USS Galaxy: The Next Generation Sim Log Stardate: 60809.14 - 60809.20

Logs

"Snippets"

Lt Chris Daniels
Chief Tactical Officer

LtJG Felix Serloma
Combat Control Officer

Lt Daren Obech
Sensor Officer

Deck 11
Combat Information Center
===================

Fate, be it for epic moments or relatively mundane ones, had a way of getting people together.

For Felix Serloma, that involved the man he was about to go looking for hustling through the CIC's pressure door.

Daniels looked visibly agitated, in a way few in the CIC ever had seen him. Everyone at this point knew he had gone to see the resident ship's ass, Lt. Kara'nin, and it was evident even the normally affable Chief Gunner of the Galaxy had managed to get pissed off by the pretentious "Feathers," as the members of the Tactical department had come to name him.

Felix watched Chris come straight down to him and stand by the main holographic table. Well, this made it easy.

"Report." Was all that came out of the Lieutenant's pursed lips.

"Nothing out of the ordinary in the local area." Felix pointed to the hologram of the planetary search areas. "Still no traces of the missing crews. We did get this however." Felix handed him the PADD with the report of the ELT broadcasts from AS-128. "That was where our Marines went with the Zeus."

Daniels nodded quietly as he scanned the PADD. Usually, Felix would probably have detected a trace of concern in his eyes, but at this point, the fire from Chris' encounter hadn't worn off.

"Has the Captain been informed?"

"We sent notice to the bridge."

Chris nodded. "Then the Captain will address it if needbe. In the meantime, I want you and Daren in my office in 5."

Felix nodded. "For?"

Chris just nodded, pointing at the search area with his nose. "We need to do some tweaking."

****

Upon the door of his office closing and locking, Chris chucked the outer gray/black uniform coat to the side and rubbed his face with his hands. His mind flew forth with a flurry of nasty phrases aimed at Cutter. The nerve of that guy, putting the lives of the missing crewmembers at risk--all in the name of science?!!? How shallow could someone be?! Where did that winged turd get off!?!?! It so frustrated the young 25 year old that he clenched his fist and sent it flying down on his desktop, shaking the hologram of Janeen and releasing a lot of built up tension.

While his hand pulsed a little after the impact, he took a few deep breaths and re-focused. Now wasn't the time for anger and grudges to take over. There was a job to be done. Calmly, he walked over, picked up the tossed coat, and placed it neatly on the rack next to his Class A coat.

****
8 minutes later
****

"It should work." Daren Obech, the Tactical Department's Sensor Division Officer, said. "We can probably make those mods in about an hour. We may not be able to pick out everyone, but at the very least we can track them to get a general idea of where they are."

Chris was glad that his explanation hadn't led to blank stares and lots of "no's" from the two sitting in his office. One of the blessings--and curses--of the Tactical Department was that it was a relatively young officer corps...Daren and Felix were both within 2 years of Chris' age, making it easier to relate and command. And thankfully, where their longevity lacked, experience--most of the time--filled in the cracks.

Felix spoke next. "We can tap off from some of the other sensors to cover us while LRTS is focused down on the planet. Ops owes us a favor anyways."

Chris nodded. "I've got to go into a meeting with Krieghoff, Feathers and the rescue parties in half an hour. Let's get this going."

****
40 minutes later
****

"So you think Chris is gonna have it out with the Wing-ed Wonder?" Felix smirked to himself as he spoke, addressing Daren, but never looking up from his console.

"I've never seen the Lieutenant that pissed. If he does get in a fight, he better bring back a souvenir, know what I'm sayin?" That comment came from one of the Petty Officers working the sensor station with him.

Daren laughed, "He'd better bring enough feathers back with him for all of us. That bastard thinks the whole universe is one big test tube. Hey, Klaus, bring the resolution down on Doppler station 3 another half-meter."

"Sure thing sir."

"Alright Felix, you ready to see if this bright idea works?"

Felix nodded, pushing a button, bringing the new results of the LRTS scans up on the holotable.

****
25 minutes after THAT
****

Chris walked back in, sadly for all the Tactical guys with no feathers, but in a visibly better mood. So maybe he just killed Cutter and chucked the body out an airlock...that'd make anybody feel good, right?

"Found anything yet?" Chris said, almost mimicking Major Everett's Cowboy tone.

Felix pointed at the hologram, which was now showing a few blue trails crisscrossing each other, fading out like contrails. "We can track 4...but only have a good, positive signature on one body so far. We've also got this really big source of energy down there."

Chris smiled. "Felix, get a comm link established with one of the rescue teams. Daren, see if you can find more and refine the tracks you have. Time to start bringing people home."

"Semper Paratus"

Part 5 of the Hunt for Faylin McAllister

"Tally ho!" cried the starboard lookout, "Contact bearing 235 Mark 6, passing left to right on low impulse drive."

"Confirmed." Aknowledged the on duty Sensor station, "Designate contact as Minbari Class Civilian Yatch running under EMCON conditions....dang good eyes Seaman Kerr."

Grins spread across the faces of all present in the tiny green-lit cabin. Spotting conditions were always difficuly in the weird gravitic eddys and currents that made up the Beta Perseii Quadrinary system.

Sensor ghosts and false contacts were common enough amid the five gravitationally locked planets to make the spotting weapon of choice a Multi spectrum Telescope and a good pair of eyes.

Madness you may say....Impossible in the day and age where computerized sensor scans were the norm that visual lookouts would be of use.


That may be....but Impossible was just another day on the job for the men and women of the Federation Coast Guard.

Formed on the history and traditions of the old shallow water navy units of the 20th and 21st century, the Modern Coast Guard was a small but elite group of spacers dedicated to the patrolling and enforcing of law in and amongst the shallow 'gravity wells' of any of 1000 Federation worlds.

The Fancy Starfleet snobs may have the big deluxe pleasure liners with which to shuffle back and forth between the stars, but the 'Coasties' as they were still called, were the real sailors.....intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of their assigned star system.
Every asteroid...every planet....every magnetic anomaly....were as familiar as the back of their hands.


In the fleet if you felt bad about your inner-Ferengi...there was a councelor to sooth your nerves.....in the Coast Guard ...too fucking bad.


In the Fleet if your tummy felt oogy you could be excused from the bridge and go see the Doctor who would serve you warm milk.
In the Coast Guard....even if you were puking your guts up all over the helm, you just wiped off the mess with your sleeve and stood your post.

On a starship, going from place to place involved merely tapping out a few computer commands....blip blip blip...and voila the ship flies you to the next star system.

The Coast Guard were real navigators.....they plotted orbital trajectories.....Holmann transfer orbits, and gravitic slingshots around any of a thousand spects of dust that was their backyard. In joint operations, the big fleet vessles consistantly came up second best....blundering in the way of the real work, and generally making a mess of the task at hand.

So it was no surprise that after the All POINTS BUlletin was put out on the Federal NET for a 'vessle of interest' that it was a tiny White and Orange Coast Guard Cutter that made first contact.

"Allright boys...good job." Lt. Harmon lifted his Magna-noculars from their neck strap to study the new contact twice the size of his own tiny craft. "Prepare to come about on intercept course, All ahead two thirds and spin up the tractors."

The tiny bridge of Cutter CG-12 was barely larger than a standard automobile where the on duty crew of 5 stood at their posts rather than reclining (like the fleet weenies did)

A bare Fourteen other crewmembers were scattered throughout the rest of the 150 foot cutter, some tending overworked engines, others manning the single 3-inch rail gun that made up the vessles only offensive weapon.

"Coming about aye...." the helmsman spun the old fashioned wood and brass tipped ship's wheel, settling in on an intercept course. He flew by instinct and the feel of the gravity 'waves beneath the deck plates....no computerized inputs for this sailor.
"Roger that." Lt. Harmon aknowledged, barely 22 years old, he was Master and Commander of his beloved CG-12, a vessel so small it didnt even rate a name...merely a hull number.

No matter...the young man from Calgary couldnt have been more pride than if he rode the biggest battleship.
"Joe...you got a make on her registry yet?" he asked.

Seaman Joseph Kerr, the sharp eyed lookout who made the initial contact was still scanning the tiny sliver of light with his 'noculars. "Aye sir...MBC-2978. Not flying any particular flag, but records show this hull as being registered to Morochenko Rentals out of Sol System."

"Mr. Pluto." the young Lieutenant shook his head. "Known as the the best sourse of cheap untraceable transport in Alpha Quadrant...Must be one of his slimey buddies."

Rubbing his chin, he quickly plotted out his plan.

"Okay...lets do it. Stand by on port and starboard tractors and increase to Full ahead....we'll apporach from above and behind." Turning to nod to the Seaman to his left he ordered, "Allright Bob, spin up the bullhorn....lets let em know we're here."

The Bullhorn....a device who's name origins was lost in antiquity was a particularly unique Coast Guard tool.
Realizing that in the line of executing their duty, that they may run across individuals that may not always be willing...or able to communicate.

Whether it was various underworld smugglers that refused to answer hails, or the ubiquitous weekend sailor with malfunctioning comm gear, a solution had to be found to the problem of getting one's point across to nonresponsive ships.

Enter the Bullhorn. A variation of a low powered laser-comm beam, the device was able to actually vibrate the hull of a nearby ship with low frequency tractor beams so that one would literally 'hear' a voice coming through the very deckplates. The resultant voice and rattling of loose objects was loud enough that nobody could later say in court....'Im sorry...our Comm was out and we couldnt hear you.'

