In reply to Petty Officer 1c Manuel Espinoza (msg # 15):

Khendron looks at Espinoza oddly "What visitor?" he asks as he takes the card and, not seeing anything immediately odd about it (other than it looking distinctly out of place on a starship), starts skimming Espinoza's preliminary report.

"Dunno, sir. I assumed he was from one of the other ships. Little guy, old with a big white beard, wearing a big black hat. Like the card says, his name is Dworkin Black." says Espinoza.

The preliminary report reads, "The card is just that- primitive hand-laid paper cardstock. The raised printing is merely an oil-based ink, pretty much chemically inert. The hand-written script, however, is something else completely. It's a standard writing ink but it's been laced with nanobots. These are relatively simple for all the complex technology which went into constructing them. There's a DNA receptor, likely a personal recognition measure and what appears to be the remnants of a one-use recorder and subspace transmitter. We're continuing to break it down, but that's the basics. Essentially, it's a one-use communicator, genetically encrypted for your use only. The nanobots are almost completely dead and will be gone in about an hour."

"I've never seen anything like it. It's way ahead of our state-of-the-art. There's indications of it being beamed recently, but the transporter traces are completely unfamiliar. I'd have the captain look at it, but he's busy with Dr. Smith. Something to do with spares from Excalibur..."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Wed 07 Apr 2021.

Collette eyes Kyra and her new friend cautiously. They seem to be getting along well, all told. They're eating pizza and drinking root beer from the replicator and listening to music—Collette assumes it qualifies as music to some tastes.

Entitled The Teleportation Blues, the song goes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p061m3yq/player

The singer has a raspy voice and the actual melody is quite catchy, but Collette finds the overall effect grating.

"Oh, well, all part of being the parent of a teenager," she muses as she watches them. Petty Officer Cobretti is on station outside the door to the quarters in case this whole thing turns out to be a bad idea.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:39, Wed 07 Apr 2021.

The turbolift door opens into engineering and a tall Human officer enters. He speaks to an enlisted technician who points at Khendron. The officer approaches and waits respectfully. Khendron suddenly notices that he looks familiar but can't quite place the man. He's in his mid-40's, tanned with dark brown hair and eyes. Once Khendron has a moment, he introduces himself, "Commander Bryan Boren reporting for duty. I'm your new Intelligence Chief."

Khendron recognises Boren at that. Boren was in SI back during the incident known as the Intelligence Wars a few years ago. Boren was one of the good guy in that conflict. Khendron and Thelev had never gotten to know him well as he'd mostly interacted with Brad at the time. Boren hold out his hand for the Human ritual of shaking hands. He has a dry, firm grasp and a ready smile which displays a row of gleaming white enamel.

"Congratulations on your promotion, sir. Your yeoman said I'd find you down here. Damn, this is a big ship!"

In reply to Lieutenant Commander Bryan W. Boren (msg # 21):

Thelev thinks to himself, damn Centurion Tevan, forgot we had a Romulan still onboard, with a whole other Star Fleet crew, Purple and everything else one little thing slipped my mind.  At least he finished confirming Bellandra is an innocent here.

"That is good to know about Calista, we at least have additional grounds to expedite her if she is ever in a region that the Federation has a treaty with." he replies.  "But it is terrible what she was thinking on doing to Bellandra, we should have Lt. Carleton Smith talk to her to make sure she is okay. But it is good she is with someone her own age." he says smiling inside.

He checks where Centurion Tevan is and starts heading that way. Need to thank him for his help and make plans to get him home.

While walking he remembers that he needs to see how Vethia is doing through all of this. And he has to make sure since they have been gone 6 month to let Thanek Chelev and Vora Zhelev know all of them are okay but only days older not month. They may not be happy.  With any luck Thoma already told them so the worst of them being upset might be over.

The computer notes that Centurion Tevan is in his guest quarters a couple of corridors over from Thelev and Thoma's quarters. He decides to check on Vethia on his way to see the Romulan.

