Topic: The Corruption Hidden Beneath the Surface...
Subject: The way forward
A bit disheartened by the lack of information he’d gotten from Nya in regard to Daveena and Gorn, Ch’dau skulked back to the table around which his companions sat. Heaving a rumbling, somewhat dejected sigh, the Kazari found a place among them just as Kith padded down the steps…
“Oy, bladesinger,” the woman called, holding up a dagger with a rather frilly bit of what humans called smallclothes hanging from its tip, “we’ve found you a souvenir. Does this look familiar to you?”
The Silver Cat chuckled at this, amusement causing his eyes to shine a bit as they flicked back and forth between Aranwen and the lacy bits Kith offered over. The roguish girl examined her blades for a moment and, as she made her way to his side, resheathed them.
“And you, Ch’dau,” she queried, looking up at him as she drew to a stop next to him, “did your search find anything more useful?”
The Kazari offered a rueful shake of his shaggy head. “No,” he replied. Then, with a faint gesture to the smallclothes she and Gib had discovered, he continued; “Those are likely more useful than anything I might have learned. According to Nya, Daveena and her man arrived only a short time before the lot of us. They rented a room for which they paid in Ertanian coin but, beyond that, there was little else. No one here saw anything of them after friend Aranwen took the woman abed.” With nothing else to offer, he shrugged his massive shoulders and folded his arms across his chest, attentions keen on anything the rest of his companions might have to say…
The foray into the village that followed, likewise, proved as unrewarding as their inquiries at the Shill. Whoever Daveena and Gorn might have been and wherever they may have gone since last night, no one seemed to know; the pair had simply vanished. It was all more than a little frustrating and, by the time they had all reconvened at the Inn, that frustration had gone some way toward souring the Kazari’s mood. The food was a welcome respite, though, especially since Mort had seen fit to provide him with another bloody chunk of beef with his repast, and, despite his irritation, Ch’dau tore hungrily into the meal.
The others, too, ate in relative silence for a moment but, soon enough, a revelation seemed to come across Kithran’s mind and she stopped her chewing in order to speak up. "Crandel had not been hit before last night," she said, drawing Ch’dau’s gaze, "those pilgrims we met, they had witnessed those undead creatures before, but not here. They had even said, 'the road ahead must be safer than the road behind us'. He was obviously wrong, since they themselves were consumed by these things, but up until then they had been running away from them. We may, then, find more answers if we continue in the direction they came from."
Ch’dau nodded his own validation at Kith’s train of thought as she paused to take another bite of her meal. "Of course,” she added, swallowing that latest mouthful, “heading that way will likely mean having to deal with more of those laughers, and everyone in that direction could very well be dead already, but we haven't much else to go on at the moment, have we?" Her eyes probed each face around the table, then. “Thoughts?”
“As wretched as those things are,” the Kazari rumbled, wiping the beef juices from his mouth with the back of a furry hand, “the thought of facing more of them is more appealing than finding more nothing, here. It would seem we have little other choice.”
Posted on 2018-10-12 at 09:30:41.
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Topic: Star Trek: Veiled Chimera
Subject: Faces old and new
Stardate 2365.02.19
USS Peregrine; Deck 1 – Bridge – 10:56
“Comfortable in that seat, Commander Zai?” a familiar and too long absent voice queried before Tochi’s eyes could come open and his head roll in that direction.
Silas?
The weight that had beleaguered Tochi’s eyelids the past few days lifted at the sound of that voice, and the slump in his shoulders was forgotten, too. The Trill’s eyes shot open in concert with him rising swiftly out of the seat. Smiling the best and brightest smile that had graced his lips in days, Lieutenant Commander Zai snapped off a crisp salute and took a step back, away from the Big Chair. “Not comfortable, at all sir,” he beamed at Silas where the man stood just a meter away, now, “Just keeping it warm for you…”
Commander Drake returned the salute, then broke out into a wide grin. "I very much appreciate that, my friend. Commander Zai, by the order of Starfleet Command, I hereby assume command of the USS Peregrine."
It’s good to see you smiling, again, Silas, Tochi didn’t bother to say aloud. Instead, the Trill let the salute fall easily into a welcoming handshake, and offered a nod as Drake officially relieved him of command. “We’re more than happy to hand it back to you,” he grinned, “Welcome back, Captain.”
As Drake settled into the Big Chair, Zai, still smiling, strode toward the XO’s console and eased into the seat. He cued open a few files he had begun reviewing earlier and, for a moment, lost himself in their contents. Again, he heard the hiss of hatch pneumatics and the steady clip of footsteps and, again, he managed to tune it out… at least, until he heard voices at his back…
"I had hoped that Commander Zai would have saved me the paperwork."
Tochi glanced over his shoulder to see the Captain’s yeoman handing over a PADD for Drake’s review.
“No, sir,” Vish said from behind a crooked smile, “Once I got wind of your return, I made sure to save a few for you. I couldn't let you feel unwanted, now could I?”
As Silas snorted a response, Tochi flicked a wink and a grin at the Bajoran woman. “There has been plenty to go around, sir,” he chuckled, turning his attention back to his own console, “we would have been remiss to keep it all for myself.”
