at Fernandez trying to figure out what else is needed.
Fernandez listened with the closest attention. Not only to what was said but also how. There was one sentence that caught his
scruitny.
"You said They have the knack for a blood rage, like the Earth shark? Where they loose control of their reason." He could see
some different tactics to utilize that weakness.
"Did you ever fight against them ship to ship? Probably not you where Marine then." he answered himself.
Darkbringer looked at Fernandez and nodded.
"When we reached the rendevouz ship. They were engaged in combat right away with the Gorn. The issue that arose was that
there physical hand to ahnd didn't show in their spacial combat tactics. They used each and every ship to its fullest. It actually
out manuevered the Excelsior class that we were
on. The ship shouldn't have had those types of abilities. It was as if they were a complete fighting unit. It seemed to show that
the federation was in trouble."
Darkbringer looked at Fernandez.
"They seemed to have changed since we inserted ourselves into there moonbase. Their tactics have grown more precise and
edged. Obviously their technology has grown as well. There is something there familiar that I just can't put my finger on.
Somehow they seem to know and study our own tactics.

Then integrate them into their own field of expertise."
Darkbrigner tried to concentrate on the facts that he was remembering, but it was as if he was struggling to remember some
small detail.
"They have worked with us and the Klingons in exchange programs. If I where in charge I would have sent not only the best but
also the ones with the best memories to study our ways. Once you learn your enemey you can best learn how to defeat them."
Fernandez said while palming his face.
"I was hoping for better news but all knowledge is learning and therefore good. It is the information I seek." he had straightened
up and looked at Darkbringer.
"So do you have any plans for your R&R?" Fernandez asked.
Darkbringer smield as he stood up and straightened his uniform.
"I was considering going to the combat quarters of the Klingons and Rigellians. They are great combat engineers and need to up
my stuff. I have become kind of lax recently."
Darkbringer smiles as he looks about.
Fernandez stood up, "Then I shan't hold you up any longer." He held out his hand to shake, "I again thank-you for this
information, it was just what I was needing."
"And again welcome to the Essex, I am glad you are here."
Fernandez showed Darkbringer to the door, he himself had another job before he could lie down for a few hours...
Fernandez was ready to call it, he had third shift, then the misc. jobs of a ship that just docked and wrapping up the last mission
and an all staff briefing. One last thing before he could pull rack time knowing that his job was done.
Fernandez to Rear-Admiral T'Lar =/\= Is now a good time to meet with you, and if so where? =/\=
=/\= This time is just as good as any. Meet me in our crew lounge. We can have a drink or something."
She thought to herself that once this mission is over, she'd have to see about changing the name. She kissed Jim and left her
quarters.
Fernandez walked in to the lounge, got a tankard of Grog and sat down at a table near the windows, the Starbase was visible
through the window but he was to interested in the PADD in front of him.
When T'Lar came in he stood and waited for her to take her seat first, (his father taught him to not only be an officer but also a
gentleman) "Ma'am, I have the reports here, but basically it says we will be fully restocked within 20 hours. I will state for the
record that we are due for a refit, but you know that as well as I. What is our stand on civilians onboard for this next mission?"
"Civilians? We don't have many. I heard we picked up a new one, a writer of some sort. I think he'll be safe on the ship. Then
there is my son. I thought about putting him on SB Camelot but I think he'd be safer here too. I just have a bad feeling about this
Gorn thing and SB Camelot. It's a feeling I can't shake."
She was disappointed that they weren't able to drop her son and Jim on Betazed as they planned.
"We have one more, her name is Hope, she is the orphan we pulled out of the dead ship. She asked, no she begged to stay on
the Essex. Her only relatives are on a colony world, she has never met them, and she has never lived on a planet. She has
been a Star Fleet brat all her life and well Blast I kind of like her, I don't know why, but I do." The words where escaping
Fernandez like air out of a tire, he couldn't put them together right and he couldn't help but say them.

