[OOC: note security wears gold, command wears red. This is post-TNG. Just sayin' :)]

Evan grins and says "Don't trip on your way out, Nivran."

Captain Gallivan calls the side party to attention and says, "Energise." The transporter room fades out...

...and a new one fades in around Nivran. A young Human woman, a Lieutenant (jg) in command red with with a staff aiguillette, is waiting for hir. She steps forward and says, "Welcome to Starbase 21, Lieutenant Nivran. I'm Cynthia Adler, aide to the Commodore. Commodore Stone has asked me to see to all new transfers to Dyson Base, so I'll run you through your in-routine."

[OOC: Really? as I remember in TOS seeing Kirk usually wearing gold, and secuirty guys wearing red. but oh well]


Nivran saluted Lt. Adler as she introduced herself, before shi took a quick look around the area and responded to Cynthia.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, lead the way

[OOC: They changed the colours around for TNG, so that Picard wore red and security chief Tasha Yar wore gold. Dunno why they changed it, but they did. Lt. Adler is the same rank as Nivran, so shi doesn't have to salute her; not that Starfleet uses salutes...]


Adler takes Nivran to a large room filled with staff personnel where she has hir place hir isolinear data chip in a slot. The computer says, "Prepare for retina scan..." A laser scans a beam across hir eye and the computer continues, "Identity confirmed. Nivran, Lieutenant junior grade, serial number 4Q2 6933210 A, assigned to Dyson Base Outpost Three, Dobhran Sector, effective stardate 53025.6."

Adler returns the isolinear chip to Nivran and says, "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. Your transfer is acknowledged and logged."

In the morning, Nivran has a formal briefing from the Commodore, who takes a keen interest in the Dyson mission. Commodore Dale Stone is standing by a large view port. He is a Caucasian Human in his fifties, with grey hair and a clipped moustache.

Without turning, he said quietly, "Good morning Mister Nivran," (Mister is a genera form of address for Starleet officers regardless of gender.) The staff Lieutenant, who greeted Nivran last night, takes the seat by the LCARS console. Stone takes the large seat at the other end of the table and says "Welcome to Starbase 21. Cynthia, if you will..."

Lt. Adler presses an icon on the console and a large screen lights up showing a large grey sphere silhouetted against a starfield. Nivran recognises this as Dyson One, the Dyson sphere discovered by the Enterprise-D on SD46125.3, from hir briefing materials.

Stone continues, "For the past year, Starfleet has been conducting a mission to explore the interior of the Dyson Sphere, commanded by Commander Delilah Samson. Since the cessation of hostilities with the Dominion, Starfleet has been expanding its presence in the Sphere by building three new outposts. You have been assigned to Outpost Three, under the command of Lieutenant Teranin Atek." Two images appear on the screen.

He hands Nivran an isolinear chip. "Your orders are on this chip. It will be a standard tour of duty, meaning anywhere from two to seven standard years. I'm certain you will do well and advance the mission. This is a great chance to push the boundaries of knowledge. As you will have noted, there are many sapient species in the Sphere and we've already had a number of First Contacts. Also, there are a great many mysteries about the Sphere itself to be unravelled. The central sun was originally evaluated by the Enterprise crew as being unstable and they deduced that this was why the 'Builders' abandoned the Sphere. It turns out that the star is not totally unstable, but is rather a somewhat variable star. It has settled down in the past 5 years, but has infrequent flareups. The installation known as the Museum of Life appears to be simply a catalogue of known life forms with pseudo-holographic recreations. These allow a full medical tricorder scan and when observed over a period give clues to their culture and languages. We have contacted a few dozen species, including, of course the Klingons from the IKS bortaS, which crash-landed in the Sphere over a century ago. It is unknown just how many species there are in the Sphere.  the Prime Directive is still in force - mostly. It's a special case. The integrity of the indigenous cultures is to be maintained. As per Federation custom and law, that is sacrosanct. It is true that this is all they have known for centuries or millennia. However, with so many distinct cultures and the obvious visible evidence of their inhabiting a giant sphere, we must assume at least some form of cross-cultural "contamination", so in certain instances, you and your commanding officers, Commander Samson and Lieutenant Atek, must use your best judgement as to how much information to provide to these people, both about yourselves and the nature of the Sphere.  Commander Samson will brief you on arrival at Dyson One on the modified conditions of the Prime Directive under which you will be operating.

