Mission 2: Looking for Slet’katesh Vylln in all the wrong places

OOC: This is the beginning of Mission 2

Ryan picked himself of the ground try to center himself from what just happend. He continued his way down the hallway, leaning against the wall as he was having a hard time keeeping his balance. He was close to Phoenix's post... just a few meters away. A couple medics rushed past Ryan, one stopping to make sure he was okay. Ryan pushed the medical officer away from him letting him know he is alright.

The medical personnel made their way down the hallway turning where Phoenix's post was at. Ryan started to make his way at a faster pace. He walked into the room looking at the back of two medical officers working on someone laying on the floor.


"Is that Lt. Phoenix"

"yes sir, he is in really bad shape"

" Is he going to make it"

" Its not looking good"

"Can he talk.."

"Yeah probably.... i dont know how good he can hear there is a lot of blood coming out of his ears."

"I need you two to leave."

" If we dont give him medical attention he will die."

"I need him to talk. whether he lives or die is on him. Lets hope he talks quick and you can do your job. I'm not going to ask you again leave now!"

The medical staff packed up there items and rushed out. Ryan walked around phoenix and got down to one knee and bent down getting close to Phoenix.

"They're not going to come back in. You are going to die. If you cant hear me i hope you can read lips I need to know what you did."

"Ssssstar bbb 185"

"what about it?" Ryan yelled

Ryan stared at Phoenix's eyes as his life left him.

=/\=Captain Drexel this is Stone=/\=

=/\=Go ahead Stone=/\=

=/\=Phoenix is dead all he said was Star base 185. What would you like me to do sir?=/\=

Xander sad down quietly at his console. He remained emotionless, even with all the panic and commotion around him. He was still a little stunned after overhearing Stone on the com advising Captain Drexel of Phoenix’s death. During his time on the USS Mayflower, Xander and Phoenix had become close friends. They spent countless hours studying star maps, and Phoenix was on of the only people that believed Xander’s hypothesis about Spock. They worked together to prove the Federation was keeping the location and condition of Spock secretive.

Xander stood up, trying to compose himself. He grabbed his chest, he was losing his breath. He didn’t understand what was happening to him. Drexel looked over and noticed Xander;

“Xander, are you ok?” Captain Drexel asked.

“I’m not feeling very well Captain. Permission to return to my cabin.” asked Xander.

Drexel walked over to Xander;

“You look flushed out Xander, are you sure that you are ok?”

“I’m fi…….”

Xander fell to the ground. He rolled over on his back and put his hands over his face.

<What is this, what is happening to me> Xander asked himself.

"Dr. Bixby, we need your help" Drexel shouted to Bixby who was busy scanning other crew members with his medical tricorder.

“I’m fine sir” Xander said trying to sit up.

“Just stay down, Dr. Bixby is going to check on you” responded the Captain.

Dr. Bixby made his way over to Xander and scanned him with his medical tricorder.

“Vital signs are normal, retinal and brain scan checks out just fine Captain” Bixby explained.

“I said I was fine damnit!” Xander said, now rising to his feet. Suddenly a feeling of extreme emotion came over him.

“What is so difficult for you incompetent human’s to understand? I said I was fine. Now leave me alone! shouted Xander.
Nearly everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing and focused on the Vulcan. It was a rare display of emotion from a Vulcan.

Xander looked around the bridge and could see everyone staring at him;

“What the fuck are you all looking at?” Xander said screaming. “Here’s a logical thought, how about you quit staring at me and do your fucking jobs!”

Captain Drexel approached the suddenly angry Vulcan.

“Xander, you’re not well. I command you to retire to your cabin until the morning. At that time I will send Dr. Bixby by to see you and give you a thorough physiological evaluation” Drexel said in his typically commanding fashion.

“As you wish master Drexel” Xander said with a smirk on his face as he quickly left the bridge and made his way back to his cabin.

“Everyone back to their stations” the Captain ordered. “We have a ship we need to get back up and running.”

“Have you ever seen a Vulcan behave in that manner?" Drexel asked Bixby.

“No sir, that was very unusual. I’m not sure what could have caused that flood of emotions” responded Bixby.

“Maybe it had something to do with the RF that just hit the ship” Ixarys said overhearing the conversation.

“You may be right Lieutenant. For now I want you to send a security officer to guard the Commander’s cabin. I will have Dr. Bixby meet with him in the morning.” ordered the Captain.

“Yes sir” replied Ixarys.

******************

Back in Xander’s cabin the Vulcan was pacing back and forth, he felt confused and angry. He didn’t understand why he had these feelings. He made his way over to his bed and sat down. He closed his eyes and he mind began racing. His mind was filled with thoughts about his parent’s murder, the death of Phoenix, and the disappearance of Spock. Xander was overcome with emotion.

<What is this liquid coming from my eyes?> Xander thought to himself. Before long the Vulcan began crying. Xander cried out loud for several minutes, barely able to breathe at times.

Eventually he was able to get a hold of himself and turned his thoughts back to the RF that hit the ship. It seemed logical that the RF may have caused this sudden onslaught of emotions.

<I need to talk to Nesbit, he’s the key> Xander thought to himself as he quickly fell asleep.

Things were definitely chaotic now. Several of the crew died--on the first mission. Just hours after undocking. Nothing new was learned about this new area of space except imminent danger, and whatever that danger was, was still not the RF signal. RF wouldn't blow up people's heads...microwaves, on the other hand...and there was the thing with the Vulcan...

That was still quite a jump between RF and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum, and no one picked up a large pulse of microwaves before...maybe it had to do with the stellar extinction in the area. Large dust clouds filling space are the reason we don't have the light of a million suns blazing in our face wherever we're at, Aedan remembered. Perhaps that's why we didn't detect the microwaves until we were right in its face...dust clouds with particles just the right size to act as a high-pass filter for RF and microwaves... All this took him hours to figure out before he realized they were approaching the starbase. His thoughts were also mingled about worries about his sister, of whom he had no report of her well-being.

