Epilogue

[tomcat]

The small black box slowly turned in the cold vaccuum of space. Each time it rotated through a certain degree of its rotation, it emitted a highly encrypted signal. The packet of information traveled at subspace radio speed to a far off location. The location had received the signal weeks before and they had sent their response.

The black box was small, no more than a square meter, and had been missed by the Columbia's sensors when the Atalayna had blown up. Plin had ejected the transmitter while Darkan and he had sparred with words - after the photon torpedoes had rent his ship open to the coldness of space. The transmitter had a timer within that caused it to start transmitting two days after its release.

Not 15,000 km away the ship sat - her cloaking device hiding her from the "eyes and ears" of their enemy. They were deep into enemy space and close to one of the space stations, the one called K-12 - their position was risky to say the least.

The captain leaned back in his chair. He needed more information of his surrounds but his cloaking device deprived his ship of a great portion of its power. He gave a nod to his helmsman who quickly made the adjustments necessary, and suddenly the sleek ship appeared. There would be only a few moments to quickly scan the surrounding space so the bridge staff began to work.
___________________________________________________



They were 14 days out of Spacestation K-12 travelling at warp factor 6.3 and Ramos was pleased with the hum that came from his engines. He and his staff had worked diligently to get the Columbia back to tip-top shape and their efforts had paid off. Ramos looked down at the PADD in his hand, signed off on the report and handed it to the ensign. He smiled at the young officer and then headed off to his quarters - he was exhausted and finally felt that he could get a good night's sleep.

On the bridge, Stonn sat at his station - the lights lowered to account for the 'nighttime' hours. He read the sensor scans that the ship had brought in - above him his monitors showed a large nebula. It was the Paulson Nebula and the clouds erratic make-up had the science officer a bit concerned. The Columbia would be passing through the cloud in about six days.

[sdrotar]

All right - we're back! :D

[tomcat]

Captain Steven Darkan sat alone in his Ready Room, his face aglow from the viewing monitor at which he idolly stared. His thoughts were far away from where he was now, they were back at Spacestation K-12.

The past 13 day cruise had been uneventful and the ship was coming back together well after her fight with the Atalayna. Ramos was proving himself a very resourceful engineer. But the quiet had given Darkan the time to think about what had actually taken place on K-12... the Romulans had infiltrated a strange breed of creature that took over its host - using its body. They had been using rogue merchants and who knew who else they might have hired to bring the contraband into Federation space. Then these creatures had been introduced to individuals with some degree of authority within Starfleet. The question that had been bothering Darkan was, how many more?

It was late. He clicked off the monitor and the room automatically adjusted the lighting a bit so that he could still see. He rose... it was time to get to bed and see what the next 'day' would bring. He left his Ready Room and his concerns behind for the night.

[tomcat]

Grahm and Townshend were on Deck 4 in the Recreation Facility. They had just finished their fourth game of handball this evening and though it was getting late, they decided on a fifth to break the tie. It had been a vigorous work out and neither were willing to show any weakness by calling it quits.

Grahm could not help but marvel at Townshend's lithe form. Her long brown hair was tied up in a bun and she was soaked with sweat, but she still looked absolutely beautiful to him. He cursed himself that he still did not have the courage to ask her out officially on a date - only to these kind of activites. Ever since he had first seen her come aboard the Columbia, he had been struck. And then the dinner on K-12 when she was in dress uniform, he couldn't remember a woman more beautiful.

Then Grahm silently cursed the young russian helmsman who had been taking Jess here and there to many of the social functions on the ship - movies, dinners, etc. Why did he have to be so good with the ladies! Still, Jess hadn't seemed to show any interest in Alex and that made Grahm a little relieved. He just wished it was him strolling around the ship with her...

The ball echoed around the enclosed handball court and brought Grahm back to his senses. It took a few bounces to land in Jess's hand as she smiled at him from ear to ear.

"That is one!" she taunted, and raised her hand to serve again. "Now serving, 1-0..."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Dear Mia,

I'm sorry that I haven't written in awhile, but you've probably surmised that I've been a bit busy... hehe well I have.  Not a lot I can tell you but I'm not hurt and there's nothing you should worry about, but I'm sure you will anyway.  What I can tell you is that this ship and my crew are tops even though we get our occasional inconvenience.  I hope that their trust in me has come along the same as mine in them.

I miss you and you're always on my mind.  Have no fear, I will return to you.

Love always,
Steven

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pressing "SEND", Steven sits back and rubs his eyes.  With a brief glance to the PADD on his desk with reports for his review and nothing more, he gets into bed and drifts into yet another bout of uneasy sleep with Mia and the spy ship taking a prominent role.

Waking with a start, Steven looks at the clock: 0530.  "Oh well," he says getting up, taking a quick shower, and picks up the PADD of reports on his way out to the bridge and a fresh cup of coffee.

