Trinity Universe: Dreams of Dragons

[Umoja]

"So - which one of you guys wants to try me first?"

As colour again flushed Yi's face, the VARG pilot turned towards the exercise mat,

"You did come here to spar - right?"

A challenge with a person who knows Eastern ways of fighting. Most intriguing. Simon's pause is evident. He looks over at Alexander, but finding no answer he answers for himself.

"I'm sorry, Senora, but I can't bring myself to raise the flat of my foot against a woman. Regardless, Capoiera isn't something I practice with a person who doesn't understand it's intricacies, since the point of practicing is to dance like a flame. But I'm sure my dear friebbnd Alexander has a far more interesting past, he does live in Sudamerica." Simon chuckles hoping to change to subject quickly, it's bad enough to have his right arm feeling completely empty, but the prospect of being beaten by a woman! Fah! It's insane.

"By the way, I don't know your name, Senora..."

[ProfPotts]

"By the way, I don't know your name, Senora..."

The Asian woman grins ::biggrin ,

"Not much of a reporter then, are you?" ::wink

Offering her hand she adds,

"I'm Hiromi - as I'm sure you know full-well, I'm the squad leader for the Nihonjin VARG group that saved your life, Mr Mendez."

Turning to Alex she asks,

"So - are you up for a spar? Looks like your boss has wimped-out..." ::sly

Yi gives Simon a side-long glance, then replies,

"Well, like Simon said, I've picked up a few moves over the years, but I'm no professional - you'll, uh, go easy on me, right?"

Hiromi laughs,

"Sure thing, Tiger - I'm only little... outside the suit that is..." ::wink

Tossing her towel & water to one side, the Japanese woman steps onto the exercise mat, stretching a few times, as Alex does his own warm-up (& places his vidspecs on a bench with a clear view of the proceedings). Passing close to Simon he whispers,

"Thanks a bunch, boss - what chance will I have with her if she kicks my butt? Are you determined to do nothing yourself on this trip?" ::angry

As Alex joins Miss Hiro on the mat, she nods a bow, then drops into a loose karate stance. With a final glance back at his boss, Yi shakes himself out, returns the bow, then adopts a Bruce Lee influenced kung-fu / boxing-style stance...

[Asbjørn]

"We will have... Presuming your talk with the Nihonjin goes well... Sir."

"Perhaps you should try the telepathic approach at least once before we try the experimental method?"

"I'll get back to both of you on that. In the meantime you set up a list of exactly what you need, and I'm sure the spirit of cooperation will prevail."

Looking around the table he adds

"That is all, unless there are other matters we need to discuss."

"No? In that case I bid you all a good day. Thank you for your time."

After the meeting is ended Ran goes back to his quarters to meditate. Clearing his mind of all other matters, he opens his consciousness to the vessel and reaches out for Tess' mind. His thoughts are calm and soothing, a feeling of trust and kindness emanating from his mind. In the beginning there are no spoken words, no dialogue, only the sense and understanding that...

*...we need you, Tess. And we want to help you. Talk to me...*

[ProfPotts]

The meeting ended, people go their seperate ways...

Dr Flesch request's Crenshaw's presence in sick bay. When they arrive, he shuts the door, & rounds on the engineer,

"Look here - I'm trying to salvage what opportunties for research I can from this pitiful disaster of a mission, & I don't appreciate you compromising my efforts. One of the few decent opportunties we have here is to study that damnable Nihonjin technology - the Captain was ready to agree to that until you put your boot in! Plus all that talk about bio-tech-this & bio-tech-that. You know full-well that I'm psionically neutral, like the vast majority of people. Maybe that's an issue for you - I don't dare imagine what goes on in that tiny little mind of yours - but bio-technology is not going to feature in my work - for obvious reasons." ::angry

"I selected you as my assistant because your profile says you're smart - you may be able to comprehend my theories & techniques. I should be thanked for allowing you this opportunity to study under me - a position that most doctors on Earth would kill for - not publically undermined. Do I make myself clear?"

Meanwhile...

Heading back to Engineering, Sean hears strange noises coming from one of the supposedly empty cargo bays - a series of metallic 'clangs', & some muffled shouting...

In the gym...

Hiro easily outclasses Alex in the sparring combat - her karate technique is excellent, & she's both althletic & nimble. Yi's mixed-bag of martial art styles, picked up from street-fights, movies, & even occassional lessons, can't compete with the professional warrioress. After being roundly whipped three times, he begs off, & drags himself back to his boss - where he towels down his now sweat-drenched face, & whispers to Simon,

"Ow - she's good. I don't think she's even broken a sweat yet. You sure you don't want to show her how it's done?.."

The cameraman takes a drink from his water bottle, watches Hiromi practice more kicks & punches, sighs, & adds,

"Well, I suppose if I had to be beaten by someone, at least the view was nice whilst it happened..." ::wink

There's another pause, then the media technician turns to his side to face Simon,

"So what exactly have you been up to since this whole mess started?"

In the Captain's cabin...

*...we need you, Tess. And we want to help you. Talk to me...*

Ran feels the alien presence of the biotechnological mind - distant & withdrawn, but still there. It's difficult to isolate the emotions exactly, but they seem dark & fearful - with a strong sense of isolation... No, not isolation exactly, more... 'Hiding' perhaps - a fear of being discovered. No, that's not quite right either...

Ran pauses for a few minutes to consider what he's sensing from Tess. Lila's words come back to him & he wonders...

Reaching out again for the ship's mind, he re-examines the emotional feeling's he's getting from her. Again, the alien nature of her mind makes it difficult, but taking her age into account, thinking in terms of a child's mind, the telepath begins to form a picture of what's going on - there's fear of exposure, fear of being 'seen', fear of being 'noticed' - centred around a strong feeling of failure, of having been a disappointment, perhaps even of having been the cause of everything that went wrong.

Pausing again, Ran starts to realise that Tess has withdrawn to hide - both to hide herself from those she think's she's failed, & who will be disappointed & angry with her; & to hide from the results of her failures - the many deaths, & the on-going suffering on-board the ship, which she doesn't want to witness.

[phoenix]

Heading back to Engineering, Sean hears strange noises coming from one of the supposedly empty cargo bays - a series of metallic 'clangs', & some muffled shouting...

Sean pauses, mid-stride, brow furrowing. "What the..."

Quickly, the Irishman walks over to it and quickly presses his hand to the pad checking his authorization for access to it. With a hum, quiet out of proportion to the size of the bay door, it slides open..

[ProfPotts]

As the door slides open Sean feels a distinctive loss of weight which tells him that the gravitic-grid in the bay is turned off. Glancing inside he's nearly hit by a hand-sized metal sphere, which 'clangs' off the doorframe by his head & bounces back into the room!

Inside, floating through the micro-gravity of the empty bay, are about ten people dressed in some sort of makeshift armour padding - they appear to be divided into two teams. On the wall, at opposite ends of the room, are two metallic discs, each about a meter across, which Sean recognises as electromagnets - probably left over from one of the ships they junked to get spare parts for the Kai Xing.

As he watches, Sean sees one of the people push off from the far wall, execute a graceful flip in the air, catch the metal sphere, & fling it towards the magnetic disc at one end of the bay, floating backwards against the momentum of the throw. Several people twist in the air, reaching for the sphere, trying to grab it - whilst others try to tackle or knock them out of the way.

Suddenly one of the 'players' spots the open door & Sean, & calls out to the others. After a few moments of confusion, they all drift to a halt, look towards the Chief Engineer, then glance & mutter between themselves (mostly African dialects it sounds like). One of the players drifts towards the ceiling, then pushes off, & floats down to land in front of Sean. The figure is slender & athletic under the armoured vest, boots, gloves, knee, elbow, & shoulder pads, & Vinge can see dark brown skin between the gaps in the outfit. She reaches up & removes her helmet, shaking free her long ponytail - Sean recognises one of the ship's younger crewmembers - a UAN woman called... Mary something - he can't quite remember.

