Episode 3: Tears of Valhalla

[Admiralwood]

The Bridge of a Block II Conestoga Class Colony Ship was heavily automated, allowing the small crew assigned to see her to her destination to sleep at night - the voyage was long, it was the least the mission's sponsors could do.

As the ship's occupants slumbered a man stepped into that darkened room, slowly walking over to a large leather Captain's chair in the centre of the room. He sat down with a long, melancholic sigh, holding a small digital recording device close to his lips. What little light there was came from unmanned consoles, turning the man's burly frame into an imposing silhouette.

"Computer," The man called into the gloom, "Ship status."

"ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONING WITHIN NORMAL PARAMATERS" A digitised voice flatly responded, "WARP FIELD STABLE AND SPEED IS MAINTANING AT A CONSTANT WARP 1.5"

The man grimaced, "Yeah, course it is. Thanks."

"YOU ARE WELCOME, CAPTAIN VASQUEZ."

The man, Captain Sandro Vasquez, did not find the personalised response endearing, amusing or in any way positive. Lost in his own thoughts, he tapped the recording device gently on his stubbly chin. A melancholy smile started to play across his lips, his fingers tapping in a well practised command on the tiny console built into his chair arm.

Over the bridge speakers came the soft melody of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's rendition of 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'.


Vasquez hummed along for a few bars while watching the stars streak by the tiny viewscreen like they didn't have a care in the world.

Then, with a deep breath, Vasquez spoke into the recorder.

"Ten days away from you and it feels like a lifetime. I miss you Chrissy, feeling so much hurt wishing you were here every single day...


=====USS Redemption=======

Admiral Wood had woke up in a foul temper. As he practically stormed out of his quarters, leaving a steaming cup of Chai Tea forgotten in the replicator, members of the crew wisely saw his dark expression and stepped out of his way.

The last thing the Admiral needed now was to hold a briefing session with his Senior Staff - especially when the subject was likely to provoke a good measure of controversy - and yet that was what he marched toward.

"Deck bloody one." He growled upon entry into the turbolift.

Even the ship's computer knew better than to argue with him today.

Wood had invited more than just the senior staff to this meeting - feeling the insights of a certain group of Marines he'd recently worked with might come in handy. The result? A Sergeant, a Medic and a sniper would sit in with Starfleet commanders and Department heads and mash ideas with them...

A delicious heresy.

The turbolift was almost grateful to spit Wood out onto the Bridge, whereupon an overzealous Commander of the Watch bounced up to him hoping his effacious report would win him favor with the Admiral.

The Lieutenant's face soured considerably when his advances were sternly rebuked by a grouchy, 'talk to the hand'.

{tag Loki, Arkham, Danno, Star, Tybalt, Moondark, Creed....EVERYONE!}

[Emily Star]

Emily had been briefing her replacement at the bridge’s tactical station when the Admiral had stepped on. As the CSO she’d known he was aboard, however she wasn’t prepared for the entrance he’d made onto the bridge.

“Talk to the hand…” She mumbled with a raised brow. It was definitely not his morning and she didn’t have to be a betazoid to know that. Concluding the conversation she was having, Emily proceeded to the Admiral’s side.

“Sir…”She said hesitantly, “Do you have a minute before the meeting to speak?”

Speaking was by far the last thing he wanted to do right now, wasn’t that why they invented First Officers? Where the hell was that Colonel when he needed him. Then again, he’d never really said no to such requests either - so more out of habit than anything else he said, “Sure, Ready Room.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Emily said quietly, as she followed him. The doors shut softly behind them and Emily continued, “I don’t know how much you’ve been briefed on, but there was a bit of an upset before you arrived. It’s the reason I’m talking to you now, before we get into the meeting. I understand I’m jumping the ladder a bit, but it involves some of the other ‘rungs’ so to speak.”

The cranky part of him instantly responded - in the back of his mind at least - ‘oh great!’ The professional part of him stayed at the fore, which was only broken by his taking in a longer-than-usual breath before saying, “I’ve caught some snippets of whispered gossip here and there. Nothing solid. Lets start with these involved ‘rungs’ shall we? Who exactly is involved and what happened?”

The feeling she was an inconvenience increased slightly but Emily wasn’t one to be put off her path, “Marines versus Security. Small tiff turned into big fight and I have no idea how the hell it wound up spreading throughout the ship. Honestly, I was lost. In fact...I think I still am.” There was a pause, “Either way, it’s been contained...I just worry about the tension between the marines and the security. They’re two separate entities on one ship and we can’t draw a line down the middle to appease tempers….or can we?”

It was clear this was much more than some snide remarks in corridors, which was enough for the Admiral to put his bad mood to one side. This was a time bomb that could kill them all if it went off at the wrong moment, “Between you and me I’m glad it was only ‘minor’, otherwise Carpathia’s supporters wouldn't have needed to fire a shot to end us. Inter-service pride is dangerous at the best of times but it sounds like it’s grown into a monster. With what’s coming I need you both working together…”

He paused as an idea started taking form in his mind, “So let’s get you doing just that - an exchange programme, mixed service missions.”

“Mixed...service…”Emily nodded her head, “I can pitch it.”

Wood shook his head, “You need to earn their respect and they need to earn yours. The only way that’s going to happen is by proving your worthiness to each other - like the Klingons do. This isn’t pitching territory. It’s an order. From me.”

“Yes Sir…”Emily replied with a slow nod of her head, “Permission to speak freely?”

Wood had a feeling he might regret this, “Granted.”

“I couldn’t help but notice you’re...a little upset.” Emily knew she was treading on thin ground, “Sir, is it really an appropriate time to have a meeting?”

Wood cocked his head at her, unable to help the simple directness of the question. It wasn’t every day a Lieutenant questioned the appropriateness of an Admiral calling a meeting, “Yes. We’re on one of those ‘race against time to prevent civil war’ kicks. How I feel at this moment and my response to sycophantic gestures - which might have been a little coloured by said mood - won’t factor into the meeting. Anything else relevant?”

“No, no SIr. I’m glad you’re equipped and …”Emily said as she backed towards to the door still facing him, “I’ll just leave you to organize and compose yoursel- I mean your notes and such before the meeting. I’ll see you in the room. “ The doors opened as she neared, “Thank you!”

The doors shut behind her after she exited and she exhaled sharply. She wasn’t used to paying attention to ranks, nor the power behind them. Not a good thing to let go of. Even her cocky attitude couldn’t make up for the amount of hell he could reign down over her head if he so desired.

[Guest]

| Bethany Moondark
| Gym, Marine Country

She was breathing hard as she wrapped her thighs tighter around him, there really was no better way of releasing stress and tension than a really good... feeling the tapping on her back she grinned and released him.

“Tapping out so soon Wilkins?” a voice asked from somewhere of to her left.

Smiling at the rather rude reply she flopped back on the sparring mats using one bandage wrapped hand to wipe the sweat off her ridged forehead while she sucked in big lungfuls of air feeling the most relaxed she had been since her CO had delivered the news that she was to join him and others in a senior staff meeting.

She might have grumbled that she enjoyed having the one single silver bar on her collar which usually would bar her from such meetings. However since it was an order she couldn't very well ignore it, not unless one of her brothers in green wanted to have a sudden medical emergency that only she could deal with, something like a popping appendix or a leg falling off.

Instead she had said “yes Sir” and headed to the gym to blow off a little steam on a succession of sparring partners.