Tapping the old style micropone to test for static, Harmon cleared his throat. "Attention Minbari yatch at 235 Mark 6...this is Coast Guard Cutter 12 on routine safety inspection. Cut your sublight engines and prepare to heave to for boarding."

****************
****************
The screetching rattling voice came booming from the very bulkheads and literally jarred the two Hydran agents from their bunks.
Blinking in confusion, it was only upon the second deafening hail that they were able to slew over the external sensors and spot the tiny white vessle with the orange stripe hanging 500 half-yorbles off the port quarter.

"Armed cutter." the first hissed, "Federation registry, on intercept course."

"Starfleet?" the second blorked in sudden panic, they hadnt expected patrols this deep in Civilian space.

"Negative." replied the first. "Some sort of system patrol craft....short range. " he twiddled the dials, "Hull markings translate as Beach Enforcement craft?"

"Beach?"

"Shoreline...uh....like an ocean....I dont understand human naming conventions either Blarb it...Im just telling you what I see."
>>MINBARI YATCH...I REPEAT, CUT IMPUSLE ENGINES AND PREPARE FOR SAFETY INSPECTION. REPOSND PLEASE.<<<

"Impulse engines?"

"Impellers." the second translated. "Sublight impellers...they want us to cut our drive."

"They mean to board us!! this cannot be allowed!"

The danger was real. The Federation and Hydran Empire was at War and the two agents were disguised spies deep in enemy territory. Their fate would not be a pretty one.

"Wait..." ordered the second as he flipped some dials, " I will attempt to delay them."



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

"They're broadcasting a registry." announced the lookout, magna-noculars tight to his eyes. "BLR-1G Prophet's Hope....A Bajoran flagged yatch."

Bajor was not a member of the Federation and thus was not liable to Federation laws, but the veteran Coasties had seen that trick too often before.


Harmon keyed his mic angrily, "Horseshit Minbari!!! You are a Federation flagged vessel and you will be boarded. Dont play any cute neutrality games with me Mister!!"

Off mic he punched his own internal intercom. "Gun crew, put a shot across her bow with the 3-inch and be prepared to hole the warp nacelle if she starts making a run for deep space."


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

The rattling explosion for the railgun almost knocked the two Hydrans from their feet. They were cloned agents disguised as Breen, and were not quite used to bipedal locomotion.

"They're shooting us!!" blurked the first, visibly afraid. "We should surrender!"

"Only to be marched into a Federation Disitigration chamber as spies?" the second shoot his head. "Didnt you watch the film about the Federation Secret Police and their torture rooms? Remember they dont value life the way we do my comrade."
Another explosion rocked them....this time nearer.

"Warning shots." the second concluded with a grim nod......it seemed odd to possess a body capable of nodding, but he had adopted the habit easily. "We still have a chance while their sorting through their rules of engagement....they may still think of us as mere smugglers or the like and dont have clearance to blow us out of the stars yet."

"Yet?"

"Courage my comrade!" the second laughed, "Did you not sign onto foreign service for the chance at adventure?" he smiled grimly...another new habit. "Sublight impellers to maxium!"


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

"Bridge...He's running!" came the lookputs cry at almost the same time that scanners reported the red-lining of the yatch's impulse engines.

Lt Harmon sighed, dropping his 'noculars to rub his eyes. ~~Oh well....you did sign on with the Coast Guard for the chance of Adventure right?~~~

"Okay, all ahead Flank. Keep up with those warning shots, but the moment you see a warp signature forming put a hole in her belly got it?"

"Engineering aye."

"Weapons aye."

"Cool...." Harmon nodded, his language slip betraying his youth for a moment. "Mr. Magsaysay..." he nodded to the helmsman, "You may conduct your pursuit."


The Filipino Seaman broke into a wide grin. There was nothing he like better than to be left to his own devices. "Aye sir..." he chirped, simultaneously spinning the wheel and slamming the ancient throttle quadrant to the stops. "Answering flank speed on all bells!"

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

Where most space battles of the Triad war were overwhelming-firepower slugfests, full of glittering phaser beams and explosions in the night, the pursuit off of Beta Perseii was a duel of skill and finesse.

The two small craft....the first an overpowered civilian yatch driven like a madman by one of the top Hydran agents to come out of the Royal Hydran Academy....the second a gleaming white Coast Guard cutter skipping across the gravity waves, guided by a mad filipino who learned his trade in the dangerous shoals off Luzon as a boy.

The Minbari yatch twisted down in a spiral deep into the magnetic flux of the quintuple system.....hoping to hide in the various pulls of the five tumbling planets.

The Cutter closed in, knowing the Lagrange points like th back of his hand, Mr. Magsaysay cut minutes off his time by guiding his own craft through the calmer 'waters' thus reducing hull drag.

Realizing the skill of their pursuers, the spies saw the mistake of challenging them in the 'shallows' and made a break for deep space, clearing the gravity wells for a run up to lightspeed.

"Warp signature!" sang out the scanner crew. "Estimate tranluminal capability in 2 minutes."

"Very well." Lt Harmon aknowledged with a frown...if there was one place the tiny CG-12 could not follow, it was into deep interstellar waters. The Coast Guard did possess several warp-capable ships......but the tiny cutter was not one of them.


"Mr. Magsaysay." he merely had to speak the helmsman's name and in response the crewman automatically altered tacks bringing the CG-12 alongside the fleeing yatch rather than in pure pursuit.

Tactics had been altered demanding a more violent reponse and the young Filipino set up the gun crew for a perfect flanking shot.

The 3-inch railgun barked again, punching a 70-pound titanium slug deep into the yatch's starboard nacelle where it rattled around the interior, careening off delicately balanced equipment and generally screwing up any chance of forming a stable warp field.

The system shock from the impact threw the Hydran agents from their seats, and by the timne they shook their heads and recovered, the yatch was deep in the double fisted vice of CG-12's twin tractor beams.

>>>LIKE I SAID....<<< rattled the Bullhorn >>>>WE'RE COMING ABOARD FOR A SAFETY INSPECTION....BUT I CAN ALREADY TELL YOU YOU GOT A NASTY PLASMA LEAK IN ONE OF YOUR NACELLES....GONNA HAVE TO CITE YOU FOR THAT ONE.<<<<

Humans and their sarcasm.

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

Three Hours later, Lt Blake Harmon of the Federation Coast Guard knew he hand landed the big one. The two occupants of the yatch...at first beleived to be Breen agents had actually proved to be Hydran clones, and had started spilling confessions before the coasties had even started asking questions.

The Lt. had a headache from trying to decipher the pairs eagerness to stab each other in the back...blaming everybody from the high command to the Great Starbeast Itself for their failure, but in the end a clear picture was starting to emerge:

An alliance of sorts...between the Breen empire and the Federation criminal network fronted by ex-assassin Faylin McAllister had been infiltrated by the Hydrans who sought to keep their fingers in all their supposed allies comings and goings.

There was a makeshift medical lab aboard the yatch, complete with equipment for transfusing DNA-suppresant chemicals, traceable back to Mr. Pluto himself.

Disturbingly, Chameloid DNA was present everywhere, although a quick experiment revealed that the DNA suppressants easily erased that telltale signature.

Therewas also the sad evidence of recent kidnappings in Spain on Earth, and old blood indicating an unhappy end for one Sophia Zamora....currently on the Federal Missing Persons list.

"Shit Boss." the Senior Rating shook his head as the two Hydrans continued to blather everything they knew.....grisley details of recent of murders and detailed maps of the KS-128 starsystem. "We're in way over our head here....this aint just some simple smuggling operation."

"Roger that." Lt Harmon was massaging his temples. This was a big fish indeed. Contemplating his options for several minutes, and then realizing there was none, Harmon nodded to the Communications board. "Do it." he ordered.

"Aye sir....Establishing Subspace link...this is Coast Guard Cutter CG-12 on Secure Channel...hailing Federation Marshal Corps...Come in please."

There was the barest of pauses before the crackling reply arrived. "This is Senior Marshal Bin Hux out of Beta Reticulii...What do you gentlemen have for me?"

Harmon glanced over his shoulder at the still arguing Hydrans and suppressed a grin, "Well Marshal......its like this......."

"Love Hurts: A Romantic Comedy Featuring Cannibalism, Insanity, and Victor Krieghoff"

Lt. 8-ball Hunter


"Wake up, 8-ball. Come on. Wake up."

"Ugh."

"I know. Come on. Open your eyes, 8-ball."

8-ball blinked and took a second to look around, waiting for everything to slowly come into focus. She was still in the brig of spike-world, but there were a few more people scattered around: the ensign that she'd seen earlier being dragged away, and another ensign she recognized from Tactical; he looked practically catatonic. 8-ball blinked up at Johnny Walker, who she was pretty much laying on. She gave him a wry smile.

"I see your identical twin has disappeared."

Walker frowned at her. "What?"

"Nevermind." Carefully, very carefully, she pushed herself off of him, until she was sitting up on her own and not falling over or anything. Her head was fucking throbbing, and she still felt a little nauseous, but the blurred vision and complete incoherence of thought seemed to be gone, and that, at least, was something. She glanced at the others, who were mostly ignoring them. "I see we got some new people."

Walker looked at the other crew members. "These guys?" he said. "8-ball, those guys were all here when I got here."

