Jillian stood and tapped her comm badge. "Keep him stable, I'll be there momentarily. Excuse me Captain." The blonde didn't wait for permission to depart, she moved swiftly out of the ready room up the bridge ramp to the turbolift.

The ship's counselor is Napax. a Ferengi of all things.

Anther frowned, not that she was leaving, that was the right action, but that Napax was in trouble. Tapping his com badge as she left anther called the sick bay. "Anther to sickbay. Status on Napax?"

Not receiving a response, Anther left the ready room heading to Sick bay.
==> To USS Mongoose - Bridge

There were times when he found it hard to think on the Bridge. Just like he told Ensign Quinn, he sometimes needed to have three eyes... even four! It wasn't that he didn't have competent crew, but most of them didn't have the experience yet to see The Big Picture. That was what sitting on the Bridge hampered him doing--too many little details to keep track of.

This way, he had a few minutes before the Away Team reported to think about the big picture. It had to do with making intuitive leaps when you only had a tiny bit of data.

Facts: Shackleton Expanse. Dark matter. Dark energy. Klingon experimental facility. Alien ship from another universe.

These were all strands of events that he felt should be woven together into a coherent tapestry... a tapestry that should have showed a coherent picture. The Big Picture. He just couldn't see it yet.

 "=/\= "Sir, this is Quinn. Good news via the third and fourth eye after all.
The Away Team shuttle has returned and I've relayed word for them to report
to the Ready Room as soon as they're able. And speaking of reporting..." =/\=

The chime to the ready room rang, perhaps rousing the Captain from his contemplation.

"=/\= I have a Lieutenant Lenaris here, reporting for duty." =/\=

=/\= "Acknowledged, Ensign. I believe Lenaris is scheduled to relieve Renlo at ops. Have him do so, and just keep an eye on him till he gets settled in." =/\= Anther replies.

He wasn't expecting Lenaris to have any difficulty stepping into the role, but sometimes the first time sitting on the bridge could make a person nervous.

=/\= "Aye, sir." =/\= Ensign Quinn replied, after a brief pause.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 15):

!BING!

=/\="Lieutenant Commander Vinzz, reporting to the Captain's Ready Room, as instructed."=/\= Shard's voice says through the door announcer.

"Enter," the captain responds.

The door opens and the first Away Team enters.

After taking seats, the Captain continues.

"Naturally I'll expect individual reports from all of you, but I also wanted to get your personal opinion of what you saw and did. I'm just not convinced that it is as straight-forward as it seems."

"I'm not talking about spying or anything... just your general impression of things, gut reaction... anything that you might not feel was appropriate for an official report."

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 17):

Miranda writes her report on a PADD as she heads to the ready room and slides it on to the desk as she sits down.

     Shard opens his mouth, as if to speak--but then an antenna twitches at the sound of a padd being slid onto Anther's desk--and he closes his mouth and settles back in the chair...smiling calmly.

In reply to Shard Vinzz (msg # 19):

Miranda sighs then speaks.

" There was a time while we were on the mission when I felt lost and slowed down. Vinzz did an admirable job keeping the mission going. It is in the report. "

"That's one of the reasons we have teams, Commander," the captain replies. "It's so someone can pick up the slack if it becomes necessary."

"But, whether you felt lost or not, what kind of sense did you get? What was it that made you feel... lost?"

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 21):

" Not sure exactly. My entire history has been one of exceptional focus. "

"I get like that, too, when it comes to engineering problems," Koram speaks up as if T'Shran's words were a prompt.

"As for the facility, Captain, I'd have to say that I got the impression that the Klingon scientists weren't happy about the situation."

"Now, in retrospect, I think that was for several reasons."

"One: as scientists, they are a necessary evil in Klingon society. Klingons think that all Klingons have the 'warrior gene'... and, to a certain extent, that's probably true. But scientists have a more dominant 'secondary' gene--the scientist part. It means they are practically second-class citizens. And yet, when they are involved in such a project, they get to shine."

"Two: I don't think they liked working on the forced singularity project. Oh, the science part was thrilling enough for them, but I guess I got the impression that they were being forced to do so. Pardon the pun."