Finally getting her breathing under control she moved off the mats letting those who wanted to use them. She reached up one of her wrapped hands to gingerly poke the bruise already colouring her right cheek a lovely dark purple. She winced and bumped shoulders with the large marine she had been sparring with last “that was a good combo you got me with, I'll have to remember that one” she offered him a half smile and passed him one of the water bottles with the purple electrolyte mix she preferred.

“Cheers Voodoo” he took a long drink from the bottle before reapplying an icepack to his face. “I liked your last combination, I'm not sure I saw them all but I'm sure someone will tell me what you hit me with” he joked, his voice muffled by the ice pack.

Beth just grinned and rested her head back against the wall watching the two marines on the mat fighting. To the untrained eye it might look like the pair were really trying to tear their metal-farming heads off but to those gathered around they could see that it was the further honing of those skills that made them Recon, that made them the ones that the higher ups called on when they had a problem that required some brute force and a little sneaky sh*t.

Beth might have no clue as to how they ended up where they were and in the situation they were but she was at least glad to be stuck here with her family.

TAG: any?

[Ziva Creed]

| Ziva Creed
| Marine Country

Sitting at the work table in a slouched over position, Ziva had her sniper rifle laid out in front of her as she carefully cleaned and inspected each piece. It didn't matter that she hadn't used it on this last mission, it was her routine to check and clean it after each go, even if not one shot had flashed through its barrel. Picking up her sight, she carefully polished it, cleaned the lens and checked for cracks. Her head bouncing just a hair as she listened to the music currently pouring into her ears, via a small device linked to barely there ear buds, that were shoved into her grey tinged ears. It was a darker tune, lots of instrumental sections coupled with someone occasionally screaming something, but it was as much to her routine when it came to her rifle maintenance as was the large pot-er mug of coffee currently sitting just within reach of her right hand.

She had retreated to the small recon office just off the locker room after being informed by the Admiral she would be sitting in on the officers meeting, barely keeping the whine from escaping her lips over being made to make nice with all the fleeties that would be present. Of course that was before Admiral Wood had mentioned that Tybalt and Beth would be present as well, which caused her to grin and realize that misery really did love company. So with free time before the meeting she had pulled her weapon out and went through the motions of cleaning it before reassembling it back to its working order.

With one last snap, pop and click, her baby was back to working order and she lovingly placed it in its specially designed case, spinning the combination locks with her thumb to secure it as she stood and grabbed the case by the handle. It wasn’t until she reached the outer hall and when one of the other marines tried to say something to her that she remembered to pull her headphones out and turn the music off. “Sorry, what did you say?” she asked the Gunny who just shook his head at her and grinned.

“You’re missing the butt kicking Voodoo is giving those gathered in the gym, its been quite the show.”

Ziva laughed, showing her slightly elongated pearly white canines as she shook her head. “At least if she hurts them she can patch them right back up good as new.” she joked lightly as she crossed the hall to the weapons locker and put her things away before deciding to join those gathered in the gym, grabbing a few waters along the way.

Stopping in the doorway, she took in who was sparring and who was on the sidelines before entering and making her way over to her friend. Taking a seat next to her, she offered Beth a water and cast a sideways glance, taking in the bruise adorning her face and the happy, relaxed expression. “Just tell me that Wilkins tapped out, I had big money riding that he would.” she stated in greeting, her scarlet eyes dancing in merriment.


Tag Beth, All?

[Kandice Justice]

---Federation Maximum Security Prison, Austria/Germany Border---

---Cell Block E---

It had been several days since her last interactions with Lornell and the guards at the prison - her face on the mend from the last ‘conversation’. With the help of the woman who was her bunkmate, a former Starfleet doctor by the name of Amy Anderson, she had the opportunity to recover rather quickly from such a harsh strike against her head.

With her head rested back on her pillow, Kandice gazed up toward the ceiling of the cell - a location where she had remained for a while. Today was the first day that she removed the bandage that Amy had placed on her face. The dark purple discoloration along her forehead going down to her jaw was still present, however much of the swelling had gone down.

“You’re going to have to go get something to eat today, Kandice.” Amy said from her own bunk. She was curled up with her legs crossed and a book within her hands - A Sherlock Holmes story. “The guards won’t let me bring anything else back to the cell.”

Kandice sighed as she slowly rose from her laying position and glanced over to Amy. “I guess you’re right.” She said with a hint of resentment in her voice. “I know this would be a long shot, but you don’t happen to know anyone with any foundation to hide this, would you?”

Amy chuckled slightly as she placed the book down beside her. “Makeup is not allowed.” The whistle from the guard near the chow line area rang loudly across the block. Amy arose to her feet and reached out her hand to Kandice. “Come on. If anyone asks, just tell them - If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy.”

Kandice reached out her own hand and with a little encouraging pull from Amy, she was on her feet. Both of them began walking toward the chow line as others in the area started to gather as well.

“Here’s the rundown of the place…” Amy began to explain as she pointed out several different areas and various people. The first set was Larnell and his gang members who walked to the front of the line and quickly shoved their way through. “You’ve had the pleasure of meeting Larnell. He’s the leader of the Snake Kings here. They carry a lot of weight around here - be careful around them.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Kandice said with a light chuckle as she rubbed her cheek.

The second group were a set of Nausicaans who were gathered into the corner, staring carefully at everyone and anyone who came near them. “You don’t have to worry about the clan over there as much. Just stay away from the stairwell next to them and you should be fine. Supposedly, the medication the prison gives them keeps them docile.” Amy said as they continued up the line.
The third set was a set of security guards standing near the entrance of the watch tower in the block. One figure had several award citations on his uniform. “And that’s Captain Phillips. Life will be hell if you ever do anything to make him mad.” Amy said as they finally reached the area where the trays were at. As she reached back a tray to Kandice, she motioned around in the chow area.

“14 different nutritional supplements they keep on file here in the replicators. We used to have a working kitchen until someone tried to burn the place down.” Amy said as she picked up the plate from the replicator with an orange paste. “Looks like it’s supplement number 7 today.”

“Who would try to burn the place down?” Kandice asked as she picked up her own plate.

Amy motioned for her to keep it down in a quick manner as a guard entered the area, staring at everyone in the line at the time before making his exit. As the guard left, she motioned for Kandice to follow her to a nearby table on the main floor. As both of them sat down, she leaned in, motioning for Kandice to do the same.

“The rebels tried to blow the kitchen up because it has a direct link outside….unfortunately for them it failed.” Amy quietly said as she suddenly raised up and dug her spoon into the orange paste. “Eat up before it gets stale - then it’s even harder to get down.”

“This can go stale?” Kandice asked as she toyed around with her own paste with the spoon.

Amy chuckled for a moment before she forced down another bite. “Trust me...eat it….You don’t want to find out the hard way.” She reached over and grabbed Kandice’s hand and forced her spoon into the paste. With a reluctant sigh, Kandice obliged and took a scoop of the paste into her own mouth. The look of disgust came across her face in a matter of seconds as she tried to hold it in.

“It gets easier to eat after a few days.” Amy said as she scooped another bite into her own mouth. As Kandice forcibly swallowed the paste, she shook her head for a moment. “I highly doubt it, but I’ll take your word for it.” After forcing another bite down, she placed the spoon down and looked back at Amy. “So...million dollar question. Why are you in here?”

