Docked at Starbase Bravo

[Jackie Clawson]

ON:
<<USS Horizon - Bridge>>

“Coming up on StarBase Bravo, Admira…Cap…Adm…um… ma’am…�? Came Ensign Mallard’s uncertain voice from the operations station

Jackie’s ears flickered, she stole a glance at Taylor filling in her XO’s seat and the reality hit once again; she’s still hadn’t gotten used to being called anything higher than Captain. She flinched lightly, well aware how uncomfortable some of her crew were in the presence of what looked liked Admiralty now even if she wasn’t dressed like one, per se.

“On screen Ensign�? She commented lightly, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache threatening to make its way to her head again.

She glanced at the screen, watching the base appear there; as the magnification increased she could make out more and more details. But they were still some distance away before they had to dock. What was waiting for them on StarBase Bravo…? And beyond…. Could she handle whatever came her way?

Jackie tugged at her uniform, trying to appear calm as she straightened her collar, her Rear Admiral’s pips reminding her of reality and looking a bit out of place with the uniform she still wore. Admiralty uniforms were all tailored made, but the Horizon had no such services and thus the Caitian would have to get that sorted out once aboard StarBase Bravo, however that wasn’t what bothered her.

She was more worried about the changes her lifestyle would have to have once all is said and done. Once they reached StarBase bravo. Once she officially took over the Task Force. Once…Jackie had to do a lot to prepare herself for this, even if she put out the appearance that she was casual about this and that she was in control. She knew she wasn’t yet, as did Taylor after spending time in her ready room discussing things.

She took in a few breaths, regaining control of herself mentally. She wasn’t going to freak out, she was going to keep a cool head on her shoulders, just like she’s done with her fighter Wing and with her security department back on the Rayden countless years ago. Just like she did with the Horizon all these years.

Yes, this was *very* different, but at the same time this was still the same thing, only more responsibility and one hell of a step up in someone’s career, not to mention one hell of a job shift once again. It seemed like history was repeating itself once again in Jackie’s eyes.

The Caitian was still not fully sure whether she was ready to be in such a position or rank, at least mentally. She covered her eyes for a second, feeling the headache attack her. She could really use some coffee right now. Or….she stole a glance at the ensign at the helm controls, and smiled suddenly.

‘go for it, might not get another chance in years’ she thought as she stood up from the command chair and made her way down to the helm area. Tapping the ensign on the shoulder and gently shooing him away to take the rest of his shift off, Jackie settled behind the controls, and within seconds the Caitian was immersed in the controls in front of her. Flying a starship hardly replaced flying a fighter, but it was flying, and it was something Jackie Clawson tended to get lost in and forget her worries once she took the controls.

Now wasn’t any different, her fingers flew over the controls; regardless of her rank and position, she felt at home behind the controls as she ran through a mental checklist of the docking procedure, before swiftly executing the process to bring the ship into docks of the Operations Centre of the Task Force the Caitian was now charged with. But for now, all that didn’t matter, Jackie was engrossed in the moment as she guided her ship closer.

Dan smiled as he watched Jackie bring the ship in to dock at Starbase Bravo; the time at the helm seemed to have calmed the Caitian down somewhat. She needed it really, from what he had seen she was too stressed about taking over the Task Force, so much work to do and so little time to relax and be herself.

The work trap was one he had fallen in to himself, hell he thought as he suppressed a chuckle it was a trap he still fell in too. Only his time training with the betleH seemed to give him time away from his work, whether he be at Scardia or in the Fleet. The former Captain Clawson didn’t even have that.

Scardia was at the forefront of his mind, it was still under Nickols’ care, with each passing day he realised he didn’t feel the same urge to return he had done 3 months previously. Nothing in the report he had received suggested he needed to return either, the last medical issue had been solved and work was well under way bringing Scardia Station up to date. He had noted the request for him to stay as the listed director of the company, even if he returned to Starfleet. That request had surprised him enough to cause him to do a little digging, apparently in the months since he left pirate attacks on Scardia holdings had dropped nearly 80% and they could only attribute it to the knowledge Scardia’s President was working for Starfleet once again.

He had to admit, the idea was an interesting one he had considered himself. When his mind went blank he did find himself craving life in the fleet again, being aboard Horizon seemed to bring the feeling to life more often. Strangely day to day life on the ship did interest him, and it interested him greatly.

The console next to his chair bleeped once bringing him from his thoughts back to the real world, noticing the proximity to Starbase Bravo he turned to Lieutenant Kao “Lieutenant, please run a level 3 diagnostic on the tactical systems. I’m getting fluxating readings from the port phaser arrays�? With Kao occupied he turned to his console again and typed in a few commands, as he pressed enter he imagined the scene in Jackie’s quarters, the security monitors would switch off for a few moments then a package would be beamed to her bed. As the security monitors came online the computer core would purge any records of the events.

He smiled to himself as he relished the perks of his position.

A man could get used to this he thought.

His work done he found himself thinking about his position in Starfleet more and more. Perhaps regaining his commission wouldn’t be a bad thing, sure Mansfield was dead now. Any links to his life before in 86 erased, he had seen Starfleet’s report on Mansfield and his friends, as far as anyone knew they were all out of Starfleet on the run, or as some intelligence suggested dead at the hands of bounty hunters.

Would it be so bad returning to the centre chair? Possibly he thought as he realised where the Reagan had been sent. He doubted that Vice Admiral Jefferson would give up the Reagan any time soon especially not at the request of a retired Rear Admiral.

Still a man could dream.

He looked towards Jackie once more and noted she looked ill at ease once again, without warning an idea flashed through his head about how he could attempt to fix that issue, he pondered it for a few moments before smiling.

