AlexV

Welcome to the fleet, guys

One of these days RL won't conspire to keep me out of taking part... Great work from everyone, and congrats to Kevin and Mailea!

I's got ideas, just not time to work on 'em... Hopefully, however, I will manage to make this a touch bigger than a one horse race

Congrats,and welcome aboard!

Welcome to the fleet Ensigns - hope you have fun here

((Sickbay - Still morning)) :: Tash had slept more, had a light meal, and been IV'ed fluids throughout. Head fuzzy, body slow, deeper injuries healing themselves and past emergency care, he was able to move at the very least. :: :: Now without the attached IV's, feeling far less dazed and being medicated quite thoroughly for the pain, he dared slip off the bio-bed and pad barefoot and alone to the showers nearby. Doubtful he moved without being noticed, but nobody harassed him, thankfully. Slipping in, moving gingerly but capably, he managed to not kill himself. :: :: Rubbing lightly over the closed gash on his forehead, he couldn't help wondering about his spine, but it wasn't an easy place to see and he wasn't going to ask for help. He ran a hand back, then down the metallic protrusions, reaching his lower spine and finding... flat flesh, newly healed, and lots of it. And he could feel something there just beneath the flesh... the nanites, regenerating, creating new spinal plates? :: :: Oh, it would be marvelous when those shot out... :: :: Carefully, he dressed. Simple garb, replicated black pants and soft military green t-shirt. Returning to his bio-bed, he found himself exhausted. Healing must still be taking it out of him. Virgo wasn't about to release him anyway, so he slowly slipped back up onto the bio-bed, lay carefully on his side, and easily slipped into sleep again. :: ((Sickbay -- Afternoon)) :: He'd slept going on a strong 6 more hours, hardly moving even in his sleep there in the private room. At some point someone... likely a nurse... had slipped a thermal blanket over him, though he'd slept right through it. :: :: Waking slowly, he let himself ease into consciousness again, no rush to it. He'd slept well, and almost let himself stay there... but it became apparent there was something actually waking him. A hand on his shoulder. Eyes barely opening, he looked up from his comfortable curled position to find a familiar face, and a small smile came to him at the welcome company. :: :: He looked peaceful. Peaceful was good. He needed rest, thought T'Lea staring down at his quiet form. He looked better than the last time she saw him, all blood and guts. Although, he still looked a bit pale, but then he always did. At least he was breathing easier now. He was breathing right? If so, it was so soft she could hardly see his chest move.:: ::Poking his arm she tried to get a reaction. It didn't work. Taking him by the shoulder she gave him a gentle shake. Ah, there he was, emerald eyes focusing up at her.:: T'Lea: Hi. Tash: ::the sleep apparent in his voice:: Hey... T'Lea: The nurse said you were awake. Tash: Jus' bein' lazy. :: He cleared his throat, closing his eyes tight before trying to push his brain into full "awake" mode. Opening them again, he pushed up on his arms, sitting up, crossing his legs beneath him on the bio-bed. :: T'Lea: Oh. I didn't mean to disturb you. I thought perhaps you were dead. :: Probably shouldn't have said that last bit, she thought, kicking herself afterwards. :: Tash: Didn't you know? I'm immortal. :: This was said with a not-so energetic but somewhat playful tone. At least, what he could muster. All said and done, he honestly didn't feel that bad. There was little pain now, just a cloudy sense of slowness, mentally and physically. :: T'Lea: I was being serious. You almost died in my arms, remember. :: It wasn't a question it was a cold, hard fact, and the fact that he was joking about it put her off a little – or a lot – she didn't know actually, *that* would depend on his next response.:: Tash: When isn't it serious? ::thinking on it:: I actually don't remember all that much. Just a whack on the head. I did ask for it, though. [...]ed that Romulan off like mad, did you see the look on his face when I hit the comm.? Last I recall we were dumped in the cell. T'Lea: ::pulling up a chair:: I'll spare you the gory details then. Obviously we escaped, but I think you'll be surprise who orchestrated that small favor… :: Upon hearing the short version of events unfolded, he perked up just a little. :: Tash: Didn't do anything else stupid, did I? ::he paused, not noticing what might be her conflicted expression:: Wait, I don't wanna know. It's usually the same answer anyhow. :: T'Lea had left out the details of their time together while floating in the escape pod. She still wasn't sure if Tash had been in his right mind when he made some rather interesting comments, hell, she wasn't even sure if *she* was in her right mind when she heard them, or how she was supposed to react to them, which was probably another reason why she didn't bring it up.:: T'Lea: Usually? Hmm… I thought you were more consistent than that. Tash: Let's get outta here. Virgo'll let me out if I have a babysitter. :: He slid, albeit a little sluggishly, off the bio-bed, careful to gauge his movements to the ache in his spine. He'd push a lot of things, but the spine was sort of essential, so he had no intention of pushing things. Just needed out of sickbay for a while, as any person would. :: ((Corridor)) :: They'd managed to slip out of Sickbay without too much of a fuss and were now cruising the corridors at a steady pace. Slow. A nurse had given them the evil eye as they'd left Sickbay, but T'Lea had managed to out "evil-eye" her and that was the end of that. Tash was free, albeit under the Romu-vulc's supervision. Honestly, she wasn't entirely convinced he should be up and walking around, but he seemed more alive and maybe even stronger since they'd left. Perhaps his little nanites needed exercise too.:: T'Lea: Are you sure about this? You still look weak. Tash: ::looking to her, knowing he looked how he felt:: Tired, but I'm good. It feels good to move a little. T'Lea: If you fall I'm leaving your sorry [...] on the floor for Virgo. I already carried you once through a ship, I'm not going to do it again. :: She wasn't smiling, but there was a subtle tease behind her voice.:: Tash: Carried me...? ::he glanced at her again, an eyebrow going up:: ...You can carry me? :: A little secret he''d kept to himself concerning the metallic growths, which perhaps only Sariel knew of... with the nanites he topped 300 pounds. He couldn't imagine even a Vulcan hybrid being able to lug around a whole 136 kilos very easily. :: T'Lea: ::a half glance his way:: I'm glad you're alive. Tash: ::laughing lightly, but suffering for it a little:: Yeah, me too. T'Lea: And what I meant by that was I'm glad you're awake. Your snoring kept me up last night. :: After most life-forms on the ship had gone to sleep last night, T'Lea ended up in Sickbay, sitting in Tash's room, worried for his health mostly, but also feeling pathetically lonely. He was there, out cold, and he couldn't leave her. *That* is what she'd resorted too. Seeking companionship from comatose men. Definitely pathetic, and nothing she'd ever admit to herself.:: :: The eyebrows both went up at that. She'd stayed with him? She'd watched him sleep? That was... strangely satisfying, yet simultaneously creepy. :: Tash: You were there... the whole night? :: She ignored him, and perhaps wisely so, instead choosing to remind them of their location. :: T'Lea: Where are we headed, because Vetri's office is right around the corner. I can dump you there, you know. :: That was an odd little joke mixed with a threat simply to change the subject. His response though was quite shocking.:: Tash: Aha... probably a good idea. Della will probably drag me in eventually after all the excitement anyway. ::he glanced at the doorway to the counselors office, realizing he'd run out of energy anyway. A stop might be smart.:: Don't want you leaving me in the corridor, right? :: He gave her one of those smiles, tired but managing it naturally. :: Tash: I'll make it back. You've probably got other things to do. Ensigns to scare. T'Lea: Are you certain? Tash: I'll make it back, no worries. We'll see how much a Trill can carry. T'Lea: ::smartly:: Good. Give Spots hell for me. :: They parted ways, and Tash took a moment to lean into the wall and breathe, resetting his tired mind for Della. There were a few things he thought would be good to bring up with her anyway. :: TBC Lt. Cmdr. Tash Zubowskivich Chief of Security USS Constitution-B Lt. Commander T'Lea Historian & Archaeological Specialist USS Constitution-B