Amy shook her head slightly. “Don’t ask anyone why they are in here. You’re better off not knowing.”

“Just curious...that’s all.” Kandice said as she forced her spoon to scoop around the paste on her plate. As Amy finished her last few bites, she quickly stood up from the table. “Curiosity can find a whole lot of trouble in here.” She said as she began to walk away, disposing of her plate.

Kandice began to glance around the floor area. There were at least over a hundred different prisoners in this block - each of them had a different story. The whistle blew loudly across the room, signalling the end of their chow time. With a sigh, Kandice quickly gulped down a few more scoops of the paste on her plate before disposing of it in a nearby container.

As she headed back to her cell to grab her issued coat for exercise time, another person - a human male - walked up to her cell door, blocking the way out.

“Can I help you?” Kandice asked as she finished putting her jacket on.

“Larnell sends his regards.” The male said as he quickly lunged forward. A sharp pain suddenly rushed through Kandice’s abdomen, then a wet but warm feeling overcame the region as well. She glanced down to notice the home made shiv that had now been shoved several inches into her stomach.

As Kandice fell down upon her knees, she glanced up at the man who calmly walked away before slumping over on the cell floor.

[Admiralwood]

====Ready Room======

Star's words echoed in Wood's mind for several painful seconds after she left. They'd hit him like a tonne of bricks, pointing the finger of accusation right at the heart of his soul.

The other Admirals wore how they felt about the smallest of matters on their sleeves, behaving like spoiled prima-donas until some unfortunate officer was used as a verbal punchbag and venting was achieved. Since when did he allow himself to start acting like them? He used to pride himself on being above that kind of behavior! Damn...

Wood took a moment to use the small sink provided in every Ready Room to splash his face with water. As he looked up into his reflection, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. Crazy times or not...he was not going to lose himself. Not now.

"Computer - open a channel to Commander Serita Duchene, USS Incursion. Encode the message using Exarc99."

A short bleep told him the channel was open. Wood sat down at his desk as a holographic screen winked into existence several inches away at eye level. Serita Duchene greeted him with a smile.

"Admiral Wood, they finally dragged you out of moth- I mean retirement, eh?" She said.

Wood grinned, "I'm not old yet Serita."

"Yeah yeah, keep tellin' yourself that and maybe you'll believe it someday."

"So long as I keep my hair, I'm good," Wood laughed, "Talking of losing things...how goes the search?"

Serita's playful grin faded fast, "Killjoy."

"License to not-thrill," Wood held out his collar, emphasizing the Admiral's rank pips, "Hit me with the bad news then."

"She's out there," Duchene shrugged, "But I'll be damned if they're not doing the best job ever at not being found."

"Bloody pain in the butt Klingon," Wood snorted, "Keep sending out appeals to him. Maybe he'll finally get the clue that we really ARE friends of the House of Martok."

"Well when you put it like that...Worf must be a fool to ignore us!"

Wood snickered, "Laugh it up while you still can."

"Once again - killjoy."

"Shamelessly so." Wood paused before adding more earnestly, "Thanks for doing this Serita."

Although she would never admit it, Serita's expression said the words 'I'd do anything for you' for her. With a small wave she signed off, leaving Wood wondering what kind of hiding place Commander Worf had found for a ship like the Enterprise. Another Sovereign class ship would be a very helpful addition to the mission.

The computer chimed with a reminder that the meeting time was only five minutes away, snapping Wood out of his thoughts - and his seat.

=^="Senior Officers and invited servicepeople to the Meeting Room."=^= Went out the automated announcement, serving as a low-key fanfare for Wood's return to the Redemption's bridge and from there, to the crescent shaped room dominated by a large black conference table.

It was time to get planning.

{all}

[Guest]

| Goat Cabin
| Marine Country

The honest truth was that Tybalt was not as young as he used to be, a couple of decades ago pulling a few extra shifts would have barely rated a second thought, these days however that they had knocked Sgt Reynolds out of the duty roster and slapped her onto some serious fatigues for a month due to her 'shenanigans' was already starting to drag.

Had her 'preparations' been a little less sensical and a little more' proactive then fatigues would have been the least of her worries and they would have been able to look for replacements to fill the spot she would have been moved from, as it was she was still hanging on by a thread and her punishment, along with the others that had over reacted, was being mostly 'alternative' rather than administrative.

All of which meant that everyone who had failed to stop her and hers was now having to shore up the roster with extra shifts.. which wouldn't have been a problem if Tybalt had been the other side of a century old.

Instead however the veteran marine had almost been forced to spend a chunk of his 'personal admin' time simply lying in his bunk, resting a frame that really was getting too old for this. Resolutely he refused to think what the current situation would mean for his anticipated retirement.. or what his wives and family would say about that when it occurred to them...

I mean they understood that this was who he was, this was what he did, that the life was as much a part of the man they loved as his blue skin and his 'rugged antennae' but it would be an outright lie to say that he hadn't noticed a certain amount of extra excitement about the approach of his mandatory retirement age.

Not that they had been looking forward to having him around more....no not at all.. okay so maybe they had already booked a holiday to start within days of his muster out date, and planned a full on clan gathering to celebrate his first name day as a civvy but....

Ah hell

The chime and memo call reminding him that he was expected at a senior officer briefing was almost a welcome distraction from that thought.

He pulled himself upright, rolled the shoulder that hadn't ever really been right since that Jem'hadar had stabbed right through it, stretched some more and set to getting ready to meet the 'fellow conspirators' that were in theory at least running this little rebellion, pointedly pulling on the deck jacket that didn't have any of the full array of his brag rag medal ribbons and instead adding the heavy webbing belt that held his pistol hip holster

If it maybe reminded a few people that things weren't all roses and butterflies out there then was all well and good. If it also happened to remind him that, however many lightyears under the hood he had, he was still an @ss kicking marine then maybe that was all to the good too.

Along the same vein he had deliberately not arranged to have the other bootnecks meet him before they went up, however true it was, the appearance of separate unified blocks on the ship wasn't going to help anyone right now.

Which meant he arrived up to the command deck with a nervous little ops lass rather than either of his own @ss-kicking recon marines and was the first of the green collared specialists into the big room dominated by the screen and table; getting more than a few shocked and puzzled looks for his effort.. one scrawny Bolian from science actually going so far as to look like he was going to make a run for it before Tybalt turned and headed for the replicator.

[Guest]

| Beth Moondark
| Marine Country

Beth turned her head to grin at her friend as the large man on her other side grumbled about Ziva betting against him. “Of course he did” she huffed a chuckle “eventually but got me a good one or two first”. She accepted the bottle of water and twisted off the cap “you finish playing with your baby?” she teased.

Her grin disappeared as the automated message about the meeting came over the loud speaker “guess I better grab a quick shower” she pulled at the front of her sweat soaked vest “give me five and I'll walk you down” she said as she stood up and headed over to the locker room.

True to her word she was washed and dressed in five minutes, granted her hair was still down and she was strapping on her gun belt and tucking knives into the tops of her boots but she was pretty much ready to go.

As the girls headed up to the briefing room Beth finished pulling her long dark hair up into a pony tail before twisting it into a bun and securing it will another elastic bobble. “Do you reckon we'll find out more about what's going on by being in this meeting?” She asked her friend while they were in the turbolift.

TAG: Ziva, any?

