Rising Phoenix Gaming

Parry had glanced back just as Q vanished the Captain and as the interplay went on between the Being and the first officer had stared open mouthed at the space her commander had just occupied. Once Cmdr Chen started issuing orders and sat in the captains chair, Parry with a last look at the new acting captain turned back to her own panels and prepared to act if ordered. Romulans, a mirror universe, Q, and now an untried captain... oh boy!

"Yes Captain" She turns on her heel and heads straight back to the lift, stepping inside and as soon as the door closed "Sickbay" She absently rubbed her hand again, the pain still very much present in the forefront of her mind. WHo was this telepath? What were they seeking? What would have happened had she not been able to push back? She stepped out of the lift and headed straight for surgery. Yes, she had wanted to take over some day soon, but not right in the middle of a surgical procedure!

Ellie closed her eyes briefly - mostly to keep from rolling them at an omnipotent being that probably knew exactly what she was doing, but effort counted, right? It’s still more people home than here, though how I explain why I’m leading the ship now to the Romulans should get. . .interesting. “Go, Commander,” she said, motioning to Anoh. “Make sure our refugees are taken care of and, when you can, ask them about telepaths that were present on the Archimedes. Lt. Jelal, make a list of every member of the crew with telepathic capabilities and send it to my console." She very nearly sat back down in the XO's chair, but correct course almost immediately and moved over to the captain's seat - this wasn't anywhere near how she envisioned getting her first command, but she wasn't going to shirk the responsibility or give her crew any more reasons to worry. Alternate realities, Q, Romulans, and a rogue telepath were more than enough, thank you.

Saidi sighed, clenching her teeth hard enough to make tendons stand out on her neck. “I recall some of the Bloodwing’s history. Thank you for that, Lt.” Her exasperation at Anoh’s declaration further colored her expression as Saidi growled, “I’m guessing you have no further information than ‘rogue telepath’?” “Yes, Captain.” “Then let me deal with the Romulans, and we can figure out who this is and the level of danger they represent,” Saidi started, only to have Q sigh heavily. “I see where this is going,” he grumbled, “and it’s boring. You’re no Picard. You’re definitely no Janeway.” He waved his hands and the Captain disappeared. He nodded and turned to Ellie. “There. You’re welcome.” Ellie started and stared at Q for a moment before snapping indignantly, “Bring her back. That was just rude. Where did you send her?” “She’s at Starfleet Headquarters, about to be buried in the kind of paperwork Picard used to moan about privately.” Q smirked a little. “Don’t be so angry. Well, I guess you can be angry if you want, but don’t you think it sets a bad precedent for your crew, Captain?” Ellie regarded him for another moment, her face falling into a more neutral expression. “That’s one crewmember home, then. I don’t suppose you’d send the rest of us back now?” Q’s expression went sardonic. “Yes, yes, it’s all, ‘no, not Q!’ until I can do something for you. But you do have a point. The new captain should pick her command crew.” There was a long beat that started to feel anticlimactic, then Anoh’s communicator chirped. Ijen’s voice remained calm despite his dire news. “Doctor, Dr. Bain just disappeared in the middle of surgery. The EMH has stepped in, but I’d appreciate you returning to sickbay please.”

As soon as the Romulan Commander dropped off the screen Parker turned to the Captain, "Captain, that ship, is an upgraded version of the V-8 or vas'Hatham class. they served during the latter part of the 23rd and early 24th century in our space-time. According to these scans the technology is about seventy years behind what we are used too. But this ship is showing to be less than that age. But even so, our shields and weaponry should be more than a match. On another note the name Bloodwing is a common enough name for Romulan ships, but the only V-8 I can recall with that name was a particularly storied one, from the 2270's," she grinned. "That particular ship in our space time was under the command of a very cunning female commander who had several encounters with the USS Enterprise, under Captain James Kirk."

"That all depends on your point of view Captain" She purposely steps away from Q, doing her utmost best to ignore him, as loud and obnoxious as he was. "This poses an internal threat, the security of the ship is at risk with a rogue telepath on board"

As the left opened, letting Dr. Anoh hear the Roluman commander’s dire statement, a heavy silence fell on the bridge. After a beat, Q murmured, “Uh ooooh.” Capt. Saidi shot him a murderous glare. Q gave her a wink and the human turned back to the screen, her face flushed and rage suffusing her features. “Thank you for that information,” she said. “We are not looking to create conflict. However, we seem to be very lost. We need to move through your territory to find answers. Will this be allowed without conflict?” “Hold your position,” Decius ordered and disappeared from the screen. Saidi inhaled and visibly forced herself to calm. Ignoring Q, she turned to the newcomer to the bridge and said, “Why are you here, Doctor?” “I need to inform you about a problem, Captain,” Dr. Anoh said, shooting a glance at Q. “Why, yes, you do,” the irritating, god-like being purred at her, appearing just behind the doctor’s shoulder. “And you can’t find it, can you?” “Is it more or less likely to get the ship blown up than the Romulan bird-of-prey off our bow?” Saidi asked her doctor with a hint of heat in her voice.