On his way to his cabin, he notes CPO Cobretti standing guard on McCurrvey's quarters. She greets him with a "Hello, sir!" as he passes. Entering his quarters, he hears cheerful music coming from Vethia's room (location 5). Recognising it as the theme song from Vethia's favourite holovid series, The Adventures of Flotter, he sees Vethia watching the figure of Flotter T. Water cavorting in the Forest of Forever with his wooden friend Trevis. She giggles and looks up to see her father in the doorway. She jumps up and yells "Daddy!", wrapping her arms around his knees. "Miss Stone says you 'n' Capn Khendron helped Commadore Brad rescue a 'tire fleet o' ships! Is that true? A 'tire fleet?"

The cabin door opens and Collette enters. "Thoma asked me to keep an eye on Vethia, so I was listening in on the 'comms. I heard you enter so I came over to say 'Hi'. Kyra and Bellandra are listening to some godawful music under the watchful eye of the PO. We replicated a pizza. What's up with you?"

Vethia tugs on Thelev's trouser leg. "Daddy can I have some peeza?"

After 48 hours of dealing with aliens and pirates and demons, the simplicity of normal family life refreshes Thelev.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:53, Wed 18 Aug 2021.

In reply to Vethia Shelev (msg # 23):

Thelev ruffles Vethia hair before picking her up. "Yes we helped rescue a 'tire fleet of ships." he says as he hugs Vethia.

Looking at her with a quizzical eye he ask "Have you been eating all of your vegetables?"

Without waiting for her answer he sets her down and says "Of course you can have some pizza."

Looking at Collette "Thanks for keep an eye on this little munchkin. I was on my way to see Tevan and decided to check in on Vethia, she doesn't have years of training like we do. As you know its been a hectic few days.  At times I think it was worse for all of you on the ship, especially when we were with Lord Dhark. But I am doing well, and it makes me appreciate little moments like this, so much more." Looking down at Vethia.  "How is Bellandra doing? I saw PO Cobretti is still keeping an eye on her."

Collette looks at Vethia and asks, "Would you like me to replicate a small pizza for you, or would you like to join us next door?"

"Daddy, can I go over and have some there?" asks the three-year-old.

"Well, Marian is just there for a precaution. Tevan vouches for Bellandra, but you never know. The poor kid has been a prisoner of pirates for the last three years, after all. She's actually a nice girl, but a bit rough around the edges.

"I hear Bryan Boren's just been assigned as our Intel Officer. You know he was Tevan's case officer before the prisoner exchange."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Sun 11 Apr 2021.

In reply to Commander Collette DesMarais (msg # 25):

“Yes you can go next door and have some pizza over there.” He says to his daughter as he gives Collette an appreciative smile.

“It must have been tough on Bellandra being held prisoner for three years, it will take time to adjust to being free.”

“I was just going to talk to Tevan, I will let him know Boren just transferred aboard and ask if he wants to catch up for old time sake.   But now that we are back in our own time I wanted to discuss his plans to returning to his ship.” Thelev says.  “But my gut says he may want to linger for a bit to pick up whatever intel he can.”

In reply to Petty Officer 1c Manuel Espinoza (msg # 19):

Khendron reads Espinoza's preliminary analysis, swears, and quickly seals the card in a small containment box.

"What were you thinking bringing a card laced with unknown nanobot technology down to engineering?" Khendron asks sternly. He holds up a hand to stop Espinoza's inevitable protest. "Yes, I saw that your report says the nanobots seem simple and are degrading rapidly. But you also just said they are way ahead of our state-of-the-art! We have no idea of their capability.

"Somebody is going to have to sweep all the areas of the ship where this card has been, looking for nanobot infestation." He looks Espinoza in the eye and adds "And I know just the person to do it.