[Hatter3127]

=^="Senior Officers and invited servicepeople to the Meeting Room."=^=

"Yea yeah, cry me a river." Lt. Hatter said into the empty turbo lift, as it started to slow. She closed her eyes tightly and grimaced at the sound. The head aches were returning, and stronger this time too.
As the turbo lift stopped she quickly dry swallowed two tablets, took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and stepped out on to the bridge with a smile.
"Situation Lt." Jessica asked as she noted to senior officer on deck was the cheif of the watch, who was due to be relieved some 20 minutes ago.
"We're currently holding steady Lt, no other vessels in the area. Engineering reporting that some minor repair work will be going on down on deck 15, but nothing that should effect opperations. Admiral Wood is in the ready room."
"Thank you Lt. You are relieved." Hatter replied back professionally.
"One last thing Jess." Her fellow officer added. "The Admiral seems in a fowl mood. I'd stay below his radar today."
"Thanks Mark, appricated. I try and avoid the old man anyway if I can. You go get some shut eye, and see you at 1900." She said, smiling and taking the chair in the centre console, as her colleague walked off deck one. "Tactical, do a low level diagnostic on the phaser banks, Ops get me a long rang sensor sweep set up so it scans once every 30 mins. I don't wanna get caught out here with our pants down."

[Emily Star]

Having set the thrice accursed data padd onto the polished surface in front of him and settled into the deliberately-not-too-comfortable chair Tybalt was all set just to while away the time until the meeting kicked off with a little mental rearrangement of duty shifts, trying to juggle them that little bit more that would mean less of his 'innocent' marines pulling extra shifts to cover those doing penitential non-marine tasks.

Then the answer walked right in; a six foot slender leggy brunette answer who just happened to be wearing gold and looking thoughtful too. It wasn't a big guess to reckon she was having similar thoughts about her troublesome pseudo counter-counter-rebels, of course with how well Tybalt knew what went on in that particular officer's head and how much she actually gave away behind her enigmatic eyes, she could have just been mentally reliving a 'successful' statue wielding trip to Risa.

"Ma'am?" He invited anyway, gesturing to a seat next to him, "I've been having a thought about scut duty and those idiots that have earned it?" he explained, rather expecting her to pick up the thread and the purpose behind making the punishment details suffer together rather than separately.

His voice threw her off, as she hadn’t expected anyone to be in the room. Prompt Emily nodded, “I was thinking along the same. Although I doubt my idea of flogging them is running in time with yours.”

Tybalt laughed at that, in his time as a ranger he had served alongside some people who certainly wouldn’t have thought twice about such, and it wasn’t like a good flogging wasn’t threatened from time to time in the Marines.. but still. “Maybe not for a first offence” he joked, “but we’ll keep it on the table” he smiled

“How about for a first step we get them helping Ops” he suggested, “the maintenance lot are shorthanded and struggling a bit with some of the bloodstains left from Carpathia’s ‘send off’ back when the Reddy jumped station and all the dirt we tracked over that nice yacht.”

“Eww..”Emily sat lightly on the edge of the table, the thought of dried blood causing her to scowl slightly. The smell was the worst part, a metallic stench that stayed in your nose for hours after you were done “...with toothbrushes and no gloves.” She added, “Not the most sanitary but memorable.”

“Bust the first pair that get into it and make the others learn to get along” Tybalt agreed not doubting for a moment that someone would start a fight, especially with the lack of sleep and rubbish rations that were going to be thrown in on top.

Hopefully though sometime during all that they would eventually learn through shared suffering… or at the very least get to know each other by name making it that much harder to lump their opposite numbers into the ‘them’ group.

“And some sort of knees up together for those that didn’t get involved?” Tybalt suggested, not really sure how that could be run without running a risk of undoing the good work, but staying with his reckoning that the best way for people to get to know each other short of sharing a foxhole was sharing a drinking hole.

“I can agree with that.” Emily felt relieved they were on the same page, at least that took a burden off her shoulders, “We can get them together as much as possible; whether its paying for being an idiot for getting involved, or getting to relax together for not being an idiot. Either way they can’t avoid each other or continue this charade that we’re mortal enemies.”

After the chaos onboard, she’d already divided her security division into two groups; those involved and those not. It wasn’t as clear cut as she’d liked, as there were a few who seemed to have walked the fence and not really picked a clear side. Emily aws yet to decide if their lukewarm attitude was punishable or not.

“I have my schedules for my teams made in advance, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” A small grin followed, “We can make them work.”

“Let me just flop it out on the table then” Tybalt joked back, with an answering grin as he moved his Padd over in front of her and flicked to the duty rosters, with those suffering punishment labelled up as the ‘mook’ detail. “It’s a fairly standard one, but I’d like to think past experience has lent it a certain refinement” he offered, the stalks atop his head now echoing the amusement in his tone.

“We are still talking about your roster….right?” Emily asked, a wink following that she couldn’t help.

“Of course ma’am” Tybalt replied, “the other thing is anything but standard” he boasted mirthfully, firing a wink of his own. “So…” he cued, looking her up and down, mostly playfully, but maybe honestly enjoying the way she filled her uniform too.

“I…”Emily looked away and flushed, “Let’s avoid …” She pulled her own PADD out and opened her own departments schedule to compare, “It looks... like they’ll work well. We’ve got about the same ideas and I think that if we just wing it - this may work.” She brought her eyes up, feeling her flush lessen, “There may be hope.”

“Your place at five then” Tybalt replied, backing off, and ditching most of the smile.. but not quite managing to stop his stalks from that same amused twitch they had started back when the ‘game’ began. “End of second dog watch for PT, doubled twice around the saucer” he clarified. Running on the holodeck was better for them, better training too, but this way the other crew would see the two groups together, and likewise the people involved couldn’t avoid being seen.

“Are you asking me to join you? My security to join you? Or just an excuse to come to my quarters?” She honestly was unsure as to where he was going...although it didn’t stop the blush from returning.

“Much as you in a running outfit would make many a man’s day” Tybalt replied honestly, “I was just thinking the basics, make them earn their breakfast” he said. What he wasn’t saying of course was that he would be running his people up there to hopefully even the fitness out a bit so that the Force Recon guys didn’t start the day feeling too superior. Not for a moment did it occur to him that at his age he should perhaps be letting a younger ‘instructor’ do that part of the ‘beasting’.. or that he wouldn’t be a damn sight fitter than the people he was running.

“Believe it or not, my security can keep up with your men, just as well as I can keep up with you…” Emily raised her brow, “Don’t worry about babying them” She quickly added, “Or me.”

“Okay Ma’am” Tybalt replied, without apology, if the sec lot and their mysterious, oh-so confident leader did in fact live up to that then they could have one then. Of course just in case he was planning on making the run a ‘team’ event to make sure people had to stick together...and carry those who couldn’t keep up.

The thought did occur to him that whoever was running behind Emily probably wouldn’t have any real trouble keeping up, not with that motivation, but he kept that one very much to himself, along with any speculation about what exactly she was going to look like in her workout outfit…

Emily pushed off lightly from her seat on the table and moved to take a seat in the chair next to him, “All banter and craziness aside, I get the feeling we’re going to be in this situation for awhile.  also get the feeling that we both want to avoid our people killing each other when we’ve got bigger problems outside of this ship.” She paused, “Now I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m a bit of a pain in the...well sometimes I can be a little mouthy...”Emily shrugged, “...no way to frost it - I’m a bit of a bitch and generally combative and loud. You guys are different though. You aren’t as relaxed and ...well..”