She stared at him. "Really?" When he nodded, she closed her eyes, tried to remember anyone else being in the room besides her and him and a blurry figment of her imagination. She failed. She tipped another wry smile at him. "Guess my eyes were only for you," she said dryly.

Walker laughed. "If only we were in a romantic comedy."

"Yeah. If only."

A sudden flash of pain hit, wrapping up her skull and beating it senselessly with an invisible spare bulkhead. She groaned and leaned forward, tipping her forehead into the floor. From above her, Walker asked quietly, "You okay?"

"No."

She took a deep breath and sat back up slowly, squinting as she looked at Walker's face. Something suddenly occured to her--"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, you know. Kickin it."

Beating Johnny Walker senseless sounded fun on paper, but in practical application, 8-ball didn't think she could have high expectations. She settled for glaring at him, knowing full well that her glare, while intimidating, was not exactly the stare that stopped healthy men's hearts beating. "Did you get grabbed trying to make it out?" she asked. She'd really been hoping he'd at least managed to contact someone.

Johnny Walker winced. "Actually, I sort of . . .mounted the daring rescue."

"The one that you said would be a bad idea? Catastrophic, even? The one that would be suicide?"

"Yeah. That one."

"What happened?"

"I failed."

Well, ask a stupid question. 8-ball shrugged, then cursed at herself for doing so. She could be a slow learner sometimes, in the art of not-moving. "That was sweet of you, Johnny Walker. Stupid, of course, but sweet."

"Thanks," Walker said sourly. "They'll write that on my tombstone."

"No, they won't," 8-ball said. "We won't get tombstones down here."

"Jeez," Walker said. "You're a fucking upper."

"Bite me. My head hurts."

"Whiner."

"Moron."

"We'd make a great couple for a romantic comedy. We already got the banter down."

8-ball raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what kind of romantic comedies you've been watching," she said, "but the ones I see don't normally have cannibals in it."

"You should broaden your horizons."

"I'll work on that," she said. She glanced around again, this time at the walls and the huge damn spikes attached to them. "So," she said, "not that I'm not enjoying your company and all, but last I saw, you could walk through walls. I might not be running around any time soon, but you should be able to slide through those spikes too, right?"

"Tried." Walker held up his left hand for inspection. The palm was bloody, looked like a damn stigmata wound. "Got a theory, though."

"You always got a theory." 8-ball sighed. "Lay it on me, kid."

"Well, goes like this: remember the longer that we're here, the more we're phasing out of our own dimension?"

"Yeah," 8-ball said. "And soon we probably won't be able to see our own dimension. In fact, that may have already happened. Thanks, Johnny Walker. And you say I'm not an upper."

Walker ignored this. "I think the problem is that they've reconstructed this brig using materials from their own dimension, making it theirs. Even the floor is different---no spikes, sure, but they've changed the construction of it. I think that's why we can't pass through."

"Cause they remodeled?"

"Because the more we become a part of their dimension, the more we're bound to the rules of their dimension. We might still be able to walk through walls that they haven't altered, but these, these are of their design, and I think we're bound by them. So, yeah, not exactly a confidence boost."

8-ball sighed. "I think I can one up you on doom and gloom news."

"No way. You've just been sleeping off a concussion for an hour, babbling about reality and not having permission to die. What the hell does that mean, anyway?"

"I take it you're not a friend of Victor Krieghoff?"

"Victor "Death" Krieghoff? That guy has friends?"

"Well, sheep. And occasional women. Or women who are obsessed with him. But apparently he's got a girlfriend now, and getting laid has mellowed him out a little. Like, maybe just one horsemen of the apocalypse instead of all four combined in one body. Still. I'm kind of obliged to hate her and all, seeing how he's meant to be with my best friend. Anyway. Yeah, that Victor Krieghoff."

Walker looked at her for a long minute, as if trying to discern if she was joking. "Do you know what they say about that guy?"

8-ball brightened. "Oh, I haven't heard any of these in awhile. Wait, let me think of a good one. Ummm . . . when they boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Victor Krieghoff."

"Or Victor Krieghoff isn't afraid of the dark. The dark is afraid of Victor Krieghoff."

"Or if paper beats rock and rock beats scissors and scissor beats paper, what beats three all at the same time? Victor Krieghoff."

"So, you're saying the rumors are exaggerated?"

"Oh, HELL no," 8-ball said. "I'm just that he's a good guy. A very, very, very scary good guy."

Walker pursed his lips and nodded. "Good to know. So, how exactly does this matter?"

"Well, a long time ago we did this whole mind meld thing, right? I know, I know--how cliche. And me, the Anti-Vulcan Queen; I'd be completely ashamed of myself if I had been in control of my body at the time. Anyway, we've kind of got this little connection now--"

"You're connected to Death?"

8-ball frowned. "Well, okay. If you want to put it like that, yeah. I'm connected to death. And Victor's got this whole thing about the people around him dying---he doesn't like it. And by not liking it, I mean he doesn't allow it. Victor regularly doesn't give permission for people to die."

Walker sat silently for a minute. "That sounds like another joke. God doesn't work miracles. Victor Krieghoff does."

8-ball shrugged. "Yeah. Well, the point is, I sort of contacted him for a minute, and he told me I didn't have permission to die. And no, before you ask, I can't contact him again and tell him to get his ass here pronto. I can't really control it. But the good news is, I won't be eaten."

"What about me?" Johnny Walker asked.

8-ball smiled hopefully at him. "Maybe he was including you too."

Walker frowned at her. He stood up and walked around the brig--it took approximately 3.5 seconds to do so. He returned to where she was sitting and looked down at her. "I thought you said you had bad news. Other than the fact that your salvation is imminent."

"You interrupted me," 8-ball said. She gave him a measured gaze. "You sure you want to hear it? It's just another craptastic theory."

Walker shrugged. "Might as well."

8-ball sighed. "We assumed that these cannibal-people were the ones that killed the original crew, that something caused them to shift into this dimension where they were attacked. But there's another possibility that's just a little more . . .macabre."

"Exactly how much more macabre can this situation fucking get?"

"The crew could be the cannibals."

"The---what?"

8-ball sighed. "The crew could be the cannibals. Well, not the original crew, of course, but . . . listen, imagine the ship crashed, right, and then the survivors of the crash started to disappear, phase out like we did. They'd be stuck here, helpless, completely isolated and cut off. What do you think that does to somebody's mental state?"

"I don't think it makes human flesh suddenly look tasty!"

8-ball shrugged. "Cannibalism isn't all that rare," she said, "in a lot of cultures, anyway. And it's not really about that; I think over the years the people just snapped. Humans are a social people, Johnny Walker; they're not meant for isolation like this. I think it drove them mad, and maybe . . ."

She trailed off. Walker crossed his arms. "Maybe what?" he asked.

"Maybe it'd be better if we had permission to die, after all."

Walker watched her silently for a minute. "You're saying that we could become like them?" He shook his head. "I don't believe it."

8-ball shrugged. "Like I said, it's just a theory. But it fits. And nobody knows what they'd do in any given situation. They'd like to think they do . . but no one really knows, not till they're up against the wall. After the things you've seen here, if the Galaxy left for you dead, if you were abandoned on this ship with no way of ever seeing your loved ones again--what would you do, Johnny Walker? You think sanity's a viable option?"

Walker didn't say anything. He turned around and walked to the other side of the brig, which put about a whole ten feet or so between them. He faced the opposite direction, putting his hands over his eyes. Even from where she was sitting, 8-ball could see they were trembling slightly.

With a groan, she pushed herself up slowly to a standing position. The world spun around chaotically for a minute, but she kept on her feet. Unsteadily, she walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to look at her. His eyes were a little wet.

"I'd rather die than become that," he said.

"Yeah," 8-ball said. "Me too. I guess we'll just have to hope for Option C, then."

"What's that?"

"Living happily ever after."

Walker laughed, a surprised, anguished sort of sound. He wiped at his eyes briefly and looked at her. "You know how you freaked out before, when we first discovered that this bastards were eating people?"

"Yeah," 8-ball said. "You asked when it was your turn for a meltdown."

Walker nodded. "I think I'm ready for it," he said.

He started to cry. She held on to him and waited.

"Fashion Victim"

FO Aristi Ferguson (APC)
Fighter Pilot going native

*****

My name is Aristi Ferguson, and I think today I may die.

You might be thinking that I have no idea what's going on here. That I'm completely in over my head, what with being captured on an away mission by some clearly pre-industrial civilization we didn't even know was here. That's not the case, not at all. Years ago, before I entered Starfleet, I spent the better part of a decade studying cultures such as this one...studying what they'd left behind, trying to put the puzzle pieces together to get an overall picture of who they'd been. I've studied a lot of extinct cultures on Earth, even had the chance to do a couple years of field work, and for a species that prides itself on being so benevolent and enlightened now, it's amazing how barbaric they were in the past.

Which is why I think today I may die.

When the Brown Woman returned to the tent in which they were holding me, I thought I would die then. But she released me. They hadn't thought to bind my feet (maybe they thought I was just going to let them do whatever they wanted) so I ran...only to be captured again (of course!) by two of the woman's companions. Those two may have been two of the men who killed PO Tombs and took me prisoner; I don't know. Many of these people look the same, even more so than most humans-- all brown and burly and very very dirty. Anyway, that was the third time I escaped death, I guess. Clearly they wanted me for something.

