Commander Hack sat at a very large round  table in the VIP  section of the officer's  club.  LC Si  sat nect to him, the Ambassador  and his wife  sat next to them, and there  were 4  empty seats  on the other  side, for the invited guests.....

  The Hostess will show the   other invitees to the table.

Mal showed up and headed over to the table with Hack. He properly greeted the Angel Ambassador and his wife and then took a seat.

Mal said, "Is this a social gathering or more?
The reason I ask is since it isn't secure there's a great deal I can't talk about. Hypno and all that..." then looked around again.

  Cindy followed him ina few steps behind,..sorry..Just got  the message and  had to throw  something on.... her  something  was a BAlck cocktail dress  and  some Bling, she hand  a hand purse  and her Bio=tech pad.

Allana hurried toward the officers club. True to his word, Allana moved freely into the VIP section of the officers club.  Seeing the man who invited her and some other people she didn't know she approached the table smiling. "I hope I'm not late." Then she took a seat, "I'm Allana, the new ships doctor," she paused for a moment, "Stef should be along shortly."  Allana forced herself to relax and her breathing to remain steady.  I survived undergrad, med school and a residency. Why the hell are social situations so hard?

 Stef was in her  wake, she  was Ushered into the   room and shown the seat nest to Allana,..Thank you, bring the drink  Card  around in   a few  minutes, it  will gives  us some time to order...

  the Waiter nodeed  and left Menus  for everyone, Hack looked around  and said,..Right then...every one Knows  LC Si and Myself..This  is Mal, out Bio-tech head, and his  number 2  Cindy...As out new  Med-Tech head said, she is Allana and her number  two Stef...for those   of you who have not met them, This is Ambassador Tril  and his  wife Nil....time is running  rather qucikly, so i gathered  you folks together  to speak of what will be happening in the next day or so..while  we enjoy  an otherwise...quiet meal...

  The Drink cart came..Hot  drinks, hard  drinks  cold  drinks  soft drinks, they had , but to ask.

  HAck ordered  a steak, th LC order  Lobster tails....Please..make your orders...

Allana didn't think she could eat very much being quite nervous as she was. Well if all else failed she could get something later from... somewhere. Aw hell Still when the commander told her to make their orders, "A salad please. And water with lemon." Something nice and light was just what the doctor ordered. Literally.

  The Commander's eyebrow  raised,..A  salad? Please, Doctor? do not be afriad to order here..you are among friends...Tomrrow  at this time you might be knee deep in screaming bodies..best take the good things when you can...

  Stef was very very nervous..she  too a wine and order some Chicken with pasta

  Cindy  order a beer, and  a steak...if the warlords  were payng, she  was eating...

Mal said,
"Excuse me Commander.
Who's paying for this?
I just dropped a third of my savings on a suit for this mission. I'm famous sir, not wealthy. Poor guy...
Financing exploration is expensive and not insurable.

I don't know if I can afford to be here never mind eat here," then he stayed still as a statue.

 The Commnader sat bck and  Looked  at Mal with a  tilted head, The LC put her hand on  Hack's  and said,Please...we would not invite you..if we were not payng..enjoy yourselves..as  much as you would like

  as they talked  and  ate,  HAck finally got to the point..The Ambassador and his  wife, know what a big  day tomorrow  will be..Mal..Allana..you two are going to have  a hand in this as much as  anyone  on board. Lt Roberts has been working on some was to weaken the demon's...I mean as a species, not  as a force...that will give us a much tighter grip on a chance to win battles that will be forthcoming

 ..Allana.. besides the obvious..your role  will mesh with Mal's. None of the  species  we encounter out here have reckoned with Humans..our  resolve...our  spirit..none of it. There are Humans out here, that are little more the game animals on some of these planets..some are raised for food...so...that is the take they have on us...we need  ways to weaken..kill. Demons, Largrans..and  any who  side with them.

 saddly, there may come  a day when we  might  fight some of our own people. The Demon sympathizers are growing..seeing power in the demons evil...but not realizing that we are nothing more then an entree to them. I tell you all this  now, becuase when the 9 hells break loose on Delta Omega  ...you need be ready for it...

Mal said,
"I've been in many such situations and have some things that can help. Most here know more than they want to about who and what we're facing. Doctors deal with it after and technicians are in battles and on frontiers. Ambassador and his wife are here because it is a situation like this.

We won't let you down sir.
We're ready," then nibbled at his mid priced stir fry. He was thinking for the same amount he could buy enough relays to wire up a probe.