Despite having had some time with Wood talking about those ‘bigger problems’ Tybalt didn’t expand on that, more because  he was simply used to keeping stumm than out of any actual desire to keep her in the dark for the few extra minutes it was going to take until Wood read her in too. “You’re an officer ma’am, and a fleety” he offered instead, trying not to make either descriptor sound pejorative, “you run your people according to your book, we run ours according to ours” he continued with a shrug of his own, “whether it’s history, tradition or necessity the Corps expects and requires me to be the ‘Top’ when I’m with my marines. You ain’t one of my marines…” he left it at that, not really thinking he needed to say more. The lines between a senior NCO like him and the ‘officer class’ were blurred almost as much in her service as they were in his, both having a long tradition of respect between the top non coms and the top Commissioned, so she would understand that he felt more able to treat her as a colleague rather than anything else, and that had somehow expanded to include bantering with her in a way he never would with her juniors or his.

Of course there was also the element that relied on the fact she had clearly been enjoying the banter rather than feeling threatened by it.. and that he really wasn’t all that bothered about long term effects on his career at this point; but that part didn’t really need hinted at either…. any more than the fact he rather liked the way she blushed.

“I know, and I am aware of that.” Emily thought for a moment and then pulled her words, “I’m basically inquiring as to how you’d like me to treat you when we’re around your men and mine.  I don’t want to continue on being disrespectful if it will cause problems. Your arrival wasn’t scripted and we didn’t know we’d be around each other, so I wasn’t exactly courteous and then I broke my hand on your jaw and….” A pause with a bit of a laugh came before she continued, “Which was funny, although painful.”

“Ma’am, much as we like to forget” he said, conceding that point, along with an acknowledgement that doing so wasn’t entirely ‘by the book’ either, “You’re the officer and I’m a big boy these days” he asserted, with perhaps a flicker of a smile at how that comment lined up with the jokes from earlier, “So you keep doing your job your way and it is my job to like it” he insisted, “or  get you alone behind a closed door and... very politely tell you if and when you go too far”

“But if that’s not what you’re asking then..” he carried on with a half shrug and a half smile he had picked up from too much time around humans, “I’m sorry I can’t tell you” he said, “I’ve been married a great many years” he insisted, “to two great women,” he added with a momentarily distant smile, “and I’m no closer to working out how they decide to behave towards me than I was the day Andy-Andy introduced me to our shen”

Emily nodded and sunk into her chair, “Not exactly what I was looking for but I’ll take it.” She put her feet lazily on the table, “You say I can keep being a bitch, then I ‘ll keep it up. I gave you an out. I gave you the chance to tell me to behave….you let it go. I am not arguing with you on that one.” After hearing him mention his wives she added, “Although being married...twice...can I ask if you’re just flirting on purpose or are like this to every girl who falls across you.”

“If I remember rightly it was more of a right cross than a fall” Tybalt joked back, rubbing his jaw, “and for the record we were a full four until our husband died” he added, not really expecting her to understand that bit but refusing to deny the third part of the bond that had brought him so much happiness.. and a family he missed all too much.

“The rest” he offered with another half shrug and a slight shake of his head, “I guess we’re coming back to the Andorian thing” he supplied. “We’re not Earthers” he added just to make his point clear, and nail the source of her confusion down. “But if you want me to stop” he offered, barely suppressing a twitch in the corner of his mouth, “just clock me again and I might get the message” he finished, smiling once more as his antennae twitched full force, “maybe” he finished.

Any allegations he was really enjoying confusing her on this would be…. well..

“Mmmm…”Emily shook her head, “Naaa. It’s been a long time since anyone’s kept me on my toes. Even if it goes nowhere, I kinda like it.” She smiled, “Even if its an old blue man who's making me blush.”

“We’ll see who’s old at oh-five hundred tomorrow” he laughed back, perhaps smiling a bit more at the fresh reminder of her in running shorts.

“If I can keep up do I get a treat?” Emily asked with a raised brow.

The sound of the door opening to the meeting room interrupted any chance of an answer.

“Damn it…” Emily mumbled, taking her feet off the table.

[Admiralwood]

As his staff, Marine and Fleet alike, started to enter the conference room they each were caught searching the Admiral for some indication as to what this meeting might be about. As few to none of them were mind readers, they looked not for a synopsis - but the tone. Did this Flag Officer have an angry expression? Was he uneasy, shifting position and keeping a hunched body posture? Was he upright and confident, ready to lead them into action?

Basic leadership principle - keep those indicators to a minimum. Nothing is worse than unintentionally lowering morale before the real news has been delivered. It was something Wood modeled after a role-model of his, Captain Tsuku - who even succeeded in keeping his own dread under wraps in the hours before engaging the Borg at Wolf 359.

Now Admiral Wood had the opportunity to do the same. After all, wasn't he committing treason?

"Make yourselves comfortable," He greeted his people, "We've got a lot to talk about."

{All}

[Ziva Creed]

| Ziva Creed
| Marine Country >> Briefing Room

Leaning against the lift wall, Ziva pushed her mouth to the side as she thought for a moment before replying. “Possibly, you’ve spent more time with Admiral Wood than I have, but he seems like a fair guy, one that doesn’t withhold pertinent information from his people .” she shrugged as they stepped off the lift to walk the hall leading to the briefing room. “I’ve never attended an officer meeting before, so this is new territory for me and I can’t quite say I’m all sunshine and rainbows about it.” Sure she had been in briefings, done by Marines, huddled under a cliff in the pouring rain covered in mud and only the Gods knew what else, and ones in recon rooms during her career...But getting pulled into the Fleet, officer side of those meetings was a first, and that had the tall grey skinned woman on guard.

“I mean, I get the very distinct impression that some arn’t exactly happy we’re here, which is fine- but in order for this to work- well, any plan anyways, there can’t be a line between Marine and Fleet during a conflict or OP, it could get someone killed.” she reasoned out loud, knowing her friend wouldn’t judge her for her opinion and know that Ziva was just working the whole ‘play nice with others’ rule out in her own way, after all, out of all her sibs, she was the most like wee Creed in his drive to make things go ‘splattercake’ and she was more of a shoot first, ask for forgiveness later, type of woman.

She dropped back a touch as they came to the briefing room door, allowing Beth to enter first then following in close behind, taking in the crew already assembled as the Admiral made the statement for everyone to get comfortable, as she nodded to Tybalt and the Admiral, before taking a seat next to Beth with a yellow shirt on her other side.

Tag Beth, All

[Emily Star]

As the Admiral entered the room, Emily felt her back automatically straighten. An odd thing as she made a habit of slouching in the presence of authorities.

Don’t piss this guy off

Her Vulcan logic, which was ignored on general principle, was heeded and Emily quietly sat in her chair waiting for the others to enter.

Behaving correctly always felt alien.

It’d have to do for now. Her department was under scrutiny for their actions towards the marines and she, being the head of it, was doubly under the microscope. She had to show she could handle them and herself.

A small grin touched her lips. Her people had better been keeping up with their mandatory training. If they let her down, she had some fun exercises to remind them not to let it happen again. Emily looked at Tybalt momentarily. There was no way she wanted to see his smug face if his Marines had to slow down for her Fleeties.

“I hope not too long,” Emily said quietly, “Some of us have work to do.”