Congrats, mate! Both where good reads, though

Congratulations once again, Ensigns, and welcome to the fleet!

Not a short one, but I thought it worth putting up As you may notice, there are some blanks left in it, but that's mostly 'cause we just haven't had the responses yet... ) -------------------- ((Pride O'Rigel Freighter – Engineering – Access Crawlway)) :: Through the thick hatch T'Lea couldn't hear a [...] thing on the other side. She had no clue if anybody was out there or what was taking so frakking long for them to get her out this hell hole. All she could hear was her own yelling, and the multitude of squeaking and squealing voles that she was trying to fend off with her butterfly knife. For the quantity of those little buggers that she was now facing they were clearly a very fertile critter. The young ones were the worst. They were relentless little [...]s, nipping, biting and scratching to the last breath.:: :: As one vicious vole launched itself at T'Lea's face she snagged it in mid air with the tip of her blade and then skewered another right into the metal grate floor. But whenever two were eliminated two more took their place, one latching onto her pant leg like a playful, but not as cute, puppy tugging every which way it could before ripping the fabric loose and swallowing it. Honestly would this ever end!:: :: An answer to that question came quickly and loudly, scaring both T'Lea and the voles into a short-lived peace agreement. With the controls on the outside of the hatch blown away, the filthy, tattered hybrid turned to face the hatch with a pile of little dead bodies all around her. Hope glistened in her eyes. Was she about to be rescued?:: :: Getting T'Lea's back was a sign of weakness to the voles and they moved in all at once for the kill. At that same moment something with a lot of force yanked the Romu-vulc through the now open hatch, and for a split second T'Lea, the voles, and someone underneath her were all free falling together, and then…:: :: THUD!:: :: They hit the ground in a pile of bodies with T'Lea landing smack on top of what she would soon discover to be her favorite Trill.:: :: Meanwhile, the nasty little critters washed out of the tube and scattered like roaches across engineering, darting between Grace's and Turner's feet, and leaving behind the dead voles that had spilled out of the hatch with T'Lea. Later the varmints would come back and feast on their own dead, but for now they ran to safety and hid.:: T'Lea: Ow. Frak you guys… what took you so long! Aleia: ? Turner: T'Lea you're out now. Save the theatrics until after we find Ben'thal. :: Skittish of *everything* especially if it was touching her unexpectedly, T'Lea almost heard what Toni had said before Della's hand made her flinch in an involuntary reaction when she'd brushed it against her ear. By the time T'Lea had realized it was Della touching her and not a nasty vole, her hand was removed.:: Vetri: Hey. :: Curious to see the beautiful Trill squished beneath her, T'Lea tilted her head ever-so-slightly, and then more when her Trill suddenly winced in pain. As Della looked down to the source of her injury, so did T'Lea only to realize that her hand was mysteriously warm, wet, and still firmly gripping the balisong. The wet stuff was Della's blood, and the blade of the knife was buried deep in the Trill's side. Immediately, T'Lea's heart sunk.:: Vetri: ::softly:: If you didn't want a date, all you had to do was say... :: Afraid to move an inch for fear of hurting the woman any more than she already had, all T'Lea could do was lock eyes with her Trill exposing an expression that absolutely *no one* had ever seen before, mostly because she'd never felt the emotion before – at least not like this. Repentance:: T'Lea: ::softly: …no… ::wagging her head:: … Della… no… I'm so sorry… :: She was about slide her hand onto the Trill's face when, for the second time in the past few minutes, something abruptly removed her from her current location.:: Turner: Aleia, look after the wounds on T'Lea's legs and arms. Aleia: ? :: Discarded off the Trill, T'Lea sat there on the floor in a daze of disbelief, watching as Toni applied first aide to Della's injury. From one horrible nightmare to the next, the voles were nothing compared to this, she thought. Nothing was a scary as the possibility of losing Della. That thought alone brought about a whole new level of fear that the Romu-vulc wasn't prepared for -- and the fact that *she* was responsible