Mission 3: "Pilgrims"

A PROPHETIC OCCURRENCE

MD: 04
TIME: 19:02
SCENE: GAMIA III

AUTHORS: Lt. Tyrlai Zade - Lt. Parker Hudson

Tyrlai Zade stood in full crowned Bajoran monestarial robes standing in an alleyway across from a large industrial looking building. The shimmering and humming of the transporter beam came and went leaving the chief engineer in a matching colored tradesmans outfit and a clip on colbalt blue earring.

"Good you came in disguise like I asked, did you bring any weapons?"

Parker reached inside of his monesterial robe upholstering a type II phaser and handing it to Zade. He looked around the surrounding that was cloaked in darkness of the planetary cycle. He was equipped with his own phaser. He turned his attention from the alleyway towards the large industrial building not far from their location. It seemed deserted, at least outside. But looks were deceiving. "Did you find anything more?" He asked quietly.

"The missile launched from behind this building about 200 meters back, give or take, per the ships scanners. In talking to a few of the locals I have determined that this region is somewhat xenophobic and doesn't trust Trill's enough to give them any decent information." Tyrlai looked up at the building and flipped off her scanner. "Then I was looking for something to eat in the marketplace and I saw one of the guys from the nightclub who kidnapped me. I traced him to here, he's either on the second floor now, or they spotted me and whipped up one hell of a biometric and genetic fake really quickly. There are also at least three datamatrixis in there that need downloading and study."

Parker stated "Doesn't trust Trills that is clearly Xenophoebic."

"Right. Clearly." She nodded, looking back down at her display after pocketing the phaser. "Everybody likes Trills, we're exotic and fun."

As Zade talked Parker slipped her a folded knife.

Tyrlai looked at it like it was a clever toy for children to play with. "Are we having pears later?"

"Don't cut yourself." He snapped open the blade "A methaphylic blade has a laminated tri-acting agent. It will incapacitate and stun your enemy along with a truth serum. May come in handy." He fake grimaced at Tyrlai's 'pear comment'.

"Remind me to show you how bladed weapons are used on the holodeck sometime." Tyrlai folded the knife back with a flick of her wrist and slipped it in a pocket of her flowing outfit.

Parker flipped out his engineering tricorder with the data from the ships sensors, linking it to Tyrlai's tricorder. He stepped forward towards the location, beginning along the large buildings support structured metal beamed outer walls. He looked back for Tyrlai.

Tyrlai followed looking at the ships schematics, "Now this is useful, I was just going to break a window or something." They crossed the street at an angle looking like nothing more than a few locals out fror a stroll. She was unusually tall to be a priestess but there was no way she could pull off the workmen garb that the local men wore. At the corner of the structure she turned walking straight for a side entrance. Approaching the door she pulled a small device from another pocket in her garb and placed it against the door. It whirred quietly and beeped, she pressed lightly on the frame and it swung open. She pocketed her device. "If security asks, you never saw that," Tyrlai smirked and motioned, "after you."

Parker chuckled as he walked along with his tricorder, passing underneath a metal rusted gangway overheard them. "Someway I think that they already are."

Tyrlai looked up listening to the footfalls overhead as the occupants mobilized, she had cleaerly missed some sort of security device. "Well that is disappointing. The first database matrix is over there, I will cover you." She pulled her phaser and flipping an arm around, managed to unwrap her robe in one smooth movement and send it fluttering a couple meters to the side. Underneath she was wearing a purple and black variant of a black ops variant. The purple was a little too shimmery to be practical. She strode over to where the stairway enetered the room and kicked the first guard in the temple sending him sprawling to the ground. She grabbed the second and twisted his firearm from his hand with a combo of strong fingers and sharp nails, while pulling him down and forward over her spinning form to land with a suprised yelp next to the first. Aiming her phaser she fired up the stairway hitting one man in the shoulder and another in the leg before they backed up and regrouped. Picking up the second man's sidearm she phasered him in the chest to make sure he was stunned and then did the same to the first who was out cold.