<tag All>

[Guest]

| Briefing room
| Reddy


Tybalt nodded to Beth and Ziva as they came in, offering them an understanding smile as he made out the 'best foot forward' expressions on their faces. Likewise as Emily offered her quip about work he had to smile again, all too aware form the conversations on the yacht just how much work they were about to discuss.

Up until now they had been more or less content to run and hide, to plan a bit and look up an ally, but the briefing the Admiral was about to give would change all that and suddenly, Tybalt suspected, a lot of the routine tasks that had been continued to keep people busy and in familiar surrounds would be a whole lot less important.

A certain punishment detail might even have to be curtailed if Wood had come up with some of the answers to the questions they reckoned needed answered before Operation Earth, there simply wouldn't be time for the troops to be doing anything other than getting ready for the go.

If Tybalt knew his face had lost all it's humor, and was now set into a very grim mask indeed, then he gave no sign of it, instead offering up his full attention to the words that Wood was about to offer out.. the first genuinely aggressive act of the rebellion

[Admiralwood]

Here goes...

"In 2161 the representatives of five worlds sat down and defied all odds by signing a charter that would change the face of the Alpha Quadrant. The Federation was founded on the principles of universal liberty, rights, equality, co-operation and exploration. Starfleet was formed to be the exploratory, scientific, diplomatic and defense arm of that Federation. As members of that service - Marine or Fleet, Officer or Enlisted - we took an oath to uphold and protect that way of life and those living in it as if it were sacred.

President Carpathia has openly and unashamedly brought down those values, going so far as to establish a Secret Police manned by Augments, to keep those he once deceived in line. The oaths we swore dictate that we must stand against this tyranny, even if it means standing against our own people who remain under the strange spell of this new President.

On Earth, Carpathia has imprisoned all political opponents under the guise of them being terrorists. People who became household names for their shining examples of leadership and upholding everything we held dear are now locked up in facilities hidden from the public eye.

Our mission is to free them."

Wood paused for a moment, letting those words sink in. With a tap of a small console built into the surface of the table, a holographic display of Earth and her defenses appeared in the air for everyone to see.

"I don't think any one of us is under any illusion of how difficult that task is going to be. Since the Breen attack in 2375 the defenses around our Capital World has been upgraded and upgraded again. If we were to warp in there tomorrow, we'd die - probably in less than a minute.

We got the Incursion back in the game to help with this. She's fitted with a holographic masking projector that will allow us to get past Earth's defenses without being shot at - which will give us the opportunity to launch rescue teams - comprising of Marines and Security personnel - to the surface and 'bust out' the political prisoners.

The rest of us - currently numbering 25 ships - will move in to cover Incursion's escape once the Rescue teams have left orbit..."

The hologram vanished, leaving Wood alone with his audience.

"This is not something we can simply rush into guys. This is our Capital World we're talking about, home for many of us including myself. But there are citizens who are suffering there, who need our help. To abandon them would be to give up on the very reason we exist as a service at all. I know you will all do your very best and I'm confident we will prevail because of it.

We'll set course to rendez-vous with the other - I hate to use this term - Loyalist ships, ready to move out when we're ready. Use the time to conduct training drills and prepare.

Remember - we shoot to disable and stun. Nobody on the other side deserves to die.

Questions?"

With that, the Admiral awaited the questions he was sure they all had.

{all}

[Kandice Justice]

---Engineering Quarters - Colony Ship---

Sweat trickled down Anthony's face as he continued his exercise. Within the cramped quarters of the colony ship, not much else could be done in the room except sleep, sit at a desk, or do push-ups and sit-ups on the ground in between the bed and desk. The time clock on the wall near his bed showed the late hour - even for Anthony. It was another restless night for him as he pushed his body even harder, straining to get in a few more push-ups before collapsing to the ground.

As his face planted against the cold metal ground, his mouth opened as he gasped for air, exhausted from the strain of the push-ups. Ever since the war, it was easy for Anthony to find ways to hide his pain - from the bottle to isolation in a room.

No matter where he turned, however, the dark moments of his past always found a way to follow him - even into the far reaches of space.

"Computer, who's the standing officer on the bridge?" Anthony asked as he struggled his way to the bed, his arms shaking as though they were made of jelly.

"Good evening, Mr. Owens. The standing officer on the bridge at this time is Captain Vasquez. Would you like to open a channel to the bridge?"

"No." Anthony said as he grabbed a towel from the rail at the end of the rack. As he wiped the sweat away from his head, he slowly stood up to his feet and tossed the towel back onto the bed. He reached out his hand and grabbed his engineer's jacket as he walked out the door and into the tight hallway.

The long corridor stretched for what seemed like an eternity from the rear portion of the vessel at the engineering area to the front near the bridge. It was a quiet time in this area - almost everyone would be asleep. As Anthony headed to the bridge, the echoes of his boots against the metallic flooring rung out with each step. It was a soothing sound to Anthony's ears. It was here that there was no war, no murder, and no violence - just colonists looking to start a new life.

As the bridge door opened, Anthony walked in, his eyes glancing around at the different monitors. The quick glance helped him to make sure the ship wasn't going to fall apart on them as they traveled. His vision turned back toward the main console chair where Vasquez was sitting at. "I take it you couldn't sleep, either?"

<Vasquez>

[Hatter3127]

----Main Cryo Control station, Collony Ship Valhalla----

Dr Linn sat at her desk reading. With such a small active crew onboard there was really very little for her to do but fix up the odd plasma burn and monitor the collonists. On a positive note it did give her the chance to read through the scriptures once more.
She had, of course, read the book many times by now, but it never did one any harm to refresh ones memory of a holy text, particually for one as devout as her self, Pepper sumised to her self. There was a quiet beeping from the console, indicating some fluctation in one of the tubes. Fluctuations were quite normal and she had long since turned the volume of the audio warning down low.
Linn looked over the top of her book, and noted the the name and type of fluctation mentally before going back to the passage.
The beeping became more insistant, untill, after a minute the beeping became one long, flat tone. With out taking her eyes from the book, she pressed a button on the console infront of her that canceled the tone, followed by another one.
"Cryo tube three forty one has failed. Ocupant could not be saved. Record time of death at 14:23, June twenty fith, twenty sixty nine."
Dr Linn idoly pressed the record button off, and continued to read the scriptures. Tube failures, while not common, were not unusual with this technology, particually, she mused to her self as a smile crept into the courner of her mouth, among the non beliver, and the unfaithful of the collonists...

[Clarissa Loki]

Deck Four
Loki/Dushall Quarters

It had been another night of screaming, crying and just plain frustration emanating from the tearful little girl. Gracie wasn't the only frustrated one; it had been another mission that Eric had promised to come back from; 'a routine retrieval mission', he promised her before he'd left in search of the Admiral.

Admiral Wood had indeed returned with the Captain's Yacht, but without her husband it seemed. And Clarissa hadn't been given an answer to his whereabouts and she was angry. She'd forgone the platitudes, the rank and circumstance that Admiral Wood apparently deserved. She'd been beaten and harangued during the last mutiny and despite doing her best to keep the ship in one piece between the Marines and rebellious Security crews and some apparent horny space slugs, she'd been utterly ignored.

After the third hour of her daughter's wailing cries for her father to come back to her, she finally fell asleep. Mostly because Clarissa had given her a hyposedative. She didn't want to make this a regular thing, she needed answers.