Mary looks downcast & mumbles,

"Uh... Sorry, sir... We were just playing - having a game..." ::blush

She glances back to her fellow players, then looks Sean in the eyes, & flashes a smile,

"Wanna' try?" ::biggrin

She offers him the ball...

[phoenix]

"Uh... Sorry, sir... We were just playing - having a game..."

Sean flashes a razor-sharp grin. "Mary, isn't it? What are you talking about? I didn't see a thing.."

"Wanna' try?" 

She offers him the ball...

Sean is well able to recognize a challenge when he hears one, and his grin only intensifies as he takes the metal ball.

Unused to the micrograv environment, as he's shifting his weight to throw, he realizes that he's not stopping, and accidentally performs an irritable slow-motion backflip - to some laughter from the "field" - before his feet come back in contact with the floor and he propels himself up, cocky smirk back in place and ball in hand. Smoothly, the engineer hurls the ball as hard as he can towards the opposite goal - which, admittedly, is not particularly hard.. ::blush

[Asbjørn]

Maintaining the connection and making sure that his own emotions remain outreaching, steady and unbroken, Ran gets up and makes himself a cup of tea.

To himself he thinks *I could make her forget it, but then she'd be confused about our situation. And her mind is so different... I might change the wrong things. Same goes for changing her feelings... I don't know them well enough, and I don't know all the details in how her different shades of emotions are connected... I guess there's just one option at the moment.*

When his tea is ready he connects his minicomp to the main system, so Tess can hear him both physically and mentally, and sits back down.

Reenforcing the link between himself and this complex mind he starts talking while at the same time conveying his words telepathically.

"I know you can hear me, Tess. And I think I know why you don't want to answer. That is ok. For now I just want you to listen to my words, and think about them."

Ran takes a deep breath to calm his mind, and tastes his tea before he continues.

"I think you are sad because Tobias is dead, and because you blame yourself for what happened. We are all sad, Tess. Many good people have died because of the attack, but we can't blame ourselves for what happened. We are not warriors, are we? We have taught you to travel, to explore, to seek new and wonderful places far beyond the points we humans can reach on our own, but we never taught you to fight. Do you know why, Tess?"

Not really believing he'll get an answer Ran still pauses a moment, hoping...

"Because we were supposed to protect you. And in that we failed. We never imagined an attack this brutal, and so close to home. We were caught with our guard down, and they got through to you. For that I am sorry. We have let you down, and I hope you some day can forgive us for that."

"Life is hard some times. There is pain, loss and sadness, and some times all we can do is mourn our dead and get on with our own lives. We are alive, Tess. Many of us were hurt and all of us are sorry for those who were killed, but we have to move on. We all did the best we could, and most of us came out alive. We did good, Tess. I know it doesn't feel that way, but we did."

Ran sits in silence for a while, hoping that his words have made her think. He shares his own feelings with her, letting her understand that she's not the only one who is sad about what's happened.

"You didn't fail us, Tess. We failed you. I am sorry."

[ezekiel]

[Umoja]

In the gym...

Hiro easily outclasses Alex in the sparring combat - her karate technique is excellent, & she's both althletic & nimble. Yi's mixed-bag of martial art styles, picked up from street-fights, movies, & even occassional lessons, can't compete with the professional warrioress. After being roundly whipped three times, he begs off, & drags himself back to his boss - where he towels down his now sweat-drenched face, & whispers to Simon,

"Ow - she's good. I don't think she's even broken a sweat yet. You sure you don't want to show her how it's done?.."

The cameraman takes a drink from his water bottle, watches Hiromi practice more kicks & punches, sighs, & adds,

"Well, I suppose if I had to be beaten by someone, at least the view was nice whilst it happened..." ::wink

There's another pause, then the media technician turns to his side to face Simon,

"So what exactly have you been up to since this whole mess started?"

Simon sighs, and unbuttons, his shirt, and starts to take off his shoes. He digs into his pocket, and takes out a caffeine pill. He quickly pops it into his mouth before he starts to talk, the effects of the pill quickly taking action. "Long story. I got in trouble with customs, so I'm not packing heat, but I managed to almost get killed, and I've had some uhhh... Side business. The type I prefer not to talk about... You know." Simon looks at Hiro, and then back at Yi. "Shouldn't you Confuscist be able to beat back some Nipponese school girls?" He says this in a normal tone of voice, letting Hiro here. Simon chuckles a bit.

Simon looks Hiro up and down again, as he takes off his socks and starts to roll up his pant legs. He stretches out his back, and pulls his legs to the sides. He stretches out, muscles all over him, thin and poorly toned until he stretches at which point they look like ropes. "Okay. You think your hot enough to beat up my tech support guy and best friend? I'm gonna show you why Capoeira is not a game." Simon claps his hand, and starts to sway as if listening to an internal beat, before stopping in some posistion that is either for dancing or fighting.... Does it really matter?

[ProfPotts]

Cargo Bay:

Mary's grin widens as the Chief takes the ball & 'stumbles' into the 'field' - her laughter joining the others at the spectacle of the Irishman's impromtu 'aerobatics'. However, Sean's nothing if not co-ordinated, he soon recovers from his initial clumsiness, & manuvers rather impressively into position to take a shot at the 'goal'.

The shot is dead-on, & flies much faster than Sean expected - thanks to the reduced gravity. Already adapting to the new ways of moving required in the micro-gravity environment, Vinge stylishly rolls with the recoil-induced momentum that his throwing of the ball added to his own body. Several of the players shout praise in response to the Chief's display of skill, although an equal number add the required light-hearted comments about 'beginers luck' (not to mention 'the luck of the Irish'). As the ball impacts the far goal with a metallic 'clang' - sticking in place due to the magnet, & making the precision of the shot plain for all to see - Mary cheers & claps, & pushes off towards Sean, allowing the bay doors to slide closed behind her.

Reaching the engineer, the black woman asks,

"Are you sure you've never played before, Chief? I wouldn't peg you for an asteroid miner, but that shot was pretty good..."

Before she can comment further, there's a yell, & the metal ball flies between Mary & Sean (launched, it appears, automatically from it's magnetic 'net' after a pre-set period of time), followed by several players - the game is on! Mary flashes Sean another grin, then jams her helmet back on her head as she throws herself towards the nearest wall with a flip. As she goes she calls out,

"You're with us, Irish - block Bobby, he's angling for a shot!", she points at one of the players from the opposing team who's grabbed the ball & is preparing to spring off the ceiling, then springs off herself, hurtling into position between 'Bobby' & her team's goal.

As far as Sean can tell, concepts such as 'equal team numbers' or 'giving the new guy padding' don't appear too important to these guys...

Captain's Cabin:

As he projects his thoughts & feelings towards Tess, Ran senses that she seems to be listening - at least on some sort of level. Her 'mind' appears a lot less 'anthropomorphic' than when he initially contacted her through Tobias; although his own studies & fascinations with the nature of sentience add an exciting edge to the contact - despite the circumstances, this contact is just the sort of experience he signed on for in the first place.

"You didn't fail us, Tess. We failed you. I am sorry."

There's a sudden surge of negative feeling that takes the Captain by surprise & almost causes him to break the link. It passes after a few moments, & it takes Ran a few moments more to realise that Tess was disagreeing with his last statement. It seems as though the bio-ware sentience retreats again after that, which allows the telepath the time he needs to try to put her communication into more human terms in his own mind. That one surge of feeling carried a lot of information - her denial that the crew failed her, her feelings that she did indeed fail the crew, a sense that she feels she is meant to serve the crew & not the other way round, a sense that it's somehow wrong for the Captain to be apologising to her - that he should be a figure of strength & authority, a fear of causing further harm to befall the crew - but also a fear of being isolated like she feels she must if she's to protect the crew from further harm due to her failings.

Ran also starts to fully comprehend just how much the aspect of 'Tess' presented to the crew via the holographic & computer systems was filtered by specifically designed measures. The mind he's now connected with is somehow raw, primal, & alien - the ship's designers obviously realised the communication difficulties which would occur between humans & such a 'presence', so designed the Tess 'avatar' as a means of interaction between the ship's computer & her crew. Even Tobias' link to Tess was coloured by that projected image. The real Tess, the mind behind the mask, is as much a thing of instinct as reason - roiling waves of unadulterated feeling, yet with an incredible sense of self & of loyalty & love for her crew. The telepath begins to feel like he could happily get lost in the ocean of her mind...