Anoh was in the medical bay, moving about with ease and swiftness as she directed the other medical staff to where it was needed. She would check over with the Chief Officer every now and then, and continue on her way. SHe seemed, calm, at ease, and totally in her element as she waited The calm of the Sickbay was shattered by the arrival of the refugees. One of them was in pain, chemical burns distorting the humanoid's features to the point that Anoh wasn't sure what their species was. His pained cries added a current of horror to the chatter of the displaced people. The babble of their minds followed them. She and Komas got the group divided into twos, and Komas started to triage the other group. Anoh took stock of the regufees she'd taken. "I've never been on a Federation ship before! Look at his tricorder! If only I'd had this kind of tech in our lab!" a male Antaran gushed, far more interested in the panels and technology than in letting anyone check him for injuries. A female of the same species clung to his arm and giggled. A Klingon stood with his back against the wall, arms crossed as he scowled at the entire room. A human man was slowly peeling off an antiquated environmental suit, blood oozing down his face. A human woman in an environemental suit that she wasn't removing. An unconscious Cardassian in a mechnized suit. Anoh frowns a little to herself as she looks over the group infront of her. She delegates the ones who do not have physical injuries, at this stage, to some of the other officers under her command, being very careful about the one she chooses to speak to the Klingon. Clearly it needed to be someone with some familiarity with the species. She gets one of the more, firmer, medical staff yo deal with the two Antarans, calling over one of the security officers to help keep them away from the equipment, hoping that it doesnt result in an unwanted altercation. Anoh moves the the man with the oozing head wound, running the tricorder over him quickly to assess the extent of the damage. "I'm Commander Idrudor, can you tell me what happened?" "I'm not sure how or why. Dav-" His voice caught and he said, "One of my friends died." "I'm so sorry," Anoh said gently, his sorrow washing over her like a flood. "What's your name?" "Oh, sorry, Simon. I'm Dr. Simon River." He managed a polite smile that Anoh noted would likely be very nice if not mutated by pain. "I'm glad to meet you, Dr. River," she said, helping him lay back. When she touched him, the feeling of sorrow mixed with flashes of an older man, the taste of a strong, unfamiliar alcohol, and the slap of shuffling cards. There was a sense of comradarie, the spark of shared intellectual excitement, and a feeling of many pleasurable hours. She quietly ignored them. "Do you know how you hit your head?" "No," he said softly, blinking up at the lights overhead. "I think when we dropped out of warp, the inertial dampners failed for a moment. To be honest, all I really remember was working on ICON, then I woke up on the floor, hurting." He snorted gently. "At least when the Origin crashed, I didn't get hurt." Anoh listens as she works to stem the bleeding and to relieve the pain Dr Rivers seemed to be in, using her extra senses to her advantage if he was hiding any pain anywhere when she checked him over "It is good that we were nearby then. How well do you know those you travelled with?" She'd gesture gently to the Antarans running around, and then the Klingon by the wall. "It is quite a mix of different species for certain" "I really only knew David well," Simon said with only a slight hitch to his voice. "The others I'd seen around the ship -- the Klingon kept to himself, and was breeding an animal of some kind. The Antarans and Joy -- I didn't know her well." He took another glance at the unconscious Cardassian. "Everyone knew Tal'Vykk though. I hope she's going to be okay." "We're taking good care of her, along with everyone else that comes through" She pulls over a tray and loads up an injector "This will help with the pain, and your head wound will start to mend as well. You do have a concussion so just lay here for a while. I'll get someone to check on you every now and then. If anything gets worse, please say something. We cannot help if you keep quiet" She gives the inkection into his neck and waits for a few moments "Yes, that's better," Simon murmured after a moment, his eyes drifting shut. "Now I want a nap." "You can," Anoh told him with a smile. "The medbed will alert us if there's a problem." "Okay," he mumbled, his breathing starting to deepen. Dr. Bain had returned with the wounded bridge officer; the man was now resting in one of the beds. "I've started the EMH," he told Anoh without preamble. He nodded across the room to where the holographic program bent over an injured crewmember. "I may need to clear using one of the holodecks as a temporary medbay if we get too many more injuried. How are our newcomers doing?" As Anoh opened her mouth to respond, a mind brushed over hers, probing her defenses. The touch on her mind receeded as she became aware of it, but Anoh followed it, trying to find the source. Her control, never rock solid under stress, slipped as she sought the intrudor. --[[grief]] David.-- --[[hunting]]better person to latch onto? Too bad the Feds have sticks up their asses-- --[[focus]] slip up, this patient needs your attention-- --[[PAIN]]-- Anoh jerked away from the well of agony. It acted as a wall, and trying to breach that mind would be like putting her hand into a blender. She pushed once again, knowing the pain to be only temporary-- --[[PAIN needles chemicals]] lab rat lab rat lab rat HIDE he'll get you again labrat labratlabratlabrat -- She returned to awareness lying on the floor, Nurse Ijen kneeling next to her, his stoic expression showing hints of worry as he scaned her. Dr. Bain joined him, asking, "Dr. Anoh? What happened?" Something had just happened to her, but the memory of what, if anything, she'd found beyond that mental wall was gone. Or perhaps just buried, but not available right now. She sat up slowly, one hand on the side of her head, her black eyes scanning the room. "Theres, a telepath here. They tried to get in my head" She inspects her hand, making sure the pain was just in her head and not actually real, even though it felt so real/ "They need to be found, had they gone for another, I do not know if they could have pushed them away" Dr. Bain helped her stand. "Can you find them? I think you're the one person here with telepathy." He glanced around the room, his brown eyes suspicious. "I tried to trace it back and got nothing but pain, I suspect thats why I ended up on the floor. I can try again, but not here. Its too busy" She runs tthe hand that was on her head through her hair and then fixes her uniform "I think I had better inform the Captain too" Dr. Bain nodded. "You're released to go report to her. I can handle things here." She noded back "Ill come back and assist as soon as we get this figured out" She heads out of the medical bay, rubbing her hand absently as she heads for the lift, stepping in "Bridge"

