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AlexV

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Posts posted by AlexV

  1. I've not been on for a while, but that should be changing. If you give us your @ handle (the bit that comes after the character name) then we can look for you in the search system and tag you :)

    For example, mine's @DellaVetri

  2. ((USS Avandar, Holodeck One))

    :: The afternoon had come quickly. A little too quickly for T’Lea’s liking. She could have used an entire twenty-four hours more to do what she needed to get done, which was basically procrastinate. But the time had come, and ready or not the gathering in the holodeck had begun.::

    :: With Gina and T’Sara in tow, T’Lea entered the staging area of what was to be… what the hell….?::

    :: She stopped cold as the doors opened to reveal the surface of Romulus.::

    :: The silken dark blue dress smoothed against her body as the tepid Romulan wind swept across the deck. T’Lea looked around at the scenery, more than at the people, just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She wasn’t. The architecture was distinctly Romulan, so was the foliage.::

    :: She was clearly disturbed.::

    :: She’d only been to Romulus once and as much as she had tried *not* to like it, and *not* to let it affect her emotionally, it had.::

    :: [...] it. Of all the times!::

    :: As if this gathering wasn’t going to be difficult enough for T’Lea to get through already. Now… now it was going to be… The word
    “impossible” disappeared from her mind when she caught Della’s smile. For T’Lea the Trill’s warm smile could heal a fatal wound.::

    :: From across the way, the hybrid reassured the Trill that this was okay with a soft smile of her own. In truth, she had bigger things on her mind than what it meant to stand on Romulus again. Then again, she thought, maybe this was just the perfect setting.::

    T’Sara: Wat dis?

    :: When T’Lea glanced down at the little girl who had reached for her hand, she raised a sober Vulcan brow, trying to keep her emotions out of her response.::

    T’Lea: This would be Romulus. It’s part of who you are.

    T’Sara: Wom-u-us.

    :: The little girl considered the landscape for a moment, and then considered the pointy-eared male in the group, and then finally her
    pointy-eared mother again.::

    T’Sara: Wom-u-us has sad?

    :: T’Lea glanced down at her little girl and gave her a forlorn smile and squeeze of her tiny hand. It was clear that the empathic child
    was picking up some unhappy vibes.::

    T’Lea: Yes. It is sad. Come on, let’s go say our greetings.

    :: T’Sara held up her free hand in a Vulcan greeting as she toddled alongside her mother.::

    T’Sara: Libs long an’ posburb.

    T’Lea: That is correct, little nug. Live long…

    :: T’Sara’s little feet hurried to keep up with her mother as they cross the grass. The hand she was holding kept her from taking a
    tumble, but her legs were getting quite a workout. Luckily, they’d stopped soon enough where the other grown-ups were gathered.::

    :: The child stuck her hand up in Vulcan greeting to the grown-ups, and was about to say something, but decided she was bored already and wandered over to a tree.::

    TBC

    --------------------
    Lt. Cmdr. T’Lea
    H&A Specialist
    USS Avandar

  3. Sadly, the monies are a bit of an issue for some of us :P

    Anyhoo, in the spirit of having a character for the fleet, here's the details :) It's a new one (LC11 atm) that's fleetless and ready to join up.

    Corsetto@DellaVetri

    I also have a KDF one, but don't tend to use it much and will have to look up the details for that one.

  4. A vague grunt was about all the response there was from the lump on the bed, whilst the computer's chirpy voice carrying on announcing the fact that it was another glorious day in San Francisco. When Delvia finally poked her dark-haired head out from under the covers, it was to glare at the panel on the wall that the digitised voice was coming from.

