Gotta get to the ship on time...

[tomcat]

OOC: Italic content is from the previous post to put the story in line...

"We've had some problems since we left you and I don't think a half hour will be enough time for our preparations and security, but I don't see that you'd have much to worry about if I were your escort. I... err... we look forward to your arrival in 30 minutes."

Just as he was about to call the bridge, the call from Ramos came through to him. "Yes Juan?" But before the Chief Engineer could answer, Darkan spoke again, "The more I think about the incident, the more I believe it was really an isolated occurrence, an anomaly. Even if its not, I plan to be the princess' escort when they arrive in a half hour. Please make sure the proper formalities are met security-wise."

There was silence on the bridge from the captain's order. Ramos was in conflict. Darkan had placed him in command until the strange happenings had been resolved, but now he had just given a direct order for the crew to prepare for the arrival of the Hydraens.

Stonn had sat back down at his station after Grahm had asked him to hold off a moment to speak with the captain. The Vulcan listened to Darkan's voice over the ship's intercom and could see that Grahm had been staggered by his response. Stonn went to make a comment when his console began to beep. The Vulcan turned in his chair and began to scan the readouts - the Columbia's sensors were registering an object approaching from starboard beyond the Golayshian.

Stonn snapped to attention at the first sign of the object. It was difficult to tell what it was, but in a nebula this thick - it seemed unlikely that anything arriving in such proximity to two ships would be coincidental.

In the nebula, the shields were all but useless, and he abhorred violent conflict, but as humans say, "discretion is the better part of valor"...

Raising his voice sharply, Stonn's voice curtly barked out across the ship as he thumbed his panel's comm button. "Yellow alert. All personnel to standby stations. Captain to the bridge."

Ramos turned to Townshend, though she had been acting strange, he could see she was reacting to her orders. She was an officer and she knew her duty... that made Juan smile to himself.

"Jess! Call the Golayshian and have them sample our readings for a comparison – I want to know if they are getting the same thing we are."

Grahm felt the urge to go to his station on the bridge, but he had a higher order right now. He turned to Stonn next, "Mr. Stonn, can you get us anything else?"

Unbeknownst to the ordered but seeming chaos that was occurring on the Columbia, the Hydraen shuttle was loaded and her crew was preparing for her departure. It was not far to the Federation vessel but in this nebula, you took your time even on short jaunts. They would be there on time, if not a little early.

Isaboul smiled, "Besides," she thought, "he would be happy to see me earlier rather than later."

[GandalfOfBorg]

From Stonn earlier Raising his voice sharply, Stonn's voice curtly barked out across the ship as he thumbed his panel's comm button.

"Yellow alert. All personnel to standby stations. Captain to the bridge."

"Can anything else go wrong today?" Darkan thought as he headed to the bridge, buttoning up his dress uniform.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he also thought of the safety of the princess who'd be arriving soon.

Once to the bridge, he calls out, "What's the situation?"

[sdrotar]

From Stonn earlier Raising his voice sharply, Stonn's voice curtly barked out across the ship as he thumbed his panel's comm button.

"Yellow alert. All personnel to standby stations. Captain to the bridge."

"Can anything else go wrong today?" Darkan thought as he headed to the bridge, buttoning up his dress uniform.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he also thought of the safety of the princess who'd be arriving soon.

Once to the bridge, he calls out, "What's the situation?"

"Unknown at this point, Captain," said Stonn.
"Sensors have picked up an object of unknown composition and origin moving toward the Columbia and the Golayshian. We have not been able to determine if the object is natural or not, sir - but it is statistically unlikely that such an encounter would happen randomly. I ordered the Yellow Alert until the situation is better understood."

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Alright, keep me posted.  Have the Hydraens indicated any distress or anything else?"

[sdrotar]

"Alright, keep me posted.  Have the Hydraens indicated any distress or anything else?"

"No, sir. I am not certain that they have even noticed the object at all, however."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Nonplussed, Darkan concludes, "Well alright, then... keep me appraised of the situation.  I'll be in Shuttlebay X awaiting the arrival of the Hydraen delegation if you need me.  Continue your good work, gentlemen," and then he leaves the bridge.

[tomcat]

Juan watched as the captain departed in the turbolift but then was called by Jess from here station. "Mr. Ramos, the Golayshian is reporting... on speaker..."

"Sqqwwaackkk... Columbia, Columbia, this is the Golayshian. We are not reading any contacts. Are you sure you are not tracking a 'ghost'? This nebula is notorious for giving false readings." The voice then crackled through again, "Prepare for the arrival of Princess Isaboul... her shuttle departed moments ago."