The typical drone and murmur of bridge activity returned for a while and, so very pleased to have Drake back where he belonged, Tochi found his mind constructing something of a melody out of the chirps and chatter. He had just begun to softly hum along with the tune he was constructing when he heard the Captain breathe a sigh and shift in his chair.
“It would seem that you have everything well in hand, Tochi,” Silas commented, coaxing Zai from his own seat, “If you will forgive me, I think I will take the opportunity to unpack my bags. Apparently, you aren’t to be rid of me quite yet.”
“Apparently not, sir,” the Trill grinned, approaching the command seat again, “I believe we said something to that effect not more than a week ago.”
Drake nodded. “Commander Zai, you have the conn,” he said, rising from the seat and turning toward the turbolift.
“Aye aye, sir,” Tochi answered, standing at ease next to the command seat but not bothering to sit himself back in it, “Take your time, Captain.” As Drake disappeared through the lift doors, Tochi began a wandering circuit around the bridge, stopping at this station and that to get an eye on the work that was being done, offer his input in some cases, and answer a question or two as they were posed. He had apparently tuned out the whoosh and hiss of the hatchways, again, though, and it wasn’t until he heard an unfamiliar voice address him that he realized it.
“Commander Zai, sir,” the quiet but clear voice called, prompting him to turn his eyes toward TAC, “I’m taking over the TAC station if that’s acceptable? I want to further familiarize myself with our systems.”
Tochi blinked, befuddled at the sudden appearance of a new body on the bridge… What?... He blinked again, watching in silence for that split second as the impressively built woman in TAC golds danced her fingers over the console... Who?... His mind scrambled through the paperwork Vish had been inundating him with over the course of the past few days, trying to determine if he’d seen this woman’s face in any of the transfer requests. He blinked a third time and realization dawned on him; this was Lt Kara Tal, the Peregrine’s new Chief Tactical Officer. She had come aboard days ago, he recalled, but circumstances being what they were, at the time, Tochi hadn’t yet had the time to meet the woman in anything more than passing. “Of course, Lieutenant,” he answered her, at last, “make yourself at home.”
And it might do us well to get some sleep after this shift, Zai chuckled inwardly with a shake of his head, Have we introduced ourselves to any of the new arrivals, yet? He sighed softly, shook his head again, and turned back to the Engineering officer he had been speaking with. “Apologies, Mr Jenneric,” he smiled, “and, yes, if you would, put a team together to re-check the ODN conduits and servos within three compartments on either side of the VIP quarters. See to it, if you would, that Kari has a look at the structural bracing in those areas, as well. We know the damage from the explosion has been repaired to Starbase standards but I’d hate for us to lose an entire compartment to the void because something was overlooked.”
“Backdoor…goodbye.”
“Yes, sir,” Ens Jenneric responded, making note of the area the XO had indicated on the MSD and trying very hard not to stare at the rather imposing woman who stood at TAC muttering to herself, “I’ll get that going right away.”
“Backdoor…Goodbye.”
“Thank you, Paula,” Tochi grinned, clasping his hands behind his back as he stepped away from the ENG console and started to meander toward TAC…
“Backdoor… Goodbye.”
…He stopped at the outer edge of the console and, for a long moment, simply watched as Lt Tal worked (and, listened as, preceded each time by an acknowledging chirp from the computer, she murmured “Backdoor…Goodbye” ). After a minute or so, he offered a smile and asked; “Everything meets with your approval, we hope, Lieutenant?”
She looked up from the panel, then, and easily returned the Trill’s smile. “Systems seem good,” she answered, “A little bit of squirrelly programming here and there, but I think I've gotten some code written to tie those up, with permission. I won't implement any code without express permission, of course. There may be things I don't know about your ship that are dependent on it, though I don't see any dependencies...”
“Permission granted,” Tochi replied with a nod, “It is your department, now, after all, and…”
The woman seemed to drift off, then, her eyes going blank and her left hand fluttering in the air over the console with only the occasional tap on the thing. Zai’s head canted to one side and his congenial smile melted into and expression of what might have been curious concern. “Are you all right, Lieutenant,” he inquired, his hands unclasping and coming to rest on the edge of her station.
((OOC: Any reply… ))
Lt Commander Zai nodded at her response and the smile returned to his features. “You know, Lt Tal,” he said in an almost repentant tone, “Seeing you here reminds us that I haven’t been entirely focused on our duties as the Peregrine’s First Officer. You’ve been on board for nearly four days now, and it occurs to us that we haven’t properly welcomed you aboard or so much as spoken to you other than in passing. If you have a few moments, we’d like to rectify that oversight, now.”
((OOC: Stopping there for now. Assuming Lt Tal doesn’t object, Zai will invite the woman to walk with him in hopes of having a “get to know you” chat and lead her off the bridge, likely toward his office. We can do a collab on that, if you like, Josie, or we can do a back and forth, here. Up to you. ))
Posted on 2018-10-11 at 19:11:33.
Edited on 2018-10-13 at 15:10:04 by Eol Fefalas
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What game do you own the 
Return to Charadun - Q&A
The Morphing Game
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