So they took me back to the tent, where the Brown Woman-- who had at some point introduced herself in her broken language as "Conca-Esska"-- began to pull my clothes off, like she wanted me to wear something else I guess. That was a strange experience, but seeing no harm in it (so far) I let her continue. After all, someone with as many body mods as me has long ago given up on modesty...and it's not like this was the first time someone had seen me naked.

Amusingly enough she seemed to find my tattoos interesting, as she began to trace the knot work of one of the bands on my left arm, all the while muttering something I couldn't understand. Maybe they had some sort of significance to her, or maybe she just thought they were pretty. No idea. And, she hadn't tried to kill me yet, so it was probably innocuous.

That's when she brought out what she wanted me to wear.

The garments were obviously leather, but were dyed in a much more colorful and elaborate pattern than hers. The long, wrap-like skirt had been pieced together from three separate sections of hide with a complex series of stitches, and had been painted in a dark red and brown scale pattern inside and out. The shirt (although it was more like a tube of fabric held together at the front with some lacing) was done in a similar pattern, but the scales were a little smaller. With that, oddly enough, came a pair of stiff bracers dyed a brilliant, crimson red and bearing eight small claws in an almost diamond pattern on the surface and five more pointed downward along the bottom edge.

Having been used to wearing Starfleet standard issue garments for years now, I wasn't quite sure about this. I mean, I could sort of see the aesthetic value in the garments (because they were quite nice; much nicer than what she was wearing), and it did make sense to try and 'go with the flow' while I was here, but still. Probably sensing my hesitation, she insisted. "Pease pease Reece," she urged me in her strange voice, "pease wear."

Startled for a moment by what she had called me, I soon recovered. That's right, I *had* told her my name, right after she'd told me hers. She just couldn't pronounce it, so to her "Aristi" became "Reece". No better, that had been my nickname in college, where many of my human colleagues had been--

Wait.

I looked at her more closely, my eyes narrowing.

"Pease pease," the Brown Woman said again, oblivious.

And it occurred to me finally (took me long enough!), that it wasn't some strange language she was speaking, some tongue that had evolved remarkably like Standard. No, she was saying 'please please'...which meant that she was speaking some corrupted form of English...which meant that the more I looked at her, the less she looked 'humanoid' and the more she looked just plain human.

Oh boy.

"Alright, Brown Wo- I mean, 'Conca-Esska'," I said to her at last. "I'll wear your strange clothes."

She cocked her head to the side, almost like a dog or some other curious pet would, not understanding a word I said except for her name. No matter, I'll just reach forward, pick up the skirt, and...

Wow.

First, let me get something straight. I've worn a lot of leather in my day. I was a wild child in my teens and twenties, and my family is fairly well-off, so I had it all. Miniskirts, studded chaps, skin-tight practically painted on pants that made my ass look great, thigh-high stiletto boots that were perfect with the miniskirts, bustiers with obscenely plunging necklines, vests, jackets, you name it. And they weren't just made from Terran animals either. No way. Terran cows and pigs and deer and gators have soft skins (when you can get them, that is), but they can't hold a candle to the feel of any part of an Andorian ice bear, a Capellan power-cat (hair-on hides, of course), even a Vulcan le-matya.

But this, whatever I was holding, put all of those to shame.

I held the skirt up before me. There were subtle striations in the tanned skin, but neither that nor the slightly uneven, unfinished edges gave any clue as to what sort of animal this had come from. Not that I would have been able to identify it anyway with this pounding headache, which had been with me ever since I'd woken up tied to that stake. (When was the last time I even had a headache, anyway?)

"What is this?" I asked Conca-Esska. She smiled and shook her head. Probably still didn't understand me.

"What...ees...?" I asked again, more slowly, dragging a hand down the surface of the skirt. Speaking like that felt stupid at first, but again, 'going with the flow' and all. Hopefully she would understand that.

Thankfully she smiled and nodded. "Ees Utla-rat ya Eight-rat."

"Utla-rat ya...Eight-rat," I repeated. "What ees 'Utla-rat ya Eight-rat'?"

"Ees no moar. Utla-rat ya Eight-rat ees wis gate dag'n now." And then she took one arm, held it level just above her breasts, then moved it down towards her waist. "Oosh em, make dess."

"Make dess," I said, mimicking her arm motion.

"See." She nodded and smiled again, then put a hand on the edge of the skirt. "Pease now, Reece."

Make dess. Utla-rat ya Eight-rat. It took a minute, but I finally figured it out. Predictably, my mouth filled with bile, and I had to swallow hard to keep from vomiting.

I'd been stark naked this entire time, and of course that was a little weird, but if this was the only thing they were going to give me to wear, I was content to stay nude for the rest of my life.

However long that would be.

Because human skin made into leather had to come from somewhere. Apparently these bits had come from 'Utla-rat' and 'Eight-rat'. I didn't want to think about what might have happened to those two.

And garments decorated this elaborately usually meant one thing. Well...one of two things: honored guest...or sacrifice.

Knowing my luck, it wouldn't be the first one.

And that's why I think today I may die.

(Wonderful.)

"Thank You for (Not) Smoking"

Captain T'Vara
Commanding Officer

PO2 Saro
Captain's Yeoman

*****

"Is there anything else this morning?" T'Vara asked, passing the latest padd back to her new yeoman.

"One final item, Captain. 'Commander Tarin reports a four percent increase in recreational smoking aboard Galaxy in the past four weeks, bringing the estimated percentage of smokers aboard this vessel to 8.9 percent of the total ship's population," Saro replied, accepting the padd and adding it to the small pile on that side of the desk. "She wishes to strengthen the associated regulations against this activity, but as changes to global ship's policy require the approval of the Commanding Officer, she requests your permission to adjust said policy."

T'Vara nodded, a bit of a frown creeping onto her features. Having been at the rank of Captain for over a decade now, the Vulcan was intimately familiar with such regulations. She was also aware of the steady decline toward disorder that pervaded less disciplined crews in Starfleet, particularly after the Dominion War, as regulations had been relaxed in order to provide a so-called 'more comfortable environment' for stressed out and occasionally overworked officers. To her dismay such a slow but steady decline in regulations had not stopped once the Dominion War had ended; rather, many commands had elected to keep them in place or relax them even more as crew retention became an issue.

There was a certain logic to it, she had to admit, although the end result had been less than desirable. "What is Lieutenant Commander Tarin's proposal?"

Saro reached for another padd. "From her memo: 'The benefit of recreational smoking as a tool for relaxation has been proven, especially in modern times when a variety of materials are available that pose little to no risk of addiction or detriment to an individual's health or general well-being. However, it is also a proven fact that, as the act of burning plant materials produces a strong, persistent odor as well as an increase of air pollution and a decrease of oxygen in the local area, such acts can be considered a detriment to the well-being of the ship's community as a whole. Smoking produces waste products, both solid matter and airborne particulates; in particular it causes a significant draw on the air filtration systems.'

"Scrolling ahead... 'Therefore, I recommend that recreational smoking in any form not be tolerated aboard the Galaxy. Ship's internal sensors shall be reconfigured to consider all instances of smoking as small fires, and will deal with them similarly. Forcefield technology is sufficiently advanced to allow for a small three-dimensional forcefield to be generated that would surround the implement of smoking; however, I believe use of the transporters to automatically remove the offending item from the smoker's locale, and the entire ship, would be a more instructive example. In addition, use of cargo-specific transporters to move such a small amount of matter uses approximately six percent less energy and three fewer seconds than encasing the object in a forcefield until its oxygen supply is extinguished.'"

T'Vara tapped one finger on her desk, the perfectly rounded fingernail making a quiet tap-tap-tapping noise against the hard, glossy surface. "When someone begins the act of smoking, the implement of smoking is removed from the ship via site-to-site transport."

"I believe so, yes," Saro agreed with a nod.

"A novel solution."

Saro nodded again. "Aye, sir. But...if I may make one suggestion?"

T'Vara's finger-tapping stopped. "You may."

Saro smiled slightly and looked down. It was a well-known fact that the few J'naii serving in Starfleet were loyal, serious, hardworking personnel, and many of them worked particularly well alongside Vulcans. However, what many did not realize was that the J'naii as a people had a complex sense of humor, much of which was uncannily compatible with Terran forms of humor. And, being the third J'naii to ever enter Starfleet service, Saro had had many years of service to learn Terran humor very well.

"It is possible," it said with almost the slightest hestitation, "that the suddenness of a cigar or cigarette being abruptly whisked away in a transporter is unlikely to cause much of a lasting impression. I'd like to suggest that, in order to inform the offending party why their, ah, 'smoke' suddenly disappeared, we program the computer to recite the first paragraph of 'Commander Tarin's note during each offense as an explanation and instructional piece."

T'Vara arched an eyebrow slightly upward but otherwise was silent for a long moment. In its chair, Saro began to wonder if the suggestion had been a little too brash.

"An...excellent idea, Petty Officer Saro," the captain replied at last.

Saro exhaled the breath it didn't even know it'd been holding. "Thank you, sir."

"Please inform Lieutenant Commander Tarin that she is to implement these changes immediately. Dismissed."

Saro nodded and, now that their meeting was over, began to retrieve the small pile of padds on the captain's desk. "Aye, sir."

"How Ella Got Her Groove Back" – Part Two

Lt. Ella Grey
Corran Rex (written by Pat)

****
One week later …

Orbital Casino
Nuevo Monaco System

It would be easy to lose yourself here, Ella thought as she walked
through the casino.