"That is fine. I'd like to move all of our civilian guests to the safest part of this ship if there is such a thing. I don't want to take any
chances of us not being ready. Run tactical simulations and also war simulations with the crew. I want their performance rate at
100%. I am hoping that this new Gorn weapon is a prototype. If it isn't, there won't be any place safe on this ship or the
Starbase."
"Yes Ma'am, I'll have them go to Deck 9 some of the Junior Crew Quarters are currently empty and they are over Sickbay, that is
about the safest place on the ship" said Fernandez making a note on his PADD. "And one final thing, I recommend when we go
into action, we close all compartments, hermetically seal the ship, one section from the other. If they do hit us with one of those
Bio weapons, it will minimize the
exposure area. The down side is response time will be lower, because everyone will have to airlock from
one point to another or point-to-point beam."
Fernandez looked up at Deela, and seeing her misgivings for the first time he said, "She's a grand girl, we will make it, I have
every faith that we will make it." Then trying to inject humor into what sounded almost like a plea, "The Gods are watching over
us, we are the good guys. I will say a special prayer to Neptune and Mars before we enter battle, they have watched over me
before this."
"Better make that prayer to all of the Gods, we're going to need it." She looked around, noticing that no one took their drink
order. Deela motioned for someone to get their drinks. Finally, he walked over.
"Sorry Admiral, you both looked so serious that I was afraid to disturb you."
Deela smiled, "I understand that. Don't worry about it. I just want a tall cold glass of tea with lemon."
She looked at Fernandez.
He tapped his tankard, I'll take another, and the server departed.
Fernandez smiled just a little, "Honestly, just between you and me, do we have a chance in hell?"
Fernandez did not swear as a standard, his father had always said, "Intelligent men have many words at their disposal, to resort
to base language show a lack of thought." He wasn't sure anymore, sometimes the coarse language was the only way to
express the situation.
"We have a good crew and they know what they are doing. So I'd say yes, we do." After taking a drink, "I think we have an
advantage too. We know what they are planning to do and we'll be ready for them."
She knew that war usually meant certain death for some but she didn't want to think about that.
While the server set down Deela's drink and sugar spoon, Fernandez drained the last of his drink and handed one tankard for
the other.
"Our job will be the PAPAs, Heavy Cruiser against Heavy Cruiser, I wonder..."
He shook his head, "Can't stop thinking about the Battle of Trafalgar, they won that battle, against high odds, but Lord Nelson
died there, as did so many others..."
He took a drink from his tankard, then put on a weak grin.
"Ho ho, I'm the one who's is blood and guts for glory, and look at me, as worried as an old woman. My God am I getting old?" He
looked at Deela then the smile left him, "I'm sorry, that did not sound right." Dry washing his face with his hands, "I am tired, I
haven't slept since third shift yesterday and it's what 19:30, 20:00 I had better get some rack time, I'll be no good to you without
it."
"Go. I'll be fine. I'm going to take my usual walk around the ship and clear my head. If anything happens, I'm sure you'll know it."