for Della's life threatening wound made it that much worse.:: Aleia: ? :: Bent knees with elbows resting on them, T'Lea ducked her head into her hands and half-way covered her face to hide the swell of emotion breaking across her strict Vulcan features. She was oblivious to whether or not Corporal Grace was tending to her bites and scratches, oblivious to everything except how she was feeling and how her Trill was doing. Among all that turmoil, somehow in T'Lea's mind the incident had gone from an accident, to the plain and simple fact that she had stabbed the woman. She'd stabbed Della. Impaled her. Stuck a knife clean through. Gutted her with her own hand.:: :: They weren't even a couple yet and she'd killed her.:: :: Dropping her hands away from her face, T'Lea looked at the sticky blood on her fingers -- Della's blood. It painted her flesh and a side of her face where her hand had been resting.:: Turner: ::looking around at the nasty room:: We need to get her to the Pontiac it's too filthy here for surgery and the infirmary is as bad. :: Swallowing hard at the mention of surgery, T'Lea's gaze fell, racked with guilt.:: Aleia/ Vetri: ? :: Not hardly finished tending to T'Lea's wounds, the hybrid shoved Corporal Grace away when she saw Toni begin to lift Vetri to her feet.:: T'Lea: Frell off, Corporal. Aleia: ? if any? :: In the back of T'Lea's mind she didn't want medical attention until she knew Vetri was okay. Springing into action to help get Della up, T'Lea once more reiterated to the Trill how sorry she was for this. Like it mattered. Sorry wasn't going to make the Trill better.:: :: But before T'Lea had the chance to tell Vetri what was *really* on her mind, Toni had whisked her away. As they moved out, the Romu-vulc had enough presence of mind to grab a phaser on the floor, not realizing that it was Ben'thal's modified weapon, which he had been forced to drop, and she certainly did not realize that it was any different than the standard issue weapon, simply because her mind was totally on Vetri.:: :: Leaving engineering behind, the four women made haste to the turbolift and were greeted by O'Flagherty bleeding a bit from the head. Weapons remained poised until they realized that he wasn't the enemy.:: O'Flagherty: ::mumbling:: They've killed my crew! Turner: Where are they? O'Flagherty: From what I heard, they're leaving the ship, but nothing is on the Pride O'Rigel except your Runabout. We've got to stop them. :: Bristling at that, knowing that the Pontiac was Vetri's only hope of recovery, T'Lea spat a rather graphic curse, indicating that she was not about to let them take the runabout.:: Turner: ::Shoving him back into the turbolift:: Don't worry, we're get them, just help me carry Commander Vetri. T'Lea are you okay enough to use a phaser? :: A phaser? Looking down she noticed that she was choking the handle of one, or a modified one. It had been designed larger in the front in order to accommodate three tips in a triangle configuration, but it had a standard grip, only with two triggers, one black and one red. It was already pre-set to stun, and not knowing how to change the frequency to "obliterate", she didn't try.:: :: The hybrid then looked to Vetri, noticing the colour slowly draining from the Trill's face. In answer to Toni's question....:: T'Lea: I'll manage. :: T'Lea couldn't take her eyes off Vetri the entire ride. All she could think about was what she'd done to her Trill, and that she might not get the chance to tell her how she felt, I mean *really* felt about her.:: Turner: Aleia, call Tash and Cruise and let them know where we're going. Have them meet us there. Aleia: Response :: The tubrolift parked on the correct deck and the doors opened to flush the group out. T'Lea and Grace exited first. Eyes and weapons rapidly scanning the dark corridor as the two checked every corner before waving the all-clear for Toni and company to proceed up the hall. This routine played out three more times before spotting a Ferengi and a Romulan trying to override the port lock to the shuttle craft.:: :: T'Lea levelled a shot into the wall near the Ferengi's head. Her aim looked like a warning shot, but in fact she'd simply missed. She'd actually been aiming for the Romulan.:: T'Lea: Back the frak away from the docking port, drenheads, or the next shot will permanently drop you both. Fetbar/Velvich: ? Turner/Aleia/Vetri/Anyone: ? TAGS Lt. Commander T'Lea Historian & Archaeological Specialist USS Constitution-B

