R and R

[tomcat]

Stonn stood in front of the dilithium containment unit and studied the readings displayed on the engineering console. The Hydraens had done a very good job at environmentally securing the engineering space, and they had even done considerable work at rigging new matter/anti-matter conduits. But without the tritium and deuterium to assist in the anti-matter conversion, the ship was going to go nowhere very quickly. The young princess would never see her home again. She would age and then die before this ship even left the nebula. That is to say, if the Golayshian's supplies even lasted that long.

Stonn decided to get his mind back on more constructive trains of thought. He was aided in this by a question from one of the Hydraen engineers.

"Mr. Stonn, as you can see, our warp engines have no fuel to run. Yet our impulse engines have the capability of being re-started. Are Vulcans familiar with any way of cold-starting an impulse drive?" The other Hydraens present looked to Stonn waiting for an answer.

Darkan felt good. He was in the rather ornate statesroom that was offered to him for his stay aboard the ship. It was a good ship... too bad it was damaged in such a manner. And the hospitality was marvelous as well. The princess had been so kind. He smiled as he looked upon the Hydraen garments that lay on the bed for him to change into for dinner. Would it be considered rude for him not to wear them? He wondered. He did not wish to insult the princess... he just didn't.

He shook his head and walked over to look in the mirror. He scooped some cold water from the basin and washed it over his face. He stared at the image staring back and Mia came to his mind and for some unknown reason he felt guilty.

OOC: Shawn, I need to know what Stonn is doing in engineering and for communications. You can give me a Sys Ops (Propulsion) test TN 10 to do a diagnostic of the  ship's propulsion systems to offer any alternatives - feel free to enter some technical Trek-babble. Any repairs that you would like to assist in will require an Engineering test - I will interpret any results based on DOS. Understand, no matter what Stonn does... the warp core cannot be fixed without the tritium and deuterium mixers. Also, will Stonn attend the dinner.

Matt, I need to know if Darkan will change into the clothes given to him. When the dinner starts, there will be situations requiring social skills and traits - give me an idea of how Darkan wishes to interact.

Lastly, I know this manner of playing is a lot more difficult then over the table, but any more dialogue you can give in talking to NPC's or fellow crewmen adds to the game. Even back on Columbia, Tam, Ramos and Grahm - just interject little blurbs that just give us an idea of what they are doing, even if it doesn't add to the objectives, it adds to the flavour. For example... a simple blurb that says--

Ramos climbs from the Jefferies Tube and wipes his brow with the offered towel. He hands the Polaron Probe to the crewman in trade and smiles as he says, "That's breaker 62... 538 to go!"

--or--

Tam looks up from his micro-viewer and rubs his neck. He has been at his task for over two hours and he decided it was time to take a break. He left the sickbay and took the turbolift up to the officer's Observation Lounge to wind down.

Or whatever... it doesn't effect the main stuff we have going on but it does add more dimesnions to the story.

Thanks guys and keep up the great work!

Doug

[GandalfOfBorg]

Having a job to do, Darkan lets the guilt slip from his mind... for now.  Once again he finds himself in front of the mirror, feeling a bit silly wearing the Hydraen outfit.  "There better not be any holocams around," he thinks.  "It's bad enough the crew's gonna see me in this."

"Well... let's get this over with," says Darkan to the empty room and heads off to meet with the rest of his crew before joining their hosts.


OOC: Darkan will remain guarded when it comes his ship, deflecting commentary to the innocuous as best he can.  He will also try to rebuff/play down/resist any 'charming' attempts by the princess if he feels that they would compromise him in any way though he will remain affiable and engaging otherwise... you know the typical courtesan/politician-style posturing and flattery.

[sdrotar]

OOC: Shawn, I need to know what Stonn is doing in engineering and for communications. You can give me a Sys Ops (Propulsion) test TN 10 to do a diagnostic of the  ship's propulsion systems to offer any alternatives - feel free to enter some technical Trek-babble. Any repairs that you would like to assist in will require an Engineering test - I will interpret any results based on DOS. Understand, no matter what Stonn does... the warp core cannot be fixed without the tritium and deuterium mixers. Also, will Stonn attend the dinner.

Sys Ops (Propulsion) +9
Roll(2d6)+9:4,4,+9 Total:17

"Impulse engines have been cold-started on some Federation vessels by running a low-level charge through the system; heating the coils just enough to start a limited reaction. If enough power is left in the system to continue the charge during the primary reaction, the engines will activate and generate sustaining power after a few minutes."