    "Computer," she croaked after a few moments, "why in the name of all that is holy are you waking me up in the middle of the night?"
    "As requested, your wake-up call was scheduled for 0800. The time is now 0806."
    "Like I said, the middle of the [...]ed night."
    Still, at least the stupid machine shut up, and she decided that since she was awake, she might as well drag herself out of bed. Shoving the covers aside, she began the laborious process of getting her green-skinned self up and moving. By the time she was sat up, her leg had decided that it would at least pretend to be cooperative enough for her to grab the cane she'd left by the bed and pushed herself to her feet. Taking a deep breath, like she'd done every morning for the last few years, she shuffled her way across the bedroom to get herself ready to face another day.
    By the time she emerged, still damp from the shower, and rolled her eyes when she heard the cheerful humming from the lounge. Clothes were already laid out on the now-made bed, and she moved over to start getting dressed with a total lack of concern for the fact that her bedroom door was open and she was wearing nothing but a grumpy expression.
    Not that there was any point in making anything of it, since when Brexx poked his bald blue head around the doorway, he looked at her with a total lack of appreciation for the sight that would likely have offended any Orion woman that gave a [...].
    "Breakfast's going to be ready in a few minutes." His voice matched his tone, warm and bright with the kind of enthusiasm that only came from really enjoying your job. "You want tea or coffee?"
    "Don't care, go away."
    Brexx shrugged and wandered away, leaving her to get herself more or less decent. A few minutes later, she settled herself onto her chair at the dining table, mouth watering at the gorgeous aromas wafting up from the plate that sat waiting for her. Picking up a fork, she started shovelling perfectly cooked eggs into her mouth as Brexx, over by the big computer and entertainment screen on the wall, called up the mail that had come for her since yesterday.
    "A lot of holiday stuff here," he called over his shoulder. "I'll leave that stuff for you to look over. Oh, something from the Ambassador and her wife..."
    That was a bit of a surprise. She tended not to get messages from the far depths of the Beta Quadrant, and she smiled to herself at the fact she'd gotten one now. Probably the result of incessant nagging from a third party, but she'd take it.
    "Aannd... One from your father."
    Delvia's smile slipped away as if it had never existed. "Delete it."
    "You sure?"
    "He had his chance when I was a kid. He doesn't get to try and make up for it now. Kill it, then disappear."
    The Bolian shrugged and did as he was told - at least the deleting part. Finished with the mail, he ambled over and stood by the table as she finished the last of the breakfast he'd made for her and washed it down with a slug of coffee. Quite why he put up with her surly attitude, she had no real idea. Since he was happily married to his husband, it wasn't because of that... and since she'd pretty much chased away the first two domestic helpers she'd been assigned after she got out of hospital, it wasn't because he was just doing his job.
    "Enjoy your food?"
    "No. It was foul."
    "Ah, yes... that would be the targ vomit garnish. I thought you'd enjoy that."
    And there it was, the reason she never actually meant it when she told him to go away. He gave her as much grief as he got, and did it with a sly grin that told her she knew exactly why she was acting the way she did and was quite content to play along if it kept her happy. It would just ruin the game they played if she actually acknowledged that, though, so she just sneered at him as she levered herself to her feet.
    It was the first step she took away from the table that killed her. As soon as she put weight on the biosynthetic replacement for her right leg, the thing gave way utterly, sending her plummeting to the ground with all the grace of a collapsing ruin. Her hand shot out to try and grab the table, her cane clattering away as she went for the chair as well - but Brexx was there, as ever, to save her. Before she'd dropped more than a few inches, he was right behind her, his arms wrapping around her chest to catch her and get her steady again.
    Keeping her stable, he hooked a foot under her cane and flipped it up so she could catch it and stab the end into the ground. Once her rebellious limb was behaving again, she straightened herself up and he let her go, stepping back just enough to give her some space. Drawing a shaky breath, she glared at her leg, then looked over her shoulder at the persistent pest that had been sicced on her by Starfleet's veteran's affairs service.
    "Thanks."
    The one word she uttered was so softly spoken that it was barely audible at all, and Brexx's answer was a solemn and serious nod and nothing more. That was the way it always went, every time he was there to literally catch her when she fell. It wasn't just the dry humour they shared. It was the way he just would not let her down.