Parker kept her chair forward and her eyes on her readouts, Q was an entity they had all been briefed on at the academy to say she wasn’t scared would have been a lie but she wasn’t about to show, and who the hell was Wesley Crusher? As Q moved on to the next person it wanted to torment Parker kept alert and ready to react at a moments notice. With half an ear she kept listening the byplay between the captain and the Q but when Horvat announced that they were within hailing range of the cloaked vessel she turned all her faculties to the task at hand. Parker silently curse... why the hell couldn't I have been wrong. Bloodwing, Romulan bird of prey, She searched her memory for anything she could about history and any ships she could remember by that name...

“Do it,” Saidi said tersely to her science officer, glancing back at Lt. Jelal to be clear she meant for her to follow the suggestion she’d just made. As they waited and drifted behind the corpse of the Archimedes, shields came back, and the warp engine stood on standby, ready for action again. “Captain, three minutes to hailing range with the cloaked ship, and the last of the shuttles are aboard,” Lt. Horvat said crisply, her eyes as locked on her readouts as Jelal was, and no doubt for the same reason. Q disappeared from next to Saidi and reappeared by the tactical officer, making Horvat flush and jump. She looked up and met Q’s eyes, attempting a tentative smile. He locked gazes with her and stared as she grew redder by the second. “Mediocre,” he finally said. “Mediocre thoughts and being.” As Horvat recoiled from the harsh words, Saidi spun and snapped at him, “Harass me if you wish, but my crew is off limits!” “Or what?” he asked with a querulous tone in his voice. Horvat did her best to ignore him now while not touching him as he stood well within her work area. “If I choose to turn every member of your crew into frogs, what could you possibly do to stop me?” Saidi ground her teeth. “As captain, I am the one you should be focusing your ire on, Q. Leave my people alone.” A ‘please’ may have helped, but Saidi didn’t seem capable of uttering the word, and Q started smirking. “Or perhaps I should snap you away and make Ellie captain.” The doors to the turbolift had just swished open and for a heartbeat Ellie just stared into the bridge. Gathering her wits - and her patience - she stepped onto the bridge and took up her position next to her captain. Horvat’s voice shook as she reported in the wake of that threat, but she persisted. “Hailing range with the unknown ship, Captain!” Saidi turned her back on Q and said, “Raise shields, yellow alert, just in case these are hostile Romulans. Open the channel, Lieutenant.” their captain ordered. Her voice was terser than normal, thanks to Q’s presence, but she managed to sound neutral instead of hostile. “Greetings to the approaching ship. I am Captain Mei Saidi of the Federation ship the USS Odyssey. Through unknown causes, we find ourselves in your space. It was not our intent to trespass. Our mission is to explore the galaxy, advancing the frontiers of knowledge. We’d welcome open communication with your people.” There was a long silence before the screen flickered to black, then to an image of a Romulan officer. “I am Commander Decius of the Romulan Bird-of-Prey Bloodwing. You are trespassing in our space.” “We understand, but we didn’t intend trespass.” Saidi had leveled her tone out, falling into the calmer “let’s all be reasonable” tone. “We encountered an anomaly. If you direct us to Federation space, we will peacefully leave your borders.” “We do not share a border with your Federation.” Decius tilted his head slightly and the next words came out as accusation. “In fact, we have never heard of this ‘Federation’.”

