Sam enters the Bridge. He wears a silver skullcap with a gold control mechanism on the forehead. "Mister Spaxter was kind enough to repair my headdress. More than just repairs, really—he was able to get rid of the field coils and power pack with new materials, notably a Vulcan krellide power cell and modern field emitters." He flicks his fingernail against the silver alloy surface. "Much more stylish and just as useful. Indeed, Dr Marcus helped out with the rejuvenation circuitry." Notably, Sam has returned to his youthful appearance.

Carol colours slightly. "Just a beneficial side effect of the Genesis effect, sort of a controlled reversal of the rapid aging Capt Spock went through on Genesis after he was resurrected."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Tue 16 Mar 2021.

Bowman says, "Jeez, Thelev, you had us worried! You jumped away from here, appeared a week later in the Triangle chasing Calista the Damned who shot up an Orion base and disappeared again, leaving a Romulan commander to explain things now you pop up here with a whole friggin' refugee fleet. I can't wait to read the report on this, assuming they don't classify it wa-a-ay above my clearance level."

In reply to Captain David Bowman (msg # 2):

Thelev chuckles, "Last time I will be able to read the report is likely when I file it, even at my clearance level." He replies to Captain Bowman.

"Thoma, Commander Bowman, send all information we have on our ragtag fleet to Star Fleet, encrypting what you need to about there various temporal displacements based on clearance requirements." he says, "Oh and exactly how long were we gone."

Putting on his diplomatic hat he turns to Captain MacCay and says "Welcome home Captain MacCay"

Opening a channel "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, welcome to the United Federation of Planets, a starfleet official will be in contact to you shortly. We have transmitted the information we had about each of you already to Starfleet."

"HoD Kang, Captain Raven Syrene and Dame Flavia, a special thanks for helping in getting this ships safely here to the Federation." he finishes

Thoma announces, "Incoming hail from the USS Discovery, Captain Anne Potrikos commanding. I have a Commissioner Rosemary Kent, colonial liaison to the Bright Stars Cluster Sector, on the line."

Commissioner Kent is an attractive Human female in her thirties with upswept brown hair. She introduces herself, "I'm Rosemary Kent. We're proceeding to Bridgetown at high warp. I understand you've arrived with a number of alien starships fleeing a natural disaster. Is Commodore McCurrvey available to brief me?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Thu 18 Mar 2021.

In reply to Commissioner Rosemary Kent (msg # 4):

"Make sure everything we have on the on all these ships, and their respective cultures are sent to USS Discovery and Commissioner Kent" Thelev says.

"Engineering what is our status, tactical what is the status of all the ships"

Manyard responds, "We have full power and have suffered only microfractures and minor structural stress. However, the Silver Ball is—well, Dr. Smith can give you a better feel for that! I'm completely out of my depth with that gadget."

Ramirez says, "Nothing more specific than Commander Thoma just explained. We're getting a lot of overlapping comms chatter on the frequency we assigned to the fleet. Shuttles 1 through 5 are en route to deal with medical emergencies."

Brad remembers when he was in Thelev's position—a hundred mini-emergencies all vying for his attention and never enough time for sleep. He sits back in his chair and listens to the intercom. His eyes drop to the old-fashioned business card on his desk. Picking it up, he noticed it's a real paper card. The embossed printing is actually raised on the front and indented on the back. The purple ink has almost microscopically feathered on the edges where the wet ink has penetrated the tiny fibrous mass of the cardstock. As he studies it, the hairs on the nape of his neck stand up, or so it feels. The Silver Ball has dropped them back six months later, and that's not all. Their sojourn at Lord Dhark's Chateau d'Amber had taken a week and experientially had been only a full day. Their stay at the Museum at the End of Time had seemed to be no longer, but on returning—he looks at his LCARS terminal—every time-keeping chip on the ship had had to resync with the Federation Time Signal; being out of sync by up to five years—in only two damned days! It's been over forty eight hours subjective since any of them had slept, but he feels only as if he'd put in a solid day's work ... and the last time he'd had anything to eat was at Lord Dhark's table. As if realising this last, his stomach growls.