    "Ready for your day?" he asked after a few moments, glossing over the last few minutes with practised ease.
    "Get lost, you bald, blue freak."
    "Excellent. Give Counselor Herris my regards."
    This time, the disdainful twist of her mouth wasn't faked. She'd actually managed to forget she had to deal with her counselor today. What fun that promised to be...
    ***
    As she chewed on the sandwich she'd picked up on the way out of Starfleet Medical, Delvia thought about the odd way things seemed to go sometimes. She knew, for example, that the worst her leg would do during the day was an uncomfortable, sometimes downright painful, spasm or two. She also knew that the medical staff who'd treated her still had no idea how to counter the effects of the venom that had screwed up her nerves enough to stop the prosthetic meshing properly.
    Looking out over the bay, the shadow of the Golden Gate bridge falling over the water, she considered the event that had screwed her up so badly six years before - and put a very definite end to her career. The away mission had been pretty mundane, her job being to shepherd a bunch of science geeks around as they poked at the assorted foliage of the planet they were surveying. It wasn't the flora that had been a problem, as it turned out, but the fauna. Particularly the overgrown hairball that had burst out of the undergrowth without warning. She'd managed to drop it before it could do any damage to the science team, but had been too late to keep from getting a savage bite that had broken her knee in the process.
    To add insult to injury, whatever the creature had slobbered into her bloodstream had started digesting the flesh of her leg before they'd even managed to get her back to sickbay. So, here she was, out of a job she'd loved and still trying to fit into planet-bound life as a civilian.
    As she tried not to get lost in the memories of what had happened, her eyes shifted to the discrete stone plinth that sat by the edge of the water, a few meters from the bench she sat on. When she realised what she was looking at, she smiled tightly and closed her eyes, bowing her head in acknowledgement of what it memorialised - the men and women of San Francisco's civilian emergency services who'd risked, and lost, their lives to save others when the Breen had attacked two and half decades before. She paid her respects every time she passed this way, and didn't miss that even after all this time, there were always fresh flowers laid at the base of the concrete chunk.
    It was a much needed reminder, sometimes, that you didn't have to be in Starfleet to make a difference.
    Sighing, she tossed the remains of her lunch into the nearby trash can - her aim was still good, no matter what else - and hauled herself to her feet. She had time to kill before the next thing she had to do today, and felt the need to distract herself from not only that but the after-effects of yet another fruitless session with her counselor. Once a month, she sat and talked about her feelings, despite the fact she'd rather have stuck her head into a plasma fire. It was what she was supposed to do, after all, and the habit of doing as she ought was ingrained in her deeply enough that she didn't think it would ever fade.
    She didn't have to like it, of course. Just do it. Just like she didn't have to admit to anyone that the sessions actually did help...
    When she started paying attention to her surroundings again, Delvia realised she had managed to get almost the whole way to her favourite bar without even knowing what she was doing. Smiling to herself, she shook her head at the instincts that seemed to have developed whilst she lived here.
    "Why the hell not?"
    Her cane tapped against the ground as she covered the last little way to the bar, and when she walked through the door she shared a nod of greeting with Mack, the grizzled Terran behind the bar. She sometimes wondered if the place had actually been built around him, since she had never heard of him being sighted anywhere but here, and her certainly looked old enough. He was also a man of few words, and by the time she reached her usual stool at the bar itself he'd poured a glass of her favourite tipple and set it on the counter for her without any need for them to exchange anything more than they already had.
    She settled herself in place, propping her cane against the bar, and took a sip. Just as good as ever. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that covered most of the wall behind the bar, and her lips twisted into a wry smile as she looked at her reflection. She used to wear her hair long, letting it flow down her back, but now it was cut so short it was barely able to spike up when she bothered to do anything with it. Pretty much the same went for her clothing, as well. Off-duty, she'd had a range of stuff to wear, all of it carefully chosen to emphasise her figure and colouration just so that she could have some fun during her downtime.