Anri tried very hard not to stare. Her briefing on the Q had not been extensive, as the entity's interactions with Starfleet were exceedingly rare, and...it was a complicated and mercurial being that resisted easy explanation. Even so, as she nailed her eyes to her console panel, Lt Jelal found herself running over recorded incidents. The Q entity seemed drawn to certain personalities, or notable events. Though that last was complicated in how 'notable events' often seemed to occur because of its involvement, rather than any predictable objective causality. But there was a pattern. It appeared most often to ships and crews in...unusual situations. Those moments when Starfleet was truly brushing up against the unknown, as the Enterprise so often had...or Deep Space Nine, with its proximity to the stable wormhole. So...it was probably true then, she thought dully. Some kind of phase transition to a parallel universe was the kind of thing that would attract the Q's attention. The energy release had seemed too small, but if it had been focused properly somehow. Directed. Maybe it hadn't been an accident? "Captain," she said, forcing neutral professionalism into her voice and very intentionally refraining from turning around to where she might see the entity directly, "I'd like to recommend we set highest priority on damage control for our sensors. A violent transition through subspace should leave a distortion...like a boat's wake, kind of. If our sensors were at full effectiveness, that wake would be a huge help in working out the math for a return trip." Anri grimaced slightly and added, "But it's time sensitive. The distortions will smooth out and get harder to detect and interpret. We need to get our eyes and ears open before that happens."

“Good work, Lieutenant,” Capt. Saidi replied, giving Parker a nod. As the helmswoman silently basked in rare praise from her commanding officer, the captain stood and paced forward, eyes on the screen. “Tactical display on the mainscreen,” Saidi ordered after a second of staring at normal space before the ship. The screen shifted to a map that marked the pieces of the Archimedes, the shuttles, and their creeping contact. Intercept projections hovered next to each point on the board. There was no warning, other than a sense that someone was suddenly standing at Parker’s elbow. “You know,” a deep masculine voice said beside Parker, “you share a haircut with Wesley Crusher, but I do think you fly better than he did.” Everyone on the bridge jumped as Q stood among them with no warning. “Q?” Saidi said, her expression showing a bare second of stark terror before her stern mask snapped into place. “What are you doing here? Are you responsible for this?” Q looked affronted, pressing his fingers to his chest. “Moi? What’s the fun in pulling a second-rate ship run by a third-rate captain into a mess like this? There are far more interesting crews to put in this situation. No, this is your fault.” “And you’re not going to help.” Saidi didn’t bother making it a question. “Why should I?” Q asked. “Then leave. I don’t have time for your antics,” Saidi remarked sharply, turning to face the screen. The effort it took to remove her eyes from the dangerous being barely showed in her rigid frame. “No, I suppose you don’t,” Q remarked, stepping forward to hover at her shoulder, invading her space and causing the muscles in her jaw to tighten. After a moment, he whispered something, his voice pitched for the captain’s ears alone. Saidi made no response, but her chin rose in quiet defiance. Turning to the watching bridge crew, Q said, “Anyone care to lay bets on your odds? I’m starting a deadpool. I may even send the winner home.”

Ellie nodded to her captain and made a beeline for the turbolift. She was already contacting the pilot-rated crewmates currently off-duty to assist her in recovering the shuttles as the doors closed. The half-dozen rudely awakened officers assembled in the transporter room in record time - a testament to already having been woken up by the jarring of the ship than to lightspeed prep, Ellie thought. The beam-outs were quick and luckily the shuttles were in good repair, just lacking the subspace connection to the main ship to guide them back in automatically. Ellie waited for the ships to return, monitoring them on the console in the shuttlebay. The quiet of the space felt like a reprieve from the bridge. Reports came in from the shuttles, marking their steady progress. One of them reported that their engines weren’t responding correctly, and Ellie waited for the pilot to determine if they could get the shuttle back or-- “What are you doing here?” The querulous voice behind her came with no warning. Ellie started and turned, her mind whirling about who could possibly be on the shuttle with her. Identifying the intruder was not helpful. “Q?” “No, you don’t get to blame me for this one,” Q said quickly. “This is a… human-thing.” “I. . .hadn’t thought of blaming you yet, though I probably would have gotten there,” Ellie said truthfully, her mind tumbling through possibilities at the moment. Q wasn’t known to lie - exaggerate, bluster, and be an ass, but not lie. “I’m assuming you mean in this universe and not on a shuttle.” Damn, Ellie thought to herself, this probably means Jelal is right. “I don’t suppose you feel up to moving us back home?” Q also wasn’t known for making things easy, but it was worth a shot. “Universe? Oh, you humans and almost-humans!” Q gave her an indulgent smile and dropped into the co-pilots seat. Without looking, he tapped a few buttons and Ellie’s console went dark. “So provincial!” Ellie mostly resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the impish delight on Q’s face in giving her a mild impediment to getting the shuttle back to bay. Instead of simply turning her console back on, she leaned over into his personal space and set up the return flight sequence from the co-pilot’s console. It didn’t actually register that attempting to annoy and invade the personal space of being like Q might have a direct impact on her life-expectancy - this was just what she did when someone was an annoying ass. “Timeline, then?” she offered blandly. “Parallel dimension?” “I’m not going to ruin your fun,” Q told her, completely unphased by her invasion. If anything, he seemed bemused. “You can figure it out for yourself. You do claim to be such clever little creatures after all.” “So, you’re just here to spectate?” Ellie asked without much judgement in her voice - this was pretty spot-on for the being that had semi-regularly harassed her childhood home. “You should at least make yourself popcorn, then.” “With bar-bee-que and ranch topping?” he asked with that knowing smile that had made more than one Starfleet officer want to forgo pacifism long enough for a punch. She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance - she’d been seven and most seven year olds liked at least one weird thing. Hers had been topping flavors on popcorn when she and her mom would watch old style movies on the holodeck. “Sure,” she said drolly, not giving him the satisfaction of more of a reaction. “Knock yourself out.” Please, she mentally snarked in amusement to herself. He smiled as if he knew her thoughts, which he was probably reading for his irritating amusement. “What do you think of Mei Saidi?” Q’s gaze bored into her as he asked, “Do you think she has the gusto to save you from this crisis? Is she built of the same stuff as the great captains of Starfleet? I’m thinking of starting a betting pool.” His smile slipped from irritating to menacing. “A deadpool, if you will.” “Then put me down for getting home,” she said deadpan. “She’s a good captain with a good ship and an excellent crew. We’ll figure it out.” It wasn’t careless optimism, she knew there was a good chance they weren’t going to get home, but hell if she was going to bet against herself or the Odyssey. Especially with someone like Q. “Oh, yes, wave the old fleet flag,” he told her with irritation. “Hide behind the egotism of patriotism and deny reality. We’ll talk again when you’re ready to face the truth.” With a flash, he was gone.