After yet another restless sleep, it was now interrupted by none other than the bane of her current existence.

=^="Senior Officers and invited service people to the Meeting Room."=^=

As the Admiral's chime closed, the now beyond surly Doctor dragged herself to the replicator for an extra dose of courage to demand answers from the only man who seemed to know where her husband went on their last mission. She left her daughter in the care of the regular sitter and made her way silently to the meeting, running through the options in her head.

"Dushall you bastard. You promised me you were done..." She spoke quietly to herself, not for the first time... nor the last.


Deck One
Briefing Room

"Make yourselves comfortable. We've got a lot to talk about."

She sat in an empty chair opposite of the Admiral, not caring that the Admiral had already started the meeting it seemed. She crossed her arms, nodded briefly at Ensign Star who she was on pretty decent terms with... she didn't want to burn bridges with her. Maybe just sear the ones with the elusive Admiral for now; til she got the answers she deserved.

As the Admiral started talking about the Augments, the hair on the back of her neck starting to rise; her husband was one. She scowled even further at the Admiral as he continued to speak at his crew. Unleashing more hell into her mind than she was ready for.

"Remember - we shoot to disable and stun. Nobody on the other side deserves to die. Questions?" Admiral Wood stated at the end of their briefing.

Clarissa Loki blinked at the Admiral in disbelief. After mutiny that was still very fresh in her mind, she wasn't too sure. But despite her malice-laced thoughts, she kept them to herself. She was still a senior officer, albeit a seriously angered one, she'd spent enough time as a Commander to know her personal issues were not privy to those currently at hand.

Pursing her lips tight, she remained silent waiting until she could unleash her fury at the one person in the universe who could direct her to the source of her pure anger and rising resentment.

[Harper]

=^="Senior Officers and invited servicepeople to the Meeting Room."=^= Went out the automated announcement, serving as a low-key fanfare for Wood's return to the Redemption's bridge and from there, to the crescent shaped room dominated by a large black conference table.

Danno popped his head up from his desk when he heard the announcement at first he wasn't sure if that included him but he new better well he was not actively involved in the fighting the ship as it was and still party is, is unfinished they rushed away before refits were done and then they got into a firefight and after that they had half a crew mutiny on their hands. So he spent over a week in jefferies tubes repairing and replacing parts of the ship only sleeping an hour or 2 a night and only leaving when it was safe to get new parts to keep going. For food he only eat about once or twice every 2 days. He was visable skinnier soar and was exhausted not that he could sleep even if he wanted to. He got up from his desk and made his way down to the conference room, as he walked people gave him a wide berth as any one could see the deep dark bags that were under his eyes.

Danno listen to everything the Admiral said when he was finished he lifted his head out of his hands and said, "Yea about the ground team wouldn't smaller be better because if they detect us to early its over we are all dead."

<Wood or any>

[Admiralwood]

Wood let his gaze wander about the faces in the room, trying to get a read for how his crew were feeling about the task at hand. They looked like they all had something to weigh in - an opinion or idea - but wanted to let someone else speak up first.

Judging by the look on Dr Loki's face - not all of them were enthusiastic.

Finally Danno spoke up.

"You have a good point," Wood responded to his suggestion, "However these facilities are located at several different places across the Northern Hemisphere. We'll be sending multiple groups, which means the actual squads landing at each place will be much much smaller - the trick will be to balance the numbers needed to make it work, versus numbers that will result in early detection. That'll be Lieutenant Star's and the Marine's job to figure out."

Jessica looked around the room at the other members of the senior staff before speaking "Permission to speak freely sir." The Lt. paused but didn't wait for permission to speak. "What gives you the right to dispose the duly elected leader of the Federation?"

Hatter looked at the shocked faces around the room. "Oh come on, we know where this is leading. First we free 'political prisoners', who tell us they were arrested unfairly, and how hard done by they are, then what? We 'Liberate' Earth? And what, you install your own president Admiral? Or put yourself in power? Or maybe you let the people vote another president in?" Jessica stood up and circled the table while talking "And then what happens if the Admiral doesn't like the next president, and the next one, and the next one after that?"

If this was any other situation, Wood would have come down on someone talking freely without permission like that hard - tonne of bricks hard. As it was, he swallowed the trained knee-jerk reaction to stomp on such insubordination and took different approach. Calmly he said, “Thank you for your honesty Lieutenant. Let me say right now that I despise politics and don’t think a whole lot of those whose business it is to deal in such things - but they are necessary nonetheless. I don’t wish to run for office, take office or install someone of my choosing there. I’ll leave that up to the electorate, who recently lost their right to choose anyone at all.

Then there is the not-so-secret police made up of Augments - Genetic Engineering is illegal, yet he’s built an army of such folk and now uses them against the citizenry. I could go on but all the evidence - more than enough to convict in a court of law - is on display for the whole Federation to see. Yet most don’t see it and those that do end up in prison.

Truth is we can’t liberate Earth, not by force or any other means. We don’t have anything remotely close to the resources needed for such an exercise. This mission alone is going to take a lot of precision and careful planning just to succeed - we screw up and we’ll be torn apart out there. Simple as.

Now you on the other hand have a choice. Nobody is being forced to come on this mission. If you don’t want to take part, We’ll arrange for you to leave and reach the nearest Federation colony safely. Choice is yours Lieutenant.”

”You really think so?” Hatter replied, standing at the opposite side of the table to the ‘great’ Admiral, and leaned on the wooden surrounded glass surface, to stare wood right in the eyes, before adding as an after thought ”Sir.”.

Truth be known the headache was starting to return. She placed her right hand in her uniform pocket, and itched to open it’s contents, but thought better of it.
”Admiral, if you are right, it appears I am no more able to leave here than you. I am sure by now that the Fleet knows all about you and every member of this crew. I am also convinced that they know all about my presence here, given my last assignment to deliver the marines here, and how I have not yet reported back. If I am not reported AWOL and arrested I am sure to be arrested as a mutineer. Either way, I am stuck here with you, and as such, I will follow your orders. Now if you’ll excuse me, it seems I have a very busy day. Hatter began to walk towards the door to exit the room, and at the last minute she turned and added a curt ”Sir.”

The Admiral was far from convinced, though her reasoning resonated with him. After all, he barely made it off Earth alive - having been on the receiving end of why Carpathia’s goons were Augments. Had it not been for that weird old man…

Wood suppressed a shudder, pushing out of his mind that cold, sterile interrogation room.

“As do we all,” Wood replied to the shutting doors before turning his attention to the rest of his people, “Let’s make this happen folks. Dismissed.”

Wood offered Danno an apologetic shrug as he was leaving, making a mental note to catch up with him later to finish up whatever he had to say.

As a quick afterthought he added, “Miss Star, a word if you please?”

{all}


(Extra action provided by a JP between Admiral Wood and Jessica Hatter)

[Guest]

While Tybalt was still mulling over the great news that the Admiral had managed to already acquire the assistance of so many ships and their crews, and deliberately not weighing that against the staggering number of others still arrayed against them (albeit hopefully still being kept in the dark rather than actually choosing the position), the young conn-officer lit into the admiral like it was somehow his fault Carpathia had betrayed his oaths and started his grab fr power.

