Colin Pinnell <
pinnellcb@thehiddenkingdom.com> wrote to
charon@ucip.org:
<<Hi Everyone;
We've got a whole slough of new characters coming aboard, so we're
getting them all in a care package aboard Quantum Fury. We thought it
would be fun for them to get acquainted before showing up, so we've
dragged them into a massive get-to-know-one-another log. If you wanted
to be more involved in this and were unable to due to time constraints -
sorry! - then write me a line and I'll make sure you get some good joint
log action in. That stands for pretty much anyone, of course, but for
all the new players especially I want to make sure no one feels left
out. So, without further ado, I give you...>>
"The Quantum Fury Extravaganza Log!"
Quantum Fury had two meeting rooms. One was a "war room" of sorts,
something a Captain, Tactical Officer and other militant officers could
use to prepare the course of war. The other was a more simple general
meeting hall, complete with circular table, holoprojectors, wall
displays, and three narrow, tall windows out into space. They right now
showed the trailing lines of a star field at warp, drawing off into the
distance behind them. A pretty view, but the windows were too narrow to
enjoy it much, and the room was too plain to be considered beautiful.
Like Quantum Fury herself, the space was utilitarian and functional. The
rest was extravagance on a warship that was too small to afford it.
Still, Savant had made the best of a poor situation. A side table had
been brought in for food and drink - organics were constantly dictated
by their biological needs - and the lighting was adjusted from the
bright 6500k / 120-lumen-per-square-meter standard down to something
that would be considered comfortable. Warm firelight tones dominated
instead of bright sunlights. Food was a sampling of their varied
preferences from replicator records, with a few additions and changes
made to give a taste of the exotic and new. The wide monitor on the side
of the room showed multiple views of Charons' current position, in orbit
of a super-massive star that was just about to go nova. Scientific
readouts flanked the display, but the view itself was staggering. This
would set the scene appropriately for a transition from one role to
another. She wanted to make the transition a positive one. When they
entered by ones and twos, Savants' hologram was not waiting for them -
just a quiet, comfortable room, a little bit of Romulan music playing in
the background, some food and drink, and a wall-wide scene of a star's
death playing out before them.
Sam walked in, just a tad hunched over. Her attention was immediately
turned to the screen showing a star collapse in on itself. It was
beautiful and captivating. She pulled herself away from the scene and
moved to the back of the room, out of sight, and wondered what was
softly playing through the speakers.
Aria had been surprised to discover the little informal get together in
the casual meeting room. After her meeting with the ships' captain she
had diagnosed the man as suffering from an acute affliction of
rod-up-the-ass and wouldn't have guessed he'd have allowed such an event
to take place. She shifted in her casual-martial wear, loose fitted
urban BDU's and a black, low-neck, sleeveless shirt. She twisted at the
waist, right to left, dog tags clanging as they rolled in the valley of
her chest. Her jade-green eyes swept over the ground, polishing every
table, screen and occupant with her attention. There was a spark in her
eyes and a content smirk on her indigo lips as she made her way to one
of the tables, intent on indulging; her taste parched of a good drink.
Bonus, it might help to drown out the horrid sounds screeching out of
the rooms speakers.
The only examples of the rooms' occupants she knew were the ones she had
brought with her aboard the ship, her dozen-strong team of fellow Force
Recon vets. Her sergeant major had already helped himself to some of
the snacks provided. She had always found it odd how the old career
soldier had loved his snacks. Then, in a seat at one of the rooms
corners lounged one of her corporals, the groups' hacker. She stole a
second look before turning back to the drinks. Something about hackers
got her all hot and bothered. They could never seem to reconcile their
desire for freedom with the rules. She hated the rules just as much;
well, save for her rules. It steamed her to know she couldn't have that
one. No matter, she thought, plenty more out there. So many new faces
to meet, after all.
Auden Anderson walked into the small conference room. He took a quick
look around and not particularly in the mood to think up of small talk
he decided to stand near the back along with a petite and young looking
enlisted woman. He glanced at a PADD he brought with him and tapped on
the controls a few times, bringing up a medical document he was reading
earlier. He was still unsure of this entire situation, it had all begun
when he had met Mark the night before whilst settling into his quarters
on-board the Quantum Fury.
Samantha nodded to the officer next to her. She felt odd being the only
enlisted person in the room, and wasn't good at 'small talk'
so hoped the acknowledgment was enough.