"Aye, captain." Parker took further readings on the emissions from Archimedes, then made some adjustments of her own. "With the fact that anyone can see we took damage from the Archimedes event, I've put a hesitation in our thrusters to make the intermittent firing look like we are more damaged than we are. With the warp drive offline I've reduced Impulse to standby That should make It look like the emissions Archimedes are causing us to drift with the subspace currents she creating," Parker explained. "With impulse on standby I can still get us moving on your order."

Captain Saidi nodded to Cmd. Chen. “Do we have time to get them back before the Romulans close?” “Yes, sir,” Chen said, as she compared Jalel’s information with the shuttles. “Plenty of time.” “Then recover those shuttles before the Romulans decide to claim salvage rights or pull some other crap.” Saidi frowned at Parker. “How sure are you of the alternate timeline theory?” “It’s the only one that fits the data, sir,” Parker told her. “Lt. Jalel, keep searching for alternatives,” Saidi ordered, the muscles in her jaw clenching. “Lt. Parker, I want you to keep the Archimedes between us and the Romulans for as long as possible without looking like that’s what you’re doing.”

Lt Jelal frowned at that and shook her head as she switched to a less damaged workstation and called up her control scheme. A fairly big chunk of the ship's sensor arrays were offline, but the remainder could still form a decently sized phased array... "Something like that should release a lot more energy than the Archimedes just did," she said. "There may be other explanations for the artifacts in our starfield. A lot of the sensors are damaged..." Her eyes narrowed. "The Archimedes emitted a very strong shockwave that propagated through subspace. It hit the various subspace fields we use like a brick wall...that's where most of this damage came from. That might explain why the shuttles are in better shape...they don't use nearly as much subspace tech, or as powerful. Annnnd...it's also why comms are down right now. The distortions are still fluctuating all around us. It's like trying to shout in a thunderstorm." "It's almost like something on board exploded, but only in subspace." Then Anri caught something. Subspace was ringing like a gong, rippling wildly in unpredictable ways. But in those ripples, there was something unusual. It was refracting, as if interacting with something...but there wasn't anything there to interact with. She switched over to electromagnetic scans...and it was there, knowing exactly where to look, that she spotted a faint anomaly. It should have been impossible but Lt Jelal wasn't going to let a little thing like that hold her up. "Captain, I have a sensor contact at mark zero-one-four, minus ten," she said loudly, looking over at her commanding officer. "A faint electromagnetic distortion consistent with obsolete...Romulan cloaking technology, along with a subspace anomaly that could be a shielded warp core. It's currently on an intercept course at a low relative speed."

While the science officer had been giving her report, Parker had noticed that Ensign Lonis had begun a navigation diagnostic. Parker quickly brought the results up onto her own display and furrowed her brow at what it said. She verified the results and was about to inform the captain when Lt Horvat mentioned not being able to raise Star Fleet Command. Parker quetly typed a seris of command and ran an additional navigation scan. When it was done she was still baffled there was only one other thing it could be... "Captain, Ensign Lonis ran a navigational scan and diagnostic before I relieved him, It showed that we were still at our proscribed position but could only verify it at ninety percent." She swiveled her chair around to face the captain. "Scans show that while we seem to be in the right place several stars are missing and additionally there are also several unknown stars in the region. I had the computer do a chronological diagnostic to verify that we were in the right time, as that was my first guess but again the computer says we are in the correct time." She glances from the captain to the first officer and then to Lt Jelal. "The only other thing I can think of to account for something like that, is we were hit by an inter-phase and it shifted us to an alternate universe"

"Perhaps some sort of interference from whatever it was that came from the Archimedes," Chen posited. She made her way over to her XO console, performing a sensor sweep of the listing shuttles. "Can we pull the shuttles in with a wide-beam tractor beam?" "No, sir," Horvat said, wincing a little at more bad news. "They're spread too far apart from one another and the Odyssey. We'd have to move in closer to the wreckage." ". . . and let's avoid that unless absolutely necessary," Chen agreed. Her console chirped at her as the sensor sweep finished. "It looks like the shuttles are just dazed, not completely out of commission. And most importantly, their life support systems are functioning just fine. Captain, permission send out enough pilots to gather up the shuttles?" They were in an emergency, but there would be extraneous personnel the XO could call on, and losing shuttlecrafts was rather frowned upon.