    What she wore now was pretty much whatever Brexx picked out for her, assuming she didn't manage to get it done first, and today it was plain and practical in style, the colours muted. She didn't wear bright shades any more, there didn't seem any reason to.
    Delvia heard a sniff from Mack's direction, and she glanced his way. When she saw the frown he was aiming her way, and the significant look he gave toward the half-dozen other patrons - most of them male - around the room, she sighed.
    "Sorry."
    Mack grunted and went back to his routine as she stuck a hand in her jacket pocket and pulled out the hypo that sat there. Another gift from the homicidal space-hamster and it's freaky drool. She pressed the hypo against her neck, triggered it, and dumped the thing back where it had come from. There was never any point trying to predict when she was going to have to dose herself up with pheromone suppressant any more. It had sometimes actually been amusing, but right now she wasn't in the mood to deal with male attention drawn her way by her natural biochemistry. There were enough incidents simply from being recognised as an Orion woman... and the last few times she'd tried to let herself indulge and enjoy, she'd learned that it was probably not going to go well...
    No, better to just cut that part off entirely, and just some pleasure in a nice quiet drink.
    ***
    The cool evening air followed her through the door as she walked into the gallery. She'd actually bothered to make an effort, and when she let the young man who greeted her take her coat, she knew that the makeup she'd applied, along with the attention she'd paid to her hair and the sleek black dress she'd reluctantly put on, made her look better than she had in a very long time. She'd even chosen to use the new cane that Brexx and his husband had gotten for her in honour of the occasion, and the whole ensemble made her feel like she might just be worth the effort of looking at for once.
    "Miss Corsetto, I'm so glad you could make it!"
    Delvia suppressed a grin at the hint of relief she heard in the voice, shifting her cane to her other hand so she could take the one being held out to her. Donatella Laine had never failed to be anything but charming and polite to her, though she'd had enough reason not to, and Delvia simply couldn't make herself like the idea that the gallery's owner might have believed she'd not come tonight. Given all the bullying and persuasion that had been put into getting her to agree to go along with this whole stupid idea, Delvia felt she really should try to make Donatella's investment of effort worthwhile.
    "Where else was I going to be?" she asked, and chuckled at the knowing gleam that appeared in the other woman's eyes. "Okay, yes, I'm a pain in the backside to deal with. I just... Look, you think I should be here, so I am."
    Donatella sighed laying a gentle touch on the Orion's arm. "No, dear, not just me. Look."
    She did as she was told, and swallowed on a suddenly tight throat when she saw that there were literally dozens of people around, all of them chatting to each other as they looked at the pictures hanging on the gallery walls with approval that was obvious even to her cynical eye.
    "Do you want to take a few moments?"
    She shook her head, knowing that if she'd said yes then Donatella would have been fine with it. She wouldn't have been, though, and waiting would only have made her nerves get worse. No, better to meet this head-on and get it done.
    "No, I'm good." Which was a lie, but the next part wasn't. "If I can be crazy enough to take on drunk Nausicaans, I can do this."
    A tinkle of laughter was all the response Donatella gave, taking a soft grip on Delvia's arms and leading her forward.
    "Ladies and gentlemen," she said loudly, catching the attention of everyone in the gallery. When she was sure they were all looking her way, she smiled and made a little gesture Deliva's way. "As we see in the dawn of 2400 with this beautiful display, it is my great pleasure to present you with our featured artist, Miss Delvia Corsetto."
    Training, experience, counseling... Delvia had all of them in bucket loads, but none of it helped prepare her for the way every single eye turned her way and applause rang out to fill the air. She recognised two of the city's biggest art critics in the crowd, as well as an FNS reporter that she knew specialised in such things. All of them were welcoming her with genuine pleasure, and she felt tears welling up in her dark eyes as it finally hit her that far from wasting their time, these people honestly wanted to be here, taking pleasure in the paintings she'd never thought anything but a way to kill some time.
    Maybe she could make this life out of uniform work, after all...
  5. Some great entries from everyone, which just makes the results all the more surprising for me :)