... Managing to pull himself back from the brink with no small effort, Ran contemplates what else he's feeling - almost a 'buzzing' on the edge of his perception - a sense that there's 'texture' within reach - unseen & untouched, but there none the less. The closest thing he finds to equate the feeling with is when he's in deep meditation, or on the knife's edge between consciousness & sleep - when he knows that his body, all it's senses, & the world beyond are all there, but isn't really in contact with them. Slowly it begins to dawn on the Captain that just beyond Tess's mind are all the various thousands of ship's systems - buzzing away - which she has chosen to retreat from. That realisation gives Ran a sudden urge to reach out & run the fingers of his mind over that rich texture, to open the eyes & flex the muscles of the ship itself. Of course, he also realises that doing so probably wouldn't be a very good idea - but like a man who holds a gun for the first time in his life, the thought passes, however momentarily, through his mind that incredible power is only a simple gesture away...

Sick Bay:

"I need to see what I can do to help, okay? I'll be up in the room for a shower in a few minutes, I need one anyway. Could you please tell captain Getui that I'll be available to give the docs a hand around here?"

A gaunt man in a doctor's coat strides over to Tom's side - the only medical staff the recently awakened man can see. It hardly seems a priority, but somewhere in the back of Tom's mind he recognises the man as Dr. Anton Flesch - a Nobel prize winning geneticist who was on-board the ship. Flesch looks Bynon over with a professional, but rather clinical & matter-of-fact, glance, then checks some of the readings from the various medical tools built into the bed. Shaking his head the man (who appears to be ignoring Trisha completely) states flatly,

"That was stupid - accelerated healing has numerous potential side-effects which have been well documented - it's not something a sane person would attempt whilst as bady injured as you are... or should I say 'were'. It looks as if you got lucky this time & the Vitakinetic voodoo didn't backfire. You are Vitakinetic aren't you? Something to do with the Qin ambassador's group?"

Trisha's a bit put-off by Flesch's rather aggressive sumation of the situation, but appears to decide to ignore the man & instead tries to answer Tom's question,

"Oh Tom... The Captain... She's... she's dead, Tom, killed in the aberrant attack. Lots were killed, we... we got 'lucky'..."

Tom's wife turns her face aside, fresh tears in her eyes. It's at that point that the Jamaican realises that the other figures in the room aren't patients - they're corpses...

The Gym:

"Okay. You think your hot enough to beat up my tech support guy and best friend? I'm gonna show you why Capoeira is not a game."

Hiro pouts & blows a kiss, before dropping into a classic karate stance,

"Be careful, you're starting to scare me... In any case, I'm pretty sure your best friend enjoyed our little tumble. Still, if you think you can do any better..." ::sly

With a sudden martial shout the Nihonjin woman steps forward & launches a fast & powerful side-kick...

[phoenix]

"Are you sure you've never played before, Chief? I wouldn't peg you for an asteroid miner, but that shot was pretty good..."

The chief cracks another cocky grin. "So who's an asteroid miner? This is like a game we used to play in Brazil, except we use this big metal thing instead of bullets, whoah!" The projectile and co. whistle past his head.

"You're with us, Irish - block Bobby, he's angling for a shot!",

What the hell, I'm in no hurry and this is fun as anything. Sean's lower abdomen and legs flip up over his shoulders as his body rotates so he's still facing Bobby as he coils on the ceiling, waiting for as much leverage as possible, then launching himself in pursuit of the other player!

[Umoja]

Hiro pouts & blows a kiss, before dropping into a classic karate stance,

"Be careful, you're starting to scare me... In any case, I'm pretty sure your best friend enjoyed our little tumble. Still, if you think you can do any better..." ::sly

With a sudden martial shout the Nihonjin woman steps forward & launches a fast & powerful side-kick...

Simon, takes an instant to judge the speed of the move, and quickly dodges out of the way, at the same time throwing his foot out to where Hiro's body will be in half a second. Hopefully the farce will work, because otherwise, his lack of martial skills will become apparent.

[ezekiel]

A gaunt man in a doctor's coat strides over to Tom's side - the only medical staff the recently awakened man can see. It hardly seems a priority, but somewhere in the back of Tom's mind he recognises the man as Dr. Anton Flesch - a Nobel prize winning geneticist who was on-board the ship. Flesch looks Bynon over with a professional, but rather clinical & matter-of-fact, glance, then checks some of the readings from the various medical tools built into the bed. Shaking his head the man (who appears to be ignoring Trisha completely) states flatly,

"That was stupid - accelerated healing has numerous potential side-effects which have been well documented - it's not something a sane person would attempt whilst as bady injured as you are... or should I say 'were'. It looks as if you got lucky this time & the Vitakinetic voodoo didn't backfire. You are Vitakinetic aren't you? Something to do with the Qin ambassador's group?"

"Oh Tom... The Captain... She's... she's dead, Tom, killed in the aberrant attack. Lots were killed, we... we got 'lucky'..."

Tom's wife turns her face aside, fresh tears in her eyes. It's at that point that the Jamaican realises that the other figures in the room aren't patients - they're corpses...

Thomas's face tumbles as realization dawns upon him.

"This is no medical clinic...this is a morgue. - Tom holds Patricia closer before looking at Dr. Flesch - Your concern is comforting Doctor...?Flesch, isn't it? But I'm well aware of my abilities as healer as well as any potential side-effects. Risks are no more likely than a slip of your scalpel Doctor, believe me. And thank you for operating on me, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it in less competent hands...I'm with UN Xenorelations as well as Vitakinetic, yes. I continued my studies in Xenopsychology at the end of my residency with the Port-Au-Prince clinic. - Tom shakes his head - The captain...it seems I have some catching up to do. Are there no wounded on board? What is the situation?"

[ProfPotts]

Cargo Bay:

Springing off the ceiling moments after Bobby does, Sean flies further & faster than he'd have imagined possible for his strength - & manages to slam directly into the rival player just as the man's about to throw the ball! The impact sends Bobby spinning off, momentarily out of control, & leaves the ball drifting rather lazily through the air; whilst Sean himself (gritting his teeth against the pain of the impact on his shoulder) twists through his rebound off the 'striker', & manages to direct himself to the nearest wall.

There's much shouting, cheering, & yelling, as several players head towards the ball. Mary manages to grab the metallic sphere moments before a pair of the opposing team catch up to her. As they both grab her, the African woman hurls the ball just forward of a teammate further down the 'field' - then all three spin towards the floor in a chaotic tangle. Mary's teammate springs from the far wall to scoop the ball, but several of the rival team are closing in on him. He looks around, then shouts to Sean (in some African dialect) & points down the bay in the direction of the opposing team's goal, whilst twisting, & hugging the ball close to his chest in an attempt to avoid the rival players...

The Gym:

The Nihonjin woman's attack is fast - but, amazingly, Simon manages to side-step the kick at the last possible moment (just)! Hiro, however, leaps over the Sudamerican's counter-attack with almost contemptuous ease, & turns with lightning speed into a reverse spinning kick...

By the edge of the mat, Alex has donned his Vidspecs & is happily recording the whole match.

Sick Bay:

"This is no medical clinic...this is a morgue..."

Flesch gives a snort of derision,

"Hardly - I've just been harvesting whatever healthy organs I could find - it never hurts to have spare parts on hand. That & trying to analyse the wounds inflicted by the aberrant - since the thing itself got blown-up in the vacuum of space it's the best hope we have of learning more about it. The Captain's going to jetison the remains when he's got round to writing an approptiate eulogy."

"... Your concern is comforting Doctor...?Flesch, isn't it? But I'm well aware of my abilities as healer as well as any potential side-effects. Risks are no more likely than a slip of your scalpel Doctor, believe me. And thank you for operating on me, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it in less competent hands...I'm with UN Xenorelations as well as Vitakinetic, yes. I continued my studies in Xenopsychology at the end of my residency with the Port-Au-Prince clinic. - Tom shakes his head - The captain...it seems I have some catching up to do. Are there no wounded on board? What is the situation?"