OOC: Stonn has zippo in the Engineering skill departments, so he won't be able to help with any repairs. Instead, after offering his suggestions, he will change and attend dinner with the rest of the landing party.

[Edrahil / Tam]

After sitting at the back of the bridge for a while hoping for some news of the away team, Tam decides that he's going stir crazy and needs to get busy doing something just to distract himself. Finally deciding on something, he gets up and leaves the bridge, heading for the main transporter bay.

Arriving there, he turns to the tech on duty and gives him a kind smile. "Could you help me out with a little project of mine? I've been thinking that if there's any trouble with the away team we really should have a way of getting them back quickly... but with this nebula our transporters are nearly ineffective. So, I'd like to enhance their life sign scanners to try to penetrate the fog a bit better, to give us a longer effective scanning range with them, so we can beam them from further away. Unfortunately, though I can handle the life sign scanners without any trouble, my knowledge of how exactly to make them work better is a bit thin. But between the two of us, I think we should be able to boost the system a little bit, don't you? So, let's get to it!"

[OOC: No clue what kind of rolls you'll want for this, it's just something to keep me busy and maybe even help a little bit... just let me know what rolls I can make, or if I should just sit there and "supervise" the tech doing his job, since this is completely out of my field... darn, where's Rose when you need her, she'd have no trouble with this nebula stuff... too bad that's a future life not a past life... :-p]

[tomcat]

To Stonn:

"Hmmmm....," thought one of the Hydraen engineers. "We had not thought of that Mr. Stonn, but I see where it could work! Will you join us in making this attempt?"

At the same time, Mr. Stonn's communicator beeped which he quickly answered. It was Captain Darkan wishing his presence in the upcoming dinner to be held by the princess. The Vulcan was actually relieved as he knew the theory behind what he spoke, but he was no engineer. Stonn closed his communicator but was suddenly smote by a strange feeling for the briefest of moments; a very alien emotion – embarrassment. He quickly readjusted himself, shook his head a bit and replied, "I apologize but my duty is elsewhere at this time, but feel free to call on me if there is any other questions you may have."

The two Hydraens watched as the Vulcan walked away evidently disconcerted.

To Tam:

"Very good, Doctor," replied the transporter technician.

Later at the dinner:

The dinner was very elegant and the princess sat at the head of the table, along with the ship's captain, Cordin. Isaboul's aides took care of serving while everyone chatted, ate and drank. The idle conversation stretched from the different homeworlds of the varied races within the room to their professions and their ships. The final topic was one that Darkan skirted around, not wishing to reveal any great detail about the Columbia.

But the Hydraens were extremely polite hosts and the princess only evolved conversations that she could sense her guest wished to speak of. The food was wonderful and the wine that was served had a marvelous bouquet and left the palette wanting more. To Darkan it was evident that his helmsman was enjoying himself as he laughed and joked with a couple of the Hydraen males and females – his accent growing thicker as he imbibed. Darkan cleared his throat to get the Russians attention and by the look on his face the message was received, Alex began to compose himself a bit more professionally.

Darkan looked to his hostess and she was smiling at him – the look she gave was intense and seemed to probe deep within him. He wished to glance away but found he couldn't. She then looked down to her plate and Darkan felt as if he was released.

The dinner was over for the most part. Isaboul spoke, "Captain, it is getting late. I would like to invite you and your crew to one last cordial upon our Galleria Deck. Then we may all turn in for the night. I would be honoured if you would continue your stay with us until the arrival of your ship, but of course that is your choice. Will you join me?"

OOC: More to follow... I have to come up with some tests that I would like done here:

-Tam's re-engineering of the transporters bio-detectors
-Some Social Tests at the dinner table

You guys will have the update on this post before Sunday evening... check back.

Doug

[tomcat]

Tam: to enhance the functionality of the transporters

Sys Ops (Medical) TN 10, this is to load the physical data about each of the individuals the transporter will need to lock on to.

Marginal Success: +1
Complete Success: +2
Superior Success: +3
Extraordinary Success: +5

Sys Ops (Transporter) TN 10, this is to enhance the computers ability to lock on to the bio-data loaded above

Marginal Success: +1
Complete Success: +2
Superior Success: +3
Extraordinary Success: +5

Effect: The DOS of the test rolls will bestow the bonuses by skill type to the transporter test when it comes time to beam personnel from ship to ship.

Note: The target number to transport within the Nebula is TN 20. The transporter tech has a total of +7 to Sys Ops (Transporter). Chris, feel free to perform both test rolls to enhance the system. It will take 2 hours to make the enhancements no matter what.

Columbia Crewmen on the Golayshian:

All crewmembers need to make a Willpower roll... post your results.