"Three: while they understand the reason for placing the research facility in the Expanse, I think they would have rather not been in the Expanse... or at least investigating the Expanse instead of the singularity project."

"Did any of that contribute to the problem? I'd say no, but only because they are Klingons. There aren't many species that can achieve as single-minded a focus as Klingons... though that's usually combat, battle and conquering."

"But, you are correct, Captain. I probably would not have put that in my report simply because I could not offer any evidence to justify it. I would have considered it a bias on my part."

In reply to Koram Val (msg # 23):

     Shard nods as Koram voices his observations.

     "I got a lot of that from the Klingons while we were inside the subspace anomaly with them, as well, sir." Shard adds, "I got an impression from the Science Team Leader that there was some dissatisfaction among his techs--but that it was more than the usual 'Scientists chafing under Warriors' thing.  I picked up on a kind of real resentment, on their part.  And also..."

     Shard pauses a moment, looking around from the Captain, across the small group, and back to the Captain--all the while his antennae are slightly withdrawn, as if he's expecting some kind of physical attack.

     "Look, I know that many people think I'm prejudiced against Klingons, that I'm always accusing them of the worst behavior.  But the reality is that I have a very high regard for the Klingon's abilities, not only as individual warriors, but also for their collective ability to act in single-minded pursuit of achieving their goals--a Klingon will do, or say, or suffer anything in order to achieve what he is after.  If it can be done in what we would see as an Honorable manner, then that's how they will do what needs to be done--but even if they have to violate their own Codes of Honor, if something needs to be done, they will do it!"

     "As a Security Officer, that then means I'm always assuming Klingons are acting with ulterior motives--so that I can be prepared for whatever they are actually up to."

     "The reason I'm bringing this up is because I don't want any of you to just assume I'm being prejudiced when I say this--" Shard paused to take a breath, set his shoulders, and raised his antennae fully, "Despite how cooperative, and even grateful the Klingons were for our help at rescuing them, I believe that they were being too cooperative."

     "They barely made any effort to try and cover up what they were doing, when we confronted them.  And when we did lay out what we believed it was that they were doing, they were almost happy with what we were accusing them of doing.  I'm sorry, people, but after a little thought on the matter, I'm convinced that the Klingons were lying to us about what they were really doing.  'Forced Singularity Power'?  Really?  They can steal that from the Romulans--or just find a corrupt Romulan Engineer to sell it to them--and they'd have a fully functional system.  Why, then, do they need to 'research' it?  Just to figure out how to 'do it the Klingon Way'?"

     "No.  I don't think that's what they were researching at all." Shard turns to Koram, "If they were experimenting with getting power out of a singularity, then when it went wonky, why didn't it just explode?  Or implode, whatever.  And then consider the whole 'sucked into a subspace vacuole' thing--again, they were playing with a singularity, if they got 'sucked into' it, why weren't they just crushed in the gravity?  Why was there a 'space' for them to be trapped in, in the first place?"

     "No, sir." Shard says, turning back to Anther, "I think they were experimenting with either opening artificial wormholes, or with creating Transwarp conduits.  Now that I think on it, messing with the fabric of space-time to open wormholes might even explain our reception of that distress signal from the Federation ship, down there--it was some fluke side-effect, something sucked through time and released, because of the ship's proximity to that field generator of the Klingons.  That would even explain why they are here, in The Expanse--space-time is rumored to already be wonky around here."

     Shard settles back in his chair, "Well, that's the vibe I feel I was getting, anyway.  I think the Klingons lied to us about what they are doing, down there.  Sir."

Elle contacts/updates the Captain:

=/\= "Captain th'Valla, the Klingon prisoners have been safely transported to the brig, the second Away Team is... er, still alive, and are engaged in combat aboard the Ancestor. We are attempting to locate the Klingon vessel, although after our initial engagement, it appears not to pose an immediate threat."