Fernandez closed one eye and tipped back his tankard, emptying it. then stood, gave T'Lar a small bow and said, "Good night
then Ma'am." and headed out.
Back at his cabin he changed to a pair of sleeping pants, and with a practiced move he hopped into the cot that he had replace
the general issue bed. The cot started to swing on the ropes that it was hanging from the ceiling from giving a not unpleasant
feel like the ship was pitching just a bit, Fernandez noticed this in the 10 seconds he lied there till he fell fast asleep.
Camelot Station
They had docked with this starbase (was Camelot the name? Arcia couldn't quite remember) and Arcia was eager for a break
even though he was still worried about the Gorn situation. He showered in his quarters and prepared his duffel for his brief stay,
all the while playing out battle-maneuvers in his head (taking into account the size and maneuvering thruster capacity of the
Sovereign class and trying to compare them with those of previous vessels he had piloted). This would consume his thoughts.
He might take some time in the holodeck to try some of those high strain maneuvers he had thought about earlier.
He left the Essex via the docking arm and made his way to the temporary quarters and then to the recreation areas. Arcia
remembered that his CO had been given a major promotion related to this starbase and they may be here longer than he thinks
in order that Admiral T'lar gets fully apprised of her new
responsibilities. Either way was fine. He liked his crew and wanted to stick with them, grounded or not.
The Meeting
T'Lar just sat there feeling enraged. She warned Starfleet that the Gorn had developed a new weapon, a prototype perhaps but
still, a weapon that could wipe out a fleet. She prayed to the gods that the weapon was indeed a prototype.
T'Lar didn't say a word but listened as everyone asked their questions. She'd wait until all of the information was on the table.
Fernandez, sitting by T'Lar felt something in the pit of his stomach, he remembered the dead on both the Gardino and Lavarian
8. He leaned over to her and said, "Admiral... tell me this isn't the first stages of war..." in a low voice.
"I won't tell you what you already know. If Starfleet had just listened to me, we could've already had a plan." She was still a little
miffed.
Lt. Cmdr. Jason Darkbringer quietly listened to the meeting. He listened about the several different things going on and
wondered where he fit in with everything. He knew that the Gorn were bad news and his past experience with them may make
him valuable or a liablity. He quietly thought about his pastand
watched the meeting as his mind went over each step of his past and how he came to be part of Star Fleet and his carrier ended
as a marine.
Fernandez asked, "What kind of tea, and who's providing the stickys?"
When Fernandez made the bad attempt at a joke, she could tell that it was his way of dealing with it but unfortunately, a few took
it differently...a bit annoyed. She didn't give Fernandez any look.
Fernandez stood, "Commander Fernandez, Executive Officer and Chief Tactical Officer of the Essex. You have given us a very
good mission brief for when they come out but this mission is shaping up to be another Trafalgar. You have even remembered
Nelson's hoist to the fleet; England expects that every man will do his duty. What is going to induce the Gorn equivalent of
Vice-Admiral Villeneuve to come out.
They have been sitting there for anywhere from five years to five decades. The mission plan calls for them to attack, what if they
don't. All they would have to do is wait, we can't hold battle ready forever, the English couldn't off of Ferrol.
Or is there some part you aren't telling us..."

Kal' returned to the Essex, feeling a little let-down at this shore-leave. As he entered the ship and turned, heading directly toward
his quarters, he reached up, tapping the comm-badge on his class-A blouse.
"Computer," he said as he entered the autmoatic door of his quarters, and nodded when he got the acknowledging chirp. "Locate
Commander Fernandez for me, please," he requested as he removed the class-a blouse and pulled on his duty uniform blouse.
He nodded again as the computer delivered Fernadez's location, and headed out that direction. Two turns down a corridor and
one turbolift trip later, Kal' came up beside the Commander and gave him a casual salute with a smirk.
Fernandez was finalizing the checks on the restocked consumables when someone walked up behind him.
Kal' came up beside the Commander and gave him a casual salute with a smirk.
"Ah, it turns out," he began, "that this base isn't the greatest for shore-leave. Mind putting me on the duty roster somewhere?"
Fernandez with a gleam in his eye opened his mouth and it looked like he was speaking when in fact it was an announcement.
=/\=Attention, Commander Fernandez and all crew. Please return to the Essex immediately for departure.=/\=
Turning, he looked to see people coming from the turbo-lift, having already been aboard. Forgetting his request, Kal' stepped
back away from Fernandez to give him some elbow room to do his XO thing.
Fernandez grabbed a hand full of Kal's shirt and hauled him with himself into the turbolift, overrode any stops and they where
soon on the Bridge.
After his brief shore leave, Enrique was glad to get back to the Essex, still docked to SBC. They would be departing soon and
he wanted to be at his station for the event. He was glad to be back. Essex felt like home.
He made his way to the bridge and took his place at the helm. He noticed that the seats and consoles had been cleaned and
polished by the SBC crew. New software upgrades had been installed. It felt very much like they had just stepped onto a brand
new Sovereign class vessel. "The SBC crew sure does good
work," Enrique thought.
He joked to himself: He made as if pulling out a non-existent owners manual from beneath the helm station and started reading
non-existent text:
"Thank you for purchasing the new Sovereign Class starship. Please keep this manual and follow its advice to ensure the long
and satisfying life of your new vehicle."
That drew chuckles from himself and the few bridge crew that were there to witness it. A moment's laughter was just the thing
considering the dangerous situation they were going to enter into should they investigate the Gorn situation.
Enrique settled himself at the helm station.
Fernandez reports to the bridge, "What's going on Admiral?"
"We're answering a distress call."