The line went silent and Ramos thought about what to do. He had a potential threat on approach, a ship that was standing at Yellow Alert and an emissary coming from the Hydraen ship.

"Stonn, can we be sure that there is something there?" Juan then shook his head, "This is crazy!" he thought. Not waiting for the Vulcan's answer. "Either way... the ship stays at Yellow Alert until this contact can be confirmed. Tactical, weapons and shields remain charged but there will be no firing from any station without a direct order. Jess, contact all senior officers regarding the Hydraen's arrival and get down to the hangar and put on our best face for this shindig."

Grahm could see she was not pleased with her orders but she stood rigidly and walked from the bridge, signaling a subordinate to take her station. She had called him 'Mr. Grahm' earlier... he didn't like that.

Tam heard the call over the intercom informing him of the pending arrival of their guests. He touched a couple of buttons on his console and finished the upload to his medical tricorder. He had had the time to begin an analysis of the hormonal conditions of the two security officers but he wasn't sure if he had enough information yet to make any conclusion.

OOC: Chris, I need you to perform a few tests in your pursuit to track down the 'Hydraen Effect'.

First I will need an Exteneded Science (Exobiology) Test TN 60 to determine how the Human body is reacting and finding the presence of the pheromone, then to prepare a Tricorder test to track the pheromone back to the source (the Hydraen women). You will need to scan the Hydraen women with your tricorder to be sure of the connection of the women and the pheromone. From when you started your hypotheses, you had 1 1/2 hours until Isaboul and Co. show up, each test roll you make will require 30 minutes per test. Your tricorder test will be Sys Ops (Medical) TN 20 to isolate chemical compounds of the pheromone to be able to create an inhibitor.

I will provide you with the inhibitor test when we get to that point.

[tomcat]

So you all know, I had to correct the threads since the return of the Away Team to put Ramos in charge of the ship (as Darkan had instructed). SO don't be confused if you are suddenly talking to someone else.

Doug

[sdrotar]

Stonn visibly stiffened after shutting down the comm link with the captain, and turned to see Grahm glaring at him, one eyebrow raised.
He was relieved of duty - and only on the bridge to hand off a few tasks to his staff - he certainly should not have called the Yellow Alert, and certainly should not have paged the captain - he was relieved of duty as well.

What was wrong with him? He felt healthy enough, but such a breach of protocol... he had never done anything like this in his entire career!

"Commander Ramos," he said, "I apologize. The bridge is, of course, yours."

At that, Grahm seemed to relax a bit. Maybe it was time to continue Grahm's investigation.
"Mr. Grahm, we may have our discussion at your convenience."

Grahm looked a bit surprised and opened his mouth to speak - but the voice was Ramos' from the center seat below.

"Perhaps we should find out what exactly is approaching, no?"
Ramos looked back to Grahm as if asking for approval, then back to Stonn.

"Of course," the Vulcan all but stammered. He sat down at his post in shock at his own behavior. He himself had called for the alert less than a minute ago... was he ill?

As he set his face upon the sensor hood, he made a note to ask Ramos if he could be replaced by the on-call science officer at the first opportunity.   Stonn found that he could no longer trust his own judgment... and now was not the time to have a unreliable set of eyes at the sensors.

[tomcat]

Grahm looked to Ramos, "So Juan... what are we doing? Townshend will be calling us down to the hangar in a few minutes when that shuttle arrives."

The topic of the two officers was making a circuitous flight around the Columbia, from port to starboard, but now the Hydraen shuttle was coming back to the aft of the ship and her hangar bays. The Flight Deck Officer was already beginning to charge up the tractors to assist the shuttle's ingress. The craft would be safely aboard within 10 minutes.

Jess stood on the deck inspecting the presentation that she had prepared, as the ship's Operations Officer these ceremonies fell into her purview. Her fellow senior officers were responsible for their departments, i.e. Grahm's honor guard, but for the most part this was her task. Right now, she was not enjoying her job.

[sdrotar]

Grahm looked to Ramos, "So Juan... what are we doing? Townshend will be calling us down to the hangar in a few minutes when that shuttle arrives."

"Well, until we find out what's coming our way, I'm not leaving the bridge."

He rested his elbow on the chair's arm and then his chin on his open palm and thought a moment.