I suppose that if she died, that I would have been told, he reasoned. Of course, perhaps they didn't want to have me emotionally compromised until I got off shift. This worried him a bit, but he took a deep breath, and pushed it away. His sister was the type to not report to him if she was fine and make him worry. That probably meant she was just fine. However, that pit in his stomache didn't go away.

Once they were docked, he asked permission to be relieved and headed down to his quarters and tried pulling up the list of killed officers, something he hadn't thought about until now. Her name was not on the list, thankfully, but he still wanted to talk to her. He tried to locate her on the ship. Person not found. Strange. He got up and headed over to security.

Ryan Stone was all over the place. He asked another one of the officers if they knew where to find his sister, and they had no idea. "Lt. Stone! May I speak with you for a moment?"

Stone, perturbed, turned his attention to Aedan. "What is it?"

"Have you seen Ar-...er, Lt. Llewellyn?"

"No. If I had, she would be running around getting things settled like I am doing. If you see her, tell her to get her fat ass back here."

"Wait! You've heard nothing from her?"

"Not since the attack, no. She was in her office last time I knew, and then...well, its as if she never existed." Stone promptly went back to work, so Aedan checked the office. The terminal was on, a cup of coffee on the table, half drunk, but no traces of anyone dying...

He went out and approached one of the Ensigns. "Ensign, could you check to see if anyone has taken a shuttle from the docking bay?"

The Ensign looked at him incredulously. "Sir, I think we would know, and you are kind of meddling with the affairs of Security..."

"Just do it, please."

The Ensign tapped on a console, and reported. "We have all shuttles on board."

---

Aedan sat on the edge of his bed in his quarters confused as hell. She was not dead, not present, not conscious or something...she wasn't where she was supposed to be, wasn't in Sickbay, and no one has seen her since the accident. It was as if she had disappeared.

There was a chime at the door. "Come in," Aedan requested and Ensign Mark Jameson came in.

"Lieutenant."

"Any news on Lt. Llewellyn yet?"

"No, sir. Security is assisting in a sweep of all quarters and rooms, making a final count of personel."

"How many are missing?"

"Just Lt. Llewellyn, sir. So far."

Aedan rolled back down and lay on the bed. "Thank you, Ensign."

Lindsey felt relieved that her department was possibly the only one on the ship that hadn't lost a life during the events of the previous 30 minutes. Ensign Jameson approached Lindsey who had just finished dismissing the last of the medics that had come to check on them.

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Commander Dar'hil of Starbase 185 is on the comm line for you"

"Great" Lindsey said sarcastically, "put him through to my office please"

Lindsey made her way into her office, where she activate her computer. "Lt. Commander Dar'hil, what can I do for you?"

"I had not seen you guys link up with our sensor array, is everything okay?"

"We ran into some problems, and to be honest, I have no idea what the hell is going on at the moment. We are about to dock with your station, so I imagine we wont be needing the array anymore."

"Understood. Look, since your gonna be around, why don;t I show you around, perhaps we can have dinn-" Lindsey didn't wait for him to finish the sentence, she ended the communication.<The nerve of that guy> she thought irritably.

Commander Felix Mena had temporarily taken over the Helm duties now that Xander had been confined to quarters, and Novak had perished. It was he who informed the Captain that the Discovery had successfully docked with Starbase 185. "Lieutenant Ixarys, signal the starbase that we need some computer techs to do a thorough check of all ships systems. I don’t want anymore surprises in the field."

"Aye Captain"

"Commander Mena, please assemble the senior staff in the conference room, we need to figure out what just happened"

"What about Lieutenant Commander Xander?" Mena asked.

"The Medical Staff will check him out, until we know what’s going on with him, you have Helm control."

Arron stood up and walked towards the conference room. He dropped into his chair, and sighed, putting his head into his hands. "I shouldn’t be here; I need to find you guys..." His thoughts went to his wife and his daughter. He wouldn’t be here had it not been for the locket that was now in his pocket.

The doors opened and in walked Lieutenant Stone. "Sir, Lieutenant Llewellyn has officially been listed as missing, so I have come in her place for the meeting."

"Missing?" Arron repeating, trying to figure out when that could have happened. "Very well, have a seat"

Ixarys was next to enter, and she informed Drexel that station technicians would be coming aboard shortly to assist Engineering with a ship wide check up.

Mena, Mayne, Bixby, and Davis all filed in afterwards. Lieutenant Aschenbrenner was last to enter, looking understandably distressed about the news of his sister.

Once everyone was seated Arron spoke up. "Okay, first things first, we have a missing crew member, I'm sure by now you have all heard, our Chief of Security has now gone missing. Now, I have a theory as to what has just happened. We were recently attacked by an unknown race and Llewellyn seems to have been abducted. The only way we have of detecting their presence is a large RF spike. What that means, or what its effects are...I couldn't tell you, all we know are the facts. At some point we entered a trans-warp conduit, our ship was hacked, and we have a couple dozen dead, and one missing. I get the feeling what we just experienced was a warning. We weren't welcome there, and they did everything they could to push us away, when it became apparent that we wouldn’t leave, they attacked us in a way meant to scare us from returning. Obviously whomever we are dealing with is advanced in networking, propulsions, and has some form of attacking us, in which our shields are useless. We are short on leads. Before Lieutenant Commander Xander's, uh, incident, which also could have resulted from the attack, a Lieutenant Jacen Phoenix seemed to have some Intel of some sort regarding the Sataran expanse. Unfortunately he died in the aftermath of the attack; however he did point us in the direction of a man named Nesbit, who could be found on Starbase 185. I would like Commander Mena and Lieutenant Mayne to board the station, and see if they can make contact with this 'Nesbit' character. Hopefully he can shed more light on our situation. Now, we need some ideas on what that RF spike was, and some ways to counter the aliens’ mysterious weapon, and reveal their whereabouts so we can get our crew member back. Talk to me people"