It was a world of sensory overload – dice rolling and latinum chips
dropping into their trays, humans and aliens dressed in slinky dresses
and smart suits – or in some cases loud Hawaiian print shirts –
chirping machines that drowned out what sounded like a decent lounge
singer, the faint smell tobacco and the light floral scent used to
hide it, laughter …

Yes, it would be easy to lose yourself here.

Too bad she was already lost.

Oh Ella dear, that's a bit depressing even for you, she thought and
followed the soulful voice to small stage set back in a hidden alcove.
She sat at a table in the back, ordered a drink mostly to be rid of
the waiter, and then watched in amusement as he tried not to roll his
eyes at another customers 'shaken, not stirred' martini request.

Ella turned her attention back to the singer but found it hard to pay
attention. She rubbed at her temple, then sat back and considered her
options. There were many distractions for her here to enjoy – high
stakes games, massages, dance clubs – but since nothing really
appealed to her she wasn't sure where to begin. That probably summed
up her problems in general; in the post-Daro universe, what did she do
with herself now? What did she want?

There was also the small problem of Corran Rex. Ever since Ella had
accidentally brushed against his mind, their connection had only grown
stronger. She couldn't stop herself from broadcasting her nightmares
and he couldn't leave well enough alone. She'd ignored his messages
and she'd ignored her dreams but Ella was finding it a little harder
to ignore his telepathy. Currently, he was singing a less than
inspiring version of an annoying Mars pop ballad.

And Corran was a very bad singer, at least in her head.

Ella exhaled slowly and took a firmer grip of her drink. Surely he
would tire of it all soon and then she could get back to trying to
force joy into her life whether she wanted it or not.

****

Ella was about to smother her head with a pillow.

~I can keep singing for *hours* ~ his voice sounded in her head. There
was a teasing note to his mental 'voice', but Ella could feel the
determination behind it, too.

Ella covered her head with the pillow. ~You're horribly off key~

~Let me help you~, he thought firmly.

Ella sighed. ~I don't see how you can~

She sat up and rolled her shoulders. ~Where are you anyway? You must
be pretty close if we can read each other. Or did you just get better
at managing this thing? ~~

~I'm ... around ~, Corran thought back, rather evasively.

Ella crossed her arms.

~It's not that I can't answer that, ~ he admitted.

~It's that you won't. ~

~More or less, ~ he thought candidly. ~I'm never far from you, though.
Well, not like this, at least. ~

~~I'll try to keep it quieter, okay? ~~ She sat up in her bed and
outright scowled as his singing started up again. ~~How Corran? How
are you going to help me? ~~

****

Several hours later - of which she suspected were spent roaming around
in her head - he suggested something which left her speechless.

~~You must be joking~~ Ella thought finally.

Silence. Funny and yet not.

For the first time in awhile something other than bleak or
disinterested. She thought it might have been sheer terror. ~~I
couldn't possibly. I haven't done that in years. How will that help
me? You can't be serious. You can't ..."

Corran silenced her by running a series of images through her mind,
memories of hers that helped make his suggestion more understandable.
Ella calmed down slightly. His idea was about taking control of her
life again, a slight twist on an old classic one might say, but still
... it would be a big step for her.

~~I'll have to think about it~~

"The Facts"

Cmdr. Arel Smith

*****

USS Galaxy
Sickbay

Arel Smith was no stranger to pain and she was also intimately
familiar with Sickbay. But her irritation at being both in pain *and*
confined was growing in leaps and bounds.

And the Victor Krieghoff "facts" weren't helping.

"Victor Krieghoff does not hunt because the word hunting implies the
possibility of failure," a man was saying loudly to another nurse. He
looked around nervously and then lowered his voice. "Victor Krieghoff
goes killing."

"Oh yeah," The woman replied. "Well, when Victor Krieghoff answers the
comm, he just says "Go". It's not permission for you to begin
speaking, it's your cue to start running for your life. "

Arel shot the two officers a dark look but they were too involved in
trading Krieghoff facts to notice. She shot some choice words at their
backs and then pulled herself up into a sitting position and dangled
her legs over the bio bed. The doctor had said that she was healing
nicely but she thought it was time to do her own assessment.

"Victor Krieghoff does not "style" his hair. It lays perfectly in
place out of sheer terror."

"It's not the fall that kills you, It's Victor Krieghoff waiting for
you at the bottom."

She didn't feel dizzy or have any blurred vision so that was good. She
could flex muscles and wiggle her digits. Check. Still one-breasted
but that was being corrected in a day or two.

"If you can see Victor Krieghoff, he can see you. If you can't see
Victor Kreighoff you may be only seconds away from death."

She was also slightly nauseous.

"Victor Krieghoff has never blinked in his entire life. Never."

Arel carefully touched her toes to the floor, pressed her feet flat,
and then slowly eased into a standing position. Her muscles were stiff
but she was steady on her feet. Now there was only the question of
whether she should make a break for it or stop to slaughter the pair
of fact exchanging morons.

"If Victor Krieghoff is late, time better slow the fuck down."

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse actually live in Victor
Kreighoff's nut sack."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Arel blurted out. The
nurses turned and she felt like smacking herself for ruining her exit.
But honestly ... "He may be a frelling bastard with a creepy vibe but
he's not the ... the boogeyman you're making him out to be."

The pair exchanged looks which she couldn't identify. They were either
'oh look, a non-believer,' 'what is the Commander doing out of her
bed,' or 'oh, shit, she's going to murder us now.' Arel preferred to
think it was the latter.

"We know some of them are a little blown out of proportion, Sir," The
woman said. 'But some of them can definitely be proved."

Arel frowned. "Such as?"

"Victor Krieghoff vacations on Breen," He said instantly. "You know,
'cause he was shot out that window and survived in the atmosphere
without a environmental suit?"

Arel rolled her eyes. Sure it had been impressive but certainly not
*that* impressive.

"Well how about Victor Krieghoff doesn't need oxygen," The male nurse
replied. "There's a hazard video that backs that one up. Or how about
Victor Krieghoff doesn't give you permission to die. Until he can kill
you himself. You got to admit, Commander, that one comes up a lot."

"Did you hear this one?" The woman jumped in. "Victor Krieghoff can
walk across thin air."

"Victor Krieghoff came back the very next day. And opened a can of
whoop-ass," He countered.

"Victor Krieghoff can kiss my ass," Arel snarled and hobbled out of
Sickbay. She probably wouldn't make it far before someone from Sickbay
- or possibly Security - dragged her back to her biobed but it was
would be worth it. It was hard keeping a promise not to kill people
when everyone seemed hell bent on pissing her off.

"Arel Smith is going to beat the ever-loving shit out of Victor
Krieghoff," Arel said as she walked down the corridor. "And smile."

"The Roundup"

Part six of the hunt for Faylin McAllister

Faylin McAlister

Ghost of the Darkness

Senior Marshal Bin Hux

Location: Medical building - Planet 128

They hovered in clumps, in groups that possessed frightened looks on their faces. Some word of reassurance, any word at this point might have given them some comfort despite the scene that had just unfolded around them. This was the hell that they thought about. Brave ones lifted their heads just slightly to catch a glimpse of the woman that held them captive. Long blond hair, striking gold eyes, but she was in trouble somehow.

Sitting on the wooden chair, McAlister surveyed those around her. Idiots and morons alike, she held no prejudice about them. She wanted caught and that was final. Her eyes scanned the dead bodies of the guards and anyone else that attempted to stand in her way. They were littered across the tiled floor, much akin to dominoes that had been toppled. Fay let out a long sigh before waving her phaser in the air. "I'm waiting.....geesh......what do I have to do to get some service around here?"

<<The drama unfolding was.. interesting. The stench of fear filled the air. Fear and madness. Patiently it waited.>>

Service was in the making.

Around the bend, and down the corridor the hulking form of Senior Marshal Bin Hux hunched over a glowing tactical readout detailing the floor plan of the building.

It had been a hospital unit at one point in time. The once pristine white walls now dusty and stained with phaser burns.

Power was out of course, dark shadows playing cross the huddled forms of Hux's response team as they took shelter in what had once been a Nurse's lounge.

He eyed the 20 meters of corridor between his position and where the suspect had her hostages gathered.

Scattered ruble and fallen ceiling tiles….easy to slip on and nice and crunchy to prevent any sneak attack.

Shit...he hated his job sometime.

A house of healing had been turned into a slaughterhouse, and it was his duty to set things right. Sometimes life was easier back when he was in the Angosian Military service.

People ordered him to kill a bad guy and he did so by blowing his ass up...and the room he was standing in....and a few square blocks around that particular building just for good measure.

Now he had to deal with hostages.

Dumb asses.

The marshal glanced over at Mel Daughtery who was crouched against the wall, a slim black phaser clutched in her black gloved fist. Even in the midst of a crisis she looked like a dancer.

~~Should stuck with ballet kid.~~ Bin thought grimly.

Following a hot tip from some new guests of the Federation Coast Guard, Bin and his blond haired partner had burned up the space lanes in a mad dash across the sector only to walk into an irony worthy of the bard himself.

After weeks of investigations, questioning witnesses, crime lab analysis, and following up any of a dozen tips........Faylin decided to just go ahead and announce herself to the world.

Bitch.

The fact that she had chosen KS-128, a planet currently locked in a bloody firefight between ground forces of the Hydran and Federation governments was simply icing on the cake.

Hux was an old soldier. A product of the Angosian Super-Trooper program turned to Law Enforcement. The sound of artillery outside was as familiar to him as the hints of blood sprayed across the floor just around the corner from his current position.