"Go ahead and secure the arrival of our guests, but make sure that Security's at the ready in case whatever this is isn't friendly. I don't want to call a Red Alert in the middle of the Hydraens' visit, but I'm not taking any chances - things have been strange enough around here already, don't you think?"

Stonn seemed to stiffen again at Ramos' remark, but Juan ignored it.

[Edrahil / Tam]

Life Science (Exobiology) - +11, Specialty +2 = +13 (vs TN 15)
Roll(2d6)+13: 4,3,+13 Total:20 (Complete Success: 22.5 min)
Total Score: 20, Total Time: 22.5 min
Roll(2d6)+14: 5,5,+14 Total:24 (Superior Success: 15 min)
Total Score: 44, Total Time: 37.5 min
Roll(2d6)+15: 3,2,+15 Total:20 (Complete Success: 22.5 min)
Total Score: 64, Total Time: 60 min

Sys Ops (Medical)  - +11, Specialty +2 = +13 (vs TN 20)
Roll(2d6)+13: 4,3,+13 Total:20 (Marginal Success)

Dr. Tam sits down and promptly gets to work on his evaluation. With the intense sense of focus that the symbiont grants to him he manages to power through his studies and finishes his initial evaluations with lots of time to spare before the envoys arrive. He sits down and uses this new knowledge to adjust one of his tricorders to detect the pheremones he's expecting to find... then, realizing he's still got some extra time he runs the same adjustment program on the ships internal sensors, thinking that if this pheremone is as powerful as he expects, being able to run the scans from a distance would definitely be an asset. With that all complete, he sat down again to start laying out the groundwork for some sort of antidote, so that once he's identified the exact pheremone to block he should be able to quickly plug that into his formula and come up with a functional solution as quickly as possible.

[tomcat]

Her voice came over the intercom, "By request of Captain Darkan, all senior officers are to immediately report to the Shuttlebay, Hangar 1."

In his office, Tam slid back from his console and stood. He adjusted his uniform and slipped the medical tricorder into his pocket. He nodded to one of his staff members and said, "I'll be back in about an hour."

Pushkin had not been on duty, courtesy of the captain's orders and he felt great. He had exercised, swam, and then spent a bit of time shining his shoes and having his uniform pressed. He buttoned his last button on his tunic and then rushed from his room towards the turbolift.

John looked over his shoulder at Ramos and his face made a visible inquiry. Mirroring him, Stonn turned from his science station towards the acting commander.

Two thousand meters off of the Columbia's stern the Hydraen shuttle shook a moment as the short range tractor beam took hold to guide her into the hangar. Before the small craft, the shuttle bay doors began to open.

Darkan stood watching the doors open and then he looked around. Where was his senior officer staff?! He felt nervous but didn't know why. He tugged his tunic, straightening it and then looked back towards the approaching shuttle - it was just a visit from an emissary from another ship. He forced himself to calm down... but she was almost here.

[sdrotar]

"Mr. Stonn, you are relieved as soon as your replacement can make it to the bridge," Ramos said. The Vulcan looked... well, relieved at the order.

"John," he said to Grahm, "go ahead and go too. If you and Stonn make it to dinner, I'll be the only one missing. Just stay sharp."

Ramos wondered inwardly why the Captain didn't make any exceptions. The Yellow Alert was still in effect - and why shouldn't it be?
Something was out there, and with the shields ineffective in the nebula, they could potentially be in significant danger... but the Captain was acting as if everything was completely normal!

Certainly, a diplomatic dinner reception could wait, right?
He hoped the Captain thought so - at least in his case, because at this point, Ramos had no intention of attending...

[tomcat]

Certainly, a diplomatic dinner reception could wait, right?
He hoped the Captain thought so - at least in his case, because at this point, Ramos had no intention of attending...

OOC: Hey Shawn, just to give you an idea on time... the delegation from the Hydraen ship came over early. It is about three hours before anyone will be sitting down for food.

Stonn and Grahm made it the hangar bay as the Hydraen shuttle entered the Columbia. They walked up and took their position on the flight line to greet the princess and her delegation. Grahm could see that some of Ramos' engine techs were loading a shuttle of their own with equipment and supplies. They would launching shortly to fly to the Golayshian and assist with any repairs.

The Hydraen shuttle thumped onto the deck and came to a halt. The Federation crewmen drew themselves up to attention as the hatch opened and the Golayshian's captain, Cordin, stepped out. He stepped aside to allow another to follow him out - it was Isaboul followed immeditely by her entourage of women. Grahm suddenly realized what Pushkin had been going on about, they were beautiful.