There are a great many things not detailed in the orders, Lieutenant Nivran. Much of this material will be explained in detail by Commander Samson. Much of this information is classified and not for public dissemination. For instance, there has been a Romulan spy discovered among our personnel. This has led to a complete background check on all Vulcans, as the late Subcomander Tzilia was disguised as a Vulcan officer, one Ensign T'Zill. There has also been an attack by a force of androids from something called the 'Fifth Imperium', which killed six Dyson Base personnel. Lieutenant Commander M'Rel," he continues with a look of distaste on his features, "has contacted a powerful being known as Möbius, who he purports to be an ascended Edward Morbius, PhD from the Altair Incident. You can look up the details in the historical database. M'Rel and his crew have begun hanging out with a being named Gurrrps who apparently can dimension shift, and there has been contact with a crashed shuttlecraft from an extragalactic Earth colony from the 29th century called the Havenic Imperial Federation. They have an Havenic officer as a liaison. M'Rel and the crew of the Lena seem to be kind of weirdness-magnet. Finally, a group of 23rd century Klingons from the IKS bortaS, the legendary Battlecruiser Vengeance, the command hull of which crash-landed in the Sphere and formed the hub of veng bortaS or Bortas City. A mission has been coordinated with Emperor Kahless and the Klingon Empire to prepare these Klingons for repatriaton into the Empire. Any questions?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:48, Sun 19 Feb 2017.

Nivran nodded hir head at the greeting as shi responded. "Good morning sir."

Before turning hir attention to the screen though hir ears where oriented towards the commodore to catch his words, but does take the isolinear chip when it's offered. When he was done with the briefing and asked if shi had any questions shi shook hir head. "None really at this time sir, other then how am I getting to outpost three, or is it on the chip."

In reply to Nivran (msg # 7):

[OOC: Nivran—Format for posts: Action will be described in the third preson in the present tense, as in: Jim walks onto the bridge and crosses to his seat. Dialogue will be in quotation marks and bold-faced with italics for emphasis, as in: He snapped,"Scotty, I need Warp nine now!". Thoughts are to be in quotes and italics with bold for emphasis, as in: Scotty though to himself "Hold yer bluidy horses, Sair!" Telepathic communications will be in angled brackets marks and bolded, as in: Spock began the meld - <My mind to your mind... Our minds are one..> Out of character comments should be on a separate line at the foot of the message in red and prefaced [OOC:]

Lieutenant Adler says to Commodore Stone, "I've just got a notice that Lt. Kurasa has arrived in Docking Bay 24 with the USS Kitchissippi. She's here to pick Lt. Nivran up. Do you wish to speak to her?"

Stone looks sour. He grimaces and says, "I suppose I'd better. Her situation vis à vis Lt. Dul looks like it going to be a real can of worms.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:30, Thu 23 Feb 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 8):

Several minutes later, the door chime sounds. "Enter," says the Commodore in in walks a tall athletic Humanoid woman in Operations gold. The full Lieutenant's pips at her throat look very shiny and new. Stone says, "Lt. Kurasa, congratulations on your brevet promotion. I'd like you to meet Lt. (jg) Nivran. I hear you've got a problem with Lt. Dul. Once you get Lt. Nivran squared away, I'd like to discuss your options."

He turns to Nivran. "Shione here is temporarily bumped up to full Lieutenant for the duration. I'll be discussing that with her privately. She's currently the Engineer of the Kitchissippi. She's cross-trained in Security, just as you have been in Engineering. Your assignment has been adjusted slightly. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that you're now the Tactical Officer on the Thames II, the replacement for M'Rel's original USS Thames, destroyed with no loss of crew during the Kapecki attack. Shione here will be the ship's Engineer and Lts. (jg) Argent Merawdr and Tonio Gazzo will be continuing with her as Science Officers." The Thames will have an unusually large crew for a runabout once Lt. Zedrick Sloane and Lt. (jg) Jonathan Clare arrive. Until then, It'll just be the four of you with Shione in command."