"The only 'wounded' - besides the usual scrapes & bruises - were you & the Chief of Security."

Flesch indicates an intensive care 'tank' further into the sick bay,

"Like you, he really should be dead - but you post-Promethian types seem more resiliant than us mere mortals. As it is I've had to replace most of his internal organs, implant a few synthetic vertibrae, & perform some rather complex micro-surgery on the remains of his spinal cord - to mention just a few of the procedures he required."

"As for the rest of the situation, I'm sure your wife here can bring you up to speed. Suffice to say that out fate now rests in the hands of the most junior officer they could scrounge-up on short notice & a rather deranged computer."

The Doctor shakes his head,

"To think I gave up a perfectly good research grant for this..." ::rolleyes

Trish hugs Tom close again, then holds him at arm's length & manages to smile,

"There's lots to tell you - it's bad, but not quite as bad as the doctor is trying to make out. Captain Ran is a telepath, & is handling things very well. The ship's been repaired - apart from the Tesser, which I think everyone's working on right now. We're heading for a nearby planet which should be capable of supporting life, & - most importantly - you've come back to me." ::smile

[phoenix]

Mary's teammate springs from the far wall to scoop the ball, but several of the rival team are closing in on him. He looks around, then shouts to Sean (in some African dialect) & points down the bay in the direction of the opposing team's goal, whilst twisting, & hugging the ball close to his chest in an attempt to avoid the rival players...

Sean is already moving, launched off the wall at an oblique angle, trying to get ahead of the ball. The angle he chooses is somewhat risky because it assumes a liberal estimate of the ball-carrier's ability to evade pursuit - the other players are just closing in on his teammate when, and if, he gets the opportunity to pass.

[ezekiel]

Flesch gives a snort of derision,

"Hardly - I've just been harvesting whatever healthy organs I could find - it never hurts to have spare parts on hand. That & trying to analyse the wounds inflicted by the aberrant - since the thing itself got blown-up in the vacuum of space it's the best hope we have of learning more about it. The Captain's going to jetison the remains when he's got round to writing an approptiate eulogy."

For a second Thomas seems taken aback by the coldness of Dr. Flesch but he soon starts nodding in acquiescence

"Those organs could save lives...I will double check them later on to make sure none of them were tainted. Have you mentioned your research interests to the captain? One of the victims may have wished his body to serve science. The captain probably has access to their wills."

"The only 'wounded' - besides the usual scrapes & bruises - were you & the Chief of Security."

Flesch indicates an intensive care 'tank' further into the sick bay,

"Like you, he really should be dead - but you post-Promethian types seem more resiliant than us mere mortals. As it is I've had to replace most of his internal organs, implant a few synthetic vertibrae, & perform some rather complex micro-surgery on the remains of his spinal cord - to mention just a few of the procedures he required."

"As for the rest of the situation, I'm sure your wife here can bring you up to speed. Suffice to say that out fate now rests in the hands of the most junior officer they could scrounge-up on short notice & a rather deranged computer."

"There's lots to tell you - it's bad, but not quite as bad as the doctor is trying to make out. Captain Ran is a telepath, & is handling things very well. The ship's been repaired - apart from the Tesser, which I think everyone's working on right now. We're heading for a nearby planet which should be capable of supporting life, & - most importantly - you've come back to me."

"You know I'm not leaving you 'til I'm old and cranky and we've some grandchildren to bother you once I'm gone..." ::wink

Thomas approaches the tank and looks at the man inside. He punches some buttons on the tank and brings out the chart. Thomas mutters the name

"Chief Randall Simon..."

Calling out behind him as he reads the chart

"You've done some impressive work doctor..."

"now let's see what your made of Randall..."

Thomas requests a computer diagnosis of the comatose chief of security and proceeds with his own diagnosis of the chief...

[ProfPotts]

Cargo Bay:

Team-play has never been Sean's thing, but he manages to read his teammate's intent well enough to be in the right general area when he suddenly spins past one of the guys trying to block him & hurls the ball in a pass towards Vinge.

Sean still has a few meters to fly to intercept the ball when one of the opposing team powers off the far wall, aiming straight for the Chief, fist pulled back for a passing-strike...

Sick Bay:

"Those organs could save lives...I will double check them later on to make sure none of them were tainted. Have you mentioned your research interests to the captain? One of the victims may have wished his body to serve science. The captain probably has access to their wills."

"Oh yes, you do that - obviously my Nobel prize-winning skills aren't enough to detremine whether the organs are Tainted or not. Good job you woke-up really, if it was left up to a mere neutral like me, then I'm sure the whole crew would be dead within a matter of days..." ::sarcasm

"You know I'm not leaving you 'til I'm old and cranky and we've some grandchildren to bother you once I'm gone..."

Trish looks shocked ::nervous & instinctively places a hand on her abdomin,

"How did you know?.. Have you been using your powers on me again? I told you not to do that..." ::lookaround

Thomas requests a computer diagnosis of the comatose chief of security and proceeds with his own diagnosis of the chief...

Accessing the panel on the L-B / Xie Intensive-Care Tank Tom causes it's built-in Hippocrates agent to flicker into holographic life. The head-shot of the classically featured older man hovers above it's projector on the tank, & smiles a friendly & warm smile (bedside smile #264 Tom muses to himself, having worked with more than a few of these agents in the past... ::rolleyes ),

"Chief Simon's condition is stable, & improving at a satisfactory pace. Currently he's in a comatose state, but that's a good thing - his body needs time to..."

Tom tells the agent to skip the usual pleasantries & get to the technical stuff,

"... The transplanted organs are integrating as planned - the genetic retro-virus designed & administered by Dr Flesch is having the desired effect & preventing rejection. The artificial surgical-poly-ceramic vertibrae have remained in place thanks to the patient's placement in this liqiudcare tank, & the neural tissues of the spinal cord are showing signs of regeneration. Muscle density around the wound site is still low, but improving slowly. Dermal grafts & regeneration are proceeding at 96% estimated rates. Specific organ functions being monitors display..."

The report goes on, in some detail - Dr Flesch meanwhile shakes his head, & goes back into the sick bay's office area (divided off from the rest of the room by transparant partitions which can display data & images, or be turned opaque), muttering under his breath,

"Just don't sever his spinal cord & go 'oops, sorry' or anything..."

Concentrating his mind on nothing but the Chief's condition, & focusing his Psionic senses on the man's aura, Tom soon gets a better picture of Randall's condition than any agent or medical equipment could give him. Somewhere in the back of his mind the more artistic side of his brain marvels at the craftsmanship displayed by Dr Flesch - whatever his bedside manner, the good doctor really is a genius at his work. Despite the limited supplies on the Kai Xing, & the complete lack of any qualified assistance, he's managed to tailor a retro-virus that is in the process of re-sequencing the DNA of the donar organs in the Chief to match their new body's genetic make-up, as well as expertly crafting & attaching the replacement spine parts. Of course, the most talented of the Rexs could have regenerated the lot, but even that process can involve substantial risk, & is way beyond Tom's current talents. As it stands, Bynon's own skills should be sufficient to speed the healing process from the month & a half it would take (even under Dr Flesch's expert care) to a matter of minutes, or less. Tom also marvels at the amount of damage the Chief managed to live through (or, at least, be revived after - the whole 'life / death' line has become somewhat blurred in modern times) - Flesch's comments about the physical improvements to the bodies of Psions after the Prometheus process have a certain amount of truth to them after all (even if it takes a doctor to notice them in many cases).

Draining the liquidcare tank & sliding back the cover, Tom rests his hands on the terrible wounds of the Security Chief - a slick film of nutrient gel still coating the man's comatose body. Concentrating on restoring Randall's biological template, but wary of undoing any of the necessary repairs performed by Dr Flesch, the Vitakinetic lets psions flow forth from his palms - a light glow accompanying the outpouring of energy. Bones knit, muscle tissue forms, & skin grows over the damage as Tom gives the last of his psychic energy to the effort. Seconds tick by, then the glow ceases, & Tom steps back, exhausted from his efforts - Trisha moving to his side to support him.