"I think they might actually be preists. They dont seem to have combat training." Tyrlai said firing up the stairs once more to convince them to stay there.

Hudson turned back a moment as he began to access the first of the buildings data matrix systems. He was rather surprised that the diplomatic officer was... well so undiplomatic in her combat skills. "Nice.." He muttered to his self underneath as he turned back to the computer terminal. Parker pulled out from his back pack slung behind him a Interlink Sequencer that was set to the original subspace communicator Tyrlai had discovered.

Punching it into the Tricorder and placing the Sequencer against the Bajoran unit to begin downloading...

Turning to face back at Tyrlai over the out cold Priests he held his own Type II Phaser at ready. He had by Federation Standards excellent advanced Combat II and Marksmanship trained skills. But nothing like the 'street cred' that Tyrlai looked to be packing. "Priests?" He looked above as the remaining men scattered to regroup "What does that mean then?" He was left out of the loop, not the best deducer only in mechanical situations.

"I would guess that the real bad folks are long gone from this place. And perhaps that a religious order is the ones behind the theft of religious books?" It was more of a supposition and as such made her voice curl up at the end like a question. She held on to the phaser, clipped the new gun to her belt and grabbed the hand scanner again. "Six more but they seem to be happy upstairs, hiding behind things." Her scanner blinked oddly and she tapped at it as she turned towards the warehouse proper. "And three and a half in there."

"Half?" Parker looked towards the wear house. He began getting antsy with the tricorder as it beeped letting him verify round three of the downloading was beginning. "Almost done... Just a few more..." He reached at his phaser holster and setting it to stun the energy levels ready to fire at the occupants in the next room.

She stood at the edge of the archway peering into the dusky lit space beyond. "Why are there so many priests in a warehouse?" She tapped the side of her scanner again. "One of the people in there seems to have a mix of two life-signs. Or hes smuggling exotic animals subdurally. Humanoid, Bajoran,..-ish." She said turning to Parker. "Two lifeforms sharing a body, that's freakish don't you think?"

Parker stifled his self.. "You make this too easy." He trailed his eyes to Tyrlai's spots down her chin and neck into her uniform. And then refocused back onto the situation below. The room was darkly lit with a few overhead spot lights, similar to Earth port district wearhouses.

"Blind men living in robes." He then flipped upward his tricorder and setting into the back pack the Interlink Sequencer, swinging it around his back and meeting up with Tyrlai who was already making headway... Parker wanting in on the action this time.

Tyrlai turned at the corner of a line of tall pallets and was welcomed by a familiar face. One she had seen in a club on the outer ring of DS-9, freakishly cute for a Bajoran priest and at least part time book thief. He was ten meters away and she elected to take a different approach this time. She raised her phaser and fired, missing, badly and twice more before they turned and fired forcing her to dive back behind the pallets, sparks and debris sprinkling down on her.

"What the hell?" Parker shouted crouching at the pallet across the way opposite Tyrlai. Parker turning around the pallet, sighting and letting his phaser off to do the talking. Hearing the pallet in front of him be hit and then get blasted as debris and metal shards explode from behind. "That was shit close!!" He snorted looking at Tyrlai.

"Yeah, Im not actually that good a shot outside of like, five meters." She pulled herself into a crouch. "We need the pretty one and a half alive, can you get the other two?"

He forced a grimace. "Why you need the pretty boy? Maybe now that's the one to send to slaughter!" He growled. Reaching into his backpack and yanking out his tricorder with the interlink sequencer... Parker punched in a few key commands to interfere with the Priests Buildings power systems, he already had access to them earlier gaining their codes and more. "Prepare for shock and awe!"

Just then the tricorder sent its coded transmission to the buildings energy banks sending a complete overload through all the power stations within, causing a massive explosion to the overhead lights and terminals below in the large warehouse room where the three Monks were...