Lt. Jalel pulled herself up from where she’d been half-tossed from her chair, looking at her console. It was a smoking mess, so she moved to the secondary screen and rerouted scientific functions through that. “Warp is offline, our shields are down,” she started, rapidly reading through the information the Odyssey’s computer was spitting at her. “Structural integrity at eighty percent. Life Support is on secondary systems on decks nine and ten. Systemwide computer disruptions all across the ship. Repair teams are responding.” “Casualties?” Saidi barked. “So far two reported.” Jalel pinched her lips together to force down the surge of emotions at that number. “There are over a dozen injuries, three criticals.” The doors to the bridge hissed open and the Burn Team stepped out. Lt. Ijen and Dr. Bain immediately went to the injured crewman. His replacement, already in place, kept casting quick looks at her injured crewmate. “Lt. Horvat!” Captain Saidi snapped, and the replacement tactical officer snapped to attention, her sepia-toned cheeks turning darker at the rebuke in the Captain’s tone. “Tactical assessment.” “Weapons were in standby when the… event happened,” Horvat stammered, her voice slowly settling. “They are functional. Engineering estimates we’ll have shields back in four minutes. The shuttles are listing and not responding to queries from the Odyssey’s computer. The Archimedes is breaking up; she'll be a collison threat in an hour or so, and sooner for the shuttles.” Chen and Parker’s arrival came just as her console beeped, and Horvat said, “Sir, we can’t connect with Star Fleet’s subspace array.” “Why?” Saidi asked, as Chen and Parker took their seats. Horvat looked at Jalel, who said, “Running diagnostic on communications.” A moment later: “Diagnostic normal. The computer indicates that the problem is external to us.” “I’m off to the bridge,” Bain said, gesturing for Ijen to follow. The nurse grabbed a burn kit and followed. Komas glanced at Anoh. “Well, doctor?” he asked, holding out his wrist. Anoh grabbed a medical tricorder and scanned the arm. “Definitely broken,” she said, getting the osteogenic stimulator out of its cabinet. She applied the tool for a moment as the silence stretched. Finally, Komas asked in his awkward way, “So, do you know what happened?” His tone suggested that she should know, even if he didn’t.

Parker followed Cmdr Chen silently, nothing like an emergency to get the blood pumping. When they arrived on the bridge there was a mild scene of chaos, the medics were treating the tactical officer for burns and damage reports were coming in from all over the ship. Parker moved to the conn station and took over. Her eyes noted current settings and the readings her own screens where showing her. Her fingers played across the L-Cars, engine status, shields,... weapons. She input three different evasive maneuvers in anticipation of the captains order "Holding position Captain, but we are still awfully close to whatever that is over there."

The jerk of the ship sent Ellie tumbling to her left, but she was able to stand up quickly. Many others in the transporter room were not so fortunate. She did as good a visual triage of the situation as she could: several injuries and the Cardassian was unconscious. She pressed her combadge and after the small chirp called out, "Medical team to the Transporter room, we've got injuries and one unresponsive rescuee." "Lt. Tharn," she said, picking out one of the pilots that had more than minimal medical training, "supervise here until the medical team arrives. Everyone else, assist Tharn as needed, then return to your duty stations one the medical team releases you. Lt. Parker, with me to the bridge." With that she made her way out of the transporter room and to the nearest turbolift, trusting her subordinates to follow through on their orders and do the best they could.