Apart from some painful looking scar-tissue, Chief Simon looks healed... Moments later, his eyes flick open & he finds himself staring up at the ceiling of the sick bay, liquidcare tank breath-mask over his nose & mouth! [Randall is now only Hurt with Lethal damage]

[ezekiel]

"Oh yes, you do that - obviously my Nobel prize-winning skills aren't enough to detremine whether the organs are Tainted or not. Good job you woke-up really, if it was left up to a mere neutral like me, then I'm sure the whole crew would be dead within a matter of days..."

Tom retorts in the most Jamaican of ways, a mix of laid back and defensive rebuke

"I never insinuated anything of the sort Doctor. If our situations were reversed I would insist that you double check on my work as well where taint is concerned."

Trish looks shocked  & instinctively places a hand on her abdomin,

"How did you know?.. Have you been using your powers on me again? I told you not to do that..." 

Tom's eyes widen plate size as he starts laughing wholeheartedly ::shocked ::smiley1

" I didn't know, woman, you just told me! ::sly That's great news! - Thomas pulls her up by the legs and spins around while looking at her laughing - Do you hear that doctor? I'm going to be a father! I...We...uh...let me just check on the Chief and then we can celebrate!"

Tom kisses Trish enthusiastically and heads towards the tank

Accessing the panel on the L-B / Xie Intensive-Care Tank Tom causes it's built-in Hippocrates agent to flicker into holographic life. The head-shot of the classically featured older man hovers above it's projector on the tank, & smiles a friendly & warm smile (bedside smile #264 Tom muses to himself, having worked with more than a few of these agents in the past...  ),

"Chief Simon's condition is stable, & improving at a satisfactory pace. Currently he's in a comatose state, but that's a good thing - his body needs time to..."

Tom tells the agent to skip the usual pleasantries & get to the technical stuff,

"... The transplanted organs are integrating as planned - the genetic retro-virus designed & administered by Dr Flesch is having the desired effect & preventing rejection. The artificial surgical-poly-ceramic vertibrae have remained in place thanks to the patient's placement in this liqiudcare tank, & the neural tissues of the spinal cord are showing signs of regeneration. Muscle density around the wound site is still low, but improving slowly. Dermal grafts & regeneration are proceeding at 96% estimated rates. Specific organ functions being monitors display..."

The report goes on, in some detail - Dr Flesch meanwhile shakes his head, & goes back into the sick bay's office area (divided off from the rest of the room by transparant partitions which can display data & images, or be turned opaque), muttering under his breath,

"Just don't sever his spinal cord & go 'oops, sorry' or anything..."

Concentrating his mind on nothing but the Chief's condition, & focusing his Psionic senses on the man's aura, Tom soon gets a better picture of Randall's condition than any agent or medical equipment could give him. Somewhere in the back of his mind the more artistic side of his brain marvels at the craftsmanship displayed by Dr Flesch - whatever his bedside manner, the good doctor really is a genius at his work. Despite the limited supplies on the Kai Xing, & the complete lack of any qualified assistance, he's managed to tailor a retro-virus that is in the process of re-sequencing the DNA of the donar organs in the Chief to match their new body's genetic make-up, as well as expertly crafting & attaching the replacement spine parts. Of course, the most talented of the Rexs could have regenerated the lot, but even that process can involve substantial risk, & is way beyond Tom's current talents. As it stands, Bynon's own skills should be sufficient to speed the healing process from the month & a half it would take (even under Dr Flesch's expert care) to a matter of minutes, or less. Tom also marvels at the amount of damage the Chief managed to live through (or, at least, be revived after - the whole 'life / death' line has become somewhat blurred in modern times) - Flesch's comments about the physical improvements to the bodies of Psions after the Prometheus process have a certain amount of truth to them after all (even if it takes a doctor to notice them in many cases).

Draining the liquidcare tank & sliding back the cover, Tom rests his hands on the terrible wounds of the Security Chief - a slick film of nutrient gel still coating the man's comatose body. Concentrating on restoring Randall's biological template, but wary of undoing any of the necessary repairs performed by Dr Flesch, the Vitakinetic lets psions flow forth from his palms - a light glow accompanying the outpouring of energy. Bones knit, muscle tissue forms, & skin grows over the damage as Tom gives the last of his psychic energy to the effort. Seconds tick by, then the glow ceases, & Tom steps back, exhausted from his efforts - Trisha moving to his side to support him.

Apart from some painful looking scar-tissue, Chief Simon looks healed... Moments later, his eyes flick open & he finds himself staring up at the ceiling of the sick bay, liquidcare tank breath-mask over his nose & mouth! [Randall is now only Hurt with Lethal damage]

Tom reaches down and removes the chiefs mask

"Welcome back Randall, how're you feeling?"

[phoenix]

Sean still has a few meters to fly to intercept the ball when one of the opposing team powers off the far wall, aiming straight for the Chief, fist pulled back for a passing-strike...

Moving in a perfectly straight line due to the microgravity, Sean realizes instinctively that any attempt to push his opponent aside would, without a brace of some sort, divert Sean's course just as much, if not more, than the other player. With a houndlike grin that bares his teeth, Sean moves with the startling speed and intensity of lightning! His entire body flattens into a dive as he streaks towards the other player, slipping under his fist with a casual block, and grabbing onto a sleeve or arm to (hopefully) both push him away and correct the Irishman's course towards the ball.

[Umoja]

Brute strength, not gonna fly. Simon moves in for another attack, he lunges forward, and muscles in his arms and legs seem to grow more supple as he moves. He jumps into a flip spinning his feet out at the last instant, hoping to throw Hiro's balance off and at the same time show off. He IS a reporter, and no good reporter is Camera shy.

Making his landing, as succesful as possible, Simon smiles at the camera, before attempting to catch his bearings and launch another attack at Hiro. Fighting women is so exhilerating!

[Archer21]

Apart from some painful looking scar-tissue, Chief Simon looks healed... Moments later, his eyes flick open & he finds himself staring up at the ceiling of the sick bay, liquidcare tank breath-mask over his nose & mouth!

Tom reaches down and removes the chiefs mask.

"Welcome back Randall, how're you feeling?"

Eyes struggling to focus after being unconcious for so long, Tom's face slowly comes into view, and with it comes a flood of memories. In a blur, the security chief's hand shoots up and grasps the back of Tom's neck. With surprising strength, he pulls Tom's head down. The burning intensity of his bright green eyes is startling. "Is it dead?", he hisses.

[ezekiel]

Thomas nods

"Blown to smithereens in outerspace...now let go before you hurt yourself."

(assuming the Chief lets go)

"Its a miracle you're still alive, you have Dr. Flesch to thank for that. You've been in a coma for ten days and you shouldn't exert yourself...neither should I. ::dozingoff I myself have just recovered so I'm afraid I can't help you much with any questions you may have about what's happened. Do you have family on board you wish me to contact to help you with your recovery? You won't need to stay here, you'll be stiff for some time but I'll check up on you as soon as I can and I'm sure you'll be good as new in no time.."

[Archer21]

"Blown to smithereens in outerspace...now let go before you hurt yourself."

Closing his eyes momentarily, Randall smiles slightly, a crease in his hideous face. He lets go of Tom, then slowly rolls his head to look around the room. Seeing the tall man in the lab coat, he asks, "Dr. Flesch, I presume? Thanks."

Gritting his teeth and groaning, he tries to sit up, clutching Tom for support.

"Would it be possible for me to finish my rehab in my own quarters? I'd like to get back to my duties as soon as possible, and my work files are there."

He grunts in pain. "Don't worry, no acrobatics out of me Doc. Just paperwork."