Built into the bulkhead at the end of his desk is one of Dr. Marcus's fancy replicators. He idly scrolls through the menu and spots an old favourite—a Monte Cristo sandwich. He selects it and taps the panel. The sandwich appears, complete with a spear of garlic dill pickle, and he sits back to eat it.

As he chews, he wonders, who is this mysterious Dworkin? "Call me," it says. How? There's no comms frequency listed, and the computer comes up with only a listing of historical persons and fictional characters...

Ronald Myles Dworkin FBA (December 11, 1931 – February 14, 2013) - an American philosopher, jurist, and scholar of United States constitutional law.
Dworkin's Theory of Law - the law is whatever follows from a constructive interpretation of the institutional history of the legal system.
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) - an American radical feminist activist and writer.
Gerald Dworkin (1937 - uncertain) - a professor of moral, political and legal philosophy.
Dworkin Barimen (published: 1970–1991) - a fictional character in The Chronicles of Amber, a fantasy series consisting of ten books and several short stories written by Roger Zelazny.
"Dworkin" pseudomyn for Felix A. Croes, Dutch computer programme (late 20^th/early 21^st century) reference to Dworkin Barimen, above.
Dworkin's Game Driver aka DGD (released August 12, 1993) - computer programme (LPMud server) written by Felix A. "Dworkin" Croes.

...as well as a great many others...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Sat 27 Mar 2021.

McCurrvey leans over to the intercomm.  Science labs, I need to see your best forensic chemist in my Ready Room.

McCurrvey gets a mischeivious look on his face and represses the comm button.  “McCurrvey to Dworkin Black”

"Aye sir, I'll get someone right up there." replies the deputy science officer.

Moments pass and there is a rap at the door as if someone had struck it with something metallic. Thunck thunck thunck. It's followed by the door chime. The door swoops open and there stands a young petty officer in science colours, holding a PADD and a tricorder.

"Sir, Petty Officer 1st class Manuel Espinoza reporting as ordered. Um, this... gentleman was knocking at your door," he says.

Behind Espinoza is a diminutive leprechaun-like humanoid of extreme age, barely a metre and a quarter tall, dressed in a starched suit with an Inverness coat and a large slouch hat, all in black. He has pale skin, a bushy white beard and piercing ice-blue eyes. He is clutching a walking stick with a silver skull topper—in all probability what he'd struck the door with. "Ah, Commodore Bradron McCurrvey, I presume. I'm known as Dworkin the Black, esquire, investigator extraordinary. I've been awaiting your summons. May I come in?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:53, Sat 27 Mar 2021.

In reply to Lt. Commander Matt Bowman (msg # 9):

"Dr. Smith, what is the status on the silver ball?  Will we be able to make repairs here or will we need to go back to a base?" Thelev asks, adding "Do you need a hand."

"The Oscillation Overthruster is slag. We can build one from scratch, but Excalibur has a duplicate in stock. We're preparing to beam it over. We'll need an hour to install it and run diagnostics. The Institute has placed it on the inventory of spares while we were missing," replies the android.


"It seems the subspace shear as the pocket universe self-destructed around us caused a quantum feedback cycle which literally melted it down in situ."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Sat 27 Mar 2021.

“PO, I need you to tell me al you can about this.”  McCurrvey places the card in an envelop (file folder or whatever) out of sight of Dworkin and hands it to the PO. “Results by end of shift, understood?”.  Before the PO can respond, McCurrvey continues “Dismissed”. Once the PO leaves, McCurrvey gestures for Dworkin to have a seat.  “And what can I do for you Mr. Dworkin?”

Espinoza takes the sample container and says, "Aye sir! By the end of shift, sir!" and leaves the Ready Room.

Dworkin doffs his hat and takes off his Inverness coat and double-breasted suit jacket, revealing a snow-white shirt and black waistcoat with a satin back panel, a blood-red necktie in a Windsor knot and red velvet sleeve garters. He sits back on the sofa and spreads his arms across the back. "I'll have a double Bushmills in an Old-fashioned glass, 20 degrees Celsius with a single ice cube." Before Brad can protest that he doesn't keep alcohol in his Ready Room, the replicator hums and materialises a cut crystal glass with a measure of amber liquid and a single ice cube. To McCurrvey's knowledge, the replicator is not programmed to dispense liquor.

