After Harris beams back to DS6-A, The three of you head back to your quarters.

McCurrvey walks into his cabin and Kyra is sitting on the couch watching a holodrama on the wall screen. "Hi dad," she greets him. "Mom's gone to the Recreation Deck to work out with Thoma. So, that Spaxter guy has a funny hat, huh? Doctor John says he's a fictional character—what's that all about? I think his girlfriend has for Cap'n Khendron," she says, smirking...


Thelev walks into his cabin and is greeted by Vethia who wraps herself around his shin. "Daddy! Maje Bigbottom brought me the new Flotter story! Were watching it now!" Thelev looks into the seating area to see Bilgebotton sitting on the couch in civvies with a huge bowl of popcorn.

"Evening Captain. Cdr Thoma asked me to babysit the young'un while she goes to workout with the Navigator," he rumbles. "She seems to think I'm a big teddy bear," chuckles the 2 metre tall Marine commandant.


Khendron has just settled down to try out the replicator's version of a Efrosian beer when his door chime sounds. He orders the door to open and in steps Louella. "Hey, there, Ken. I was lonely on this huge ship but the computer gave me directions to your quarters. Mind if I come in?" Spotting the frosty mug in his grip, she asks coyly, "Got 'nother one'a those?"...
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Wed 29 July 2020.

In reply to Commander Theresa Harris (msg # 46):

The idea of some rest is music to Khendron's ears.

Since part of the XO's job is to consider the unpopular alternatives, Khendron also starts thinking about what actions would need to be taken if rescuing Dr. Marcus is impossible. In his cabin, before turning in and sleeping like a log, he uses the computer to run a few tactical simulations up to and including destroying the Armida IV along with everybody onboard. Khendron plans to keep these to himself, unless absolutely necessary.

At 07:00 the next day, Lt George Talbot, the Intel Officer convenes the morning briefing, "Sirs, if you will open the PADDs in front of you, I've compiled a dossier on the Armida IV and its known crew. This information is a compendium of intelligence from Centurion Tevan of the Romulan Tal Diann, a Romulan agent formerly planted as an Armida IV crew member by the Star Empire; classified reports from SI; intell gathered by Cdr Harris's crew and assorted other sources detailed in Appendix A.

"First up of course, we have Calista, self-styled the Damned, who claims to be possessed by a demonic entity she calls Verlegg. This entity is apparently real—is some manner—whether a bona fide supernatural creature of simply what we in Intell call a YAGLA, for Yet Another God-Like Entity, a category which encompasses such beings as the Talosians, Squire Trelane, Redjac, Apollo, the Organians and a whole raft of extremely powerful beings both physical and non-corporeal. Commodore, I believe your old friend Captain James Kirk has encountered many of these. They are detailed in Appendix B.

"Her XO is a renegade Klingon named Morgh, a nasty individual dubbed by Callista as Morgue after the English word for an autopsy theatre. Her Master-at-Arms is a particularly vile piece of work calling herself Jasmine D'Arque, an Andorian zhen rendered sterile by rival pirates who tortured her. She understandably has a hate-on for... well, everyone.

"Her engineering team is an outcast Gorn named G'Raaaw and an android designated B0D-1CA or Boudicca."

He sighs and continues, "The whole crew numbers about a dozen or so and counts within its ranks an assortment of the dregs of the galaxy. Individual profiles, or at least as much as we can dig up, are in Appendix C. Unfortunately much of the data is of dubious veracity, but assume the worst of it is only the surface.

Finally, a combat assessment of the Armida IV itself is in Appendix D. Much of this is direct observation by our own Tactical Section, but we have much data—some contradictory— from various Starfleet records and from DS6-A itself, thanks to Cdr Harris."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:42, Sat 01 Aug 2020.

In reply to Lt George Talbot (msg # 49):

"Lieutenant, two questions. First one is the number of female humans aboard, and can we take advantage of any glitches in their shield technology to beam all female humans out which should include Dr. Marcus.  Her data and tech is important but can be replaced if it gets destroyed." he finishes with a smile.