This message was last edited by the GM at 20:56, Thu 23 Feb 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 9):

She stood at attention and allowed a brief smile to cross her face"Thank you Sir.Spent most of my career resisting promotions, but I guess this puts me on an equal footing in the matter you wish to discuss.
Is Lt Nivran prepared to go now, as in, should I take hir to the Kitchissippi or ask my crew to join us on base for the night?


It is wonderful to meet you Lt Nivran.I look forward to working with you.I understand that you have some training in hand to hand combat.I would enjoy sparing if you would permit it"

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 9):

Nivran listened to the commodore as he spoke and nodded hir head when he was done. "I undertand sir."

Nivran turned to Shione as she entered the room and at the comment about being ready to go shi shrugged as shi spoke up for hirself. I have my bags still packed so I'd just have to grab them to be ready to head out."

Though Nivran turned to Shione when she commented about hand to hand and nodded.
"It's a pleasure to meet you aswell Lt Kurasa, and yes I do have some training in hand to hand, and as my father used to say, if your training stagnates so do you and when you stagnate you die."

In reply to Nivran (msg # 11):

"Thank you Nivran,but if it's alright I think a night at the Starbase would do my crew and I a world of good.We just finished an away mission and I've been dealing with some stress.


She looked up at the Mirak,towering over her own 6'"Besides it would give us a more relaxed opportunity to get to know each other.

Addressing the Commodore:"If that is alright with you Sir?"

If the Commodore approves; she taps her Comm badge to hail Argent and Tony directing them to come up and meet

The Commodore replies. "Visiting Officer Quarters are available—Lt. Nivran is already installed in hirs. Please have your crew take Lt. Nivran in hand while I meet with you in private."

Lt. Adler ushers Nivran out to meet Argent and Tony.  Commodore Stone stands up and walks over to the replicator. "Raktajino, hot. Do you care for some, Lieutenant?" He returns to his chair and picks up a PADD.

"I'll dive right in here. Lieutenant Dul has been burning up subspace with her complaints and being a royal pain in the ass to all and sundry. Up to this point, she has shown herself to be a gifted and capable officer. I would be saddened to lose a valuable officer after what was, after all, a very costly war; in terms not only of materiel but also in terms of lives lost or shattered. Her claims that you are an obvious Romulan spy are being dealt with, being completely false on the face of it. You have the support of the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Vulcan Science Academy and both Starfleet Intelligence and Security. On the family front—yes, I've been read in on this— both your birth mother and father are on scheduled to make an official visit to Dyson Base to meet with you, Commander Samson and your half-sister in an effort to resolve the issue. I know you've never met your father but he has agreed to do this in order to deal with the fallout."

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 13):

Gobsmacked

That's how she felt"Wow"

She sipped the proffered drink slowly before elaborating.
"Worf doesn't surprise me,but Capt Picard though.Haven't heard from him since before the war. Sormock is coming to the sphere ,sir?
The man barely acknowledged me when I went to Vulcan to meet him".

She let all that sink in before answering the question implied in the Commodore's statement
"Sir I know there is an element of fear behind Lt Dul's actions.Perhaps she is afraid that I threaten the peace of her family,or that she thinks that her mother betrayed her by not telling her about me; but whatever the motivation,I would like to see her dealt with as gently as possible.

Perhaps a Counselor could be brought in to see if there is a slight mental issue.

Sir I do not wish to see her career hurt either and you have my complete support to do whatever is needed to clear this mess up"

Nivran is shown to a waiting area by Lt. Adler. Argent and Tony are waiting for hir. Gazzo is an ordinary looking male Humanoid, while Argent is a black Caitian with light blue—almost silvery—eyes. This feature is what gave Argent his name. Gazzo stands up and greets hir, extending a hand in Human fashion, saying, "Heya! I'm Gazzo, Alien Technology Assessment. They call me Fast Tony. My, you're a big one, ain'tcha?"


This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Sat 25 Feb 2017.

Stone replies, "Captain Picard speaks highly of you. He's a very good judge of character. And Ambassador Worf seems quite fond of you—in a Klingon sort of way. I'll see if Picard will have LCdr. Troi speak with Lt. Dul."

He sips his raktajino. "I was unaware that you'd actually gone to Vulcan and met Sormok. That does help some. Did that meeting go well or not?"