    Congrats to Sinda for his 2nd place, and to all of you for some excellent reads, and I hope you'll take a swing at the next one (once I've gotten my head together enough for it to be sorted out :P) - and tempt some others to join in too!

    (Also, a bonus cyber-cookie for Tallis - that was the connection, and well spotted:) )

  6. A little note... You may notice whilst reading this that some words have been molested by the forum's rather eager profanity filter - unless I've completely lost track of my writings, there's nothing actually offensive in terms of language in there, it's just the system messing about :)

    (Also, bonus points if anyone can spot the connection 'tween the title and the content. It is there... :P)

  7. Mazu's Flame

    - Cmdr Della Vetri

    “That's it. Last bit of signal just dropped away.”

    Turning her attention from the swirling darkness on the viewscreen, Vel'na brushed a stray strand of her jewel-green hair away from her face as she looked toward the ship's electronics officer, who's own pale blue skin was bathed in the assorted colours of light from her console.

    “Already?”

    “There's a curl of the shell's gas drifting in behind us. It's not cutting us off from home completely, but it is between us and Control. Yet more confirmation that the stuff screws with transmissions as well as blocking light.”

    “Assuming there's any light out there to block...”

    The typically cynical tone of that comment had both females sharing a look of silent amusement before Vel'na shifted her attention to the source.

    “Tol, how exactly did you manage to get onto this mission with an attitude like that?”

    Smaller and more fragile of build than either of the other two, the male looked almost lost in his seat – which hadn't been designed for one of the Kerrian race's frailer sex – and that impression was only heightened by the slightly nervous look on his face as he found himself the target of his superior’s focus, though that didn't stop the somewhat defiant tone of his voice as he answered her.

    “Weren't you paying attention to the newsfeeds? With all the fuss the equality movement has been kicking up, Command wanted a male in on this. Turns out I was the only one crazy enough to volunteer.”

    And the fact you're sterile didn't hurt... After all, if you get killed, it's not like the race looses anything.

    It was a pretty cold assessment, but that didn't make it any less true. Sighing a little, she shook her head and settled back into her own seat.

    “Just because we've found no evidence of any kind of star or anything outside the shell doesn't mean they're not there, Tol. Nothing about our understanding of astrophysics tells us that the three suns we do know about have to be the only ones.”

    “True, but if there are other stars out there, why are they hidden? A four light-year clear area surrounded by dark gas that absorbs energy strikes a lot of people as just too much of a coincidence to be natural.”

    “If you start on religion again,” came Sa'len's dry comment from the electronics station, “I'm just going to ignore you.”

    Stopping herself from joining in, Vel'na concentrated instead on the readings of the helm systems in front of her. The pair of them had been acting like that since they'd met, and it wasn't hard to understand that they were doing it even more now as a reaction to how close they were to the shroud that – as far as anyone could prove – marked the edge of the universe. Hell, she was feeling an almost physical pressure from it herself.

    “Tol, if you can manage to concentrate, please tell me how the drive system is holding up.”

    Silence reigned for a few moments, then he answered her, sounding far more professional than he had before.

    “Intermix is stable, core holding steady. Whilst I can't tell you what would happen if we established a warp field this close to the shell, we're fully able to do so.”

    Nodding, she listened as Sa'len gave her own confirmation of the ship's readiness, then started them drifting a little closer to the shell, closing the gap slowly but steadily. Not that she could be totally certain how far away the dark gas was, what with the way it seemed to just swallow sensor scans with no apparent effort. She was relying on little more than visual reckoning and guess-work at this point, but had no intention of telling the two members of her crew that.

    Do I want to actually wonder what will happen if we drift in too far? The probes that tested it came back okay, but they weren't crewed...

    As she kept her eyes on the viewscreen, it took a second or so for what she was seeing to register – a faint, shimmering glow across the leading edge of the ship's prow. Pale pink, it was only a flicker or two to begin with, but it spread rapidly, gaining in intensity by the second.

    “Oh, that's not good... Tol! Give me as much drive power as you can – I think we might need it!”

    Fingers flying over the controls, she ordered the craft to turn, knowing full well that the kind of manoeuvre she was telling it to do would push it's agility to the limit. The problem was, nothing whatsoever was happening.

    “Sa'len, control's aren't responding. Tell me what's going on!”

    “It's system wide.” Tol cut in, sounding surprisingly calm, considering. As long as you ignored the tightness the betrayed just how much effort it was taking for him to sound like that. “Core just went offline, we're experiencing power drain in almost every system.”

    Nothing but a steady stream of cursing was coming from Sa'len, which told the story of how things were going at her end all too clearly. Knowing it wouldn't help things if she hassled for updates, Vel'na just stuck to trying to get some kind of response out of the controls as the eerie corona carried on spreading across the hull.

    * * *

    “Energised dark matter” is what the nerd herd are calling it. Not a particularly common thing to find, and certainly not in a gaseous cloud over a parsec and a half across at it's widest point. We're not getting that much data as yet, mostly due to the fact that it's being stubborn as hell about letting us learn about it, but we are getting some results, most of which tell us that the nova we were looking at a few light-years away is probably responsible for the excited state of the nebula on this side.

    It's taken a lot of work, and some creative application of signal filtering, but we've finally managed to get something from inside. Four major neutrino sources within the cloud, and figuring in the level of interference from the cloud itself, we're guessing they're somewhere in the order of full-blown stars. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, has the astrometrics team clamouring for a chance to get a probe in there. Not sure they realise that the cloud would likely kill a probe long before it got to where they want it – the energy levels in the cloud in this area would fry it's systems unless we added a proper shield generator to it...