"Second do we have any idea of Calista buyer, or potential buyers. If we can rescue Dr. Marcus and her data and tech off of the Armida IV perhaps we can rescue her during the transfer. " Thelev adds
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:33, Sun 15 Nov 2020.

Talbot replies, "Sorry, sir, we can't get a reading on lifesigns from the ship. There appears to be a damping field around the entire asteroid, thanks to the alien installation. In addition, this means that all transports must be between two transporter platforms—no site-to-site. Apparently, most of the denizens of Bridgetown use shuttles to get around. Peculiarities about the Shiela system are in Appendix E and what we know about Bridgetown and the Bridge itself are in Appendix F. That unfortunately is the slimmest section of the report." He clears his throat. "It seems they've found themselves the perfect pirate haven. Even Tortuge, the old pirate haven in the Twilight Nebula, didn't have it so good."

Talbot continues, "Since we're well outside the Federation, we've got a reduced force on which to call. Basically we've got two starships at hand: the Renner class Destroyer Escort USS Arcadia NCC-3255, stationed at DS6-A and the Indomitable class Battle Cruiser USS Indefatigable NCC-2011, currently patrolling the Bright Star Cluster, a constellation within the Kellinan Reach.

"We've detected a flurry of encoded subspace messages sent to recipients in the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Orion Colonies and several other polities. From the data-crunching we've been able to do thanks to Cdr Thoma and her people as well as the crew of DS6-A, they're putting her up for auction to the highest bidder. We're awaiting answers. Even with subspace radio, it'll take some time to reply to her."

Almost as if on cue, the intership chimes in, "Thoma to Commodore McCurrvey and Captain Thelev. We're receiving a hail from the planetoid. I'm patching it through..."

The screen lights up. A man's face appears, wearing an elaborate contraption like a helmet. It looks more industrial/technological than decorative. He begins, with a faint Scots burr, "Hi, Teri, it's me, Sam. I'm certain ye've been in contact with the captain o' that shiny new Federation battleship out there. Guess I dinnae have to tell you what this li'l call is about, but in the spirit of fairness and competition, I guess I'll fill ye in anyway. As ye've probably guessed, we're goin' tae have a public auction and you're invited. We're selling off Doctor Carol Marcus and all the knowledge in her pretty little head. Say hello to your knights in shining armour, Doc."

A Klingon holds Dr Marcus by the shoulders. She looks unharmed but disheveled; but there is fear in her eyes. "Help me," she pleads. "Don't let th—" and is cut off as the Klingon's hand is clapped over her mouth.

"A real chatter-box, our li'l Carol," continues Sam. "I guess I don't need tae tell ye not to do anything stupid, mates. Sam out!" The goes blank.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Mon 03 Aug 2020.

In reply to Lt George Talbot (msg # 52):

"Tell me Lieutenant," says Khendron after Sam disconnects, "is this whole operation, that is the kidnapping and the auction, Calista's standard modus operandi? It seems uncommonly reckless. Given what's at stake, I would not be surprised if the Romulans, Klingons, and so on are all sending covert strike teams to seize Dr. Marcus by force. The chances of anybody successfully buying her at an auction are almost non-existent!"

"Which leads me to suspect," continues Khendron, "that Dr. Marcus is just one piece in a complex game of chess, except that we don't know who or what is the king!"

"Well, sir, that's a very good question. However it's not quite that simple. We don't really have a complete history of her exploits and we don't know how much of what we do know is accurate. Pirates exaggerate their exploits to cause terror. Let's just say it's not inconsistent with available data. Pirates often take hostages, but rarely do they take a prize as valuable as Dr. Marcus, which skews the probabilities. That's the key word, probability. All Intelligence analysis is based on probability." Talbot gestures to the readout on the briefing screen. "We rate the probability that this auction is as advertised to be high—in the range of 80-90%. Of course since we're dealing with pirates and criminals, not to mention threat species, we also rate the probability that one or more parties will be acting in bad faith to be also quite high."