Auden may have been looking down but through his peripheral vision he
saw the enlisted woman offer a small nod. He looked up at her and
smiled, nodding back. "Seems to be getting pretty crowded in here. Auden
Anderson." He felt it was proper to at least exchange names before the
briefing would begin.
"Samantha Davis" She answered in a soft voice. Looking around the small
room. It was indeed filling up fast. She toyed with her PADD, not sure
what to do with herself until the briefing began.
Lieutenant Janel Sorad walked into the room and quickly took a seat, not
particularly noticing the surroundings. His thoughts were mostly focused
on the coming assignment on the Charon, and he was eager to learn as
much as he could before the Quantum Fury arrived.
Rob quickly inspected the room when he entered through one of the two
doors from the corridor. It was small, yet functional, the people
already there seemed poised and focused, a good change from his
experience in sickbay only a few minutes prior. Before sitting down he
made a mental note of the exits, a habit he'd picked up while on Carida.
Once seated, his attention snapped to the others sitting at the table.
Some where officers and at least one was an enlisted woman who couldn't
have been more than 20 years-old. His gaze gradually went down the line
of people sitting across from him, until he saw him--Landon.
Seeing as Landon Neyes had nothing better to do, he'd heard about the
briefing and decided to be prompt for once in his life. He'd arrived to
the meeting ahead of schedule and was reading the flight reports for the
Charon's previous unclassified missions, when the others began to pile
in. While he wasn't entirely prepared to accept a position as a chief
engineer, he knew enough to realize he was able to learn as he
progressed on duty. It didn't even occur to him to look up from his
PADDs as people wandered in, until he distinctly noticed someone staring
in his direction. He waiting just another moment, seeing if the person
would look away, dutifully finished reading his paragraph, and finally
looked up.
Rob.
Neyes nearly coughed his breath caught so fast. Had he been a lesser
species hid heart probably would have stopped. His surprise at seeing
Rob Lansine sitting across from him was only exceeded by his amazement
that it wasn't some ridiculous figment of his imagining. For months
Landon had dreamed that Carida never happened, that the Intrepid-D
wasn't scrap metal, and that Rob and him were colleagues again like
nothing had ever happened. In the end though he'd always woken up just
before either of them spoke, left solemn and wondering if his friend was
still alive. Now that Neyes was fairly certain he was awake, the fear
he'd wake up and it wouldn't be real was terrifying.
Landon blinked, and mustered his courage to speak. "You're alive." He
pronounced.
Rob couldn't believe his eyes, he couldn't move or speak. Nothing came
to him, it was too surreal.
"If this is that dirty holo-woman's idea of a joke, you're one sick
slice of code." Landon hissed.
His further expletives were silenced by a light hand upon his shoulder,
placed there as Savant stepped from the ether as if stepping from one
reality to the next. A whiff of ozone and the tingle of free electrons
accompanied her touch. "I hardly joke about something like that, Sir,"
she said smoothly, all smiles for the new crew. Her voice was tuning
forks sounded in time, chiming the minutes of the meeting and naturally
calling attention to her.
"I'm sorry for cutting your socializing time short - you'll have plenty
of time to get to know one another afterwards, and on Charon. For now, I
thought it best to get you acquainted with your new roles and the
long-term mission that Charon has in the Typhon sector."
She walked - no, floated - to the head of the table, where already the
holoprojectors were painting an image of Romulan space. Charon was a
bright blue chevron amidst the green. "we are in an unusual predicament
aboard this ship. As you no doubt understand, we are operating far
beyond friendly borders. The Romulans have been very welcoming but I
would hesitate to call them true friends. As stereotypes must no doubt
inform you, political situations within the Romulan Empire create great
difficulty for us. They are a major source of our supply of consumables
and intrigue both. However, our role within it a fleet is a vital one,
and it cannot be over emphasized that our ship is at the very vanguard
of the defense and prosperity of the Federation."
The holographic scene became populated as she spoke, showing rough
positions of Romulan fleets, installations, and settlements. She spent
on amount of time describing them all in light detail, enough to form
about the basics while not wasting time or becoming boring. Being
connected directly to the ships biological sensors meant that she was
able to keep track of their hormonal levels and was able to gauge their
attention levels within a degree of freedom. Whenever it seemed that
they were getting bored or somehow disinterested she would move on.
Given the emotional turmoil that was rolling between a few of the
participants, she spoke briskly and move from topic to topic quickly to
distract from the drama.