"Espinoza," Khendron adds a bit more gently. "Good work on your preliminary analysis. But next time think deeper about the consequences of your findings. For all our sake's, I hope your scans find nothing. But we have to be sure."

Khendron dismisses Espinoza to his duties, and then calls McCurrvey. "Commodore sir," Khendron says, "Do you need any assistance with anything, say, unexpected?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 01:06, Mon 19 Apr 2021.

Collette and Thelev chat for a few minutes longer. "Well, I better get back to the menagerie. See you later," says Collette and lets herself out.

Thelev picks up a few toys from Vethia's floor and heads over to Tevan's quarters, where Security crewman MacQuarrie stands post at the door. At the door chime, Tevan calls, "Enter."

Thelev enters the cabin where Tevan is drinking a steaming cup of Aesollh, a nutty Romulan tea. He waves at a plate of Aemarau turnovers, a pastry filled with a coconut-like shredded plant material. "Jolan tru," he greets Thelev. "Join me?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Wed 14 Apr 2021.

Tevan is a youngish Romulan in his mid-60's. With the usual light olive skin, brown eyes and black hair, he would be nondescriptly handsome were it not for the thin white scar from the point of his left eyebrow to the left corner of his mouth. The scar obviously involves some nerve damage as there is mild paralysis of some of the facial muscles on his left side. According to his records, the scar is the result of Morgue's attempt to kill the centurion upon discovering that he was a plant by the Tal Dian in the Armida IV crew. The Tal Dian is Romulan Naval Intelligence and Internal Security. The Tal Dian is a bitter competitor to the Tal Shiar, similar to the GRU's competition with the KGB in Earth's Soviet Union during the 20^th Century.

Tevan sips his Aesollh and slides the plate of pastry across to the Captain. He takes a small bite from one of the turnovers. "I suppose you're here to discuss Bellandra ferch Jaime. You are aware, aren't you, that Calista was saving her until maturity as a sacrifice to the Verlegg? I'd always assumed that Verlegg was a phantasm generated by Calista's diseased mind, but now I understand it's what your SI refers to as Yet Another Godlike Alien or YAGLAs, like several creatures your James T. Kirk encountered. We have a different name for then, which translates to Pesky Omnipotent Beings which could be abbreviated in your Federation fashion to POBs."

He nods at the plate. "Try one. They're good."

Espinoza blushes at Khendron's admonishment, "Sir, the nannites are all dead and decaying, but yessir I'll scan for contamination. Thank you, sir!" He leaves Engineering.

Boren watches him leave, then resumes, "Is the Commodore available? I'd like to check in with him regarding his plans for this alien fleet. I understand that as well he's recovered the crew of the USS Genser. I'd also like to debrief Capt MacCay and his  senior officers."

In reply to Lieutenant Commander Bryan W. Boren (msg # 30):

Thelev takes a seat and tries one of the pastries.

OOC: I will assume they taste good.

And nods his head, "Not bad indeed, they taste quite good.  I am actually here for three reasons and you were correct with the first one.  I was wondering about Bellandra and your assessment of her condition after being held by Calista for three years? I am sure it would have been difficult on her."

Thelev continues "The second reason, I was wondering when you would like to return to your ship now that we are back in our own timeline and you have so kindly helped us with Bellandra."

"And the third reason I was unsure how things were between Lt. Cmdr Boren and yourself. And I wanted to show you the respect you deserve for helping us by letting you know that he has transferred aboard this ship. He has more than likely been briefed that you are onboard so I felt it was the right thing to do to let you know as well." Thelev says being sure to gauge Tevan's reaction in case he tries to put on a bold face and hide an issue.

"She is unaware that Calista intended her as a sacrifice and I suggest that only a mental health professional break the news to her. She knows that Calista protected her from the likes of Jasmine and Jade, but assumes it was out of a feeling of ownership rather than kindness. While you and the Commodore were on the alien station, I was able to talk to your Dr. Driveon and he is arranging for a psychiatrist on his staff to see counsel her. I believe their first session is scheduled shortly," answers Tevan.