Talbot continues, "Calista is an outlier as Orion Pirates go, but we do know a fair bit about the average Orion pirate. Orion pirates are careful with their captives and usually will not mistreat them. If for any reason a captive cannot be ransomed off, Orion pirates are likely to strand the captive on a strange world. Killing innocent people for a financial error fills other Orions with horror, and other pirates might set a bounty on the offending pirates just to make sure such people are hunted down and killed for the barbarians they are. Now, Calista has indicated she is willing to maim or kill Dr. Marcus, but there is a distinct probability that this was a ruse, knowing how connected Marcus is, being Captain Kirk's ex and all. Indeed, she may be hoping to bring Kirk into play in order to capture or kill him, by that seems to be, paradoxically, both to convoluted and too straightforward for her..."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:09, Wed 12 Aug 2020.

In reply to Lt George Talbot (msg # 55):

"Well, if Kirk shows up," says Khendron, with maybe a little bit of sarcasm, "he can join the party. In the meantime, what can we do? Has anybody tried relaying a transporter lock to punch through the dampening field? Maybe we could snatch Dr. Marcus right out of the auction. It's either that or we storm the ship and rescue her by force."

Khendron turns to Commander Harris. "And I am sorry if our actions disrupt whatever diplomatic relations you have in this system, but I think our prime concern is keeping Dr. Marcus out of the wrong hands. Or at least wronger hands than those she is already in."

[OOC: Actually, you're still aboard the Odyssey, so we'll fast-forward to the meeting on DS-6A and continue from there.]
After Talbot finishes the briefing, the group beams over to DS-6A. Boluri is waiting. He greets the Commodore, the two Captains, Dr. Driveon, Maj Bilgebottom, Lt Talbot and Lt Melanie Smith (Telev's yeoman, there to take notes).

Once the group has been guided to Harris's office and everyone introduced over coffee, Khendron says, "I am sorry if our actions disrupt whatever diplomatic relations you have in this system, but I think our prime concern is keeping Dr. Marcus out of the wrong hands. Or at least wronger hands than those she is already in."

Harris grimaces, "Sorry, sir, but it's just not that simple. We have a major interstellar incident here. We only just received this message from Starfleet Command. The Odyssey has also received it, so we'll patch in your communications officer."

Thoma appears on the wall screen. To everyone else, she looks calm and collected, but Thelev notes from the set of her antennae that she's stressed out. Since Brad and Khendron have known her for years, they also see this. "Sorry, sirs, but this just came trough on subspace from Starfleet Headquarters."

Her face is replaced by Bill Smillie's. Scuttlebutt is that Smillie's next in line to be Starfleet's Chief-in-Command when Nogura steps down at the end of the year. "Brad, I'm copying this message to CDR Harris. Normally I'd trust you, Thelev and Mercer to handle this in your own inimitable way. I'd just as soon have Kirk and Spock on site as well, but I'm afraid Jim is just too close to things, so I'm dropping it in your lap. We want Marcus back, badly, but Bridgetown is not your average outpost. This Sam character is deep in bed with the Orions and things have been a little touchy with them, but he's also contacted the Klingons and the Romulans which means you're living in a powder keg; and you guys have a tendency to give off sparks." A pair of images pop up on the screen.

"The Klingons have dispatched Capt Kang, and the Romulans are responding with Cdr Charvanek. Both are seasoned negotiators are warriors. The Tholians are also responding. Then, toss into the mix this entity you reported—Verlegg—and things get really unpredictable. We don't know anything about it, but from your report it seems to be a powerfully psionic being. Although it managed to catch LCdr Saavik off-guard, she seems to have been able to resist its power in their second encounter. If Dr. Driveon signs off, expedite her return to duty and utilise whatever assistance she can offer.

"Dr. Marcus is a priority, but she's not our prime motivation. Rescue her if it's at all possible but please don't start an interstellar war."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Sun 15 Nov 2020.

In reply to Commander Theresa Harris (msg # 58):

Thelev points at his chest with the expression us start an interstellar war. Of course he does not say that out loud but is sure the motion didn't go unnoticed.

"Admiral do we have any allies here that we can count on? And is there any information that Cmdr. Harris and her team has not supplied to you that you can make available to us about Sam or his base." Thelev asks.