Moving about the bridge, Reilly pressed himself against a bulkhead to get out of the way when
someone passed on their way to their station, but otherwise moved from empty station to empty station, getting the systems
warmed up for their operators. As he rose from one seat, he saw one of the new
officers... Solomon, wasn't it?... yes, that was it... approaching the station.
"It's all ready for you, sir," Kalvin said as he motioned to Solomon's seat as if it were some sort of gift. He gave Solomon a brief
pat on the shoulder, then moved on to warm up another station.

Jack ran back aboard the Essex docking collar and made his way to the nearest turbolift. With the recall off all officers the the
ship this meant something big was happening with the prescence of the Essex being requested somewhere that hse was
needed and somewhere important. As the turbolift rose he trioed to think of possible ays to get an advantage over the Gorn and
give the Essex a chance to beat them.
The turbolift opebned on the Bridge and Jack made his way to the Ops station taking his seat and checking up to date reports.
He smiled when all reported well.
Solomon: We're all go here Admiral.
Aeryn was exploring the starbase when the recall to the Essex had come through on her comm badge. Abandoning her search
for new souvenirs for her ever growing collection she made her way back to the Essex, heading to her quarters first to drop off
her shopping and to change out of her civvies and
into her uniform.
Her uniform on and sorted she headed out of her quarters and made for the bridge, stepping out of the turbolift she headed over
to her seat nodding to Solomon as she turned to take her seat. Sitting down she looked to T'Lar and spoke.
Jameson: So what have we got Admiral?
"We've received a distress call and we are going to intercept it. We have a while before we get there. Also, we won't be fighting
the Gorn afterall. Now if you could help medical get their facilties ready in case we have injured, I'd appreciate it. Also, how is
that girl that we brought aboard?"
After everyone was back on the ship, the Essex departed from SB Camelot.
Everyone was aboard. Admiral T'lar requested permission to depart from SBC control. In a few moments the reply came.
SBC: =/\= Essex, moorings and docking bridges evacuated. Please clear moorings. =/\=
Arcia activated the appropriate controls on his console. After a few moments the mooring bolts blew off the hull and the docking
bridges retracted. Soon, USS Essex was floating free in the hangar.
SBC: =/\= Essex, all moorings and bridges clear. You are clear to depart. =/\=
The CO replied appropriately and ordered Arcia to take them out.
Arcia: Aye, ma'am
Arcia guided the Essex via maneuvering thrusters to the lighted exit lane leading to the immense hangar door which was already
in the full open position. He then applied 1/4 Impulse to send them out. By now, use of impulse in Spacedock had been so
common that the rule against the practice had been made the butt of many jokes.
USS Essex cleared the hangar door and was in free space. Arcia was given his course heading and after clearing the station to
a safe distance, Arcia pointed the Essex in the proper course and launched them into Warp Space. Soon they were at Warp 9.
They were answering a distress call.

As the ship entered warp after receiving the distress call, the Sovereign Class Essex sped her way to lend assistance. Little did
she know however that this was a well-conceived trap by the Gorn to lure away ships, with the intention of dividing the defending
forces around Starbase Camelot to ease their ultimate goal.
The trap was simple; they knew a ship would come from Camelot being the closest Starfleet outpost in the region, using the
masking residual effects of a nebula they marked an area with ionized particles with the intention of collapsing the warp field of a
starship suddenly, ultimately stalling the warp engines for a while. Once their prey was unable to flee, 4 Gorn Heavy Cruisers
would emerge from the Nebula and engage. 4 Gorn Heavy Cruisers were more then a match for an impaired Sovereign class
battleship, enforcing their reputation for overwhelming fierce attack tactics.