The dimunitive gentleman sips his drink and sighs in pleasure. "Just Dworkin, no mister. Dworkin the Black in full. I know the card left out the "the", but what're you going to do?" he asks rhetorically. "And as for what you can do for me, it's quite the opposite. The real question is 'What can I do for you?' And the answer is - I can absolve you from the charges of murder most foul in the death of the Ilithid vizier at le Chateau d'Amber and find the true culprit, one Calista the Damned, thus bringing the felon to justice. She did so, of course, at the behest of the dæmon Verlegg, manipulating circumstances. Your interesting companion Mr. Spaxter, bears no guilt—he was merely acting in your defense. The Ilithids may not make such a distinction, and Lord Dhark may well use that to his own benefit."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Mon 19 Apr 2021.

Brad's desk communicator beeps. Espinoza has sent a preliminary report on the card. "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."

This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Mon 29 Mar 2021.

Espinoza walks into Main Engineering, where Khendron is watching Smith install the new Oscillation Overthruster and marvelling at how many advances there have been in the past few years. The Overthruster is one of the most important. Previous versions of the Silver Ball had relied on a spitballed device called the Delatron. Where the Delatron was the size of a small desk and composed a few dozen kilometres of patch cords and several large circuit boards all breadboarded together, the Overthruster in the size of a doubled fist. It is the brainchild of a researcher at Daystrom Labs' Banzai Institute in Okinawa Prefecture named Okun Soong. Soong is currently assigned as Smith's counterpart on the Excalibur.

Espinoza approaches Khendron with a PADD and asks, "Capt Mercer sir, can I borrow your expertise in communications and computers? The Commodore asked me to analyse this card and it's well, really weird. I've never seen anything like it. I've sent a preliminary report to him, but I'm not certain I can take it any farther, and he wants it by the end of the shift. I think it has something to do with his visitor."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:53, Tue 30 Mar 2021.

In reply to Dr. John Smith (msg # 11):

"If it is in the spares now, we should use the one from Excalibur make a spare.  It has obviously deemed a weak point." Thelev replies.

"Dr. Smith if you haven't already, if you haven't already you should also find out what other items are now considered spares, and you should get all information that they will release to you which should be everything on all of Excalibur's jumps and then send me a copy of what I am clearer to look at.  Their can't be much when it comes to these drives which you can't at least look at, and very little I can't look at. " he adds.

"Well, it'll be in spares as soon as we get resupplied. The one Excalibur sent over was their spare. The supply  courier will be here in about 48 hour to bring both ships their new spare overthrusters," remarks Smith.

"On another matter," Smith continues, "Centurion Tevan has finished interviewing young Bellandra and confirms that she was largely an innocent victim in all this. She refers to the fact that Calista was keeping her for some special purpose. Putting all the pieces together, it would appear that Calista may have been planning to use the girl as a sort of sacrifice to this Verlegg. If I'm not mistaken, since Calista took care to protect her from the crew's predations, it may well have been a..." his voice falls to a whisper, "...virgin sacrifice. I "lived" through the so-called Satanic Panic hysteria during the 1970's and '80's. Much of it concerned the largely imaginary groups of devil worshippers who killed children, teenagers and young women as sacrifices to Satan, Beelzebub and other demonic entities. It was all rampant paranoia driven by right wing religious fundamentalists, culminating with the Q conspiracy of the twenty-teens. However, with the power of this Verlegg and Calista's fascination with Earth occultism, it looks like we may have a true-to-life case.

"Feeling that the girl may benefit from some real family life, the security chief and the doctor have taken the opportunity of introducing her to someone her own age, so Collette DesMarais has allowed her to visit with Miss Kyra."

"Oh boy, Brad's going to flip over this!" goes through Thelev's mind at this.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:46, Tue 06 Apr 2021.

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!"