"I would like to transfer back to a Romulan ship as soon as possible so I may return to the Star Empire and resume my duty unless, of course, you require my assistance should you intend to pursue Calista. I have matters to settle with the Klingon Morgh, her first mate." He touches the scar on his face. "Permanently.

"As for Boren, I would be willing to meet with him. When he was in charge of my interrogation, I found him to be a man of integrity and it would be most refreshing to deal with him outside of a custodial environment. As you know, I am an operative of the Tal Dian, our counterpart to your Starfleet Intelligence, and though the Star Empire and the Federation are adversaries we share a desire to rid the universe of such creatures as Calista and her band of pirates. It was for this mission that Leih Charvanek recruited me and as I said, should you pursue them I will consider it part of my mission."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:28, Wed 14 Apr 2021.

"I assure you the technology embodied by my visiting card is benign. Your petty officer will find it to be mostly understandable but beyond your capabilities. It could be seen as an example of Clarke's Third Law." remarks Dworkin, sipping his whiskey. "Lord Dhark has allowed the Ilithid Emperor of the Underdark to believe that you and your crew were responsible. Though he claimed not to use technology, his instrumentality is distributed in a network throughout the chateau. He can sustain his contact to it across vast expanses of both time and space, as can Verlegg. It's written into their genetic code, so Verlegg can tap into it regardless of Dhark's wishes."

He stands and places his now-empty glass on Brad's desk, the lone ice cube melting to mingle with the remaining amber drops.

"I assume that Lord Dhark is holding the Vizier hostage. He's provided the Emperor of the Underdark with a doctored visual recontruction of you firing your phaser at the Vizier and destroying it. The fact that the Vizier was in the act of attacking you, violating its guest status with Lord Dhark is of course, immaterial."

The comm chirps.

This message was last edited by the player at 01:08, Mon 19 Apr 2021.

McCurrvey hits the intercomm “No issues at the moment.  Ship status?”

After pretty much whatever the reply is.  “Acknowledged.  McCurrvey out”

McCurrvey looks back at Dworkin “Two questions: what is your plan and what will this service cost me?”

The little man chuckles, his eyes twinkling. "Cost? Not one credit! My culture is as far beyond such things as your credits are beyond gold pieces. We do what we are fated to do, it you believe in fate. My chosen fate, what you'd call my purpose in life, is to set wrongs right, to expose deceivers, to seek truth if an abstract noun can be sought. It's like your Starfleet Charter—to seek out new life and new civilisations; to boldly go where no one has gone before. As Yahweh would say, "I yam what I yam an' that's all what I yam,"—or was that Popeye—I always get them mixed up.

"At any rate, as it says on my calling card, I'm an investigator at large, meaning I set my own goals and tasks, and answer to no higher power."

He pulls another card from out of thin air. "Nothing up my sleeve. There, that's better. This one has no nanomachines to upset your Captain Mercer. Just the same circuitry, hardcoded. Less flexible, but we can't have everything, can we?"

He pulls two more cards from nowhere, "Here are two more for Thelev and Mercer—same deal, no nanomachines, since he's a little sensitive about that. They're all hardcoded identically so any of the three of you can access any card. They'll detect your unique psionic signatures. While they're fairly tough, physically speaking—waterproof, flame-resistant, et cetera—they're not indestructable. They employ a tiny crystal in the period following esquire, known as a flick switch. Since none of you are psi-blind, it should work under most conditions.

"While you were in the pocket universe with as a color, shade of purple-grey you were in a noncongruent Minkowski space where time flowed very differently. This is why you experienced only two days while transiting six months in what you might see as real time. Your quarry, on the other tentacle, spent the full six months at a private shipyard where her new Dwarven engineer Dürin Dürin integrated the stolen Orion components with the Ilithid Nautiloid's systems and her Ferengi physician modified her slave collars to work on her new Ilithid helm pool operators. Oh, bye the bye, here's the crew complement of the Armida V. Yes, she named it after her other ships. She's a bit superstitious that way. That's why the Verlegg chose her as its minion."