Tyrlai exhaled and pivoted round the corner and dashed forward, the disoriented trio were unable to get a decent shot off and she crossed the interval. She down to undercut the first at the last moment, even as they fired over her through the space she had just vacated. Her legs whirled and the first landed awkwardly banging his head, the second aimed his gun at her and she twisted again, catching his weapon arm with her own and snapping it back. He yelped in surprise and pain and accidentally shot himself in the chest, slumping to the floor just as the third got to a dock and outside activating a shimmering red force field before turning to smirk at her. The first man had struggled to his feet behind her and rose to strike just as a phaser blast from Parker put him back down.

Tyrlai stood, raised her weapon and fired, the beam bouncing off the field and hitting a nearby pallet. She dialed the phaser up to full power and fired again, almost vaporizing the pallet sitting next to the first one she had hit.

The smirk on his face turned to a sneer. "We should have killed you, and damn the lizards chivalry."

Tyrlai glared at the wall looking for other openings. "I'll have to thank him I suppose."

"Well, next time then." The Bajoran tapped something at his wrist and was enshrouded in shimmering red light as he beamed away.

Tyrlai glared as the force field faded away. She pulled a scanner from her belt and took some readings as Parker came up behind her.

He walked up in front of Tyrlai and then shook his head with a bewildered fascination at this mysterious super hero/ action fighter type of character that had some sort of beef between him and her.

Parker set out his two hands in front "Ok... That was entertaining, but just what the hell was that?" He knew he wouldn't get much information from the Diplomatic Officer as communication with words, and semantics was her thing. His face and eyes searching Tyrlai's for information as he was intrigued none the less.

Tyrlai looked back at him glaring like he hadn't been paying attention but softened as she remembered he hadn't been on Portland for most of it. "I call him the pretty one, we met on a dance floor on Deep Space Nine. He was meant to distract me from the exchange of a stolen holy book missing from Bajor. I followed and was abducted, escaped, attended an awards ceremony and got shot by a Reptilian whom I call the reptilian. The subspace communicator I had you analyze belongs to the Reptilian. The missile that tried to shoot down the shuttle came from here, and I suspect they the ones behind it. And lastly," she showed him the readings from her hand scanner, "there are no force field emitters in that exit so it glowed red all by itself."

Visions
MD5, 01:00


Alenis had a horrible night. Not only was she stressed out by the state of the negotiations, she had a pain in her abdomen that just wouldn’t go away. Aided by the sleeping pills Brad prescribed and a glass or three of wine, Alenis had managed to fall into a deep sleep. It was not to be long lived though, as she was awakened in the middle of the night by a blindingly bright light outside her bedroom.

Groggily, she got out of bed and, shielding her eyes, walked into her living room. Only when she arrived, it wasn’t her living room. She saw a bright flash of light before appearing on the bridge of the Portland. “Tim?” she asked, seeing him seated in the center chair.

“Meru, you need guidance?” he asked in an unnaturally calm voice.

“Yes, yes I do,” replied Alenis, realizing what was going on. “These negotiations aren’t going well. The Kai is being intransigent, and broke of the negotiations over d’jarras. Our delegation--”

“The negotiations are irrelevant,” said the prophet in the form of Tyrlai.

“Irrelevant?” Alenis raised an eyebrow. “But we’re talking about the reunification of Gamia III with Bajor. ”

“The Gamians have their role to play, as do you,” said Jita.

“And so do you,” added Arvel.

“Your role is bigger than these negotiations.” This prophet had taken the form of Parker.

“What’s my role? What do I have to do?” asked Alenis.

“You will know when it comes.” Jason took Alenis by the hand. “Trust in us. We will guide you on your path.” With that, the bridge began to glow brighter.

“My path?” Alenis realized that the vision was coming to a close. “Wait, no, you have to--”

With a flash of white light, Alenis was wide awake, back in her bed.

MD5 - 07.15 hours
Deck 1 - Bridge
Authors: Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Rouse and Ens. Sera Williams

Tim walked on the bridge, fresh coffee in hand. His shift has just began. "Morning everyone" he said, after seeing everyone was already present. He walked to the center chair, taking it over from the Gamma Bridge Officer. "Anything special happen?"