[tomcat]

The Prax Tanimae had been on the mind of Dr. Harjinder Tam, as well as Captain Darkan, and the Trill had spent the last two weeks studying the data that he collected on the creature. He wished that Starfleet would have let him keep the sample that they had removed from Administrator Sampson's skull, but there were quarantine issues and besides the Columbia was out on a different duty. So all he could do was pour over the backups that he had made of the computer files before they had all been turned over to the U.S.S. Caron.

Tam was intrigued by the symbiotic - albeit tyrannical - relationship that this other creature made with its host. His own symbiont was very much a part of his consciousness, but it did not convey the abilities that these creatures did.

With a fresh cup of coffee, and a brand new 'day', Tam walked through the doors to the examining room to see a young crewman waiting there. He had been part of Ramos' teams that had been caught up in the disastrous explosion on K-12's Cargo Area 2B. The crewman had taken a large sliver of bulkhead into his calf and was still having trouble walking, even after being operated on - quite efficiently Tam thought to himself.

"Good morning crewman," said Tam with a smile, "leg still bothering you?"

The crewman gave a slight smile back and nodded. Tam could still see that the humans aboard this ship still had concerns about the Trill doctor.

*******

Ramos entered engineering pleased to find it as he had left it. The ship had been cruising at warp 6 for the past thirteen days and had shown no sign of any trouble. He loved the Miranda class and this modified version was even more of a treat to his engineering mind.

Maybe his captain would call for an increase in speed - and then John could really see 'her' perform...

*******

Darkan entered the bridge with a swoosh of the turbolift doors opening. It was early, but already the senior bridge staff were reporting for duty. Pushkin and the alternate helmsman were talking over the ships helm as the russian prepared to take the conn.

To his right sat Mr. Stonn and Darkan wondered if his XO had been there all night. The overhead science screens displayed a nebulonic cloud with exquisite colorataion.

A yeoman approached the captain and offered a cup of coffee and a PADD for him to sign off on - it was the third watch reports and they looked about what was to be expected.

Darkan decided that he might as well go find out now what his science officer was in apparent deep thought about.

The truth of the matter was that Stonn had not been here all night, but his vulcan physiology did not need as much sleep as his human comrades. He had returned to his station in the early hours of the morning... much to the chagrin of the third watch bridge staff.

OOC: Two things... first, this game is not 'officially' started yet, I am just refreshing the characters and the previous story. But that does not mean that we can't start RP'ing here - I just want to get the LOTR game finalized before I get to heavy into this. It's hard running more than one game for me...  

Second... Shawn, the nebula Stonn is studying is called the Paulson Nebula - see the next post. Stonn is concerned because the Columbia must pass through it on its course as it is 6 light years wide on its horizontal plane and almost 12 light years on the vertical. The ship will be passing through a portion that will take about a 4-5 days travel and as with all nebula, they can rain havoc with a starship.

Anyway, you and Matt can make dialogue as you please based on what you have here or from the next post.

And finally, a reminder to you all - LOTR is not shutting down permanently. We are just taking a small break so I can try to 'butcher' some more Star Trek here!!  :D  :shock:  But we will be going back to LOTR for the sixth chapter in the Triumph of the Witch-king... as soon as I write it!  :wink:

[GandalfOfBorg]

Stifling a yawn, Darkan greets his first officer.  "Good morning, Mr. Stonn.  Contemplating our journey or getting some rest?" he asks with a bit of jest that will no doubt be lost on the man of logic in front of him.

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: Is the travel time that you gave for our passing through the nebula while at warp or impulse?

[tomcat]

OOC: Is the travel time that you gave for our passing through the nebula while at warp or impulse?

The travel time given is assuming the Columbia passes through between warp 6 and 7.

And now that you bring this up, I need to adjust my narrative post:

Traveling at Warp 6, the ship will cover the distance in 4 days (not 1 and a 1/2), and at warp 7 it would be 3 days. So, the post has been adjusted above...  :wink:

Why do you ask GoB... do you see any other corrections I need to make... let me know.

Doug

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: LOL no corrections, its just additional info  :wink:  I was hoping we'd be traveling at sublight to get through the nebula hehe

btw no worries about "butchering" Star Trek, you haven't IMO

[sdrotar]

Stifling a yawn, Darkan greets his first officer.  "Good morning, Mr. Stonn.  Contemplating our journey or getting some rest?" he asks with a bit of jest that will no doubt be lost on the man of logic in front of him.

"Rest, Captain?"
The Vulcan appeared momentarily baffled. "I was merely preparing myself for any contingencies upon our path through the Paulson Nebula. As you know, sir, the nebula will severely limit our sensor range and communications. The defensive shields will be non-functional. Moreover, there are concerns about the warp field's integrity interacting with the plasma and gases within, though Mr. Ramos is well aware of such issues."