[Asbjørn]

Slowly it begins to dawn on the Captain that just beyond Tess's mind are all the various thousands of ship's systems - buzzing away - which she has chosen to retreat from. That realisation gives Ran a sudden urge to reach out & run the fingers of his mind over that rich texture, to open the eyes & flex the muscles of the ship itself. Of course, he also realises that doing so probably wouldn't be a very good idea - but like a man who holds a gun for the first time in his life, the thought passes, however momentarily, through his mind that incredible power is only a simple gesture away...

Ran examines the feeling for a moment, before he exhales and leaves the systems alone. It is enough to know that they're there and that he can reach them if he has to.

Going over the emotional surge in his mind one more time he nods understandingly to himself before he reaches out again, his mind flowing like water between the rocks of the alien sentience. Removing all thoughts of the artificial persona he communicates on a more basic level, emphasizing and clearifying each word with his own emotions.

*Lao Tzu says: Living plants are flexible, In death, they become dry and brittle.*

*Everybody fails. When the great storms come, all trees must bow to their strength. But the flexible trees rise again where the hard ones break. That is what you must do. The storm came and you bowed to its fury, but now is the time to stand tall again. I need you to compose yourself. You must do what you were meant to, or you will fail us again. Without you, we'll never return home.*

The words are accompanied by the mixed impression that Ran could force the jumpship to obey, but much prefers that she gets her act together on her own.

[ProfPotts]

Sick Bay:

Trish moves to stand next to her husband, slipping her hand around his waist as she too looks upon the Chief with obvious concern etched onto her face, the Moorish ancestry evident in her dusky Catalonian features.

Flesch appears to be talking to the rather attractive uniformed woman who's waiting in his office, but soon returns to check to see how much damage Tom's inflicted on his patient.

"Dr. Flesch, I presume? Thanks."

"I'll send you the bill.", retorts the Doctor, with his usual dry wit, as he checks the readouts on Randall's condition.

Randall, meanwhile, soon notices that he's ravenously hungry.

"Don't worry, no acrobatics out of me Doc. Just paperwork."

"What a quaint old-fashioned saying, 'paperwork' - I like that. You really should remain here - despite what Mr Bynon may have told you. Your body's nutrient levels are dangerously low thanks to his noetic tampering. It wouldn't do to have you back in the land of the living, just to allow you to fall prey to malnutrition, now, would it?"

Cargo Bay:

Sean attempts to dart under his oppenent's fist, but the blow connects to the side of his temple - raising a nasty bruise, & threatening to send the Irishman tumbling off course. However, despite the painful blow, the Chief Engineer manages to grasp his assailant, twist, & push-off - all in one smooth, co-ordinated, move. Thanks his micro-gravity wrestling exploits, Sean suceeds in continuing on course, & managing to grab the metal game ball. Glancing quickly around him, the biokinetic sees that he has a potential shot at the goal, but that several of the opposing team will be upon him in mere moments!

[sean is Bruised with Bashing damage]

The Gym:

As Hiro's spinning kick hurtles towards his head, Simon attempts a flip, but in his haste to both avoid the Nihonjin woman's attack, & to show off, over does things slightly & ends up tumbling rather ungracefully across the mat. He does, however, manage to avoid the kick - but it's of little consolation as he lies on his back, trying to gather his wits after his botched maneuver, & Hiro leaps onto his prone form & knocks the wind out of him. Sitting on the Sud-american's chest, knees pinning his upper arms, the VARG pilot playfully tweaks her downed opponent's nose,

"Smooth moves you've got there, friend. Want to try for best two out of three, or have you had enough already?"

Captain's Cabin:

There's a pause after Ran's last communication - he gets a sense of contemplation, but also a sense of purpose & direction - that somehow the alien intellect is latching onto his commands as if they were a beacon in the chaos of her thoughts...

... Suddenly the lights flicker all over the ship as if there had been a momentary drain on the power...

Sick Bay:

Dr Flesch looks up as the lighting flickers,

"That's odd", he comments, a slight frown creasing his forehead, "I thought there weren't any more problems with the power? It's a good job the Chief here wasn't still in the tank..."

Realising that he may have just accidentally praised Tom's actions, the good doctor quickly snorts & adds with a sneer, "... Probably nothing though..."

Cargo Bay:

The game players pause & look to each other as the lights in the bay flicker unexpectedly. Mary calls over to Sean,

"Sir - what was that?"

The Gym:

Hiro (still perched on Simon) looks around as the lights flicker. After a moment's pause, she rolls off her defeated sparing partner & hits the room's comm' unit,

"Bridge - this is Hiro. What's happening? Is it another attack - should I get my team suited?"

Captain's Cabin:

... Ran notices the holo-projector on his minicomp spring to life - cycling through different avatar images at a bluring speed. Just as suddenly the unit shuts off, a thin trail of smoke & scent of burnt plastic seeping from within it's casing, & the lights cease their flickering & return to normal. He also realises that his contact with Tess has just shut-off.

A moment later the cabin's own holo-projector system activates. Standing before the Captain is a fully-realistic & highly detailed lifesize hologram of a beautiful Chinese girl, perhaps in her late-teens, dressed in a traditional high-collared sleeveless silk dress, & with her hair also styled in a traditional manner. She looks at Ran for a moment, then bows low. In perfect Chinese she says,

"I am ready to serve, Captain."

[Archer21]

"What a quaint old-fashioned saying, 'paperwork' - I like that. You really should remain here - despite what Mr Bynon may have told you. Your body's nutrient levels are dangerously low thanks to his noetic tampering. It wouldn't do to have you back in the land of the living, just to allow you to fall prey to malnutrition, now, would it?"

Closing his eyes, the security chief sighs in resignation. "You're the doc. Since I evidently need to stay here for a little while, can I at least wrangle better accomodations than the floor?" He wriggles uncomfortably, and opens his eyes, looking at Tom. "Some clothes to cover up these new scars, and a whole lot of food would be nice too. I'm starved!"

His slight smile fading, Randall glances at Tom's wife, waiting until Dr. Flesch has moved away. Speaking very quietly, he asks, "Ma'am, there are some private articles in my quarters that I'd like to have with me if I'm to stay in sickbay. Would you mind? I have a feeling the good doctor may not understand the healing properties of familiarity."

[phoenix]

Sean attempts to dart under his oppenent's fist, but the blow connects to the side of his temple - raising a nasty bruise, & threatening to send the Irishman tumbling off course. However, despite the painful blow, the Chief Engineer manages to grasp his assailant, twist, & push-off - all in one smooth, co-ordinated, move. Thanks his micro-gravity wrestling exploits, Sean suceeds in continuing on course, & managing to grab the metal game ball. Glancing quickly around him, the biokinetic sees that he has a potential shot at the goal, but that several of the opposing team will be upon him in mere moments!

"Gah! Ye bastard..", Sean growls as he quickly ends the window his opponent can use against him, ricocheting off to the ball as straight as laser fire. As he takes it, he spins in the air in order to increase his potential energy, then flings it towards the goal.

Suddenly, the lights flicker slightly. Almost immediately, Sean forgets everything but his generators in a brief second of incredulous despair, then relief as he slowly realizes that it's just a flicker. Still..

"What was that? You! Give me my computer!" He shouts at whoever is closest to where he unclipped it to play. A player, padded with anonymity, projects himself over to it, and at a nod from Sean, tosses it to him at a fairly slow velocity.

"Sir - what was that?"

"I hope t' find out.." Sean says in an thin, even voice, picking his minicomp out of the air and hailing Engineering with all human speed.

"What's going on? Give me a status report on the generators! Did life [support] and grav go out or was it just the lights?"He restrains further questions until whoever's on duty can answer them.

[ezekiel]

"What a quaint old-fashioned saying, 'paperwork' - I like that. You really should remain here - despite what Mr Bynon may have told you. Your body's nutrient levels are dangerously low thanks to his noetic tampering. It wouldn't do to have you back in the land of the living, just to allow you to fall prey to malnutrition, now, would it?"

Closing his eyes, the security chief sighs in resignation. "You're the doc. Since I evidently need to stay here for a little while, can I at least wrangle better accomodations than the floor?" He wriggles uncomfortably, and opens his eyes, looking at Tom. "Some clothes to cover up these new scars, and a whole lot of food would be nice too. I'm starved!"