"Negative, sir. No new reports on the investigation to the origins of the missile." the young woman answered while placing her hand in her neck. "All system are just as they were eight hours ago."

"Perfect," Tim said. "Now get out of here." He said with a smile. "I know how hard those night shifts can be."

"Aye sir," and the woman left the bridge.

The ride on the turbolift was both the longest and the shortest few seconds of Sera's life. This was only the second starship she had ever been aboard, the first being a glorified hitchhiking trip to Deep Space 9 on the Conway. This however was HER first ship and she would be reporting to the Portland's First Officer. Sera took a deep breath to calm her nerves, hoping the turbolift arrived before she passed out.

As soon as the Lord's doors opened with their now familiar whoosh, Sera immediately wished for a few more seconds. Sera pulled down her kingdom's top piece as it had begun to ride up a bit, the she stepped into the bridge. As she moved toward the First Officer, she quickly scanned the bit bridge. Her emerald eyes drifted from each console and the officers manning them to the next in rapid succession.

As soon as she made her way toward the man she had come to report to, she gave her best salute and said, "Lt Commander Rouse, Ensign Williams reporting for duty, Sir."

"At ease," Tim said. "Welcome on board."

Sera released her salute and took a more relaxed posture as she replied, "Thank you, it is an honor to be here, Sir."

Since this was her first assignment, Sera couldn't shake the feeling that she was forgetting something important during this part of joining a ship's crew. Giving up on trying to remember, with a smile she said, "I will be in Engineering, unless I can make myself useful up here?"

Tim quickly look at the Engineering station seeing that it was already occupied by an officer. "You are always free to take over the Engineering console, but have you met the Engineer Chief jet? If not, you might want to go find him first. He'll can probably use your help."

Sera nodded in agreement as she had not met the Chief Engineer yet. Before turning around, Sera replied, "Thank you, Sir. I will head to Engineering to meet Lt Hudson."

She then turned around and made her way back to the turbolift that she had exited moments before, hoping that she had made a good first impression. When she stepped in she said, "Main Engineering."

As soon as the doors closed, Sera leaned against the turbolift doors, bent over a bit and rested her hands on her knees then let out a relieved sigh. At least she didn't pass out or make a fool of herself, and that was something to be proud of.

Inaji's run
Gamia III system
MD5, 1600 hrs
Authors:  Inaji Narale (played by Alenis Meru), Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Rouse


With the authorities hot on her trail, Inaji Narale pushed her stolen shuttle to the limit. Her destination: Gamia III.

The slender Cardassian woman was on the run from the law. Wanted for murder on Cardassia, she was desperate to escape Cardassian space. And, if the reports were to be believed, the one woman in the quadrant who might help her was due to arrive on Gamia III.

She didn’t think of herself as a bad person, and stealing a shuttle was not something she would normally do. But she had been presented with an opportunity which she could not pass up.

Entering orbit of Gamia III, two ships appeared on her sensors. One, a Galor class cruiser, presumably armed to the teeth. The other a Miranda class Federation starship. Her console chimed; she was getting a message from the Galor. She ignored it; she had nothing she wanted to talk to them about.

Breaking orbit, the Cardassian cruiser turned to intercept her.

“Inaji Narale. You are under arrest for the murder of Gul Narale.” The voice of Gul Jatok echoed throughout her stolen shuttle.

“No!” exclaimed Inaji. “I’ll never go back!” She activated emergency power on her impulse engines in a mad dash to get away, but it was no use. The Galor had caught her in a tractor beam.

“Your little run is at an end, Ms. Narale,” Gul Jatok said. “Surrender now, and you may be granted leniency. If you continue this foolish attempt to escape, you will most surely face a firing squad.”

“I’d rather die than go back to Cardassia!” exclaimed Inaji, before activating the self-destruct system on her stolen shuttle. “See you in Grou’kell!”