    * * *

    Three days. Three full days since they'd lost both contact with home and most of the function of their ship, drifting deeper and deeper into the dark mass of the shell, only the shimmering glow that clung to the hull giving any form of clue that there was anything out there at all.

    It was cold now, as well. Heat had been leeching from their environment ever since the life support system had failed after the first day, and the air itself was becoming increasingly foul. It had proved a difficult task to balance just how active they should be to keep warm with how fast they were using up what breathable atmosphere they had left, but they'd managed it this far.

    We won't last all that much longer though.

    Not a thought she wanted in her head, but there was no way she was going to be able to ignore it. Breath frosting in the air in front of her, she shuffled along the corridor toward the engineering section. There was little real point in it, apart from the fact that moving helped keep her from feeling quite so cold, but she needed something to do, and running a visual check on the drives was as good a waste of a few minutes as anything else. She couldn't even really occupy herself with random conversation, as she was the only one awake right now...

    Even the short distance from the [...]pit had worn her out, the chill conspiring with the bad air to rob her of what little energy she could summon – but she still managed a smile when she looked through the hatchway to the drive section. She'd wondered just where Tol and Sa'len had gotten to, and now she knew. The warp core was dead, but it's mounting provided a nice enough little cubby-hole to crawl into, and she could see the pair of them in there, Sa'len's arms wrapped around the smaller male in a distinctly protective way that was very much at odds with the way she usually acted toward him.

    Figures... She always did tend to get cranky if anyone but her messed with him.

    Vel'na wasn't sure what, if anything, she should say about it to either of them. Given the fact that there was little apparent way they'd be getting back home, it seemed a little officious to point out to the pair that behaviour like that was against regs, fun as it might be to play with their heads for a little while.

    No. Not worth it. It would be too easy to provoke Sa'len into something rash by accident, and there was no reason at all to put extra pressure on Tol. Better to just let them be, and hope that they could keep each other as happy as possible in what time the three of them had left.

    Turning back toward the [...]pit, she started shuffling again, hands tucked tightly into her armpits as she went. The blanket she'd looted from one of the emergency kits helped a bit, draped as it was around her shoulders, but that wouldn't last forever, and did precisely nothing at all to help with the fact that she was also increasingly hungry. Problem was, eating used energy, and using energy used oxygen.

    “Screw it,” she muttered to herself, “I don't plan on dying hungry.”

    When she reached the [...]pit again, she dropped into her seat and reached down to the emergency kit that was propped up beside her. Grabbing a ration bar, she ripped it open with quiet determination, and with a general air of defiance toward the cosmos in general, took a bite and started chewing. Settling back in her seat, she watched the vibrant pink flames dancing on the outside of the ship, letting herself admit that the sight was really quite pretty, in a hypnotically ominous sort of way...

    * * *

    “Report.”

    The gravelly voice from behind him might have startled Cmdr Tori Jones if she wasn't thoroughly used to the fact that the Captain of the USS Galatea was incredibly good at showing up unannounced. Giving Doctor Kelwas a quick smile who's cause was safely behind her, she made sure it was gone from her face before turning to face the stocky Tellarite CO.

    “It looks like it was close, Captain, but all we seem to have gotten to them in time.”

    “And who are they?”

    Kelwas decided to field that one, though the Betazoid failed to bother with anything like looking up from his tricorder as he did so.

    “That will have to wait until they're conscious – which may not be for a while. Major levels of dehydration, borderline starvation, cold exposure and oxygen deprivation tend to have a detrimental effect on most people. I can tell you this, though – they're tough. Most humanoids would likely be a whole lot closer to dead than these three are.”

    With a grunt of acknowledgement, the Captain stalked a few paces closer to the trio of occupied biobeds. Frowning to himself, he studied the occupants for a few silent moments before turning back to his First Officer.

    “Their ship?”

    “Low-tech by our standards, but a solid design. Warp capable – barely – but quite obviously not intended for any kind of long trip. Engineering estimates that if it's systems weren't fried by the nebula, we'd be looking at something with the endurance of one of our shuttle-pods.”