"Have Commanders Vinzz or T'Shran uncovered anything urgent we should be aware of, sir?" =/\=
This message was last edited by the player at 20:57, Sun 16 June 2019.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 25):

     Shard suddenly straightens in his seat--eyes wide open, and his antennae both trying to stretch all he way up to the overhead.

     "Did...did she just say that there's a gang of battle-pumped Klingons on the Bridge?  Our Bridge?" Shard asks, incredulously--his voice rising as he speaks.

     Shard is out of his seat before anyone answers, charging for the door.

     "Silviene!  With me!" Shard shouts, just before reaching the door and slapping the open button.

In reply to Shard Vinzz (msg # 26):

After only a minute-or-two, Shard walks back into the Ready Room,

"Sorry, Anther it was..." with a grimace, Shard stops speaking mid-sentence.  After a pause, he continues.

"Uh, I mean, no problem, Captain.  Just a slight miscommunication." Shard continues, as he re-seats himself.

     "What's this about more Klingons having a firefight over on some Unknown Vessel?  I assume that's where these Klingon Prisoners came from?  Anyway, the Bridge crew seemed to indicate that this had been going on for a little while--so I mobilized the entire Security force, armed with Type-Threes, and sent them over to put a stop to it, and put the Klingons to bed.  If their ship has run off, we can always hand these Klingons over to our Friends, down on the asteroid."

"When you are in command of this vessel, Commander Vinzz," the Captain says as Shard returns to his seat, "then--and only then--do you have the right to dispatch a security force to another ship!"

"Things have happened while you were on your mission. If it was anything that you needed to concern yourself with, I would have told you."

"Otherwise, it would have been available in standard reports."

"You need to realize... and accept... that others can do their jobs effectively and efficiently, and will do so whether you are around or not."

The Captain makes a pointed glance at Stilk and Silviene and Blackthorne as if to prompt them to give their report.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 28):

     "Uh, yessir.  Sorry, Sir--I didn't intend to over-step.  It's just that, it was reported to me that the fighting was on-going, and that Mongoose personnel were involved." Shard responded, appropriately chaste, "The quickest way I know to stop a fight is to overwhelm it with superior firepower.  I did give instruction to only use Stun settings, though, Sir."

     "Should I rescind the order and have the Security personnel stand down, Sir?"

"By all means, rescind the order and have security stand down," the Captain replies.

"This alien ship is from a different universe... possibly drawn here by the artificial singularity that the Klingon research station generated."

"Given the nature of the alien ship, however, I feel confident that the aliens on the ship are capable of dealing with the situation. I sent an Away Team over to assist in repelling the boarders in case they were not familiar with Klingons."

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 30):

     "Aye, Sir." Shard says with a nod, then taps his comm-badge,

     "Vinzz to Security.  Stand Down the Full Muster, Chief.  Current forces aboard the alien vessel have been deemed sufficient.  Release called-up off-duty personnel to their regular activities.  Chalk it up in the records as a training exercise.  Tell everyone I said 'Well Done', Chief.  Vinzz, out."

=/\= "Aye, Sir.  The Klingon Hunt has been cancelled.  It was all a Drill.  Acknowledged.  Main Security, out." =/\=

     Shard nods, then looks back over at Anther, then to Miranda, and back.

     "If I may inquire, Sirs, for how long will we be keeping the current batch of Klingon...guests...in the Brig?  As I understand it, the vessel they came from has either left the area, or is maneuvering to continue fighting with us--in which case it will likely be destroyed very soon.  Either way, our...allies...down in the Brig likely will not be going back to it."

     "Do you want me to make arrangements for their prolonged stay in the Brig, or arrange secured guest quarters for them?  I would also like to suggest that we have an option to return them to Klingon authority--we could always beam them down to the asteroid facility.  Whether it's there legally, or not, it's still Klingon property, for the moment.  We'd be in the right to hand these Klingons over to those Klingons, and then consider ourselves done with it, except for the paperwork.  Sirs."

In reply to Shard Vinzz (msg # 31):

" It is the Captain's decision but secured guest quarters is my suggestion. Even if they act like our treaty doesn't apply to them it still applies to us. Until such time as they are proven to be a security risk to this ship or crew. "