Pausing to readjust the heavy black trenchcoat that was the mark of a Federation Marshal he peered down the passageway.

"Faylin McAllister?" he called. "I hear you made a mess in there. Get tired of waiting for me?"

"Oh no honey....not at all..." McAlister cooed.

Bin glanced back at the huddled forms of the full squad of combat ready Starfleet Marines that were waiting to back him up. One Faylin against Hux, Mel, and 12 jarheads.....she had them outnumbered.

"Right." he continued. "Hate to think I kept a lady in suspense. Gotta ask though darlin' How many people you got injured in there?" The number of dead didn't matter...they'd be easy enough to count afterwards.

<<The ghost continued to wait. Soon.>>

"No body. I shoot to kill, not to injure!" She bellowed with a dark laugh.

"Uh-huh" ~~smart ass~~......don't suppose you'd consider letting them all go free would ya?" Bin was mentally computing the odds of anybody getting out alive. One psycho with a 24th century phaser could take out an entire 20th century tank brigade.....and maybe even one Senior Marshal. If she was lucky.

"Release them?," came the reply, "And ruin my reputation?"

"Thought not." Bin sighed. Sliding his oversized .88 magnum revolver from its leather holster he spun the chamber quietly inspecting the massive rounds. He wasn't the best of shots, but the gun did make real big holes in things. "You realize I gotta come in there and kick you ass now right?"

"Come and get me copper!" Another sharp laugh followed by something completely insane occurred next.

The woman sighed as her eyes glazed over the huddled small masses before her. She had been graced by the presence of not only idiots, but morons too! Scratching her forehead with one end of the phaser, she blinked with a lazy fashion. Still no one had come and it was depressing her somewhat. In these times, the only thing that would bring her out of her slump was to sing a song. Arching her eyebrows just slightly, McAlister pursed her lips as the perfect song entered her head.

Turning her head, she viewed the control panel on the wall. It, well controlled the doors and lights. The lights in and of themselves were a little harsh to her sensitive golden eyes. Chameloids always faired better in the dark, so......

*pop*

The reddish beam hit the panel with a crackle and hiss resulting in the sudden darkness.

"Ah, much better." She spoke among her captives who now whispered in hushed fear.

Her night vision excellent, she smiled with a grinch type quality that only she could know. Clearing her throat, McAlister started to sing as she lowered her phaser.

"Now, this is a little tune that all you American Terrans should know, including you Marshall!!" And with that, Fay started her own rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

"Oh, say, can you see, by no more light you can't,

What so proudly I shot at the my phasers last gleaming?

Whose broad shoulders and bright eyes, thro' are no more,

While the morons you watch'd, were so gallantly bleeding?"

*pop*

*pop*

*pop*

"And my phasers' red glare, your heads bursting in air,

*pop*

Gave proof thro' the night that I was still there.

*pop*

O say, will those idiots called Starfleet attempt to save

*pop*

The people that considered themselves still brave?"

*pop*

That was a relief of sorts. Seven more dead, not many more alive.

<<<A tiny smile, cruel and dark, graced the face of the ghost. Darkness had fallen.>>>

She sang fast.

With the first *pop* of the phaser, Marshal Hux had already been moving, his black boots crunching on the dusty floor rubble in the hall. 20 meters to go…….

There were three more *pops* before Mel with her human reflexes jerked herself into a run, blond hair in a spray of righteous anger, and fourth victim fell before the rest of the Marines even registered what was happening.

10 meters….

<<<The first elbow crushed the windpipe. The second, upwards, crushed the jaw. The pain had barely registered with the marine when the third elbow struck the ribs hard enough to shatter them despite the protective gear. Death would come. Eventually.>>>

5 meters…..

The fifth victim was vaporizing into a halo of screaming light by the time Hux rounded the corner, .88 Mag leveled and hammer cocked.

The big Marshal slipped slightly in the blood of previous victims, allowing a sixth to die before the hammer fell on the massive brass casing triggering the ancient chemical mixture of sulphur, potassium nitrate, and carbon thus hurling the huge lead projectile down the silver barrel and across the room in a cataclysmic explosion of noise and light.

The subsonic round passed a full three inches from Fay's wild eyed frenzy, slamming into the far wall and peppering her with plaster and wood splinters, thus throwing off her aim and saving the eighth victim.

Seconds ticked by slowly.

Hux's accelerated Angosian reflexes already had him diving for the deck as Mcallister's arm came around depressing the plastic trigger and searing the air behind him with liquid light.

It missed, but the skin on the Marshal's back bubbled into heat blisters even from the near miss.

Powered by enhanced reflexes, and incredible speed, a full three more shots were exchanged on either side before Mel and the Marines even made it down the hall to back up the Senior Marshal

Fay was blazing red lightning in deadly arrows as bright as the sun, and the Marshal's earth shattering hand held artillery was shaking debris from the very walls with their kinetic overkill.

Rounding the corner into the midst of the firefight, the Female Marshall flattened herself against an overturned desk just in time, while the young Marine behind her erupted into fiery nothingness with an abruptly silenced scream.

That was enough for the following squad who opened up on the room in a hail of automatic gunfire, shredding walls and furniture alike into exploding splinters of wood and plastic.

Computer monitors exploded, and patient charts vaporized into a rain of paper and glass, spraying the room with their deadly precipitation.

It was a marvelous orgy of thunderous destruction.

Hapless victims caught in the crossfire.........

Expended brass cartridges tinkling on the ground…..

Lightning fast Fay ripping the throat from a Marine blinded by his own muzzleflash......

Hux cursing and discharging his final .88 caliber bullet into a cloud of dust and debris where a Chameloid stood only seconds before…..

<<<<A low thud, drowned in the madness. A marine clawing silently for a heartbeat at the knife which nailed him to the wall. Stabbed through the throat with his own knife.

A quick glance by the man next to him. Eyes widening. Tears of fear and helplessness falling down the cheeks of the dying marine. The last thing the man saw before his neck was broken. Two men looking into each others eyes while Death claimed them.>>>>

Then it came to blows....

It was a battle of Titans.

A chameloid, the genetically evolved killer of lightning reflexes and hair trigger instincts......the product of a million years of merciless evolution.

An Angosian, the pinnacle of scientifically enhanced strength, tactical awareness and combat prowess......the product of the height of 24th century biochemical conditioning and manipulation.

The animal vs technology.

The predator sneered…. "Well hey ya Marshall, you sure will make a welcome addition to my collection!" Fay barked before barreling towards the Marshall with all her might. Within a second, she hit him lengthwise, the true strength of her species blowing into him full force. It knocked him back, but not down and with not a second to spare, McAlister attempted to level her phaser directly at his head. Unfortunately, something or someone knocked it out of her hand before she could fire, leaving her without a weapon. Her head turned sharply upwards, just before........

Just before a fist slammed it back down with the force of a sledgehammer.

It happened in slow motion......at least the outside observer who could not follow the flurry of twists and blows that struck with the force of a thunderclap.

Faylin was a tornado of claws and fangs...each alien form morphing into the next with a flesh shredding fury of an animal unchained.

Hux was a god of destruction. Adamantine fists that broke bones where they struck, staving in ribs that Fay rapidly reformed into more resilient shapes.

He bled.

She bled.

Not since mighty Zeus threw down the Titans of old had such a battle been seen.

The marshal slammed Fay into the floor with a force that shattered bone and plaster alike, blood spraying in a fan of artistic devastation.

She painted the walls with his flesh....Here Hux.....there Hux....Everywhere Hux.

And still they tore at each other with divine fury.

Fay was pissed, a ball of energy fighting for survival despite the utter pain she felt from transforming into various forms at a rapid pace. Growling with formalistic passion fueling her strength, she ran into the Hux, placing her hands on his chest and literally pushing him into a wall.

Literaly….into a wall, or at least halfway through it.

Tangled in the mass of wooden framing and metal, the marshal struggled to free himself, but felt something vaguely vital hung up on a nail. He was stuck…at least unless he used his enhanced strength to disembowel himself in the process.

"Ouch….." he grated through clenched teeth.

He was stuck there, which was enough for Fay to spit in his face make good her escape.

At last there was only stillness and blood in the dark.

"Mel…..you still…ouch…okay girl?"

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

Miles away…..

<<<<"That...was fun! Wasn't it people?" She shouted at the carnage in her wake with true Fay form before returning to her vulture like stares.

There she was alone again on the surface of AS-128……Through the darkness, a sudden yet calculated ghost brushed past her.

Her head turned slightly, recognizing the form.

"Hmmmmm.....I ran out of bodies." He responded craftily.

At this, McAlister grinned before responding. "I can get you more....I...have...

connections" She paused. "But I'm kinda in a bind right now.....let's get out of here.">>>

Daughter of Rebbise, part 2

Ensign Relsta

Relsta stared at the door of the wooden lean-to in shock. Her brain was whirling with so many questions that she thought she might be sick again. Why had these humans captured her, what were humans doing on this planet, anyway, and how in Bitar did they speak Standard?

'What if the same thing that happened to you, happened to them? Maybe they weren't there when we scanned the planet because they were here...wherever this is, and they speak Standard because...' She didn't really have an answer for that.

Still groggy, she crawled towards the doorway, hoping to get an idea of where she was. Now she had nothing but the terrain and her memory of the Galaxy's scans to help her find her way back to the crash site. Relsta scanned the room for something she could defend herself with, but the memory of her previous visitors stopped her.