********************
Meanwhile, on the USS Portland…

“Commander,” Burton said. “A shuttle of Cardassian configuration just exploded close to the Cardassian ship” Tim stood up from the Command chair, holding his coffee. He needed it. His shift ended hours ago. He so much wanted to be somewhere else at this moment, but that wasn’t an option right now.

“Any lifesigns?”

“There was one earlier, but I don’t have it anymore?” James said, nervously. He tried so hard to not screw up, but it seemed he couldn’t work one ship without making mistakes.

“I just picked up a transporter signal to the planet” added R’vahis, trying very hard not to say something like, I found your lifesign. Everyone knew James always messed stuff up, but they also knew the Commander didn’t like anyone making fun of him for it. So they all just shut up about it.

“Inform the captain,” said Tim. “This is most peculiar…”

Genaeology
MD5, morning
Authors:  Capt. Alenis Meru, Ensign Jita Kejal, Lieutenant Parker Hudson


Alenis was exhausted from a troubling night before and the stress of the negotiations falling apart. So, she did the only thing she could do in such a situation: brew herself a cup of tea and get on with the day. The one good thing this mission had going for it so far was the fact that the Gamians had decent tea.

"Alenis to Ensign Jita," she said as she tapped her comm badge, holding a mug of tea in the other.

The individual she sought didn't respond. One might've assumed the transmission failed if not for ambient rustle that happened to be too soft and inconsistent to be a technical byproduct. A soft moan consistent with Jita's voice joined the otherwise unintelligible babble, supplanting the prospect of technical difficulties with the question of why she'd not actually spoken.

Alenis rolled her eyes and tried again. "Ensign Jita!" she called out in a sharp voice. It was no use, so she decided on a different strategy.

"Alenis to Engineering, come in."

Covered deep in dilithium resonance charge circuitry Parker heard the Commander call. Immediately taping his com badge in reply, still half of his own brain working over the technical workings in front of him... "Hudson here."

"I need a favour," replied Alenis. "Can you access the audio entertainment settings in room 3-A-6? I need a Klingon opera of your choosing, maximum volume."

Parker raised his right eyebrow... "Hey, I can work anything your kinky mind wants Commander." He chuckled. Grabbing upward from the bulk head.

"Sera can you work that for the Commander?" Parker asked his new Assistant Chief Engineer.

"I think I can manage," replied Sera, concealing a smirk as she tapped at her console. "One selection from Keedera's Shevok'tah gish, coming right up."

Jita’s eyes opened moments after Alenis relented, the first step in a collaboration of how failing to exhibit the premier traits of consciousness wasn’t a reliable indicator of its absence and the Earth-borne phenomenon known as Murphy’s Law. She’d awakened earlier, only to try and appease her senses’ protest of the token slumber she’d taken with a power nap. Trying to pick up her research from where she left off after showering and dressing was as much an indicator of progress as it was a summation of what she was doing; her efforts to process the pertinent lines of text were akin to skimming sans awareness or comprehension, and she was only just cognizant enough to realize it. The same was true of responding to Alenis’ call, though fatigue’s attempt to lure her into a deeper sleep further clouded her immediacy and recollection so that she spent several successive seconds trying to isolate details into actionable clarity.

The delay was long enough that the moment at which Jita succeeded also happened to be the same at which the captain’s wake-up serenade struck. The internal resonance created by reflexively chucking her hands over her ears being the only way her desisting instruction to the computer registered in the thunderclap was off-putting. Loudness wasn’t a state she fancied, so its momentary persistence in ostensible spite of her instructions goaded a prickliness in the ensign that survived the volume’s fall to a bearable level as well as her suspicion-driven counter-summon.

“Jita to Alenis!”