"Can I assume Dr. Marcus data and technology needs to be recovered as well. If necessary are we at liberty to destroy her data and technology? And yes I understand without starting a war." he adds.

"Oh one last question, knowing who will be here are we at our discretion, free to use all the technology at our disposal to rescue Dr. Marcus?"

Smillie raises an eyebrow at Thelev's gesture but does not remark. "Any information they're extracted from Dr. Marcus is of course to be wiped and if possible the computer housing it rendered inoperative. Dr. Marcus may have a demonstration model of the food replicator in her possession. It would of course be restricted to edibles and non-sensitive materiel, so it's not considered a risk as the initial models are already being deployed and released on the open market. The dangerous part of the Genesis Project was Phase III. Phases I and II did not involve David Marcus's ill-considered —and unauthorised— incorporation of protomatter into their matrices, and the replicator is based on Phase I." A map appears on the screen.

"The closest Federation presence is a small cluster of Federation colonies about two parsecs away orbiting Alpha and Beta Kallick and Epsilon Zeta." The blue area near the Bloodfield Nebula brightens. "Unfortunately, they're agricultural and mining worlds, and one religious colony, so they're of no military help. The Battlecruiser Indefatigable has been alerted to be ready to assist, as has the Arcadia, posted at DS-6A. I see LCdr Eggleton is sitting in on the briefing." Glenn Eggleton, captain of the Arcadia, nods in acknowledgement.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

In reply to Fleet Admiral William Smillie (msg # 60):

“ Do we have any operatives in the other parties invited to the auction we may be able to utilize or at least determine the other parties true intent.” Thelev asks.

Turning to McCurrvey and Mercer “ Any thoughts on what we can do, not having a lot of intel it is making going in blind high risk. “

"Well, both Kang and Charvanek are known quantities. Neither of them has any great love for the Federation, but both of them are at least potentially cooperative—at least neither are "shoot first and question the ashes" types. Also, we have reason to believe that a former Romulan plant in Calista's crew, one Centurion Tevan of the Tal Diann, has been assigned to Charvanek's crew as an Intelligence asset. From his time in Starfleet custody, we know he'd cheerfully eat Calista's liver. He's also the source of much of our information on Calista and the Armida IV. I'm dispatching the officer who oversaw his interrogation, LCdr Bryan Boren of SI, to lend whatever aid he can. I understand, Brad that you were in touch with him yesterday. He'll be there on a fast courier in two days. That's about all I can help you with. Good luck, and may the great bird of the galaxy bless your endeavours!" The image of the Fleet Admiral is replaced by the Federation Seal.

Harris whistles softly. "Colour me impressed. First name basis with the future CinC. You've come a long way, sir!" she says to the Commodore.

"Kang and Charvanek? Talk about your high-powered envoys..." muses Lt Talbot.

The comms channel sounds, "Commander, sorry to interrupt your meeting, but Sam is on the freq. Wants to kno..."

The communications officer is abruptly cut off by a soft Scots brogue, "Jus' checkin' in about our meetin' this marnin', Teri m'dear!" He chuckles and resumes, "'T seems tha' Calista will be joinin' us. No weapons, we're havin' a parlez under the pirate code."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Tue 18 Aug 2020.

In reply to Commander Theresa Harris (msg # 62):

Thelev steps forward and replies “ Sam, pleased to meet you. I’m Captain Thelev, the commander of the USS Odyssey. My team along with Commander Harris will be coming to the parlez.   Please provide us the location and timing, and we request Dr. Marcus be their to be sure she is safe. “
This message was last edited by the player at 19:31, Thu 20 Aug 2020.

Sam focuses on Thelev. "So," he says, "Ye're th' cap'n o' that shiny new battlewagon out there, eh? Well, I'm not really that impressed. I hear tell tha' th' firs' time th' 'Xelsior went into action, it couldnae even go into frikkin' warp! Fat lotta guid tha'll do ye, Gainsburrah'!"

Brad almost chokes as he realises what Sam has just said. A couple of years ago, Kyra had gone through a phase when she was really interested in 18th century English portraiture, including that of Thomas Gainsborough. He's pretty sure that Sam has just made a racist slur based on Gainsborough's most famous painting, The Blue Boy.