Thanks

Townshend: Willpower +2
Roll(2d6)+2: 5,1,+2 Total:8

Pushkin: Willpower +2
Roll(2d6)+2: 6,1,+2 Total:9

Red shirts: Willpower +1
Roll(2d6)+1: 6,6,2,+1 Total:15
Roll(2d6)+1: 3,3,+1 Total:7

[sdrotar]

Willpower Test (TN ?)
Stonn: Willpower +3, Unyielding +2 = +5
Roll(2d6)+5:6,4,+5 Total:15

[Edrahil / Tam]

Tam: to enhance the functionality of the transporters

Sys Ops (Medical) TN 10, this is to load the physical data about each of the individuals the transporter will need to lock on to.

Skill +8, Int +3, Specialty +2 = +13
Roll(2d6)+13: 4,3,+13 Total:20

Extraordinary Success: +5

Sys Ops (Transporter) TN 10, this is to enhance the computers ability to lock on to the bio-data loaded above

Skill +8, Int +3 = +11 (Yes, thanks to the weird way Sys Ops works, I'm better at using the Transporter than the Transporter tech... go figure...)

Roll(2d6)+11: 1,1,+11 Total:13

Complete Success: +2

Note: The target number to transport within the Nebula is TN 20. The transporter tech has a total of +7 to Sys Ops (Transporter). Chris, feel free to perform both test rolls to enhance the system. It will take 2 hours to make the enhancements no matter what.

Future Transporter Tests:
Modifications +7, Sys Ops +7 = +14* vs TN 20 (pretty good, I think)

Tam sits on the floor to work on the Transporter subsystem with the tech. First he transfers all the required data from his Medical database so that the transporter will know exactly what it's looking for... that done, he and the tech start to reconfigure the transport scanner to read the new data and use it more effectively. When that's all completed Tam think to himself that this was a pretty good afternoon... and that he seemed to have a knack for this kind of thing... maybe he should consider studying transporters a bit more in his spare time, they were afterall the way of the future, and it could definitely come in handy.

* Hey Chris, I edited this post because the +7 Transporter Tech's skill includes his +2 Specialty bonus.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Willpower - (6+2)+2=10

OOC: That's what you get when you make a helmsman a captain LOL

[tomcat]

Stonn had sat through the dinner talking only when spoken to, watching instead both his shipmates and their hosts. It was very cordial... the whole night was pleasant, even the final cordial at the end of the night on the Galleria Deck. At that point he had commenced a conversation with a young female Hydraen named Saleesia. She had been intrigued with his duties aboard the Columbia, she showed interest when he spoke of his sisters back on Vulcan, and she smiled brightly as she spoke of the watery world from which she came. She was charming, or that is what the Vulcan thought a Human would have called her.

Stonn felt strange for a moment and he consciously made an effort to clear his thoughts and to regain control of his... feelings. Something was wrong here...

Darkan laid his head back and tried to close his eyes to get some sleep. He felt the warmth of the Hydraen cordial still coursing in his system and knew that it wouldn't be long. Hopefully the Columbia would be here tomorrow and he could get back to his normal duties. But it was nice here... the dinner had been great and their hosts had been terrific. Isaboul was quite funny and he had been intrigued with her stately duties to her family and the trade unions that she did business with.

Then the thought of Mia came to him again and again the feeling of guilt and he wondered why. He loved Mia and they would one day... what? Get married? Family?

The thought of his girl far away, back on Earth, filled his mind as he slowly drifted to sleep, but in his dream he could also see the Hydraen princess standing in background.

Pushkin had had a great time and there was nothing more needing to be said. Ashanta was her name and they had spent the evening laughing and joking. Now he was here in his room... alone. He giggled to himself and laid down.

"Hopefully the Columbia would be delayed and the captain would let them stay another day," he thought to himself. He would love some more time to get to know her. He drifted to sleep hoping that Ramos needed one more day.

Grahm stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge in the morning. As he looked about, an ensign handed him a status report. He read the PADD and saw that Ramos had worked through the 'night' and had the ship's sensors at 80%. He reviewed the non-functional sensors and saw that they were predominantly for the labs on Deck Seven. They weren't necessary for the ship to make forward motion.

"Conn, prepare the ship for quarter impulse. We are going to go pick up our away team."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan woke with a start, slightly disoriented and sweating.  This was happening all too often lately.  Sitting up in bed, he shakes his head clear and reflects on the dream.  What was that woman doing in his head?  After a quick glass of water and another few minutes later he was back asleep, fitful though it might be.