Capt. Saidi considered Chen’s suggestion for a moment, and Lt. Jalel didn’t have a better idea at the moment. “Very well. Cmd. Chen, take the shuttles, and enact that plan.” She glanced at Perry. “Take our best pilots. I want to stack the deck so we come home safe.” “Yes, captain,” Chen said, rising and heading for the turbolift. She waved for Perry to join her, and the two women boarded and headed for the shuttlebay. Perry’s relief slipped into the chair as they left. Saidi turned to Jalel and ordered, “Lieutenant Jalel, calculate the best formation for success of Cmd. Chen’s plan; try to keep our crews in transporter range, if possible. Keep the Odyssey at a safe distance, but not too safe -- I want to be able to assist the shuttles as necessary.” “Yes, sir!” Jalel said and dug into the calculations. Once done, she sent them to the shuttles’ crews. On the viewscreen, the Odyssey’s remaining bridge crew watched the shuttles maneuver to a rough circle around the beleaguered craft. “Amplifiers on, Captain,” Chen noted over the comms. “We can lock onto survivors, and we’re starting transportations to the shuttle.” Jalel, monitoring the operation through her station, noted strange readings building on the dying ship. Frowning, she reported, “Captain, we have rising levels of tachyons, gravitons, and other particles unknown.” “Are the rescue teams in danger?” Saidi asked. “Unknown.” Jalel looked at her commanding officer, frustrated that she couldn’t offer more concrete information for her. “The particles aren’t dangerous in and of themselves, but their effects and interactions could be. I’d have to study before--” “Source?” “Definitely coming from the Archimedes, sir.” “Cmd. Chen, we’re getting concerning readings here, so end operations and return to the Odyssey,” Saidi coolly ordered. “Aye, Captain,” Chen replied, only a hint of frustration in her voice. “How many have you rescued?” Saidi asked. “Ten between the shuttles, sir.” Chen remained professional, but her desire to do more rang in her voice. When she spoke again, she was clearly excited: “Just got lock on another!” “Hurry up, Commander,” Saidi said, and started to add something when Jalel spotted something. “SIr, there is a growing energy field on the Archimedes, and it is rapidly expanding!” she called out. “It’ll engulf the shuttles in thirty seconds and the Odyssey in forty-five!” Saidi hit her badge. “Captain to transporter, get everyone in the shuttles back to the Odyssey, now! Captain to all crew, brace for impact.” “Energizing,” Ensign Choul replied smartly, then added, “I have ten of them sir, getting the remaining now.” On the view screen, the energy wave wasn’t visible but the distortion in visual space was. The bridge crew watched as it swept through the shuttles, making them ripple and start to list. “Sir, I have them!” Choul stated, and Saidi turned to helm, “Get us--” The wave swept over the Odyssey, and the ship bucked under their feet. Bridge crew grabbed for consoles and seat arms, while the ship’s systems threw out nonsense for a few seconds. Light, painfully bright, swept over them, leaving a purple haze. Consoles shorted and sparked. When the wave had passed, the bridge crew found themselves blinking at one another -- except the tactical officer, who was nursing burn wounds to his face and neck. Smoke hung in the air as the life support system attempted to clear the air. “All stations, report,” Saidi said hoarsely and tapped her badge. “Dr. Bain, burn team to the bridge.” Sickbay was fine one second; the next, the floor was shaking under their feet. Dr. Bain yelped and went down, while Lt. Ijen remained silent as he was thrown across an empty exam table. As everyone pulled themselves back up, Bain waved away hanging smoke and coughed, “Well, I think we’re about to have a lot more injuries than expected.” The door opened and Lt. Komas entered, holding his wrist. The Hekaran nurse said dryly, “I think I’ve broken my wrist. Don’t suppose I could receive treatment before we get swamped?” At the same time, Bain’s communicator chirped as Saidi ordered the burn team to the bridge. In the transporter room, Chen and Parker had just materialized when the ship moved under them. The inertial dampeners recovered quickly, but not before everyone but Choul was knocked to the floor. In addition to the eight Fleet personnel who had been manning the shuttles, there were eleven survivors, including a Klingon, a Cardassian in an exo-suit, two Antarans, and a variety of other people on the floors. Only two wore suits of any kind, and only the two Antarans had oxygen masks.