"Each of you will be responsible for a different role aboard the ship,
but it is important to note that we are all in the end responsible for
the success of the mission. As we operate so far from friendly territory
and so deep in foreign territory you will find that you will often be
called upon to do tasks which are outside of your job description. It
will be challenging, but this ship will be the best posting you could
hope for to further your careers. When you have finished short tour
here, you should have your choice of assignments given any level of
success."
"The desk terminal in front of you has a brief sign-on system of your
job requirements as well as a few samples from previous officers in your
positions. I think it's a good idea that you look over them now, and
perhaps top of each other or ask me if you have questions or wish
clarification. This briefing is as much for you all to get to know one
another as it is to disseminate information to you. All of this being
said, do you have any questions?"
Aria only half heard the AI's pep talk. She wasn't disinterested per
say, it was just that she had heard that sort of thing innumerable times
prior. She had per brothers' arrogance which kept her from feeling
guilty for not completely paying attention, but just the same she sat
and logged into the console to review the data the screen displayed. It
was, sure assumed, incomplete. A brief overview of what 'they' wanted
her to know.
Sam listened intently, taking notes as fast as she could tap them into
her PADD. She made side notes of things to look up later, not sure what
the Captain would want to know once they arrived, or what she needed to
be fully versed on. She just hoped she didn't miss anything.
Auden was still close to Sam, he too was taking notes and downloading
the data being presented to them. It sounded exciting enough.
Rob wasn't listening to the hologram, the situation was still
ridiculous, no matter her attempts to continue with the briefing. What
were the chances Landon could get posted to the very same ship he was
assigned straight after Carida? The numbers flew through Lansine's mind
but didn't register, nothing was registering. He couldn't believe this
was happening.
"Landon Neyes?" He finally spoke, his words uncharacteristically soft.
"How is that possible?"
Neyes looked at Rob for another few seconds before he stood and made a
move for the liquor at the far table of the room. He needed a drink.
"I'm sure the AI could give you exact numbers." Taking a swift drink, he
turned and faced Lansine again. "My guess is it's a little out
there." In truth Landon felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders
knowing that Rob was indeed walking, talking, and breathing. The buried
guilt he'd learned to let slip into the past was vanishing like a
distant and unreal memory. How did he escape that place? Did he help Rob
escape at all? Was he the same person? He was about to continue their
discussion, now that Savvy had finished her speech about their upcoming
assignment together, when someone stepped in front of him and started
talking.
With Savant's speech concluded she had made her way back to the drink
table as well, having skimmed through the briefing text to her
satisfaction. It was a lot for her to take in, the whole Romulan aspect
her life had been suddenly stained with. A Romulan on this ship, one on
the ship she was headed for, Romulan music, Romulans in the briefing.
It had her a bit on edge and she was in the market for something to dull
that edge.
Her drink of choice was there, to her surprise, and wondered if the
get-together, which she began to realize was full of specifics, had been
purposefully assembled by the AI. Shrugging her supple shoulders, she
took hold of the drink, a Black Dahlia which oddly enough was purple,
not black, and took a sip. The conversation to her left had caught her
attention and she thought it perhaps a good thing to get a jump on
getting to know everyone.
It only took a step or two to reach Neyes, not that she knew who he was
or anything. "She tipped her own beverage in friendly gesture. "What's
your poison?"
Landon stopped short of asking her to excuse him and move away. Under
the circumstances, them all being gathered like this to meet each other,
he thought it inappropriate to cast of his future crewmate with such
disregard. No matter how much he wanted to find out what happened to
Rob. Although, he also thought it might be a good idea to let himself
and Rob recover from finding out they were alive, and stationed together
on the Charon. So he nodded and held up his drink, tipped it slightly
and smiling in response. "Rigelian Whiskey. Sav recommended it to me
earlier. I have to give her credit for her taste, as calculated as it
might be..."
She lofted both brows, surprised with the drink. "Whiskey? Not a drink
for the faint or pallet frugal." She wondered a moment whether it was
his regular gig or if today was a special occasion. "I'm Aria," she
said pleasantly enough. She gave herself a quick up and down,
"shouldn't be too hard to guess what I do. What's your thing?"
Rob had the urge to physically move the intruder out of their
conversation but decided against it, "And you are?" He gave her a
disapprovingly look.
The negative look was not lost on the keen-eyed sniper. She had spent a
lot of time looking at facial expressions over the years and making
peace with them being stuck in her memory, so this Rob fellow's
displeasure was as loud to her as a red alert klaxon. She usually dealt
with things she didn't like in one of two ways. One could get another
reprimand added to her record. The other often avoided a fight but was
far more disrespectful. She chose the latter and ignored him.