Thelev also recognises the reference. He's actually seen the original painting in San Marino when he was at the Academy only 400 kilometres away. It's a painting of a Caucasian Human lad with the usual pinky-tan skin wearing a shiny suit in Sciences blue, somewhat like the short-sleeved satin-look tunic some Starfleet medical officers used to wear decades ago. He can almost hear Thoma whispering into his ear, "Stay calm, he's just trying to get under your skin." However, he does realise that this Sam character is almost certainly from Earth and that the rumours of his possibly being ex-Starfleet are quite possibly accurate.

Sam continues, "Dinna know if I c'n guarantee tha', laddie. I'll ask Calista, but it's her call, Cap'n! She may no' be willin' tae bet ye've no' found some way tae beam l'l ol' Doc Marcus out from under her nose, don'cha know? She's a canny wench, is our Calista!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Mon 24 Aug 2020.

In reply to 'Sam' (msg # 64):

Khendron makes a mental note that Sam and presumably Calista believe that transporters could possibly work in this environment. He will get a science team looking into the problem as soon as this call ends.

"Is this going to be a purely social gathering then?" Khendron says aloud, in a disarmingly amiable tone. "Because unless Dr. Marcus's safety is assured to us, we won't really have much to parlez about."

"Well, t' be fair, it's a meetin' tae vet your claims. Originally, we were gonna simply invite Teri there to represent th' Federation, but since we're got a full starship handy, Cap'n Thelev here outranks her, so pursuant tae Regulation 104, Section B, ye could jus' take o'er anyway. Thought I'd save ye th' trouble," replies Sam. The ease with which he quoted the relevant regulation without a pause again tends to lend credence to the ex-Starfleet theory.

He adds, "So, then. Shall we convene in my office at 10:00 hours? Rankin' officers, Teri an'... oh, let's say two security men. Come armed, if it makes ye feel better, lads. Teri, darlin', I trust you remember th' way?" His signal abruptly cuts off, leaving a display of the Federation seal.

Talbot looks to Boluri, "Lieutenant, have your communications office copy that complete transmission file to Cdr Thoma on the Odyssey for analysis."

"Yessir!" replies Boluri.

Harris looks at the commodore. "So, that makes the six of us then?" she inquires.

[OOC: Reg 104 Sect B can be found at http://www.coldnorth.com/owen/...ey/security/regs.htm ]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Tue 25 Aug 2020.

In reply to 'Sam' (msg # 66):

" Okay 10:00, we will take Mjr. Bilgebottom as one of the secruity, Cdr. Harris, I think the second should come from your team, they likely know a lot more about who we are dealing with than we do.  Make sure the major is fully briefed. " Thelev turns and says.

Turning to Mercer he says, " I see you noticed it as well, if Calista is concerned we can bust through, then we can bust through, lets figure out how. It would be ideal if we go to the parlez with Calista already our prisoner.  She will have to travel to Sam's via a shuttle so let's pick her and Doctor Marcus off in transit.  We then can use Calista as the bargaining chip to get all of Marcus's tech and data back. And don't worry Calista will be going back to President Baker to stand trial."

He taps on his comm badge "Cdr. Thoma, Boluri is sending over the transmission file, see if we missed anything in the background that can help."

Turning to McCurrvey "Commodore, you or me talking when we get there. As a note, I am a bit surprised Sam didn't see your rank opposed to mine when he was quoting us somewhat inaccurately. "

In reply to Captain Thelev (msg # 67):

"Aye, Captain!" says Khendron in response to Thelev. He immediately leaves the meeting and organizes a group to start researching ways to transport through the system interference. Included in his research group are Smith, Bowman (Deputy Science Chief),  whoever from the Engineering team Manyard recommends and, of course, the Transporter Chief and Tech.