Alenis waited a few seconds before answering. "Good morning ensign, how are you on such a lovely morning?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"In the interests of continuing to be addressed as Ensign," Jita grumbled, the tensing of her crossed arms bunching her shoulders, "I'm not answering that. Ask the Prophets if you're serious, otherwise, sorry I missed your call getting a sliver of the sleep I couldn't last night. I only had to guide transmissions to and from Bajor through a level 6 ion storm without the benefit of a relay network. Or full power." She didn't expound upon the latter, not wanting to bring up Alenis' photonic doppelganger. Her resentment wasn't strong enough to compel going there.

"I see," replied Alenis, having little sympathy for the ensign's plight. She had gotten barely a wink of sleep since her latest vision. "We're all tired, Ensign," she said, in a slightly dismissive voice. "But the reason I'm calling is for that genealogy report. Do we have anyone who has a good enough d'jarra to at least pretend to be a diplomat, for the benefit of the Gamians?"

Jita laughed.

"Captain, if hell froze over and Bajor reinstated d'jarra tomorrow, there isn't a single delegate that wouldn't need to dust off their resume."

"So, what you're saying is none of the members of the Bajoran delegation have a suitable d'jarra?" asked Alenis for clarification.

"Right."

"Well, if we can't produce a diplomat who the Kai will agree to talk to, then this entire mission is toast. If only we..." All of the sudden, Alenis had a flash of inspiration. The diplomats weren't the only Bajorans on board. "What about my d'jarra? I think one of my great-great grandparents was a Vedek."

Mind reanimated, Jita took back to sifting through her work area. "I'd almost be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed if I'd stopped at the futility of the delegation. But between thinking that going back to get someone that sated the Gamians' stupid d'jarra fetish might not be an option and being curious, yours was one of several I looked into. Kind of wish I hadn't."

"That bad?" asked Alenis. One of her other grandparents was a sanitation worker, so it really could go either way.

"Well your last adventure on Bajor got one of the researchers thinking 'what if' for an idle case, and an unsettlingly obsessive instance of DNA recovery from the reception confirmed that you have some fairly high leanings, Captain. She's working out the final details. . .she encouraged me to check back later today."

A sigh preluded the dilemma. If she were present, Alenis would've seen the ensign further punctuate it with an exasperated drift of her eyes. "I just hope she doesn't try to interview me about you again. I'd accuse her of needing to get out more if the assumption of colleagues knowing each other thoroughly wasn't widespread among our people."

"Oh? That's interesting," she replied. "Hopefully at least high enough to be a part of a diplomatic delegation. Do you have any information about anyone else on the ship? What about yourself, or Petty Officer Rehn. Or even Coln Jena?"

It was perhaps a sign of desperation on Alenis' part that she was asking about the d'jarra of a 14 year old girl for a diplomatic delegation. But these were desperate times. And Starfleet captains often had to improvise, she thought.

"Rehn traces Ke'lora. No good. Like many ancient, short-sighted societies in which the privileged want to stay such, d'jarra Bajor considered laborers and lawmen a dime-a-dozen group."

Jita really didn't want to revisit the matter of her personal heritage. Alenis' mention of Coln Jena gave her a diversion against doing so since she didn't come up in the crew manifest.

"Who's Coln Jena?"

"Coln Jena. She's Lieutenant Beauvoir's half-Bajoran daughter. Alenis couldn't believe that she was seriously considering this. But wouldn't it be a nice comeuppance if Jena had a d'jarra even superior to that of the Kai who so viciously insulted the "half-breed" a day before. "D'jarras are passed down matrilineally, so she would have one. Maybe she's got some high priests or diplomats in her family tree?"

Alenis' sole reference to Coln as a crewmember's daughter stewed uneasiness within Jita referencing her in the extended manifest only simmered. It stood to reason Alenis knew why, so when Jita chose to recite the causes aloud anyway, it was to confront her own misgivings.

"She's a civilian and a minor."

"I... am aware of that," was Alenis' reply. She'd already brought Jena down as her assistant, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad if... no, this is crazy

"How important is this, captain?" Jita asked after a brief silence she passed with her face in her hands, earlier irritation completely filtered out of her voice. The answer evident in the conflict she heard in Alenis' tone, the question she'd ask if given the liberty was why this was so important. Were there implications beyond her grade?