Sam had stayed back as best she could, grabbed herself a glass of water
and just listened. The tension amongst the group was palatable and it
made her a little nervous, but the interactions were fascinating none
the less.
Landon held up a hand to disarm Rob, smiled a little at the small
squabble before him, and looked on the woman who'd obviously just tried
to interject herself and get to know people. "Chief Engineer," Landon
made a concerted effort to pay her the attention she deserved, but
caught himself looking over her shoulder and skimming the heads of the
other crew for Lansine. He quickly reset his gaze and finished his
drink. He drew some air between his teeth as the whiskey took its bite.
With a quick turn he set the drink down and addressed the woman again.
"I'm Landon by the way, Landon Neyes. Eleventh host to the Neyes
Symbiont. This is my friend, Rob." He stopped when he realized he didn't
know what position Rob held. "I've served aboard a Luna before, but I've
never dealt with Romulans. As I understand it the Charon's Captain is
Romulan, which is just as well." Landon smiled sarcastically. "That
should be interesting."
She muttered under her breath at the 'interesting' comment. "You have
no idea." The expression on her face had visibly changed for a moment
and the mention of Romulans. She was beginning to feel like they were
being thrown in her face. Irrational as the feelings were, they were
very reasonable to her and she took a long drink to chase the demons away.
The lull in conversation gave Rob a chance to further his conversation
with Landon, "Yellow huh?" He looked to Landon's collar. "Ensign too,
things seemed to have changed," whatever displeasure the encounter with
the woman had caused it was now erased by the smirk on his face. "This
is too strange," his smirk became a genuine smile, his first since
boarding the Fury.
Landon smiled in return, and he felt happy to be speaking to his friend.
He pressed his chin back and looked downwards awkwardly at his collar,
running a hand across it. "Yeah well... They've already got a pilot, and
I don't need someone else to lead me in how to fly my ship. So I'll have
to put my other skills to the test."
The familiarity of their friendship seemed to coming rushing back,
"Other skills?" Rob raised a brow, "I didn't know you were useful for
much else outside piloting shuttlecraft and killing Cardassians?" Rob
caught himself before he mentioned too much about Carida. The event was
still an open-emotional wound for him, he had no idea how these past
months had treated Landon.
Aria made a mental note of the 'killing Cardassians' comment and shifted
her gaze to Rob. She didn't think he was the sort of civvie she'd be
able let along with, not that there the list of civvies she could was
very long, so she thought it best to know who he was. "And what is it
you do?"
The woman wouldn't give up, nor could she take a hint. "Chief Strategic
Operations Officer," he punctuated the words with his own frustration.
"Former Chief Security Officer aboard the USS Intrepid." It was times
like these he made sure to include full titles, all too often his age
made for an easy excuse for others to disregard him. "And you are?"
Each emphasized word stood out like a knife edge as he spoke and she
absently wondered how far she could push this fire cracker. To her, it
felt like she was standing next to a defective bomb, hadn't popped yet
but the threat was still just as real with every second that tick tocked
by. "Marine Commander, Force Recon." She didn't like telling people
her rank. Rank seemed to fundamentally change peoples' personalities,
often for the less honest.
Neyes eyed the two as they faced off in their newfound posturing, a
social situation he really did not enjoy to participate in, and now he
found it didn't agree with him to witness it either. "So! Strategic
Operations! Marine Command! Looks like you two will need to get along
well in order to get your jobs done. I on the other hand have yet to
meet another engineer stationed on this ship." He rubbed his hands
together as he thought about making another drink. "The Charon doesn't
have any kind of experimental technology or engines on it, does it? I'm
just about through with alternate subspace harmonics."
The reference to their former ship fell on deaf ears, Rob hadn't been
briefed about the circumstances surrounding the Intrepid after Carida.
"I doubt you'd know where to start," Rob's attention shifted back to
Landon. "You don't know the difference between a hypospanner and a
wrench." Poking fun of the Trill was one of his favorite past-times on
the Intrepid--no amount of dead civilians or Cardassian soldiers could
change that.
The doors to the meeting room slid open and a young Romulan man walking
in tailed by an older Cardassian. They both wore the command red of
Starfleet and the variations in their ranks were simple- the Romulan's
collar supported three solid pips while the Cardassian's only support
two solid along with one hollow. Per usual Khiy Kanryth wore a serious
expression that might as well have been carved in granite while Onarin
Kaen wore a smug grin fitting of his heritage. Behind the pair two more
individuals entered. The first was a young light skinned woman with
fiery red hair and lipstick to match it. She wore the teal collar of
the medical services and trailing her was a more unusual sight. A
Tholian skinned in translucent blue- a true rarity, in fact Vekelse was
the only Tholian serving in Starfleet.