A half-hour later (08:45 hours) Thoma responds, "I've done an extensive analysis of the transmission from Sam. Several things are clear. First - He's being duplicitous in just about anything he says. That's not to say everything he stated is a lie, but the whole of the message is a definite attempt to misdirect, mislead and deflect. Second, his accent is mostly a phoney. Though there are elements of his speech that indicate a high probability of his growing up in an Anglo-Celtic culture such as Scotland, Ireland, New New Aberdeen or somewhere similar, he's "forcing" the dialect. It may be close to his real accent, but greatly exaggerated. Thirdly, the statements regarding whether Calista will allow Dr. Marcus to attend are extemporaneous and their validity are dubious. Lastly, his statements about possible transporter workarounds are dubious. There, he's on the edge of gloating, almost in an "I know something you don't" manner.

I'm copying my analysis and a complete copy of the conversation to Starfleet Intelligence on a scrambled secure priority channel under the Commodore's key. Preparing to send on his command."

By 09:30 hours, the Bridge reports that no shuttlecraft has departed the Armida IV and there are no signs that they're preparing to launch one. Talbot opines that this indicates either Calista is already on Bridgetown or is beaming over platform to platform.

Maj Bilgebottom has beamed over to DS-6A and is prepared to accompany the negotiation team to the meeting. Harris has assigned Boluri as her contribution to the security detail. Bilgebottom and Lt Boluri eye each other with curiosity.

"You don't often see an Orion in Starfleet service," remarks the Ursoid marine.

Boluri smiles—almost a grimace and replies, "Neither do they. Keeps them off-guard and is also handy for plain-clothes missions for the commander."

Harris interjects, "The transporter chief reports ready, but if you prefer I also have a shuttlecraft on standby."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Thu 27 Aug 2020.

At that point, Cdr Manyard hails the station, "Sirs, we can't isolate any way to overcome the Bloodfield Nebula's interference with the transporter systems—yet... but we're still working on it. We've got a couple of possible workarounds. There is, of course, the newly developed Transport Enhancer, based on research done for the Thelev/Scott Transporter Relay system, but the involves forcing a collimated transporter beam through the interference (just barely possible because it's not a living organism) and using it as a target to beam someone out. The problem is that it leaves a potentially traceable piece of classified tech at the remote site. CPO Roman, one of our senior transporter techs, also suggests that a viridium tracker might also work to enable a transporter lock."

In reply to Commander Wendell Manyard (msg # 70):

" Can we embed a viridium tracker into our uniforms, want to make it look like it is part of the standard uniform, plus igive us a couple patch so we can try to tag Dr. Marcus if we can. " he replies to Cdr. Manyard. "And Commander, keep working on it, never know if things will change and we need a backup plan to get out. "

" Cdr Harris if we can I would rather beam in, that way if we beam out in a rush we are not leaving anything behind. They already have some of our tech, don't want to give them more." Thelev answers Harris.

Once done he turns to Bilgebottom and Boluri, "We are allowed to come armed so don't be shy, I don't think anyone else is going to hold back, so I don't want to be at a disadvantage and I don't want to show weakness."

Tapping his comm badge "Cdrs. DesMaris, Thoma, you can not let Sam or Calista escape with Dr. Marcus or any of her tech.  Is that clear."

He knows it will be tough on both of them if Brad and himself are over there to make the tough call.

"Very well, then. The transporter is locked in on Sam's receiving pad. Boluri, do we have any security armour to fit an Ursan?" asks Harris.

"No, Ma'am, he's a little larger than most of our gear," replies the young Orion.

"Not a problem," says Bilgebottom and flips open his communicator. [Sorry Steve, you're about 60 years too early for commbadges...] "Bilgebottom to Odyssey. Have Lt Derian beam over my armour and assault phaser." He looks at Thelev. "Me 'n' Boluri there in full gear should make a convincing show."

"OK, then," says Harris. "Type 3's for the rest of us, then?" She has a tech pass out the weapons while Boluri dons his armour.

Moments later, Bilgebottom and Boluri return in full security gear with helmets and assault phasers. As Bilgebottom had opined, they make a formidable presence. There can be no doubt they mean business.

They step up to the transporter platform. "Deep Space Six-Alpha to Bridgetown Central. Harris here—six to beam over. Energise!"

The transporter room disappears in a swirl of energy...

[Continued in the tread Bridgetown Follies.]
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:46, Mon 31 Aug 2020.