"Just because they're a bit ripe does not mean I should assume the worst!" Relsta admonished herself out loud, halting her painful journey across the floor. "They told her not to touch me. They won't hurt me."

Denobulan optimism. Relsta never left home without it.

"They probably weren't even the ones who knocked me out—" she continued. "I was in a cave, I bet a rock feel on my head. Maybe they found me and brought me here to protect me! That might explain how that woman was acting before."

Unsteadily standing, she pushed aside the fabric that covered the doorway, determined to introduce herself properly and see if they could help her find the crash site.

And promptly found herself face to giant, muscular chest with a man who made her previous description of 'ripe' the understatement of the century. Relsta was a tall woman, but this man was at least a head taller, well over 2 meters tall. Looking straight up, she realized it was the man from before, the one the woman had called 'Kranas-Sur'. He was standing just outside the door, peering through the fabric with confusion.

"Rebbise-Da say?" he demanded, taking a step forward that forced Relsta back into the lean-to. "Rebbise-Da say to here-but-not," the man continued insistently. "Kranas hear."

"Ahm," Relsta stammered. 'Here-but-not?' she wondered. He must be upset that she had been talking to herself. Perhaps they didn't do that sort of thing here, she mused. She would have to be very sensitive to their culture from now on.

"Greetings!" she said in what she hoped was a cheerful, non-threatening manner. "My name is Relsta. I am a Starfleet Science Officer aboard the USS Galaxy."

The huge man narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"All right, too complicated. Um, let's try that again." Relsta tapped her chest "Rellllllstaaaa." Pointing to the ceiling, the Denobulan zoomed her hand around in the air, with a few whooshes thrown in for dramatic effect. "Gaaaaalaxyyy. Staarrfleeet. See?"

"Relstaaa....?" Kranas repeated with a large smile. Relsta sighed in relief—she'd gotten through to him! "Staarrfleeeeet?" The man continued, slowly. A glimmer of recognition flashed in his eyes, but then, like thunder follows lightening, his lips pursed with anger. "Ees falts. Ofit ees not. No moar wessa."

Relsta had no idea what had just happened. Things had been going so well, and now he was jabbering away angrily. After a few moments of pacing and waving his arms, though, Kranas stopped and turned to her, his face aghast.

"Kranas sorry, Rebbise-Da. No set you. Pease come, pease. Ka'tin see now."

With that strange change of mood, the man slipped through the door, gesturing for Relsta to follow.

*****

The 'Ka'tin' was apparently important enough that Relsta couldn't know where he was. As soon as she stepped outside of the lean-to, a second man roughly grabbed her and covered her eyes with his hands. By halfway through the trip, the Denobulan was considering asking for a blindfold, because she kept tripping over her guide's feet. Worse, even though he could see, he kept tripping over hers. Despite her bruised feet, she had to smile slightly—it was kind of like dancing with her first husband.

Abruptly, her guide forced her to a stop and the hands pulled away, momentarily blinding her as her eyes instinctively snapped open. As her eyes adjusted, she realized it was early evening—she must have been unconscious for around eight hours. Kranas had walked over past a fire to the entrance of another wooden structure.

"Ka'tin." Kranas stepped up to the fabric door, but kept his face turned away. "Ees Rebbise-Da, Ka'tin."

The man who exited was not as large as Kranas. Hair, pitch black, hung well below his shoulders, but his face and chest were entirely smooth, unlike Kranas, who was just one step below the Denobulan Kuwer Beast on the hairiness scale. But although Kranas was large and imposing, this man was tightly coiled, moving smoothly, more like a Terran Panther than a Kuwer Beast. He was wearing some form of leather wrapped around his waist, and scars wound themselves across his so-smooth chest and legs, almost like an artistic pattern, but far too deep for Relsta to believe they were purposeful. He stopped two paces from her, his already narrow black-within-black eyes scanning her slowly and completely.

"Rebbise-Da," he said, his voice almost low enough to be a whisper.

She later blamed it on the head trauma, but Relsta was suddenly very turned on.

Kranas placed a dirt-encrusted hand on her shoulder. "Ya, Ka'tin. Ees Rellstaaaa." The Denobulan smiled, pleased that he had remembered her—"Oh!" Relsta squeaked. Kranas' hand had snaked down her shoulder and now he was fondling her breasts. Vigorously. "Ees Relllstaaaa," he repeated, in a very pleased tone.

Relsta's eyes widened as she realized exactly why Kranas had smiled earlier when she told him her name. He thought she had meant...

'Oh Great Moleetah,' Relsta thought. 'My breasts just got their own formal introduction to these people's leader.'

She stopped breathing, not daring to react at all, lest she offend, as the huge man gave Relsta's left 'relsta' one last lingering squeeze, shooting the Denobulan a suggestive smile.

 

"Fare Thee Well, Djarum; or Who Took My Damned Cheroot?"

With

Benedict "Max" Maxwell, APP
Petty Officer 2nd Class, NCOIC EMRT
USS Galaxy

Maxwell's Quarters, moments after Victory had left....and just before the rescue briefing convened by Krieghoff

He must have cried for a good fifteen minutes before he got a hold of himself. Wiping his tears, Max finally got up from where he was sitting and fixed himself a stiff drink...from his private reserve.

The bottle that bore a label emblazoned with the name of Jack Daniels was returned to its hiding place, while Max took out a Djarum cigarette from its container on a nearby shelf. Sitting down on his couch, he chided himself for crying like a little bitch then began to give serious thought to the situation between Victory and himself.

The clove cigarette rolled between his fingers, with its sweet odor promising relaxation and calm. Max smirked at the thought that he could be smoking something a bit more potent, like that time... He banished the thought, realizing that it was nearly twenty years later. Djarum will have to do, he supposed. And it always did the job.

He placed the cigarette into his mouth, filter end first (he had plenty of stories of when people who were uninitiated in smoking would light the filter end) and took a moment to enjoy the flavor just on the paper itself. Closing his eyes, he let the flavor seep through into his tongue like a thousand spice warriors running wild. After several moments, he opened his eyes and lit his Djarum, taking a very long and relaxing drag...at least he thought he was taking a very long and relaxing drag.

His half lidded eyes flew open as he realized that his smoke was...well going up in smoke. To be accurate, his Djarum was vanishing in the fading light of the transporter. Then the following occurred:

"The benefit of recreational smoking as a tool for relaxation-"

"WHAT THE FUCK??!?!?"

"-has been proven, especially in modern times when a variety of materials are available that pose little to no risk of addiction or detriment to an individual's health or general well-being. However, it is also a proven fact that, as the act of burning plant materials produces a strong, persistent odor-"

"Computer, stop," Max commanded, but the disembodied voice of the computer continued.

"...such acts can be considered a detriment to the well-being of the ship's community as a whole. Smoking produces waste products, both solid matter and airborne particulates; in particular it causes a significant draw on the air filtration systems."

When the litany was finally done, Max took several deep breaths and tried a few things:

"Computer, who authorized this action?"

"Captain T'Vara, Commanding Officer, USS Galaxy."

"Authorization level required to override?"

"Captain's authorization is required to override the no smoking protocol."

Max thought about asking another question, but realized that it was pointless. Arguing with the computer was like arguing with a two year old; in the end, he still wouldn't have his smoke. Then he glanced on the stand next to the couch. He still had his whiskey, and that beats sitting with his thumb up his ass.

Picking up the shot glass, Max quickly raised it to his mouth. He then paused for the briefest of seconds and glanced around for no reason other than just simple paranoia. When his glass didn't dematerialize, he downed the shot in one gulp, then let out a low moaning gag. Then he went to pour himself another.

Within twenty minutes, Max was unconscious with a bottle of Jack Daniels clutched to his chest and a runny smile on his face. About two hours after that, he was waking up to the sound of his Comm Panel advising that he had about fifteen minutes until an emergency briefing began. And his presence was required.

"Judge Not, Lest You Be Judged"

Consul Ayanna Hinanat
Judge
USS Galaxy

Location: Liaison Department Offices

==================================================

Her light eyes scanned the oblong room with selective abandonment. It was empty, yet held the mild mannered ghosts of tension within it's deck plated walls. Such was the case with the liaison Department. What was once ran with efficiency now best resembled the thrown about rubble left over from a war between worlds. Breathing deeply Ayanna sat with the weight of a thousand thoughts on her sculpted shoulders.

The arrival on board the Galaxy had been....terse. With every new situation, Ayanna found herself feeling tense. It was the utter fear of the unknown that bothered her. At least with the law, it was in black and white even if it didn't lead or finish that way. She knew what to expect with the law. It courted her and whispered in her ear caressing her with it's stability. Not so with life on board the Galaxy.

The Chief of this department left nothing. No instructions, no greeting, nothing. Her assistant had at least greeted Ayanna with a smile and a wave to her office. The work was already piled up on her desk which led to the assumption that the lack of qualified personnel on board this ship left the newest arrival with late nights and empty coffee cups wailing to be refilled. She should have known, it was the life typical of a Starfleet judge.

Her life revolved around rulings, data exchange, and telecommunicated meetings concerning the 'progression' of the new program enacted by Starfleet. The circuit judges, once staples of ancient Terran days of justice, had been reanimated for this future time. Personally, to Ayanna the program had made a whole lot of sense. Despite the red tape it took to create it, she was proud that she was a part of it. Cases would be able to be solved in a timely manner, or so she thought at least.