All the Gorn could do now, is lay in wait, the trap was set, the bait dangled, and the prey on its way.
After moving away from the last station, Kal' straightened his olive uniform shirt and turned to the railing overlooking the CO and
XOs' command chairs, directly above and behind them. He decided since he
had no other station, that would be the best place for him. Messenger/errand-boy or someone to give an opinion, he was ready
to do whatever he could to help out until the ground fighting started, because they all knew that's where he'd be the most good.
"Ready and waiting," he piped up in a somewhat conversational tone to the CO and XO below him, "just let me know where you
need me." That being said, he stood quietly, hands resting on the rail, as he watched the forward viewscreen.
"Take Tactical," said Fernandez, he figured if they where going to help someone, he might not stay on the Bridge, and he wanted
a good hand on the ships defense.
Engineering
Lt. Cmdr. Jason Darkbringer stood at the engineering console near the warp core. he began to do a series of tests to see what
type of increase he could get out of the warp core. he watched each and every
fluctuation in the crystals and made sure the computer took note. he then engaged some small tests to see what the possibilities
would come up with. As he did this he stared at the warp core trying to think of some new ways to boost energy output as well as
keep it well within safety protocols. he new this would be a tedious job, but he also figured sub harmonics could be used to
stabalize the crystals and warp core if they ever went haywire or at least he hoped. Otherwise he knew there'd be a new word to
the big bang theory and that would be Darkbringer. A eamel engineer officer walked up by him and handed him a padd and he
looked up at her.
"Thank you."
Jason smiled as he tapped a leter out to Dana Monroe.
<<<---------------------------------------------------------------->>>
Dear Dana,
Wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing. I have been busy here on the Essex. Not like the Nimitz in any form
or fashion. A little different, but a very good crew and good people. The Admiral
is a good person she runs a tight ship much like our old CO on the Nimitz. The Executive Officer is a guy i can get used to a
relate too. I am still a little tense about being in a new place. Adjusting is the easy part. I dive headlong into my work. Seems to
take the edge off of missing you as much as i do.
Hopefully i will see or hear from you soon.
Jason
<<<--------------------------------------------------------------->>>
Plugging the padd in Jason sends the message to Dana Monroe. His mind wonders if she has already moved on. He sighs a
bit at the possibility of it. Shrugging it off to think about it later he begins
to go through all the records of the warp core trials and tests performed aboard the Essex during her tenure. He wanted to be
thorough about each portion and path he wanted tot ake. He knew the
Admiral would want her her ship in top notch shape as he continued to compile data. he watched as the next test surged the
energy spike up a bit to see the confines of the energy field.he punched in the next
program as he watched and studied as the warp core gave off a beautiful rainbow variance of colors as some of the engineering
crew stared in disbelief. He chuckled and looked at them and spoke.
"Harmonic balncer buffers. No danger is it just natural Dilithium gases being released in a slower form. Perhaps a more
controlled environement with slower releases. The ships energy will boost and spike for around 10 mins. Not enough to be
permanent or damage anything but may give us .4 more warp speed."

Jason went back to his console and began compiling the rest of the data and sent it to the padd where he intended to continue
the work on the holodeck when he was done to run tests with a safe environement with out over loud. he wanted sound waves to
be used and see if they could work. In his mind he knew there was a path he was not taking, but wanted to be sure that the
systems were exceeding their expectations. After all he thought tat was the job of a Chief Engineer. Man he wished he was
Montgomery Scott at times. He would just have to respond in the Scottish accent.
"Aye Laddie that ye have, That ye have."
Some of the crew looked at him and smirked and he shook his head smiling back slightly. He liked this crew and he was going
to enjoy being on the Essex for awhile.
Fernandez thought it would be a good time to relocate the civilians for the clash with the Gorn that was to come when they got
back to SB Camelot.
He left the Bridge and sought out a writer, he had never talked to one in his life. Being XO does cause you to do some strange
things.