Captain Arron Drexel
Commanding Officer
USS Discovery
Conference Room

Ixarys turned towards Lieutenant Aschenbrenner, sure that he would be the first with ideas, though his levels of distress were quite high. She had never been much of a brain, mostly relying on typical common sense (which she found did vary to the extreme amongst some races) and Roan. Feeling suddenly that she had nothing she could intelligently contribute to the tasks at hand, Ixarys inwardly sighed. What the hell am I doing here!? Why did you leave me to do this alone? 'The Forbidden Zone', RF's, mysterious weaponry, she felt disgusted with herself as it all seemed to go over her head.

When no one spoke at first, Ixarys cleared her throat softly, and pulled all attention to herself. Damnit! "Well, to be brutally honest, this isn't my strongest forte, I normally just shoot something that I can't get answers about....Ro...a friend once said I acted half Klingon most the time." Blank stares, with a wandering chuckle or too. Don't look at them, don't reach out to them, she told herself. "Is there a way we can run a scan to see if there are any traces of Lt. Llewellyn being transported? Perhaps a signal we could lock onto? As far as Xander is concerned, sir," she turned her attention to Drexel, trying to fight the flush she felt rising in her cheeks from being the center of attention, "With your permission, I would like to see if my telepathy may help out, or at least give us insight into what is going on, before the Doctor has at him."

A moment of silence. What? Were others expecting him to try to explain it all? This day's experiences were way beyond his experience or wildest imagination. He opened his mouth to give the best hypothesis about the RF pulses that he could, when Ixarys spoke up and stated the most logical.

"I would have to agree," Drexel noted, "that we need to investigate on how Lt. Llewellyn was abducted, but before we do that, we would also need to know how we are to face our new foe in the case we do figure out how to rescue her." Aedan's thoughts were filled with the worst possible outcome for Arwen--was she somehow vaporized? Completely annihilated? At least everyone's optimism that she was still alive was comforting. "As for Xander is concerned..." He thought a moment. "Let me get back to you later on that."

Aedan's turn to pipe up. "As for the RF signal...well, I have a few hypotheses for the whole thing. I'm remaining skeptical of this whole thing still, I don't think it may be 'a new race' we're up against, perhaps only a new weapon. It is most likely not the RF burst that killed several of our crew, but it could have been intense microwaves. Why it killed some and not all of us...well, maybe somehow the shields or the ship set up a high-order standing wave, so while some of us had no exposure to the microwaves or had mild burns due to the EM radiation, some were found at the anti-nodes of the wave field and...well, popped."

"Sorry...microwaves? I thought we were talking about RF..."

"Remember when we were on emergency power was out and you could barely make out the stars? That is a sign of strong stellar extinction, which is due to dust clouds in the region. Now it may be that this pulse that has been observed for centuries could have been part of a much broader spectrum, only extinguished due to this dust cloud.

"Now I have not yet gone through the data fed through the ship's sensors much yet, but I doubt it will give us the answers we need because of over-saturation. However, Starbase 185 may have sufficient readings to tell us what it all was."

"If this be the case, can we defend against it?" Drexel posed.

"Of course. It's just a modulation of the shields to reflect everything that would be harmful to us in large quantity. However, this is only a mere guess at what is going on."

"Your other theories, Lieutenant?"

"Well, nothing so elaborate as the the former. But perhaps the RF pulse had nothing to do with it at all. Perhaps there was something that those officers that died had in common...like swallowed a nail as a child or losing their tonsils..."

"Swallowed a nail?" Drexel raised an eyebrow.

Aedan coughed a little. "Well, sir, I was reaching there."

Lindsey took the pause in conversation to speak up. "I can check with Starbase 185 regarding the possibility of more data, I have already had multiple conversations with their Chief Engineer. Im pretty sure he would set the auto destruct on that station if i asked him nicely."

The Captain nodded, "The sooner the better Lieutenant"

David was looking forward to stretching his legs on the starbase once this briefing was over. He had listened to Aedan explain his theory of the RF pulse to Drexel, and felt the need to chime in.

"Sir, and forgive me Lt. Aschenbrenner, but i haven't heard anyone suggest that the RF was the weapon. I think the RF is some type of signature given off by the technology. But i agree that we need to get some more data before we jump to anymore conclusions. Once Lieutenant Ixarys gets the shields remodulated, i recommend returning to the area to look for some sort of subspace wake. If there was an unidentified ship out there, it would leave some sort of wake we could follow, possibly leading us to Arwen's captors. Whomever they may be."

"Great thoughts everybody, I appreciate the input given. Ixarys, i do think you have an interesting point. One of our telepaths is dead, and another seems to have had an emotional breakdown. If you think you can help Xander, then I'm fine with it. Just be sure you don't get affected in some fashion, I cant have 2 of my bridge officers incapacitated. Also, remodulating the shields is your first priority. Once that is done, feel free to meet with Xander.

Aedan, I want you to accompany Lindsey, see what data you can extrapolate from the starbase, and see if you can learn anything that could help us.

Mayne and Mena, why don't you guys get moving and meet with this Nesbit character. As soon as you're all done, we will head back and search for a sub space wake to track Arwen's kidnappers. Stay focussed and sharp! Dismissed"

Captain Arron Drexel
Commanding Officer
USS Discovery
Briefing Room

“Commander Xander…… Commander Xander!” said a voice loudly.