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 16):

Capt Picard is easily the finest Captain I have ever served under and I am honored by his praise.
Now Worf"She grins "is an entirely different matter.We saved each others lives several times and he remains one of my closest friends from Starfleet. We have a routine when we meet that the first of us to see the other will make some very insulting public statement about the other and then we will move as if to attack each other before he usually yanks me into a bear hug.
Sir I have a gift for him, and if you have an opportunity to send him a message I would be grateful if you would let him know.
Which reminds me, I have a large number of Archaic and Alien Melee weapons here; one of which is the gift.Would it be a problem for me to take them with me back to Dyson,Sir?"

She agree with the Commodore regarding Troi's intervention."She is top notch,sir.I have had more than a few sessions with her myself. But Sir,is the Enterprise near? I would love the opportunity to visit,if feasible and at least read Cdr Data in on the Kapecki.He would be fascinated"she smirks " Of course he found many things,"fascinating"

When Sloan mentions Sormock,her face loses emotion as she answers

"Not all that well sir. He was terribly formal.Introduced me before the Science Council as his Daughter and then promptly left me with an aide who spent considerable time with me.
She saw to it that I learned Vulcan culture,language and she had me tested for Vulcan Telepathy.
I never learned to Mind Meld,but I do have a pretty wicked Nerve Pinch.
So no the meeting didn't go all that well, sir"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Sat 25 Feb 2017.

"The Enterprise will be dropping in on the Sphere in the near future. Of course it's a whole new Enterprise, the "E", Sovereign class. They will be transporting Ambassador Worf. Commander data will be intrigued by the Kapecki and is looking forward to meeting your Commander Olivaw.

"However, on the subject of your father, Vulcans can be very hard to read sometimes. "As you know, they suppress all emotions, but the very fact that Councillor Sormok presented you to the Science Council as his daughter and arranged a companion/tutor for you speaks volumes about his pride in you and his regard for you. You may be doing him a disservice. By Vulcan standards, he need not regard you as family, but merely as an experiment in which he participated four decades ago. Clearly you are more to him than that."

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 18):

"Yes sir.I understand .It is just a lot to take in, I guess.
If that is all Sir, may I rejoin my crew?"
[OOC If So]
"Thank you for your concern and assistance Commodore

Shione will grab her travel bag and join Argent,Nivran and Tony

Stone looks up. "By all means. Dismissed," and goes back to his PADD.

Shione finds her way to the lounge where she finds Nivran chatting with Argent and Tony over drinks.

Shione hastens to the lounge and falls with a "whuff" into her seat.asking the waiter for a pitcher of their strongest ale.

"Sorry for all the secret chat stuff.Not a lot I can tell you but this much I can share
"Lt Dul is my half sister and she has posted some charges against me, which have been dismissed by Starfleet, but she isn't backing down."

Shione realizes that Nivran has no idea what she is talking about so she turns to hir"Lt Dul was the CO on the last Away mission.She is a Betazoid like I am,but I am also half Vulcan.

She disputed that and has accused me of being a Romulan. Which I'm not, but other than using a Nerve Pinch it is hard to prove in a face to face situation.But none of that is important.

Argent, you and Tony may have noted the Lieutenant's pips on my collar.I have been given a Brevet promotion, which may become permanent in our next assignment.The four of us and two other officer; one of whom will be the Conn/Pilot will be in a brand new Atlantic Class runabout.It's larger than the Danubes and will easily accommodate us.NO mission parameters yet,but IF I keep the rank I will be the XO on the boat.

Questions?

By the way are you hungry,I sure could eat"

Tag Argent, Nivran
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Tue 28 Feb 2017.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Nirvak," Argent says when he is introduced to the Mirak.

"I beg your forgiveness if I say or do something inappropriate towards you, Nirvak, but I am not familiar with the Mirak. I suppose it's a good thing that Tony is the expect on species. I prefer studying quarks and wormholes and spatial anomalies and stuff."


When Shione joins them, Argent notices the pips--more rather than less, which usually result from closed-door meetings with superiors.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant," Argents says to Shione. "I can't say as it's either unexpected or undeserved."

"And a new ship! I guess that means we didn't screw up the last assignment too badly. I'm still rather confused about what happened. Other than this portal into another universe, do we have any hard scientific confirmation that this sphere was built by... Others? The material all came from this universe, though; the quantum resonance is consistent with our universe."