Inwardly, Allana was confused. So he brought us up here to tell us to be ready to do our jobs. She didn't say anything but chowed down on her salad.  Although she longed to ask, what exactly was the point of this speech, but instead she nodded to the commander. After Mal answered she had little to add. "Of course. I will do all I can to help."

    Cindy  looked a bit peeved, Stef was just nodding along  with what Allana said. The Ambassador  and his wife looked at the  two medical folks, then to Hack and the LC.

  Hack put his fork down, and picked up his wine  Glass. He studied the wine  glass for a second  or so,..I guess..what i am saying. The Hermes is ..at this point in time...the spearhead of Earth and her allies, in turning this  war around...this...Ladies  and Gentlemen, is total war..there  are very little  rules and thus..very little  constraints..for either side...for us to be victorious..we  must  not  cow, at using  the same tactics that are being used against us...

  Cindy  slammed down her fork, what your  saying is...you want humans  to be like the Demons!

  Hack was not  upset, he just smiled,..just like them...to them...there is  a very very old  saying. Fight fire  with fire...we  are Earth's  fire...

  The Ambassador  clears his throat,..what the Commnader is saying..is this. experiments, studies  on  our foes will be needed to find  a way to stop them...perhaps..on a species  wide basis if needed...to do anything less is to allow then to tear through our systems  like a sheet of paper...they need to know fear..and they need to  worry about thier homelands..and thier noncombatants...

  ..they thought  our race  would  run and hide, when  we learned  of what happens to prisoners...now?  we will be sending Vids back...saddly..fear and greed has  come into play...there  are those back home and  even in the  carrier stations that wish to try to make peace with the demons...if that were to happen, the Angels and  other allies  would   feel the full force of thier  confederation...then...they would come for us

Mal cleared his throat and said,
"We don't even have to be cruel for most of it. Want a distraction and a weapon now?

Have one of those air support spray stinky stuff and then another drop the scent of a breeder. We can make both in good supply. If we got them on it now that is..." then stood waiting to see if he should go do so.

  the  Commander nodded, that would be  a grand  trick, indeed..but  we needs  save that when we have enough demons to distract....if  we lose out link with this planet, we will do extensive....tests..on it.

Allana nods and watches as Mal leaves. "If you'll excuse me. And thank you for dinner."

The  commnader stands  as the  Ladies  rise to go, He Bows s lightly to Allana,..Of  course   Doctor. Perhaps   we can do this again, when its  more  soical and no one has  a mission hanging over thier  heads.

  The LC smiles  at Allana and nods her  head in agreement.

--> from the Hanger Deck

Waking several hours later Justin tidied himself up then made for Officers club for a meal. Collecting a serving of mixed vegetables and meat and seating himself against a wall he leisurely picked at the plate with one hand deftly employing fork whilst his other hovered above a HYDEN XS Personal,   the latest in pocket systems, his fingers a blur of activity as they keyed away on the touch pad, entering a plethora of details
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Tue 27 Mar 2012.

  The  club was not  real busy, but there  were a few  others there, a couple LTs  from the MArines, and  a pair of LT pilots who were going over the battle they had.

  Other officers there were Clerk-types, or bridge types. eating and conversing

In reply to Justin (msg #20):

Fortunatly the table Justin was sitting provided an excellent opportunity to listen to the discussions of both the Pilots and Marines. From what they were saying he was able hear the different perspectives and an assessment of the capabilities of the relevant officers.

  from what he  can hear,  the Pilots  are just talking about near misses and  how they flew  this, or turned  that...the other Officers talking about the Blade, and how glad they didn't have to go over there with the Major.

 the Bridge  people seemed quite at ease, talking about  earth  and what they were going to do.

In reply to justin (msg #22):

Fortunately for Justin the Hermes was headed inbound affording him an opportunity to draft several communiqués.  Once completed he contacted the bridge comms officer requestiong permission to transmit these.

...
This message was last edited by the player at 21:09, Thu 29 Mar 2012.

 Lilly ( filling in for Beth)...I am sorry  En Case, but  i will need to get clearance  from the Commander  for this..he is taking a meeting with the  other  ships' captains now...you wish   for  me to have him Comm you?

  The Three Captains entered the Officer's  club. They were lead to a Tbale that had its  Own Vid  screen, and the  waitress was taking orders  as they sat down.

In reply to Justin (msg #24):

Yes thank you, he responded looking up to notice the three Captains