    “Tactical systems?”

    “Zip. Polarised hull plating for navigational purposes, but the single most offensive thing it can do is ram someone.”

    “Which it very nearly did. If T'Mel didn't have such good reflexes, that ship of theirs would have ploughed right into us.”

    Tori deliberately didn't point out that putting the Luna-class ship so close to the nebula's edge had been done against her recommendation. Her boss knew that, and would no doubt point out his own failing in the report on this incident. He was like that... Instead, she chose a different topic to carry on with.

    “One thing they do have in abundance on their ship is sensors. Not great ones, but a lot of scanning capacity. I'd say the thing was designed for the same kind of job us the Galatea.”

    “Boldly going forth and looking for trouble?”

    “Not quite how I would have phrased it, Doc, but yes.”

    Only a faint twinkle in the Captain's eyes gave any hint that he appreciated Kelwas' comment, or Tori's dry response, but it was definitely there, at least until he looked back at the comatose figures they'd rescued from what had been shaping up to be a less than pleasant exit from life. Pretty much everything they knew or had been able to figure out suggested the most likely answer to what he was about to ask, but he did it anyway.

    “So where did they come from?”

    There was no immediate reply, so he glanced in Tori's direction. As soon as he did so, he caught the look she was giving him, the one she usually reserved for times he was asking stupid questions but she was being polite enough not to say so out loud. With another grunt, this time managing to combine typical Tellarite irritability with a clear sense of pleasure at a new discovery, he turned and headed for the door, trusting his staff to keep him updated when anything changed.

    * * *

    Almost the first thing Vel'na was aware of was the fact she wasn't cold any more. Next came the ease with which she could breathe, though the air did seem to taste a bit wrong, and the presence of a low background hum that had been absent from her senses since her ship had died around her.

    She couldn't actually remember falling asleep – or slipping into unconsciousness, which was probably a better description – but it must have happened, and now she was awake again. Opening her eyes, she made a move to roll off of whatever it was she was lying on, only to come to a frozen halt as she saw the scene around her.

    Totally unfamiliar equipment, laid out in an equally alien configuration was only the start. From where she lay, she could see at least four figures moving about, their strange attire nowhere near as disturbing as the fact that every single one of them looked.... wrong. She couldn't help the gasp of surprise that escaped her lips, and the sound obviously alerted the strange beings to the fact that she was awake, as two of them started moving her way.

    Backing off as best she could, she nearly scooted right off of the edge of the bed she was on, with only a quick move from one of the beings saving her from a violent trip to the floor. About the only thing about his appearance – and it was definitely a 'him' – that wasn't wrong were the pointed ears, and even the casual strength with which he moved her back into a less precarious position was nothing like she could have expected.

    Looking around wildly, she managed to spot Tol and Sa'len laid on beds nearby, and she made a sudden scramble in their direction, only to be pulled up short by a gently insistent hand holding her in place.

    “Don't worry, they're fine.”

    That came from the other male that had approached her, earning him an exceptionally suspicious look. This one didn't even have the right shaped ears that the other did, and his skin was a paler, more pinkish colour than that of a Kerrian. Combined with the rest of the evidence her senses were throwing at her, she only had one real conclusion she could draw.

    “You're aliens.”

    The accusing tone of her voice was met with a smile and cheerful nod of agreement, followed by a gesture that had the one holding her backing off a little, though he remained close by, lurking in the kind of way she'd encountered mostly in soldiers and guards. Frowning at him, she tried to figure out if the fact that his clothing had a yellowish trim to it meant anything, given that the other one's outfit had a bluer shade instead.

    “That we are, yes.” the one who had spoken before said, “From your perspective, at least. And lucky for you, too. If we hadn't been here, chances are all three of you would currently be arriving in whatever afterlife your people happen to believe in.”

    “So where are we?”

    Opening his mouth to answer, the male stopped instead, looking over toward the doorway that was now sliding closed behind a squat, hairy individual who met her confused gaze with a level one of her own before straightening into a more formal pose as he came to a halt.

    “You are aboard the Federation starship Galatea, madam. I am Captain Terek, commander of this vessel, the man who's crew saved your life, and the one who gets the distinct pleasure of welcoming you to a much, much bigger galaxy.”

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