First Impressions: Lieutenant Parker Perry Personal Log Stardate 75116.7193 Well, this has been a long day. I said my goodbyes to friends and crewmates on the Hotspur a little over six hours ago and reported to the Odyssey. I got my first really good up-close look at her as I made my way down the concourse. An Intrepid, Block II, she had all the upgrades from Voyager’s journey that had been cleared for fleet incorporation, so she was state of the art for a design that was fourteen years old. I paused when I got to a position where I could see the Primary hull, and the name. I had thought it wouldn’t affect me, that I wouldn’t have any thoughts, or feelings, but seeing it, stenciled there across the hull of a ship. Suddenly I was a little girl again, watching the only home I had ever know sailing away from DS9 with my dad on board, never to return. I wiped suddenly wet eyes and glanced around to make sure no one had seen. Pause log. ----------- ----------- Resume log. There was a line at the gangway, apparently the Odyssey was getting a lot of new crew for this mission. When it was my turn the duty officer barely gave me a glance, just gave me my quarters assignment, and commented that since I was senior staff the captain would want to see me as soon as I was settled. ---------------------- It wasn’t until Parker had entered the Turbolift that she realized the uniforms the crew were wearing and the one she was wearing were different. Subtle but different. Hotspur, her last ship, had been on deep space patrol for the last year and a half and must have missed an update. Not unusual, things like uniform updates tended to trickle out arriving to ships on the frontier months or in some cases even years late. Hotspur had docked just the day before, and she was greeted that evening with orders to report to Odyssey today. It never crossed her mind to check on uniform updates. And now it was to late, she was out of date, and on the way to meet her new captain. Ugh, first impressions, this sucks. “Enter” Captain Mei Saidi said firmly. She had been going over the file on her new flight officer, her third new officer to interview today, and one she had a slight connection to. The door slid open and the officer in question walk in and came to attention so sharply Saidi almost expected a salute to follow. The captain’s brow furrowed as she took in Lieutenant Parker Perry’s appearance, young, attractive, and out of uniform. “Lieutenant Parker Parry, reporting,” the young lieutenant said her eyes focused a good six inches above Saidi’s head just like they taught at the academy. Saidi let her stay at attention as she stood and straightened her tunic then walked around her desk to inspect the lieutenant up close. The officer didn’t flinch at her new captains’ approach, that didn’t go unnoticed and, while an older uniform, it was in tip top shape. “You are out of uniform Lieutenant.” “Yes ma’am.” “Why?” “I failed to check to see what the duty uniform was aboard the Odyssey before reporting ma’am.” Saidi, unseen by Parker nodded at the answer, then resumed her seat. “I understand Hotspur has been on deep space patrols, administrative memos tend to lag this far out. Make sure you update your uniforms when we are done here.” “Yes Ma’am,” Said Parker trying to keep the relief out of her voice. “At ease Lieutenant, I have been going over your record, your piloting skills seem to have impressed your last two captains and your academy record is impeccable. As far as flying goes. You switched from Science to Command your first year. You excelled at all aspects of flight training; however your other academics were not stellar. If you want to command your own ship someday, you’re going to have to be able to do more than fly Ms. Perry.” “Yes ma’am,” Parker winced inwardly, for the prophets sake she needed to say more than yes ma’am, “I was born on the Odyssey, captain, “ parker stammered at the look Cpt. Saidi gave her, “UH… not this Odyssey of course but…the last one…,’ She let it trail off. “Go on Lieutenant, please.” “I mean Star Fleet is a part of me Captain, from the first instant I took breath. I know I can do better, I will always strive to do better, I’ll probably stumble too, But If I do my best maybe I will command a starship one day, but right now I am honored to fly the Odyssey ma’am.” All that had just come out and Parker felt her cheeks redden at her audacity. “I see, Parker. I know your mother, she was one of the instructors at my last Command College refresher. And both Captain Colver and I served together as ensigns and we have kept in touch over the years. I trust their judgment. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Perry we have a lot to do and along mission ahead of us.”

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: COMMANDER CHEN Ellie waved her hand in front of the chime panel at exactly the moment she was due to be at the captain’s office. She’d be outside for a minute or two, but both of her parents had drilled into her that you didn’t bother a superior officer until exactly the time to do so. Punctuality was an ingrained trait at this point. “Come in,” she heard through the door and stepped smartly through the portal as the doors swished open. She stood straight, at attention, and said, “Commander Elontoya Chen, Captain. Reporting for duty.” “At ease, Commander,” the woman sitting behind the desk said as she set down a datapad. A swift glance under the guise of relaxing told Ellie that it was her own career history. Captain Saidi gave her a steady, discerning look. “You’re awfully young to be a commander, Ms. Chen. Most especially for someone of Vulcan heritage.” She paused, giving her subordinate officer room to explain. “I grew up on the Enterprise, ma’am. Always knew I wanted to serve. My father spoke a few times about sending me to Vulcan for education, but I excelled in the schooling he provided on-ship and completed the coursework before applying for admission into the academy.” She gave a small smile to the other woman, one made of childhood pride. “I’ve always been a fast learner, even compared to Vulcans.” “Fast in promotions as well. You’ve served well in the short time you’ve been an officer,” Saidi noted, then nodded to herself and stood. “I didn’t choose you, Commander Chen. You were assigned to me. That is not how I like to build a command crew, but I will say that your record is impressive.” The captain made her way around the desk, standing in front of Ellie and giving her one final searching gaze. “I expect a great deal from you, Commander Chen. This will not be some cushy assignment to wait out the minimum years for your promotion to Captain. You will work closely with the crew and ensure that they’re trained, prepared, and in top form while we’re out on our mission, starting with the patrol to Deep Space 6 and through the two years we’ll spend without immediate StarFleet back up. Understood?” Ellie pulled herself back up to an at attention stance and nodded. “Yes, sir!” “Dismissed, Commander.”

You only get one chance to make a first impression. In this special project, you should write out your first meeting with the captain of the Odyssey. Ideally, this was her mandatory “welcome aboard” meeting in her office, but if you’d prefer a less formal situation for your first meeting with her, go for it. Here’s a blurb about her: This meeting could be favorable to you, or unfavorable. You could make a good impression to start, or a bad impression to work off. Or you could write a wrong impression: perhaps you come off as stuck up because you were embarrassed or angry at someone else, or you were in an unusually good mood and now she thinks you’re more of a jokester than you are. This is your chance to define your early relationship with Cpt. Saidi; you get to tell me how she views your PC to start. After writing out the meeting, create an Advantage or Disadvantage based on your interaction with her. Feel free to come to me if you need help, but some suggestions are: Captain’s Pet Seen as Lax Disapproval of the Captain Captain’s New Project Catch me in Discord if you have questions.