Xander slowly began opening his eyes. He felt like he had been hit by a comet. He slowly sat up and could see Dr. Bixby standing over him with a medical tricorder in his hands.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked.

“My head hurts, other than that I feel fine” replied Xander.

“I’ve been scanning you for several minutes, your vitals check out just fine” explained Dr. Bixby. “Are you harboring any unusual feelings right now?”

“No, not at all. I feel very calm actually. I feel terrible about the way I acted last night on the bridge. I hope the Captain understands that something foreign came over me, causing me to act that way” responded Xander.

“Actually, they aren’t quite sure what made you react the way you did. I’m not sure if they know how to react the sight of a Vulcan showing no ability to suppress their emotions” said Dr. Bixby.

“I’m sure it seems very illogical to them” replied Xander.

“From a medical standpoint there is nothing more I can do for you right now Xander. I am going to recommend more rest and continued monitoring of your behavior” explained the doctor.

“I understand doctor. Please let the Captain know of my sincere regret for the way I acted last night. I know my conduct was not becoming of an officer, and I regret that very much”

“I’ll be sure to let him know Xander. For now, please rest awhile more” said Dr. Bixby.

The doctor left Xander’s cabin and made his way back to sick bay.

=/\= Bixby to Drexel =/\=

=/\= This is Drexel, how is Lt. Commander Xander doing? =/\=

=/\= Everything checks out just fine sir. However, the Vulcan still seems to be outwardly showing his emotions. He pleased with me to apologize to you for his behavior on the bridge last night. He seemed to be getting very emotional about it. He seemed to be sincerely apologetic. =/\=

=/\= Hmmm, that is strange. Please continue to monitor him throughout the day doctor. Drexel out. =/\=

Xander stood up from his bed. He felt good, almost liberated. The pounding in his head was still there, but even that was starting to slowly fade. Xander walked over to his desk and picked up his PADDS. Suddenly he was paged at his door.

“Who is it?” Xander asked.

“Its Ixarys, can I come in please?”

“Yes of course” Xander replied.

Ixarys walked into Xander’s cabin. “I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes Xander. It’s about the RF that hit the ship last night” explained Ixarys.

“Yes of course Lieutenant” replied Xander.

Ixarys made her way over to Xander’s bed and motioned for him to come sit down next to her. Xander willingly complied…

As David left the conference room, a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Lieutenant Mayne, you ready to head over to the station?"

David saw it was Commander Mena. "Yes sir."

"Good, lets head down to the boarding ramp." Mena said, pulling out a PADD. "I did a search on this Nesbit, off of the starbase's network. Apparently he is a clothing merchant, specializing in formal apparel and is known for his ability to special order hard to find fabrics for custom jobs. Andorran male, 47 years old"

"Sounds like a guy with a lot of contacts" Mayne said.

"Exactly, a guy like this has a solid information network. Seems to be the type of person who would know things others don't"

They both entered the turbolift. "Deck 7" Mena said, and the turbolift dropped to the appropriate level, doors opening upon their arrival. As they exited the lift, Mayne spoke up. "So Lieutenant Phoenix and Nesbit had a history? Its unfortunate he didn’t survive the attack, we could have used him for this."

"I'm not so sure. Phoenix didn’t seem like a typical Star Fleet officer. He apparently had some issues going on. I have a feeling that even if he were alive, we wouldn’t have gotten anything out of him" Mena said thoughtfully.

The pair of them approached the docking ring, some officers were already boarding, apparently station technicians to look over the ship. Once they had officially boarded the station, Mena lead the way to a directory terminal. "Let's see...shops, level 41, section 12." he said, fingers tracing over the directory board.

They maneuvered toward the area, noting the station seemed a little quiet. "This outpost is on the edge of Federation space, after the Romulus disaster, a lot of personnel were transferred to stations closer to that area of space. Not surprised that fringe outposts like this have a much smaller crew compliment." Mena advised.

"Well, lets not discount that its past 2300 hours local time" David said indicating the time display in the large passageway.

Several minutes later and the two had arrived at the appropriate level. "2300 hours or not, looks like a lot of these places are open" Commander Mena said. Sure enough, as Mayne passed by shops, he noticed the several places were indeed open, even though patron traffic was sparse.

"There is the place over there" Mayne said pointing to a sign over a shop that read 'Nesbit's Clothing Emporium'.

"Classy joint, maybe you can pick up something for someone special back home" Mena said smiling,

"Yeah uh...that wouldn’t exactly be a good idea" Mayne said, thinking back to the reasons he had left his old posting at the Academy.

They both stepped through the doorway. The lights were lowered, and the air had a strange odor to it.

"What the hell is that smell?" Mayne complained, wrinkling his nose.

"It smells like...burnt flesh" Mena replied, alarmed.

"Hello?" David called. There was no response. "I’m gonna check the back room" David said pointing to a door behind the counter.

"Right" said Felix, as he looked inside some changing rooms, trying to identify the source of the smell.

David hopped over the counter, but tripped as he landed on something. He stumbled forward, head banging into something hard. "God Dammit" he cursed.

"You okay?" Felix asked coming over

"Yeah...doing better than our friend Nesbit" David said. The odor of burnt flesh becoming over powering.

"You found him?" said Mena as he peered over the counter.

"What's left of him" David said, pulling himself to his feet. He was standing over the body of a blue skinned Andorran, with a gaping hole where his chest should be. The edges of his clothing, burned black, and a look of horror stuck on the face.

"Son of a bitch" Mena exclaimed then tapped his comm badge =/\=Security to level 41, section 12, there has been a murder=/\=

"Now what?" said David, leaping back over the counter, distancing himself from the grotesque corpse.