He walks over to the replicator. "Hmmm, my throat is still a little dry, but I'm trying to limit my Bushmills intake. Does this gimmick serve Tarkalean tea?" A delicate china teacup of Tarkalean tea promptly materialises, steam rising from its surface. "I'm glad your Federation finally developed this device. Makes life a little more civilised."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

The comms unit beeps and Thoma's voice comes from it, "Commodore, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the USS Discovery is entering the Sheila system, Captain Potrikos commanding. Commissioner Kent requests a meeting when they dock at 09:00 hours tomorrow."


Dworkin shoots his cuff to reveal an old-fashioned wristwatch. "Oh, dear, it almost 8 PM. I'd best let you go and I'll see you tomorrow."

Brad turns toward Dworkin and he's gone, the teacup sitting on a coaster at the edge of the desk. Eight pee emm? it takes him a second to realise Dworkin had used the archaic equivalent of 20:00 hours. He realises also that Thoma's shift ended at 16:00 hours. He scrolls through his message queue and notes one from Petty Officer Cobretti marked personal advising him that Bellandra had been released into Collette's care and they were having a girl's night with Kyra. Hmmm, he thinks, I'm not sure if that's all that great an idea, but Collette has a great deal more experience at hands-on parenting, having raised Kyra largely on her own for the past six years... Maybe it's a good thing that families are being allowed on starships. He's heard that Dr. Okun Soong's eleven year old son Noonien is aboard the Excalibur. [Note: the picture of the 11 year old Noonien is actually Brent Spiners son at 10.]

Next is a note that LCdr Boren has checked in with the XO, and another from Khendron noting that PO Espinoza may require a refresher on operation security with possible contamination. As he reads this last, a new one pops up from Espinoza himself, reporting that no further results are to be had, as the nannites had all died off and the card itself had crumbled to dust in its sample container. Further a complete scan of the route from the Flag Ready Room to Main Engineering had revealed no nannite contamination. This reminds him of Dworkin's comment about Khendron's being a little sensitive about nanomachines. The remarks about Lord Dhark's instrumentalities also twigs in his mind the possibility that the entire ship should be swept for anything untoward from Dhark's domain...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

In the morning [if you guys desire, we can play out the evening and resume here...], Captain Potrikos and Commissioner Kent meet with Brad, Thelev and Khendron in one of the briefing rooms on deck one forward of the Bridge. Potrikos is an iron-grey haired woman in her late forties, while Kent is about a decade younger with soft light brown hair. Kent hands Brad a PADD with an isolinear chip.

"Commander Harris's promotion to captain came through while she was missing. Normally, she would be presumed dead and the promotion would be posthumous, but according to my briefings from Starfleet Command, nothing is normal when you gentleman are involved, especially when this Silver Ball is involved. Some wags have taken to calling you the Three Musketeers. So, she was simply placed of the detached duty list and the promotion shelved until you returned. You, Commodore will have the pleasure of promoting her to Captain on DS-6A at your mutual convenience. As for LCdr Samuel Claybourne Lowry, Starfleet has, in its wisdom," the last word spoken as if wisdom were an insult, "has decided to pardon him for his desertion and discharge him from service on administrative grounds. This is mostly due to his being a signatory to the Emerson Accords as Administrator of the Bridgetown facility, and that makes him a valuable resource."

She pauses for effect and continues, "He will retain his Federation citizenship but will also be regarded as a foreign head of government duly recognised under Federation diplomatic regulations. Perhaps not a perfect solution, but the best we can do under the circumstances.