Her thoughts shifted to that of her father. He was out, blazing a path across the Universe. She knew nothing other than his name and rightfully so felt a great void. She was half Betazoid, that much was documented with her mother....yet her other half? It would be easy enough to submit to dna testing but there was always something blocking that path. Whether it be duty or personal, the time never appeared to permit itself to such as task.

"Meh..." Dark long hair waved back and forth as a signal to stop wishing on stars. The matter would resolve itself with time, and with that, she was to be partly satisfied. She fingered the silver amulet around her neck. It brought her strength, due to it's protective qualities that it had been blessed with by her mother. It reminded her gently of other tasks she needed to accomplish soon.

Her surroundings, they felt temporary for some reason. Bringing her left hand to her throat, she touched her skin lightly. The sensation to her felt normal, yet comforting in an emotionally healing sense. Her mother had always told her that she retained special qualities within herself and many times, she pressed her mother for solid information. She would just softly smile, leaving her daughter with a slight feeling of aggravation at the greater secret of who she was.

A long, pregnant sigh passed before Ayanna turned her attention to the work that patiently waited in front of her. Her vision darted to the wooden gavel that decorated her desk. Before too long, she would use it on the most unusual case of her Starfleet career.

"Ghosts" Part One- Breen Perspective

Colonel For'kel Arvelion- SFMC
Commanding Officer
188TH Starfleet Marines Detachment

And NPCs as needed
=====================================================

(General Bt'razin- Breen Confederacy Naval Infantry, Day 36)

The Commander of the Triad Base Camp, a Breen known to all as General
Bt'razin, watched from the eastern window of the observation level of his command
bunker while the latest 'acquisitions' were being processed for their stay.
He and his 36TH Naval Infantry Regiment had been on the planet for over a
month, and was just recently joined by reinforcements. They finally had the
numerical advantage they needed to press a full assault and end this bloody
conflict; at least this portion of it. The enemy was likely to fight on, win or
lose.

Starfleet officers, many from the evacuated Langley, the Marine transport
vessels, or the destroyed Speedwell that weren't picked up by their compatriots
made a long line between the external and internal fence lines. Some of the
enemy troops they held were wounded, being propped up by their fellow
comrades in arms. Bt'razin knew those would be the first to die, if not by nature
than by order.

Bt'razin had been selected for command of the base camp because his heart
needn't the advantage of his refrigeration suit to be cold. He wasn't insanely
evil, the type to purposefully go out of his way to be as cruel and inhumane
as possible, but rather he was evil for a wholly different, more malignant
reason... he was in a position to change things and had opted not to. In a
war that would undoubtedly be marked by grand atrocities on all sides, some of
which were ordered specifically for the sake of cruelty, his own evilness was
likely to go unnoticed... though it was none the less pervasive and intense.

He had ordered rations to the prisoners to be cut repeatedly. He had
ordered their forced labor in the ongoing construction of the base, including it's
terranian and sub-terranian levels, and he had elected to keep the worst of
the Triad troops at his facility to keep them from fucking up on the front
lines. The worst didn't only include those who couldn't shoot or the rookies
who couldn't shut up, but also those who verged on the line of being unfit for
service; the psychotic, the twisted, the terrorists in uniform who had been
at war for too long and now could not live without relishing in the power of
armed force. Those that had given up on actually 'living' themselves so long
ago, and were now solely interested in maintaining their own existence based
on intuition... there was nothing left to allow compassion for other life
forms, and certainly not those who were trying to kill them.

He had put them in a position to carry out their sick fantasies, and in turn
their sickness had been allowed to spread. It spread to the point that now,
the prisoners who were long-term 'guests', were just as crazy as their
tormentors. The crimes being committed by the prisoners against themselves were
often as brutal, if not more so, as the crimes being perpetrated against them
by his men.

And now, to guarantee that there was no cross-communication, no sharing of
information or intelligence, he was going to be placing the new prisoners
completely isolated in a whole new block on their own, consequently cutting off
the only chance the prison body would have had to have a large, able group
take command and end the barbarity.

Contrary to holo-novels, it was quite easy to be evil without actually
eating babies and burning villages yourself. All you needed were reasons to
deprive otherwise civilized people of basic needs, and nature would take it's
course.

"General." A Breen yeoman offered his superior a PADD. "Today's command
reports."

"Summary?"

"We detected a ship marked as Federation Marshall Service in orbit. Hydran
fighters were scrambled to intercept it, but it was gone before the fighters
had arrived. Prince Thufi's fleet remains unable to render assistance, and
we are as of yet unable to locate the Federation base."

"One damned planet, and we can't even control it." Bt'razin's voice
emulator crackled as he threw down the PADD. "A hundred and ninety-one new
prisoners. We now have over two-thousand prisoners here, and no way of relocating
them for proper interrogation and confinement. How am I to run a camp like
this?!"

The aide shook off the rhetorical question with a clueless stare invisible
from behind his visor, before continuing on with his briefing. "You have also
received effects of a personal nature from your wife; which per your
instructions were taken directly to your quarters. Senior General Zrtze is on
secure line two, and requested you address him immediately after your morning
briefing, and our Hydran and T'Kith'kin liaisons have requested an audience for
this afternoon."

"Very well, you are dismissed adjunct." Bt'razin watched as the young man
bowed his head respectfully and made a quick, military style exit. He was a
good man with a solid head on his shoulders... and far too young never to lay
foot on the home world again. The fact he reminded Bt'razin of his own son
was the primary reason he'd elected to take him on as an assistant... to try
and keep him as safe as being on the front lines of a war zone would allow.

But now was not the time for errant thoughts of the comforts of home. One
didn't keep the Senior General of the Breen Confederacy's Naval Infantry Corps
waiting without a damned good reason. His morning briefing over, it was
time to turn his attention to the matter at hand. "Communications, transfer
secure line two to my office."

There was a mechanical sounding affirmative from a general vocalizer before
the unsuited face of his superior appeared on the view screen behind his
desk. "General Bt'razin, what is the status of your regiment?"

The direct 'all business' approach didn't even cause Bt'razin to flinch.
Most species seemed to have a predisposition to trading empty greetings and
hollow pleasantries prior to engaging in the intended activity. He knew by
experience that the Cardassians did, and Humans were reported to be among the
worst in expecting a conversation prior to 'the' conversation, but the Breen did
not suffer from such social defects. There's was a society that was very
much to the point... time for socializing and recreation was reserved
specifically for 'after' one's duties had been attended to, and only after 'all'
duties had been attended to.

"The regiment is at prescribed strength of 4,000, however I have detached
almost half of my men to the 34th regiment. My reports indicate they arrived
yesterday. I maintain a force of 3 battalions, 2,400 in total, for security
of the camp and to mind the prisoners. We have the prescribed supporting
equipment."

"Good." Came the matter of fact reply. "Then you have sufficient means to
handle these new orders. The Supreme Commander feels that harboring
prisoners so close to enemy lines presents an unnecessary risk to our personnel. The
Federation and it's allies have demonstrated a fanatical drive to recover
those countrymen of theirs whom we capture. Even though it's a highly
illogical practice to rescue those least worthy of the effort, they have proven they
will do so. The battle of Deep Space 5 and the loss of our allies'
facilities on Altroth III have demonstrated that they will spend exhaustive amounts of
resources in doing so. They retain the ability to do considerable damage...
many of our soldiers and those of our allies have been killed because of a
soft prisoner policy." The Senior General folded his aqua colored fingers
together. "The information yielded is insufficient to justify the risk in
maintaining prisoners, at least on the front line. As we are unable to risk
sending a transport, even under escort, to your location, you are hereby ordered
to begin liquidating your prisoner population over the next 10 days. From
this point forward the policy of holding prisoners is abolished. No quarter is
to be given to enemy soldiers, nor to those who would dishonor themselves
through surrender. Do I make myself clear?"

Bt'razin nodded. It may not have been a lawful order by the Terran-centric
rules which had propagated to the point of being controlling precedent in
Galactic warfare, but then again the rules of 'conduct' and 'fairness' in combat
the Federation purportedly fought for was anathema to the cold and
calculating Breen. In Bt'razin's eyes, likely the same view as his commander's, it
was a clear and simple question of a cost-benefit analysis. If Starfleet
officers weren't always so meddlesome in trying to escape or trying to free
others, then there wouldn't have been a need to spend exorbitant resources defe
nding prisoners... resources that were better used on the front lines. If there
were no prisoners, then there would be no reason for Starfleet to strike so
deeply, and they would simply stop doing it in favor of defending their own
territory. "Yes, general."

"Furthermore there will be minimal records retained regarding these orders."
Zrtze continued. "We do not need to strengthen the resolve of our enemies
by making this activity known. You will provide us with records of your
liquidation progress, but you will not retain any such information on file.
Understood?"

"Yes general."

"Excellent. Continue to serve our people as honorably as you have been,
General. Command out."

Bt'razin sat back in his chair. 2,286 was the exact number of prisoners
they currently had on hand. Mathematically that meant they would have to kill,
on average, 228.6 prisoners a day to make their goal of total liquidation in
10 days. 9.525 prisoners per hour given the planet's faster 24 hour cycle.
They might as well start with the weakest ones... the strongest could still
be worked to guarantee his men were safe, and in the end theirs was the only
safety which concerned him. He'd be damned if he had to write letters to the
loved ones of those under his command who were lost to serve the petty Terran
values of compassion in combat. "Adjutant, assemble the men to be
addressed."