His slight smile fading, Randall glances at Tom's wife, waiting until Dr. Flesch has moved away. Speaking very quietly, he asks, "Ma'am, there are some private articles in my quarters that I'd like to have with me if I'm to stay in sickbay. Would you mind? I have a feeling the good doctor may not understand the healing properties of familiarity."

Tom shrugs

"I gladly would have made housecalls but...we're not lacking any beds right now so just choose whichever one you prefer. Give us half an hour and we'll be back with everything you need."

Thomas waits aside as the chief tells Trish what he wants from his room. They head off together towards the mess hall where they inform the ship's cook that the Chief has awoken and that he'd appreciate a good meal delivered to sick bay. They then head off to the chief's quarters. Once inside Tom lets Trish get what the chief asked for as well as some clothes and the chiefs toiletries.

Once they're back in sickbay

"Here you go Chief! Your meal should be here any minute now, I'm sure the cook is making you something special as we speak...If you need anything else we'll be in our room. I'll check back on you tomorrow."

The couple walk to their room and talk about everything that happened since the attack. Tom opens the door and his nostrils are hit by the waft of fresh air as he gazes upon the familiar jungle Trish is working on in their room as well as more than a few of his medicinal herbs and various plants. Maggy whimpers as she sees him come through the door.

"Is that my girl I hear? C'mere Maggy! C'mon! That's my girl!"

Wagging her tail the big mareemma dog barks and starts licking Tom as he laughs and scratches her everywhere.

"Now stay girl, your mother and I have to talk for a while."

The couple jump into their bedroom and close the door behind them...

[Umoja]

Simon opens his mouth, to say something witty, and to try to play it Simon "El Suave" Mendez, but before he does he notices the power surge unexpectedly. He slaps his palm to his forhead. "Oh Jesus! Mierda! Mierda! More Abberants?!" His cursing seems to almost sound like sobs, and he quickly looks over at Alex. He points to Hiro, and in a second Yi has his Camera's rolling. Simon starts to add quiet audio commentary into his own recorder, for later use. If he ever returns home, him and Yi will be living high society in Cali or even Bogata. That's what working is all about anyway!

[Archer21]

"Here you go Chief! Your meal should be here any minute now, I'm sure the cook is making you something special as we speak...If you need anything else we'll be in our room. I'll check back on you tomorrow."

Gratefully taking the clothes and toiletries, Randall seems happiest to receive his sketchbook and charcoals. "Thank you." His gargoyle face expresses true appreciation for their effort.

Leaning back on his recently aquired bed, he quirks an eyebrow at Dr. Flesch after the couple leaves. Flipping open his sketchbook, he starts drawing the doctor's likeness, and asks,

"So Doc, how long would you say I'll be under your thumb? I'll follow your directions to the letter, but the sooner I'm back in action, the better I'll feel."

Casually, he adds, "I don't suppose you know whether Lieutenant Foxley survived the attack?"

[Asbjørn]

[...]A moment later the cabin's own holo-projector system activates. Standing before the Captain is a fully-realistic & highly detailed lifesize hologram of a beautiful Chinese girl, perhaps in her late-teens, dressed in a traditional high-collared sleeveless silk dress, & with her hair also styled in a traditional manner. She looks at Ran for a moment, then bows low. In perfect Chinese she says,

"I am ready to serve, Captain."

Ran stands up and faces the girl with a genuine smile on his face. For the first time since the attack he truly feels that things are going the right way. ::smile

"It's good to have you back."

He looks out at the faint red star outside the window before he turns back to the hologram.

"We have much to do, Tess. Work with Navigator Foxley and find out where we are and how to get back home, and do as good a scan of this solar system as possible. Contact Engineer Vinge and do a full systems check with engineering - and inform them that I'm going to need a new minicomp."

"But first of all: Tell everybody that you're back. They've missed you, and that power surge just now may have startled some of them. That's all for now."

That said, Ran leaves his cabin and heads off to the sick bay.

Casually, he adds, "I don't suppose you know whether Lieutenant Foxley survived the attack?"

Entering the room just in time to hear the question, Ran's smile widens even more. ::bigsmile

"She did. And if she knew you were awake she'd be here in an instant! What kind of miracle is this? I thought you'd be in a coma for a month!!"

[Archer21]

Entering the room just in time to hear the question, Ran's smile widens even more. 

"She did. And if she knew you were awake she'd be here in an instant! What kind of miracle is this? I thought you'd be in a coma for a month!!"

Setting aside the sketchbook, Randalls throws a crisp salute. "Captain, Chief Security Simon reporting in."

A relieved grin splits his face when he hears about Foxley. "Well, glad all this pain wasn't for nothing, then. As for the coma...well, I'm not really sure myself, but apparently we've got a rex on board that sped up the healing process for me. Between Dr. Flesch and the rex, I should be back to duty in no time."

His stomach growls angrily, and he shrugs apologetically. "That is, if my food ever gets here. Doc says I need to eat up; that rex's trick used up a lot of my fuel."

[ProfPotts]

Cargo Bay:

"What's going on? Give me a status report on the generators! Did life [support] and grav go out or was it just the lights?"

There's a pause, during which Sean can make out the background noises of engineering staff bustling excitedly about, then the reply comes,

"Hold on, sir, we're checking now..."

As the Chief Engineer waits for the report, the game players around him begin to drift towards the bay floor & rapidly get out of their padding - in case they're called back to their stations. Vinge can't help but notice that, under the padding, Mary is, indeed, a fine figure of a woman...

"... The surge affected several systems, sir, but nothing vital &... yes, it's confirmed! We seem to have the Tesser system back on-line!"

The Bynon's Quarters:

Two pairs of slippers sit side-by-side outside the bedroom door, along with the curled-up form of the couple's loyal dog. Inside the bedroom...

::wub [CENSORED] ::wub

The Gym:

"Bridge - this is Hiro. What's happening? Is it another attack - should I get my team suited?"

"Oh Jesus! Mierda! Mierda! More Abberants?!"

Hiro flashes an annoyed look in the direction of the sobbing reporter, then shakes her head & looks back to the comm' as the reply comes through,

"No Ma'am, we've no reports of an attack... Hold on... Yes, engineering has just confirmed that the surge was the result of the Tesser system comming back on-line."

"That's great news", comments the Nihonjin warrior, "Hiro out."

Turning back to the two reporters the VARG pilot fails to hide her disgust at Simon's reaction to the event, & heads over to grab her things before leaving the gym, with just a final brief comment as she exits,

"Best I go now - it doesn't look to me like you could handle much more excitement today..."

Sick Bay:

"So Doc, how long would you say I'll be under your thumb? I'll follow your directions to the letter, but the sooner I'm back in action, the better I'll feel."

Flesch shakes his head,

"I'd recommend a few days at least, but it's entirely up to you - I do have better things to do than to play nursemaid to self-destructive Psions, you know." ::sly

Soon enough, a shipwide comm' announcement is made, in polite Mandarin Chinese, with a female voice that no-one (except Ran) recognises,

"The Captain would like to inform the crew that the Tesser is back on-line, & that the recent power surge was a result of that process, but non-harmful & no cause for concern."

Over the course of the next few days...

Navigator Foxley does, indeed, visit Chief Simon as soon as she hears the good news, thanking him profusly for saving her life, although quickly getting embarrassed by her rather emotional outburst. The wounded hero quickly regains his strength, heals the last of his injuries, & is back on duty. Randall appears to have his work cut out for him, trying to whip the rather rag-tag group of VIP bodyguards & hangers-on he's been given into a replacement for his lost security staff, but soon starts to get to grips with some of the less co-operative personalities that certain of the new 'staff' have brought with them.

Chief Vinge & his engineers spend some time checking the whole of the ship's systems again. With Tess back (despite the new avatar) everything starts to run a lot smoother, as she takes over from the back-up systems that had been running many of the ship's 'autonomic' functions in her absense, & the engineering staff's duties are cut back to something resembling normality.