Commander Mena had his tricorder out, scanning the body. "Close range shot from a Romulan disruptor, medium setting. Charring on the body means it could have happened 2-3 hours ago. I doubt whoever did this is still on the station...anyways the investigation wont be our problem"

"Yeah, but we needed some information from him" David said.

"Somebody knew he had information, and got to him first" Felix replied.

A security team rushed in, phasers drawn. "Relax" Mena growled as the weapons pointed in their direction. "Whoever was responsible for this mess is long gone; I just need someone to verify his identity."

The security officers lowered their weapons, one stepping towards them glancing over the edge. "Shit, that’s him alright; I was just in here this morning getting a gown for my wife"

"Alright, well, the scene is all yours, I’m the first officer of the USS Discovery, and we just put in about an hour ago. Please forward the results of your investigation to me as soon as you have something to report. Nesbit is a person of interest to a separate investigation we are doing." Mena said.

"Yes sir" replied the officer.

"Alright Mayne, lets get out of here. Captain Drexel will need to know about this"

Lindsey had just spent the last half hour supervising the data transfer of all the starbase sensor readings of the Sataran expanse for the last 3 months. Thankfully there was some situation going on at Starbase 185 that the Chief Engineer was not available to harass Lindsey. She tapped her combadge

=/\=Davis to Lieutenant Aschenbrenner, ive got a shit load of data from the starbase now stored on the main computer. There is just about 3 months of stuff here to sift through, would you like some help going through it all?=/\=

Ryan sat in his chair in the conference room watching everyone file out. He forgot what it felt like being chief of security and getting together with the senior staff and meeting in the conference room. He lost his command and got stuck on a ship were the superior to him was weak and disappears when a crisis happens. She is probably in her quarters hiding under her bed waiting for the other foot to drop. Praying that the ship would be destroyed so she wouldn't have to come out and face the enemy. Who could blame her though someone with a weak mind see what happened. Walking down the hallway looking at crew members with there head missing or pools of blood running down there ears. Ryan had seen worst but hadn't done worst since his service in star fleet. Ryan didn't trust anyone. Look at Phoenix being deceptive and keeping secrets. What would have happened if he didn't die from the attack how much could Stone squeeze out of him before he told Ryan everything he knew. Being "overly aggressive" as star fleet like to called it is what stuck him here in the first place.

=/\= Lt. Stone=/\=

Ryan shook his head breaking himself out his trance

=/\= Yes Captain=/\=

=/\= Start the search for Lt. Llewellyn Lt. =/\=

=/\= Yes sir, I think ill start at her cabin sir=/\=

Lt Ryan Stone
Uss Discovery
Confrence Room

Davis woke Aedan out of yet another reverie as he stood at the window of the ship in a science lab room. =/\= Three months worth? Is that all? =/\=

Lindsey remained silent for a moment, at the other end, unsure how to reply. =/\= What do you mean is that all?! This ship's computer's aren't made to hold much more. =/\=

=/\= Right. Hopefully we won't need much more. I and my assistant science officer will start in the middle and flag the portions that we've went over. I'll let you know if we find anything significant. =/\=

=/\= Agreed, same here. Davis out. =/\=

"How is it that so far, it seems that all we do is work through data and not do much science?" Lt. Lem muttered.

"I'm sure there will be plenty of new science to investigate here," Aedan assured, bringing up a screen of spectra from the data. "For now, let's just focus at the task at hand." He set up the search algorithm and set it to go on the batch he had. Almost immediately, something popped up...or rather something that didn't pop up. "Odd..."

"What is it sir?"

"Notice this region? It's statistically flat-lined. Like...well, I can't call it a gravitational lens, because it does just the opposite. More like a gravitational fan."

Lt. Lem gave Aedan a curious look.

"Like how a negative lens diverges light, so does something in this area with gravity, it would seem."

"Hold on...are you saying...?"

"Yes. It could be a white hole."

"What would this mean?"

"I don't know. I thought such a thing...oh boy..." Aedan staggered back, trying to comprehend what was going on. "If this really is a white hole, it's going to change physics as we know it. I'd bet it is just some form of wormhole or something...but who knows."

"But if it is a white hole...?"

"For all I know, the white hole is letting the minions of hell out into this universe. This is definitely something worth studying. Why don't you take on this part of the Sletka-mawhatever region of space and observe the fluxes. I'll scan through the rest of..." Another object popped up. "Shit."

"Hmm?"

"I think I just found another one of those things. I need to message Lt. Davis and see if she notices any of these things as well."

“Take my hand Xander” asked Ixarys.

Xander put his hand into Ixarys’s and looked her directly in the eyes.

<Such a beautiful creature> Xander thought to himself.

“Thank you Xander, your sweet. Now tell me what happened last night on the bridge” asked Ixarys.

“I can remember feeling an instance pain or shock in my chest once the RF hit the ship. Like I had the wind knocked out of me. It was a peculiar feeling that I have never experienced before” responded Xander.

“What was going through your mind when you began lashing out at the crew?” asked Ixarys.

“Honestly I’m not sure Ixarys. I guess I felt embarrassed and irritated. For the first time in a very long time I was unable to suppress my emotions. I think it had something to do with that RF that hit the ship” replied Xander.

“It’s possible, but are you sure you’re not keeping something else buried deep down that caused you to suddenly lash out like that?” asked Ixarys.

<Is this really why she came to see me> Xander thought to himself. He had attempted to get a read on what Ixarys was thinking but was unsuccessful in doing so.

“Why do you think I came to see you Xander?” Ixarys asked.

“The most logical explanation is that you are here on Captain’s orders, in an attempt to use your telepathic abilities to see if you can find out if there is something wrong with me. To determine whether or not I am fit to continue my duties as the Helm Officer” replied Xander.