"I wonder if Olivaw will register the same way?"

"Yes, I am hungry, now that you ask. I've been nibbling on Feline Supplement #9 while I try to decide what I would like."

Tony says, "Yeah, congrats on the promotion. I thought the whole Romulan thing was settled and you were clear, or so Security says. Is Lt. Dul drinking bad bathtub gin or what? But, yeah I could eat—I hear the restaurant on Level 417 serves a mean sirloin with mushrooms. My treat!"

Cynthia Adler comes in and says to Shione, "Oh, good, I caught you before you retired. We've just received a new Atlantic class Runabout, the USS South China Sea. Would you folks like to get a tour so you'll know the ins and outs of the class before you get the Thames II?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:47, Sat 04 Mar 2017.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 23):

Shione smiled at Tony and Argent "Thanks for the good wishes.Yeah Argent.I've spent way too much time talking with my superiors when all I want to do is work.

I think Lt Nivran is going to be an excellent addition to our new crew. I believe that having a mixed race crew gives us the benefits of your perspectives, especially when dealing with new experiences, such as what we will be having in the sphere"

She was just finished talking, when the attractive Lt Adler came and joined them.
"That sounds wonderful,Cynthia(OOC The benefit of equal rank!), but we were just talking about getting something to eat.Tony here said the restaurant on 417 has great food. How about we all go grab a bite, and then you can give us that tour?

She gave Cynthia her best smile "Does that interest you, Lt?"

Adler says, "So, Gian isn't with you?" She looks disappointed. "I'd better not. I'm still on duty and I've had my lunch break. Petty Officer Marston will be giving you the tour. Is an hour good for you all?"

The steaks at the restaurant are everything Tony had heard—succulent and tender, with a plentiful supply of plump, juicy mushrooms sautéed just right. The house wine is a rich burgundy—no synthohol for this meal, and the dessert is a decadent tiramisu. A steaming mug of raktajino rounds off the meal.

Proceeding to the docking bay, the group is greeted by a young Petty Officer who introduces himself as John M. Marston, from Houston, Texas, on Earth. He is a gangling 1.95 metres tall, skinny as a rake, with large ears that stick out and a shock of red hair which seems uncontrollable. Piercing blue eyes and a mass of freckles complete the picture. "Well, Lootenants, this here's the brand spanking new Atlantic class Modular Runabout. As you can see, it's much larger than your li'l ole Danube class. At twenny-nahn point two metres in length, it's half ag'in as long, and as y'all can see, it's two decks high. The warp nacelles make it look a bit lahk an ole Mississippi side-wheeler paddle boat. It's armed with Type VI phaser strips and a pair of light pulse phaser cannon, with microtorpedo launchers. The lower section is mission configurable, thus the 'Modular Runabout' classification. On the lower module, right b'hind the hatch, are a pair of 'Sidekick' pods—in this case a pair of long range image sensor modules that upgrade the sensor capability to Class 4. Up top, you got a 'Longbow' long range sensor array and an scientific array. It has a crew of six standard, with additional bunks installable as required. The lower module in this case is a Scout module with labs and all manner of scientific and reconaissance equipment. It has two standard transporter pads on the flight deck, and it'll do Warp six with an emergency speed of Warp eight point three for four hours."


Marston pauses after the long dissertation and says, "Well, y'all wanna take a gander inside an' kick the tires?"

The upper deck of the ship is accessed by climbing up a ladder aft of the circular warp nacelles and entering through a small airlock. This opens out into a lounge area with six bunks and a fresher unit A pair of small tables sit beneath a collection of large aft windows. Forward of this is an engineering room complete with a 'pool table' console like those found on large starships, an office area with the widow ports visible from the exterior and finally the command deck with its two-place transporter and a tactical console similar to those found on uprated Danubes. From the forward windscreens, the Kitchissippi can be seen dwarfed by its larger cousin.

[OOC: Argent? Nivran? You guys still there? I'm just going to narrate the next action which will be getting back to Dyson Base. Jump in when you're ready. Shione, here we go!]

The action will continue in the thread "Back to the Sphere".

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 26):

[ OOC C'mon guys.

Let's keep this going Hmmn?]