"As for Captain MacCay and his crew, the Genser has just completed a five-year refit and upgrade to Mk II specifications, so he'll be placed back in command and assigned to the Bright Stars Cluster Sector Task Force. You, Cdore McCurrvey will head up the task force with the Odyssey as your flagship. A complete list of ships assigned to the task force will be forwarded to you, but the core will consist of this list:"
"Over the next several months, Starfleet will be undertaking a survey, both Engineering- and Personnel-wise of your rag tag fleet to determine whether any of them can be returned to their own universes and if not, incorporated into Starfleet. It seems that Captain Ahab is from the alternate universe you'd originally jumped to and from which the pirate Captain Calista stole her new ship. Odyssey and Excalibur will be handling the lion's share of that work by way of the Silver Ball Generators on both ships."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

Current date: October 17, 2290, 08:00 hours, Stardate 9964.27 It has been 223.65 days, or 0752.49 stardates since Thelev assumed command of the Odyssey at noon on March 7.

The briefing materials on the isolinear chips include the following information of the Kellinan Reach and Bridgetown: http://www.coldnorth.com/owen/...20reach/kellinan.htm

A skeleton crew will be delivering the Genser within the next week. Since MacCay and his crew are intimately familiar with the ship, only minimal updates to their skillsets will be needed, along with the usual psychological counselling for someone who has been missing for a decade. They will each be eligible for up to a year's back leave as conditions permit.

The crews of the 60 ships in the rag tag fleet will undergo psychological and skill-based assessments, as well as security assessments. If they pass and are not able to be returned to their own universes, they may be offered positions in Starfleet and/or planetary fleets. This will be an intensive process conducted at the τ-Cygni Campus of Starfleet Academy which will be dedicated to this task for the foreseeable future.

In reply to Centurion Tevan (msg # 32):

To finish with Tevan

"Thanks for the help with Bellandra. And I definitely can arrange a meeting with Lt. Cmdr Boren."

He nods at Tevan, "I am sure Star Fleet and hopefully us will go after Calista." As he gestures to the ship in general. "But I am sure as you know the Federation position will be towards her capture versus what the Star Empire position will potentially allow your ship to do."

"We are a passionate people and passionate in our hatreds. I have seen the evil that Calista delights in. I fear it may not be possible to capture her, but if it is, it may be that the only thing to be done is to treat her as a mad beast. Loyalty and duty are inseparable parts of the mnhei'sahe [ruling passion]. However, you must do as you must do—it is your way."

Thelev wishes Tevan a good night and is about to leave when the door chime sounds. "Enter," calls Tevan and the door opens to reveal LCdr Boren, holding a tapered bottle filled with blue liquid. "Jolan tru, Bryan Boren," he says as Thelev leaves.

Thelev notes that it is now 19:30 hours when he walks into his quarters. Vethia is still at the pizza party, and Thoma is not in the cabin even though she's been off duty for over an hour. "Oh, well," he thinks as he orders a light dinner from the replicator. He's just fishing and cleaning up when the door swooshes open and Thoma walks in, cradling a sleeping Vethia in her arms.

"You've got a meeting with Brad and the Federation Commissioner at 08:00 tomorrow, dear," she remarks, kissing him on the cheek, "and I've been refereeing spats between all the "captains" for hours. Honestly, I'd like to strangle Herr Kapitan Hieronymous with his own tongue!"

Khendron is finally satisfied that A) the Silver Ball is ready to go; B) the M/ARA is functioning at 100% efficiency and C) that Espinoza has ascertained that there is no nannite contamination and the card has completely disintegrated in the security container. He realises it's 19:45 hours and heads for his cabin. He enters and is pleasantly surprised to find Louella Goodbody napping in his armchair. The lights wake her up and she says, "Hey, there Khen! I was feeling a little lonely."

[To be continued in the thread Great Expectations]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Wed 21 Apr 2021.

In reply to Louella (msg # 41):

Khendron bows slightly, takes Louella's hand and gives it a gentlemanly kiss. "I am sorry you are feeling lonely. Let's see what we can do about it!"