"Very important, just do it, Ensign."

"I will," the younger woman replied, demeanor hardened by having taken Alenis' imploration as a tacit implication of her being difficult merely for the sake of it. "But I asked because you know where I stand. Or at least we've talked about it. I told you when I came aboard that the Occupation did a thorough job of rubbing out my ancestry. This was one of the first places I looked. It's been some years, but I knew nothing changed even before looking because I asked to be notified if they found anything, and it's been just as long since I've gotten anything other than a periodic 'sorry.'"

"I really didn't want to get into this again," Jita amended more sullenly, "at least not for some fragment of ultraconservative Bajor. But if it'll help. . .we could also look into whether I have a useable tie with the vedek."

"I know how you feel about Bajor," started Alenis, thinking back to the conversation she had with Jita a few days ago. "But given the difficulty of this situation, I could use any help I can get. Whether it's a fourteen year old girl or a fifth cousin, twice removed."

"Except the fifth cousin can share the hot seat if this comes crashing down. Not that it will. Or that I want it to. Just. . .never mind."

Jita shunned off her sudden, spectacular failure at improvising a joke with a cursory face palm.

"If you can get me in contact with other Jita, I'll take care of everything else."

The Secret Weapon
Captain's Ready Room, USS Portland
MD5, 12:00 hours
Authors: Capt. Alenis Meru, Coln Jena (Played by Jason Beauvoir), Major Judith Rouse (played by Timothy Rouse)


“All right, here’s the plan,” said Alenis in a stern and frustrated tone as she walked into her ready room and placed her hands on the table. Fero, Rass, and Iyso were already assembled around her table. “The Kai is trying to block us with all this nonsense about d’jarras. Well, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and I’ve got a plan to make her listen to us.”

“A plan?” asked Rass. “The Kai was very insistent that she wants to speak to someone with a cleaner d’jarra than us, and unless you have a high priest as your maternal great grandmother that I don’t know about…” he trailed off for a moment, seeing a smile appear on Alenis’ face as she leaned in, staring down the three diplomats. “But you’re not a diplomat!” he protested, seeing where this was going.

“Not me,” replied Alenis. “Jena. Coln Jena.”

“You mean the fourteen year old part-human part-Vulcan girl that the Kai called a half-breed?” Fero paused for a moment as Alenis’ idea sunk in. “No. No. No, no, no, no! You want to bring a 14 year old girl into these negotiations?! This is madness!”

“She is Ke’Tara,” replied Alenis. “You said it yourself, the Kai was very insistent that she will only talk to someone of a suitably high d’jarra. Coln Jena is the only person we have who fits the bill.”

Rass looked over at Iyso; his companion could do nothing but hold his face in his hands. The captain must be mad if this was her great plan. If it got out that any of them allowed a 14 year old girl to participate in these negotiations representing Bajor and the Federation… well, they’d never work in the Foreign Ministry again. And he was sure that Admiral Washington would have something to say about it as well. “Can’t we just call in a new diplomat with a suitable d’jarra and wait until he gets here?”

“I’m not sure we have the time,” replied Alenis, throwing a PADD down on the table. “Starfleet Intelligence has been monitoring outgoing transmissions in this sector. They suspect that we’re not the only ones interested in this system.” Alenis stood straight up and cracked her knuckles. “Not to mention that we have an appointment for later today with the Kai; if we postpone these negotiations, we’ll lose what little good faith we have left.

“I’m sorry, this is absurd!” exclaimed Fero as he stood up from his chair. He just couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I can’t believe any of you are seriously considering this! This is absolutely insane!”

It was at that moment that the door to the ready room opened again. Alenis’ secret weapon had arrived.

"Captain," Judith asked as a way to introduce their presence as well as ask permission to get in. She had laid her hands softly on the young woman's shoulders, who was standing before her.