“Actually, it was my idea to come see you. I wanted to see if you had really lost your ability to suppress your emotions” Ixarys said.

Xander leaned in close to Ixarys and kissed her on the lips. He used his free hand to softly touch the side of Ixary’s face.

“I can tell you this Ixarys, Xander said softly. Kissing that beautiful mouth is one emotion I definitely could not suppress.”

Ixarys pulled her hand away from Xander’s and stood up. She was amazed; she had never seen a Vulcan act this way.

“I think I have everything that I need Xander. Thank you for your time”

“Ixarys, please don’t leave. I’m still a little freaked out by everything that’s happening. It would be great to have some company for a little while” pleaded Xander.

“I’m afraid I have too much to do right now. Maybe another time” Ixarys said smiling as she left Xander’s cabin.


***********************


=/\= Ixarys to Drexel =/\=

=/\= This is Drexel, go ahead Ixarys =/\=

=/\= Captain, for reasons I cannot explain Xander has lost the ability to suppress his emotions. Mentally he is more than competent, but his inability to suppress his emotions will continue to be an adjustment for him. I think he should report back to the helm as soon as possible. The more work he has to do right now the better =/\=

=/\= I will take that into consideration, thank you for the report Ixarys =/\=

=/\= Drexel to Dr. Bixby =/\=

=/\= This is Bixby, go ahead Captain =/\=

=/\= I am considering allowing Xander to return to his post. Is there any reason you think I should not allow him to get back to work? =/\=

=/\= No Captain. However, I would recommend daily evaluations in sick bay that will allow us to test and monitor his ability, or lack thereof to control his emotions. It will be a difficult transition for him =/\=

=/\= Understood doctor, Drexel out =/\=

After reporting to the Captain, Ixarys should have returned to her post, though she had already made the adjustments to the shields. However, her feet lead her back to her own quarters. Once alone, her brain seemed to melt and go into hyper-drive all at one. Her thoughts tumbled about faster than a Ferengi could take advantage of a customer. What the hell just happened? What... Why did he... her fingers briefly traced her bottom lip, where she could still feel the fire of Xander's kiss. She had never kissed another man besides Roan. Had she kissed Xander? He had definitely kissed her, had she returned it? Did she want to have returned the kiss? Her stomach somersaulted and she quickly sat on her bed, grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly to her chest. What the hell is wrong with me? she screamed at herself. A small quiet voice cut through the chaos, It's been four years Ixarys, let go.

No! another voice argued, He's coming back, he always said he would. He promised, he's just out ...there. Doing....something. The argument continued for several minutes, neither side giving any ground. Sick of listening to her internal torment, Ixarys washed her face quickly, trying to rid her face of the evidence of tears that thoughts of Roan had brought on. She hung her head for a moment, How pathetic am I? she asked her reflection in the mirror. Turning, and holding her head up high she hurried to the mess hall for a quick bite to eat to help clear her mind, before returning to the Bridge.

Captain Drexel was sitting in his ready room. He hadn’t spent much time in the room since boarding the Discovery. There was a picture of his wife and daughter on the corner of the desk, also a collection of Gold model ships of each of the vessels Arron had previously served on, in a glass case in front of him. The chair behind his desk was stiff, probably from lack of use, and a blue lit fish tank was built into the wall, featuring a long snake like fish Arron was unfamiliar with.

=/\=Captain Drexel, there is an incoming transmission from Admiral Fontana, Commandant of Starbase 185=/\= Came an unfamiliar voice from a junior bridge officer.

"I will take it in here" Arron said, activating his computer terminal.

"Captain Drexel?" Said an elderly man in an admiral’s uniform.

"Yes Admiral, what can I do for you?"

"You aren't scheduled to put in at this starbase for at least 9 months, is something wrong?" The Admiral questioned.

"As a matter of fact Admiral, there is. Our ship seemingly came under attack after we reached the Sataran Expanse, a journey I might add, that someone tried to sabotage us from making. I lost several crewman in the attack, and have another who was possibly abducted around the same time" Arron said, someone irritably.

Admiral Fontana raises his eyebrows. "And I imagine there is some link between all that, and the dead merchant your XO found on my station?"

Arron paused, caught by surprise by the information. "Nesbit?" he finally asked.

"Yes, a clothing dealer. And quite a popular one too" Fontana said with furrowed eyebrows. "Captain, what were your officers doing on my station? My Security Chief was informed by your Commander Mena that your ship was investigating him?"

"Admiral, first off, I was at this point unaware of Nesbit's demise. I have yet to receive a report from my officers that were looking for him. Nesbit was a person of interest as his name came up during our investigation of the phrase 'Slet’katesh Vylln'" Arron noticed the recognition flash in the Admirals eyes.

"Captain Drexel surely you don’t believe in those tales...I hope your not wasting Federation resources chasing unfounded myths in that area of space."

"Forgive my ignorance Admiral, but my crew and I are largely in the dark as to what 'myths' you speak of. This station is on the far reaches of Federation Space, stories from here don’t make their way to the core of the Federation. We were under the assumption that Slet’katesh Vylln meant 'The Forbidden Zone' “Arron said

"Well of course it does, that’s the Vulcan translation of it anyway. Out here it’s different. Most people are afraid of that area of space; there have been countless reports of Pirate activity, raids, and smuggling. It’s a zone the Romulans didn't have the resources to police, so they signed it over to the Federation."

"Okay, well what does that have to do with Slet’katesh Vylln" Arron asked trying to find the relevance in what the Admiral has said.