"I hope everyone has found the Quantum Fury welcoming." Khiy's comment
lacked any real sincerity as he moved towards the Marine woman he had a
confrontation with earlier. She appeared in a small group and he slowed
waiting for a chance to speak to the woman without interrupting.
"Colonel." Khiy finally found the opportunity and spoke "my Executive
Officer informs me that you have demanded a sparring match. While my
time is limited I believe I can accommodate you." On the other side of
the room, behind and out of Khiy's sight, Onarin grinned and offered
Aria a slight wave.
Rob's grip on his glass visibly tightened as the Cardassian Starfleet
Officer accompanied the influx of new personnel. He'd heard there was
one serving onboard the Fury, but he'd tried his best to keep it out of
his mind. While his mind wanted to continue to analyze the fan-neck the
show unfolding before them proved to be interesting, definitely now that
he'd already grown annoyed of the Marine woman.
Auden looked up briefly from his PADD, he had heard various
conversations and was pleased that he had not been approached by anyone.
He was sure there would be plenty of time to get to know his fellow crew
mates of Charon and the Quantum Fury throughout the travel time ahead of
them all. The Romulan commander particularly caught his attention, he
was very attractive in Auden's point of view. Shaking his head the
doctor returned his attention to his PADD.
Aria grinned, unsurprised at the Romulan's stoic look. It was like
trying to talk to a Greek nude, except far less flattering.
"Demanded?" She giggled to herself, a carelessly friendly sound. "Oh,
no no no. It was your wide necked Second who practically goaded me into
the idea at all," adding after a slight pause, "but that's not to say
I'm uninterested."
Neyes and the others turned to listen to their address. Landon watched
as the crew made themselves known, and upon seeing the Cardassian enter
the room, Landon watched Rob carefully. Within a moment of seeing Rob
stiffen as he too noticed the Cardassian, Landon placed a reassuring
hand on Rob's shoulder.
A slight but perceptible grin broke on Khiy's normally placid face
"good. My crew have already begun taking bets. It seems the odds favor
you. If any of your friends would like to join the pool they can speak
to my chief medical officer" he nodded towards the redhead. "What type
of environment is suitable for you Colonel? I will have my chief
engineer program the holodeck for our match."
Aria folded her arms across her chest, nipping at her lip as she
thought. It surprised her that the odds allegedly favored her. She
would have thought loyalty to their CO would have taken presidence over
any femme fatale. "Cold," was all she replied with.
"Cold?" Khiy nodded his head recalling that they had a few holo-arenas
set in an Andorian setting. "Very well, I will meet you in the holodeck
at 2100 hours?"
Aria smiled. She loved the cold, gave one an excuse to warm up in all
sorts of ways. She had another reason for choosing it as well. "I
wouldn't miss it for the galaxy."
Auden looked up again, 'You have got to be kidding me...' He rolled his
eyes. Was this actually happening? He was not a fan of physical violence
of any means and thought that this whole idea of sparring was quite
barbaric. He certainly would not be attending, the doctors on board
could tend to any wounds that would be bound to appear on either of the
officers.
Savant watched all of these with content interest. The crew seemed to be
meshing. Of course there were the expected conflicts - they were mapping
quite well to her predictions - but these could easily be compensated
for. Indeed, it seemed as if organics thrived off of this low0-key
interpersonal rivalry. They generated it whenever there wasn't some
minimum value within the social environment. Savant suspected that it
was the exercise social muscles, to decrease boredom, and to determine
the overall social hierarchy - it got very complicated when dealing with
multiple species. It was, despite all this, a great amusement to watch
unfold. She re-biased her predictive network and let them go to work.
Perhaps she would even place a bet on the sparring match.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Yeoman Samantha Davis
USS Charon
Colonel Aria Falcon
USS Charon, Marine Commander
Lieutenant Commander Auden Anderson
USS Charon Assistant Medical Officer
Lieutenant Janel Sorad
USS Charon Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Commander Robert Lansine
USS Charon Strategic Operations Officer
Ensign Landon Neyes
USS Charon Chief Engineering Officer
Khiy Kanryth
USS Quantum Fury
Onarin Kaen
USS Quantum Fury
and
Savant