In the end though, as she flounced out to return to her duty, Tybalt simply shook his head and looked to Loki, hoping that their defacto senior would attend to it. Not that there was actually that much to attend to if they really took the time to think it through, the girl was probably simply feeling as lost as so many others were in this fresh age. Like many she had presumably built at least part of her identity around her loyal service, to have that thrown into doubt was enough to cause all sorts of disquiet. That she had already recognised she wouldn't get a fair trial if she turned herself in though was probably the most telling point.. for all her ranting she had apparently already acknowledged that things weren't right in the state and it would only be a few more baby steps beyond that to accept her responsibility to do something about it.

That after all was the substance of their oaths, not loyalty to a man but loyalty to the principles on which their federation was made.

None of which included the illegal kidnap and imprisonment of innocents, the cultivation of genetically corrupt death squads or the formation of cabals aimed at 'neutralising' elements of the faithful military who might oppose his coup.

In all honesty the use of Augments was bad enough as it was, the others here might be too young to remember it but Tybalt had been in service when Khan had fought Kirk over the Genesis device in order to turn it against innocent worlds. He remembered reading about the atrocities that psychopath had committed in order to strike back at those he thought wronged him.

Which was possibly another argument for the conn-lass, because at no point had Wood talked about getting hold of a big @ss bomb, or a terror campaign of their own. Instead he was deliberately aiming to save the lives of even those opposed to them. In itself that was a fairly good indication that this wasn't some ego trip by a nutter aiming for power.

As if they really needed more after the information they had seen on that file Carpathi's goons had been so keen to suppress.

He'd have to remember to make sure that the details the Recon Marines had been given from the much sought after tricorder were being passed about the fleeties too.

As the meeting broke up and Star was called over to talk to the boss-man Tybalt simply gave her a nod of farewell before making his way over to the others in green and joining them for the trip back to marine country

[Admiralwood]

====SS Valhalla======

Between the demands of his job and the hole in his heart that slowly consumed him, Captain Vasquez relished the few opportunities he got to sit on the dark Bridge, basking in the peace of solitude. Rarely did it get as relaxing as it did this night, when the great pain within decided to give him a break.

"I take it you couldn't sleep, either?" The voice of Engineer Owens was one of few he didn't mind interrupting his 'me time'.

"It's been a long time since I got a good, long night's sleep Anthony," Vasquez grimaced in the dark, "I doubt anyone has."

{Owens}


Meanwhile a small, powerful low frequency radio beacon was activated - unbbidden, the Valhalla began calling desperately out at the void for help.

{Redemption crew}

[Hatter3127]

"Ahhhhhh!" Hatter shouted, as she threw the Padd clear across the room, as she watched the image of redemption get detected and caught again for the 13th time.
=^=Computer, let's run this again. Modifiy simulation to reduce Redemption's speed to one eight impluse, and let's try bring us in, dropping out of warp behind callisto.=^=
Jessica watched the times 200 speed image scroll by. "It's taking too long. Increase redemption speed by half current speed."
The image was surrounded by 2 red bars, and the text over the still moving simulation read "Decected by Luna One station."
She sighed and slumped back into her chair. "Ya know what, just for giggles, drop out of warp directly above Luna one, fire 9 torpedos to the base, then full impluse to with in beaming range. Beam all prisson ocupants to cargo bay 3, and leave the system maximum warp."
Hatter half watched the simulation as she took a pull on her cold, black coffee, swallowing something for her head ache.
The simulation was replaced by white text that read "Mission sucessful."
"Estmate casualites."
Smaller text came on the screen that read "6000 dead."
"Awesome. So we can do it, so long as we have a cargo bay full of unfriendlies and 6000 dead on Luna One..." Jess sighed again, rubbed her hands down her face, "Computer, let's drop us out of orbit again in the asteroid belt, and roate us in a non conventional mannor again, matching the other asteriods, like in simulation 06. Let's try doing this one again but using 18 per cent impluse power."
<tag anybody>

[Guest]

Bethany had chuckled over Ziva sunshine and rainbows comment about how she felt coming to this meeting. Beth couldn't help but agree with her but since they were ordered to go they went and slid into empty seats, Picking up one of the padds on the table with the material for the briefing Beth skimmed it before the Admiral started talking.

Once he began to speak, in that confident manner he had, she gave him her full attention. One of the first things she had learned from her family was when a superior officer was taking you listened, and when they had something to say of this magnitude they you bloody well opened your ears and listened. Of course it help that he cut a fine figure in his uniform.

Rescuing those imprisoned by Carpathia because they disagreed with his methods was a noble cause but rescuing them from the beyond heavily defended Earth was another thing altogether. She knew that between here and there a lot of planning would be going on, planning on how to get passed the defences and how to get those prisoners out without loosing the entire ground team.

Her marine company had already carried out missions of a similar nature but nothing quite on the scale Admiral Wood was talking about and certainly not on a planet as well defended as Earth and to top it all off against their own people. That was a fact they couldn't forget during all of this, that the people they were going up against were their own. While they might still be on Carpathia's side the majority wouldn't know what the man's evil intentions and deeds were.

Beth exchanged a quick glance with Ziva knowing her friend would be thinking similar thoughts. At least their families were off in the Antares sector and well out of the way.

The Admiral called for questions and Beth left it up to her superiors in green to speak for them. While they had been invited along at the behest of the Admiral didn't mean she was comfortable speaking her mind in front of those gathered here. Besides she trusted her company leaders to look after their Marines' best interests.

She listened to the various questions and the Admiral's answers and the moment Hatter opened her mouth and let her belly rumble Beth slapped her best poker face on looking outwardly neutral while thinking that the woman was lucky she didn't wear green. If she had used that tone of voice with a superior officer, nevermind a blinking Admiral, she wouldn't have had to have worried about a court marshal for her actions, her family would have well and truly tanned her hide before she got her @ss chewed out by her Commanding Officer.

Beth was feeling a little surprised at the lack of yelling or @ss kicking as Hatter stropped off like a toddler throwing a tantrum because they'd been told no. However Hatter was fleet and thus not her problem.

With the meeting dismissed Beth moved to walk beside Ziva and Tybalt as they walked back to marine country, a place where people were obviously better disciplined and much friendlier in her opinion.

“Game of cards when we get back?” she suggested since her duty shift didn't start for another couple of hours.

TAG: Ziva, Tybalt, any

[Harper]

Danno was currently held up in his work space he was not in the mood to see or talk to any one which was good as people on the ship were rarely in a mood to deal with him. They all thought he was crazy well he there may be a grain of truth to that doesn't mean he wasn't the smartest damn person on this ship Vulcan be damned.

What he was currently working on was figuring out exactly how the time ship worked of coarse he was paranoid some one was going to come kill him if he did unless he was suppose to figure it out, but his curiosity in the time ship was we all knew space and time were linked together the better understanding of the time ship the better he could understand space and the faster and safer he could make the ship. This is what he was in the middle of when he heard a small beep going off somewhere in the room.

"Computer what is that."

"It is not hooked up to this ship."

To most people his work space would look like a bazaar messy vortex of junk, but he knew where every thing was you asked him for something and he could pull it out right away unless some one else moved it. In this case he did not know what he was looking for so he had to just dig threw things until he found it and when he did, he was surprised at what it was that was going off. He made it for fun it was his fascination with number stations on earth something that was still going off to this day. Because of this fascinating still unsolved mystery Danno built something that let him scan various different frequencies, a very old and out dated one was going off, he was not sure what the message was or could be.

=/\=Danno to Hatter I have something I would like your opinion on=/\=

<hatter>

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