"Captain, like I said, this is just all rumor and speculation, but according to local legend, the ancient Iconians that once spanned the galaxy were at war with a savage race, known as the Katesh. They were a brutal and violent species that enslaved many worlds. They fed off other species. Its is said that they would melt the slaves into a liquid and store them in vats. They would literally drink their captives to sustain their own life. The Iconians supposedly devised a way to keep the Katesh alive off of supplements, so they would not have to hunt other species for food. The Katesh were not willing to change their ways, so they Iconians built a sub space converter, and literally caused the entire Katesh Empire to disappear, legend has it they were trapped in another dimension, where they could not harm the species of this galaxy."

"Wow" Arron stammered. "That’s in incredible story; I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it before"

"Like you said Captain, this is the far reaches of Federation space. So Slet’katesh Vylln actually comes from the ancient Iconian Empire, and it means 'Where the Katesh Sleep' " The Admiral must have noticed the look in Drexel’s eyes, because he added, "Captain, the Katesh don’t exist. What ever happened to you was the result of pirates. Like I said the area is full of reported pirate attacks"

A chill went down Arron’s spine. “Admiral, we have evidence of large RF pulses coming from the area, pulses that have increased in consistency and in strength over the years. Has it occurred to you, that there is more to this region of space than just pirates?”

“Captain, if there was something more to those RF pulses our scientists would have figured them out by now; it’s just a natural phenomenon that occurs in that region of space, that’s it.”

Arron thought hard, ideas were flooding his mind. Theories began exploding in his brain. “Admiral, thank you for the information, I think you have been invaluable. My ship will need to depart immediately.”

“Your wasting your time Captain, the Katesh don’t exist!”

Arron terminated the call, and sat back in his chair. It was all beginning to make sense. These RF pulses were a result of Katesh vessels breaking through the spatial dimensions they had been imprisoned in for so long. The Trans Warp conduit was being built in secret by the Katesh, to launch an invasion into the Federation heart, crippling the only power in the quadrant that could possibly stand up to them. Now…all he needed was proof, something to convince Star Fleet Command, so they could stop a tragic event from happening.

=/\=Drexel to Xander, I'm putting you back on active duty, report to the Bridge, and set a course back to where we encountered the RF pulse, maximum warp. =/\=

Captain Arron Drexel
Commanding Officer
USS Discovery
Captains Readyroom

After hearing from Captain Drexel Xander got out of bed and made his way into the bathroom for a quick wash. He was eager to return to his post. Xander grabbed a towel and slowly started drying his body and face. As he was drying off his foot he noticed something very peculiar. His foot appeared to have contorted just slightly. The arch of his foot was bent up and his toenails appeared to be breaking off.

<What the fuck?> Xander thought to himself. He looked at his other foot. The same thing was happening. Trying to keep from thinking about it too much, he quickly finished getting dressed and made his way out the door.

Before he went to the bridge Xander decided to stop at the mess hall to get something to eat. He made his way to the food replicator.

“Pork chops” Xander said to the machine. Within seconds a couple pork chops were dispensed from the replicator. Xander grabbed the chops and quickly ate them. This seemed to only make him hungrier. Xander went back to the machine and ordered a couple more pork chops. Those too were gone in seconds. There were a few people eating in the mess hall that had been staring in shock at the sight of this Vulcan devouring the pork chops. Xander didn’t seem to mind or notice.


*******************************

Xander made his way to the bridge and approached the Captain.

“Good to see you again Captain” Xander said to the Captain smiley. The curious Captain looked at the smiling Vulcan;

“It’s good to have you back Xander. Set the desired course and put us at max warp speed” Captain Drexel ordered.

“Aye Captain” Xander said as he made his way back to his post.

“Setting course to three five zero, mark nine nine two eight, warp factor 9.6 Captain”

“Engage” commanded Drexel

Within seconds the USS Discovery was off, making its way back to where it encountered the RF frequency.

“Permission to speak freely Captain” asked Xander.

“Of course Xander, speak freely” replied Drexel.

“Sir, it seems entirely illogical to make our way back to the very place that seemed to cause so much devastation to the ship the last time we were there”

“Indeed it does Commander, but I happen to think a simple retracing of our steps might lead us to some answers we need. Wouldn’t you agree” asked Drexel.

“Of course sir, I can see logic in that” Xander said returning to his console. His feet were itching terribly; he was doing his best to hide it. Xander reached down and itched his foot. He could almost feel is transforming.

<Ignore it Xander. You have a rash, or some reaction the exposure of the radiation from the RF. This is nothing> Xander thought to himself as he kept working.

“We should reach our destination in 4 hours 20 minutes sir” said Xander turning to address the Captain.

“Excellent work Commander. Maintain current speed and heading” ordered Drexel.

"What the...?" Aedan glanced at the window, noticing that the ship was moving again. "We just arrived at the base, didn't we? I didn't even get to enjoy my time there!"

"You didn't hear we were taking off again?" Lem rolled his eyes. "You really are obsessive."

=/\= I have something else to attend to right now, Lieutenant. I'm sending you all the results I have. Davis out. =/\=

Aedan shrugged off Lem's comment and ran through Lt. Davis' results. She, too, had found a few of the "anomalous" regions that appeared to behave like this theoretical white hole. "That's seven. We've found seven. Where are we going again?"

"I think we're returning to where we were attacked."

"What?!" Aedan roared. "Is he out of his mind? Who's at the science station on the bridge?"

"Yana, I believe. I will take back my shift now that we're mostly done here..."