Eventually a meeting of the senior staff is called. Once everyone has gathered, Navigator Foxley stands & addresses the group,

"As you all know, we're still some distance from the planet in this system which may support life. However, with Tess back & functional, it should now be possible to jump directly to that location from our present position - the jump systems are fully charged. The question is whether we want to do that or not. We still don't know if the planet does support any life, or not, & can't know the effects that a jump's psionic shockwave will have on any life that does reside on the planet. In addition, I've detected some evidence of Taint radiation on the planet. That could just be residual background levels which are natural for the area, or... well, I'm sure we all know what else that could indicate..."

[Archer21]

Chief Simon clears his throat for attention.

"Do we have enough food and supplies to get to the planet without a jump? If we do, I'd like to suggest that we conserve jump capability until we are at least close enough to the planet to better survey it."

"Navigator Foxley, can you tell us how close we would have to be to determine whether there is actually life on the planet? Or how close we have to be to determine whether there's been any recent Aberrant activity?"

[phoenix]

While waiting for the report, Sean springs from the wall and heads for the entrance, for gravity, and for clarity, though he's no longer worried about the generators.

"... The surge affected several systems, sir, but nothing vital &... yes, it's confirmed! We seem to have the Tesser system back on-line!"

"She's back.." Sean's face looks like he can hardly believe the good news, but a second later he's fully animated, and his grin is so luminescent that it seems to spread even through his voice as it rings out through the emptying cargo bay.

"Tess is back! We're back online!"

He stops just short of adding, we're going home!

Now impatient with the ponderous pace he set seconds ago, Sean waits to arrive at the ground level then sprints for the door, running a quick inventory of his person to make sure he hadn't forgot anything, then quickly exiting.

A split second later, he pops back in and exuberantly presses his lips to Mary's! ::wub He smiles at her and says sincerely, "Thank you."

Hesitating for an unmeasurable increment of time, he dashes out again, partly to investigate the limits of their new freedom - still limited by piloting ability, of course - and partly to hide his colouring face. As he moves (at quite a respectable clip) out the door, he trips and nearly falls.

[Umoja]

"That's great news", comments the Nihonjin warrior, "Hiro out."

Turning back to the two reporters the VARG pilot fails to hide her disgust at Simon's reaction to the event, & heads over to grab her things before leaving the gym, with just a final brief comment as she exits,

"Best I go now - it doesn't look to me like you could handle much more excitement today..."

Simon runs after Hiro, and makes sure his recording device is on. "I'm sure you'd love to comment on this Hiro, you know, despite my fear of Abberants, I know you can't resist my Latino Charm." Needless to say, this sounds even more silly in Spanish. "In all seriousness, I'd like to know what this great news in, people in Sudamerica would love to know, and if I may speak for all aboard this ship, I'm sure they'd love to know." He smiles, showing his perfect newsperson teeth.

[knave]

[Then]

"Look here - I'm trying to salvage what opportunties for research I can from this pitiful disaster of a mission, & I don't appreciate you compromising my efforts. One of the few decent opportunties we have here is to study that damnable Nihonjin technology - the Captain was ready to agree to that until you put your boot in! Plus all that talk about bio-tech-this & bio-tech-that. You know full-well that I'm psionically neutral, like the vast majority of people. Maybe that's an issue for you - I don't dare imagine what goes on in that tiny little mind of yours - but bio-technology is not going to feature in my work - for obvious reasons." ::angry

"I selected you as my assistant because your profile says you're smart - you may be able to comprehend my theories & techniques. I should be thanked for allowing you this opportunity to study under me - a position that most doctors on Earth would kill for - not publically undermined. Do I make myself clear?"

Lila's colour starts to rise at the Doctor's tirade ::blush, but she rapidly brings her initial shock under control. The more the doctor shouts, the more she grins. ::biggrin Finally, when he is quite spent, she grabs hold of him by the collar and gives him an enormous facehugging snog.... {actually I think we might need a facehugger smiley ::tongue }

When she is quite done with him, Lila's eyes flick over his body in a critical assessment and she makes a little "Hmmh" sound and sashays out. She pauses at the door. "By the way doctor; I'll be in engineering, redesigning biotech. You know, so that I can help people. Oh and if you wanted the specs on that Nihonjin gear... all you had to do was ask... Goodbye doctor."

*Maybe if you took your hand off for five minutes you'd get a girlfriend you egotistical little dickhead.* she thinks angrily to herself as she storms off. *Maybe we're too similar Lila... maybe we're both too consumed by our fields... naaa... he's just a dickhead.* "Meph, have the doctor's room cameras piped to the display screens in the female crew change rooms." *I never claimed to be above petty childish revenge...*

....

[Later]

Lila is overjoyed to have Tess back and and happily gets back into the access tubes and helps prepare for launch.

[ezekiel]

The Bynon's Quarters:

Two pairs of slippers sit side-by-side outside the bedroom door, along with the curled-up form of the couple's loyal dog. Inside the bedroom...

[CENSORED]

The next morning...

Tom jogs down the corridors followed closely by Maggy. Crew members seem surprised at the sight of the great white dog but smile nonetheless and cheerily answer Tom's greetings as he runs by them. Having broken into a bit of a sweat, he arrives in sickbay with a slightly panting Maggy at his side.

"I hope you don't mind dogs Chief, she really needed a run. Maggy, meet Chief Randall. - The dog sniffs at the chiefs hands - So how's my number one patient this morning? The good doctor has been taking good care of you? Lets see... - Tom furrows his brows - you seem to be getting better. Though I'm sure you wouldn't mind my accelerating the process a bit? Please lie down on the bed..."

Thomas's hands hover just over the Chiefs chest and slowly move as Tom keeps his eyes closed. Warmth passes from his hands to Randall's body as the wounds clear up. Half a minute later Tom opens his eyes and smiles at the Chief.

"That should do it...you'll still be a little sore and perhaps have a bit of a fever but I'm sure you'll be as good as new within a day or two. Here... - Tom hands over a few teabags to the chief who soon realises that its full of fresh herbs. - Yarrow and White Willow, as well as some extra herbs for taste. Just add water...hot water that is. If you'd like some honey as well, Trish and I brought a few jars along with us and you're more than welcome to take some of it... - Tom stops and thinks for a second - Actually you could come by for dinner tonight if you'd like. I'm not sure what we're having yet but I'm sure its going to be delicious...Now if you don't mind I've got some work to do while you think about it..."

Thomas starts checking all organs in the organ bank for any taint or anomalies until...

Navigator Foxley does, indeed, visit Chief Simon as soon as she hears the good news, thanking him profusly for saving her life, although quickly getting embarrassed by her rather emotional outburst.

Tom raises an eyebrow and gives the Chief a sly grin

"You know, you're more than welcome to bring someone with you to dinner tonight. I was just telling the chief that he should have dinner with Patricia and I tonight, Ms. Foxley. If you'd be available I'm sure Chief Randall would appreciate a familiar face at the table..."

[After hopefully getting to know Foxley and and Randall over dinner Tom spends his time over the next few days checking organs, jogging with Maggy and getting to know the crew in general through visits at their quarters. He'll also check on the Qin delegates.]

[Asbjørn]

Eventually a meeting of the senior staff is called. Once everyone has gathered, Navigator Foxley stands & addresses the group,

"As you all know, we're still some distance from the planet in this system which may support life. However, with Tess back & functional, it should now be possible to jump directly to that location from our present position - the jump systems are fully charged. The question is whether we want to do that or not. We still don't know if the planet does support any life, or not, & can't know the effects that a jump's psionic shockwave will have on any life that does reside on the planet. In addition, I've detected some evidence of Taint radiation on the planet. That could just be residual background levels which are natural for the area, or... well, I'm sure we all know what else that could indicate..."

"There is another question as well..."

Ran looks around at the assembled officers before he continues.

"Do we want to go there at all? Do we need to, now that we have jump capability again? The abberants obviously had a reason for bringing us here, and it was hardly out of kindness. Do we want to risk the ship, crew and passengers' safety further, or should we just stay away until Navigator Foxley finds us the way home?"