A little late, perhaps, but muchos congrats to the winners. Having finally managed to finish my entry, after the deadline, of course (), I was pretty glad I didn't manage to enter - the competition was just way too strong. Me hat's off to everyone who sent one in for this round - some very cool work done by all

RL circumstances are making writing a little challenging, but I intend to get something out...

Congratulations, Ensigns, and welcome to the fleet! Best of luck with your new assignments

Yeah, sorry about that... My bad... *hangs head in shame*

Many congratulations indeed - nice work guys

Understandable Still beating away at mine, grabbing what time I can to write...

Assuming I can manage to carve out the time, I'm planning on slinging something out there

Hey, whatever works

It's sparked a few thoughts... At least, that's what I'm hoping those headaches were...

Welcome to the fleet, T'Reshik

Thanks, Toni Now I just need to wait for the next topic, and I can get started all over again

Congrats indeed, Jhen! It was a great peice of work

Given a *little* more time, I might be interested in a quick-fire one. After all, the first one I entered was... 'Sides, I've got more ideas for things to do with the crew of the Ishtar...

::Starts doing a grade-2 happy dance. Grade-1 will be reserved for when the results are in ::

Congratulations, Ensigns! Welcome to the fleet

Thanks for that, Nemitor Hope all the entries were sufficiently entertaining for ya