"Gentlemen, you remember Coln Jena, don't you?" asked Alenis, surveying the three diplomats. Fero and Rass sat there with a gobsmacked look on their faces, while Iyso had buried his head in his hands again

Jena looked at each the diplomats in turn they didn't didn't look happy to see her. She almost laughed at the irony of the diplomats being undiplomatic about her presence. "Good afternoon, Captain, honorable sirs, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again." She said.

"Good afternoon, Jena," replied Alenis. "Judith," she added, nodding respectfully towards her honour guard, who was no doubt "playing through the pain" after the shuttle crash. "So, here's the plan. With Jena's superior d'jarra, we can give her the position of a lead negotiator -- mostly honorary of course. So that we can get the Kai to the table. From then on out, so long as she can play the part, we should be able to press forward on these negotiations with Jena as a figurehead. Any questions?"

Jena breathed a sigh of relief. "So I don't have to be a diplomat?" She asked.

"Well, just a little," replied Alenis.  She looked over at the three Bajoran diplomats, still visibly distressed.  "Now, we've got a few hours before the negotiations.  I suggest we head down to the planet and get to work."

Sexual Healing, Part I
USS Portland
MD5, 1440 hrs
Authors:  Lieutenant (J.G.) Grel (played by Capt. Alenis Meru), Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Rouse, Lt. Parker Hudson, Lt. Jason Beauvoir, Lt. (J.G.) Brad Silverton


When Grel decided to become a Starfleet security officer, he didn't expect escorting a madman who had taken a hostage to the holodeck to see the captain was what he would be doing. Though, to be fair, he didn't really know what he was doing either. With the captain down on the planet, he knew that Lt. Cmdr. Rouse must have had some sort of plan. But what it was, he didn't know. All he could do was hope that it would succeed.


Holodeck 2, USS Portland

"Commander Rouse to Holodeck 2," Tim said over the comm system. "Lieutenant Beauvoir is on his way to you, with an security escort. The escort is to stay outside the room for privacy resons." Or better to prevent more people then necessary knowing about what was going on. "If you need any assistance, I will come down there." He said, wondering if it wasn't better to just be there. But on the other hand he liked to stay away as much as possible from the whole damn situation.

"Understood Commander. The holodeck crew will advise ongoing."

Parker was updating the hologram HNL Protocols. There would be a large interacting with the rooms servers and the amount of by-standards in the room once The 'Alenis' Program' had become operational.

"The Alenis' program safeties are checking out.." Parker's face watched the screen his blue eyes satisfied.

As the holodeck doors shused open, Doctor Silverton walked into the room. He was pissed. "Are we ready to go asap on this or not? Arvel is stable for now but still in critical condition. And I have a minister of the Bajoran government in sickbay who I give a 50/50 chance of never coming out of her coma. AND one of the rare chance to have share joy of being a doctor thru parenthood I had to miss out on but the EMH..." Brad stopped his bitching. "Sorry. Things are busy right now in sickbay."

Brad pulled out the psychotricorder. "Well here it is. Hopefully the thing that will let Jason believe all of this will be real. Now its not an amnesia gun. It more clouds short term memory then erases or writes over it. The mind isn't a computer where it gets wiped and reloaded with ease. BUT it can be tricked. We'll have to talk him up that the Captain agreed and is ready for him. Just think of it like waking up from full on alcohol celebration the day after your Starfleeet graduation day. He wakes up and his mind is trying to piece things together. The EMH then does its... thing, and that should be enough distraction for Jason to not question too much."


Deck 5, USS Portland

Jason followed the Tellarite down the corridor, although his brain was clouded by the chemicals flooding it, he still felt suspicious of the Tellarites motives when they approached the holodeck.

"Meru is on the holodeck?" He asked wary of a trap.

"That's what I'm told," replied Grel. Not taking his eyes off Jason, he pressed his comm badge. "Grel to Holodeck Two, Commander Alenis, you have a visitor approaching."