"No, I just need to find something out." The tapped his comm badge. =/\= Aschenbrenner to Captain. I have some...ah, results for you. =/\=

=/\= Go on. =/\=

=/\= Honestly, it's something very new to me, and I'd still like much more time to look at it, but...well, sir, I think we've found a white hole. So far, seven of them. =/\=

=/\= White hole? =/\=

=/\= Yes. Roughly speaking, it's the tail end of a black hole. Massive amounts of information is dumped out instead of pulled in. It was centuries ago hypothesized that the our universe was created by such a feature. Only thing is, none up until now have been observed, which is why I'm still skeptical about the whole thing. =/\=

=/\= It sounds like you are talking about something like a wormhole. =/\=

=/\= Sort of, yes. Thing is, I have no idea where this "information" is coming from. =/\=

=/\= Could you say it came from an alternate dimension? =/\=

Aedan thought that one over. =/\= Alternate dimension, alternate universe, yes, I suppose so. This is outside all the possible models we've computed before, so it will take some time to understand what is happening here. =/\=

=/\= And could you say that lifeforms could travel through these white holes from another universe? =/\=

Aedan's jaw dropped. Where was the captain getting these ideas? It was like something out of a sci-fi novel. =/\= Well, sir, I doubt it. In all the models computed, one thing was for sure: whatever information that entered a black hole and released through a white hole would come out in the most simplest form possible...or rather, you'd lose any information at all. May I ask why we are returning and where you got these ideas from? =/\=

=/\= Just trust me, Lieutenant. Drexel out. =/\=

Aedan had an uneasy feeling about this. "Lt. Lem, report back to the bridge for your shift. I can trust you more to keep a clearer head than Yana in all this."

Ixarys finished her salad just as she saw Xander entering the mess hall. She hurriedly disposed of her utensils nearly running over a Bolian medical officer. "Sorry," Ixarys exclaimed, helping to stabilize the young man, before she rushed out the doors opposite the entrance Xander had used. She wasn't quite ready for another moment of any sort with him. Or so she told herself.

Seeing that she still had a few hours left of her shift, she made her way back to the Bridge, where she resumed her post. She began double-checking the adjustments she had made earlier to the shields, everything seemed correct and functional. The remodulations looked as if they would hold up, and she seriously prayed that they would. She fought the rising bile in her throat as she recalled the last moments of Lieutenant Novak's life. There's no way she could handle that again. She touched the small risen lines across her left cheek, where the assistant helms officer had struck out and scratched her. Her thoughts tumbled to a halt as Xander entered and began reading the ship for warp. Making sure to not make eye contact with the newly open-emotion Vulcan, she triple checked the shield remodulations and began running system checks on all weapons. While doing so, she listened to the conversation between Drexel and Xander. Holy hell, we're going BACK?! I sure hope you know what you're doing Captain, she thought, afraid of who might be next to combust into green slime. She shuddered and tried to shake the eerie thoughts from her mind.

David was now at his post on the bridge. He was currently running simulations based on data from the RF pulse and how it would react with the ships newly remodulated shield matrix. The tests seemed to indicate the shields would indeed hold. Satisfied, David got up and head to Lieutenant Ixarys.

"Hey" he said as he approached. She definately looked distracted.

"Hello Lieutenant, anything i can do for you?" she asked.

"I just ran some simulations on the work you did with the shields, and they look like they should do the trick. I was wondering though, how are we supposed to target an enemy vessel that we cant detect?"

"Well, i think the science team is working on that at the moment" Ixarys said, sounding unsure.

"Well, i had an idea, something we can use in case they don't figure something out...Create a phaser spread that fires extremely low energy level beams in multiple directions in as many arcs as possible, we should be bound to hit something after 2 or 3 spreads, then we can focus our full firepower on the where ever the low phaser beams hit something. What do you think?"

Ixarys' face lit up with Mayne's suggestion. "Sounds great, thanks! Sorry I'm just a little out of it from ...what happened earlier." She felt her eyes drift slightly to Xander's back. Upon noticing this, she jumped back to Mayne, keeping focused on him, "You know with, Lieutenant Novak."

David nodded gravely, "Hopefully this phaser spread will knock out any chance of that happening again."

"Yes, let's hope. I'll get started on it right away, thanks!" Signaling the end of conversation, Ixarys nodded gently and turned to setting up the multiple arc spread, just as Mayne had described.

Arron felt the pressure of the crew on his shoulders. It was obvious by certain comments and expressions that Arron had not earned the trust of his crew yet. He turned his head to see Mena in conversation with a Lieutenant Arron didn’t recognize, sitting at the Science station.

"Commander Mena, I'd like a word in my office please" Arron said standing from his Captains Chair.

"Certainly Captain." Mena said. "Keep up the good work Lieutenant" he said to the science officer, and patted their shoulder.

Mena followed Drexel into his ready room. Drexel turned to face him. "Commander, you seem to be closer to the crew than I, how would you judge the ships moral at the moment."

Felix nodded as if expecting this line of questioning. "Well Captain, the ship is at a tipping point right now. There is a lot of fear on this vessel after what happened to us so soon after leaving Earth. This ship needs a victory, and it’s hard for them to see how we can come out on top against so many unknowns at the moment. Forgive me for saying so, Sir, but you have been extremely tight lipped as to the reason for our quick return to the same area where we lost so many of our fellow shipmates. I believe it would give the crew a boost of confidence in not only themselves, but in you, if they knew what exactly you were planning."

Arron smiled. "Felix, I appreciate your candor. It is helpful to have an XO who isn’t afraid to speak their mind, and point out a Captain's mistakes...in private of course"

Felix chuckled, "yeah, I would hate to go all crazy Vulcan on you in front of the whole bridge"

"Agreed, I have had enough of that to last a lifetime. Okay then, I have a plan, and perhaps the time has come to share it with the crew. Why don’t you round up Stone, Davis, and Aschenbrenner, have them report to there bridge stations, I will go over my plan then, and perhaps we can run a drill or two, we still have a couple hours before we arrive back in the Sataran Expanse. "

"Right away Sir" Felix said, and both returned to the bridge.

Captain Arron Drexel
Commanding Officer
USS Discovery
Bridge