Yes he thought it would be a good thing to do, even if Jackie wouldn’t appreciate it. Who exactly could she complain to anyway if she did take issue?

No one who would could do anything about his actions.

OFF
Joint post by: Jackie Clawson and Dan Taylor

[Jackie Clawson]

ON:


<<USS Horizon, docked at SBB – Captain’s Ready Room>>
Jackie skimmed over a PADD making sure everything was in order as the Horizon lay docked at Starbase Bravo. Few minutes ago, she guided the ship in at the Task Force Base of Operations for what she thought may have been the last time she got to fly the Horizon in quite awhile.

Jackie threw the PADD on her desk, moving her gaze over to the stack of reports she had to go through. It never really ended.

Letting out a sigh, Jackie looked out of the viewer in the ready room, catching sight of the base against which they were docked. Jackie almost didn’t want to step out of her ready room and out of her ship. Over the years, she’d grown attached to the Horizon. It was her safe haven, her home. Despite all that went on aboard at times. Despite the adversities the Horizon faced in the years past; it always came out on top even if repairs had to be completed; this was still her ship.

At the end of the day the Horizon was Jackie Clawson’s domain. And she really didn’t want to leave it right now, because she knew once she stepped aboard Starbase Bravo her life would change dramatically, not that it hasn’t changed ever since Dan Taylor stepped aboard her ship; but being at the starbase just made things more real.

She’d have to act the role of the Task Force Commanding Officer that she now held. Apparently. Jackie smirked. How does one exactly did that part anyway? She wondered. Weren’t there any courses one took to become a Task Force Commanding Officer, akin of those one took to become a commanding officer….? How did Starfleet exactly know if she was their…cat-person for the job… Why?

Jackie slapped her forehead.

“c’mon Clawson, you’re not chickening out now, are you…?” she asked herself. “Just take it step by step and pretend you know what you’re doing, because apparently Starfleet has faith in you otherwise you wouldn’t be in this position”

Jackie shook her head.

“’s a piece of cake…” she murmured, looking aside at the viewer to catch sight of the base again. “okay come on.. get a move on…time’s a wastin…” Jackie told herself picking up a PADD and heading out of the ready room.

Stepping into the turbolift and directing it to go to deck 3, Jackie was trying to lose herself in the data contained within as the lift moved up.

But her mind wasn’t really reading the information contained within, the more time she spent trying to stall herself going aboard StarBase Bravo to face the reality of her situation, the more she worried about the situation.

The Turbolift stopped and Jackie exited heading towards her quarters, PADD in hand as a whirlwind of thoughts swirled around in her mind.

She stopped at her quarters and keyed in the code that let her inside her quarters.

“It’s not gonna be that bad” she murmured as she doors slid apart and she stepped in. “yeah ‘s what Mark told you before you took over the Horizon. Which really… didn’t turn out THAT bad, I mean.. if you were bad ‘fleet wouldn’t really…” she smirked, “Computer, lights 25% intensity” she commented before she continued her debate as the lights sprung to life and the Caitian moved towards the replicator.

“This is insane… I’m not cut out to be a TFCO. I can’t be...it’s enough I run my own ship without everything falling apart” she said keying in a triple raktajino for herself.

“Didn’t you say that about command? And what’s wrong with running two department side by side? I could manage that… yeah what’s wrong with running your own Task Force? Oh about a dozen billion things…..you can hardly compare those. Why not? Because it’s not…” she picked up the raktajino, staring at it for a moment. “because it’s not the same…” she finally said. “hell a week ago I was drinking double shots of raktajino, now I’m up to triple shots and I’ve not even found out the real situation out there…” she murmured, pausing a take a swig of her drink.

“Why not..? what are you afraid of?” she asked herself. “screwing up…Yeah like Starfleet would send you here if they thought you’d go and screw up…But does Starfleet see the real me? The me who isn’t as confident as one might think? Isn’t as certain of things? Makes mistakes… ” she said. “that’s normal….” She looked into the dark liquid in the mug in her hands “talks to her coffee.” She blinked, highly amused at that last remark. “okay I’ll give you that, that’s not… highly normal. As long as the coffee doesn’t answer back…so far I’m the one doing the answering. So it’s really just talking to myself…” she paused to drink the raktajino and collect her thoughts.

She finished off the coffee and put the mug back into the replicator to recycle it, then moved on deeper into her quarters.

“What were they thinking when they picked me?” Jackie wondered out loud, “I’ve barely gotten used to command on some levels…” she said. Recalling the number of times she’s taken over the helm, not to mention the recent investigation aboard her ship that led to Powell’s apprehension.

“I highly doubt StarFleet would make a mistake by putting someone incompetent in charge of a task force.” She mused out loud. “Wonder what they saw in me.” She wondered.

She was more of a field person than someone sitting behind a desk and doing reports. She preferred action, but she knew that she couldn’t always have what she wanted. Sometimes she got what she didn’t want, other time she got what she didn’t expect. Her recent promotion was one of the latter things.

What came next was also something she hadn’t expected. On her bed was a package of some sort, that Jackie clearly hadn’t remembered putting there nor had she seen it before. She narrowed her eyes, looking at it curiously as she picked it up and flipped it over a few times to get the feel of what could be inside. It felt soft; Jackie looked it over again and satisfied it was not posing any danger, Jackie wasted no time opening it to find out what was inside.

What she found inside was something that verified her current position even more. Jackie did a double take.

“Whoa…” she breathed as she held up the uniform jacket regarding it top to bottom. The embroidered uniform just served to confirm her rank even more. This wasn’t a joke, this wasn’t a dream. This was the reality.

Jackie run a finger over the embroidered edges of the jacket feeling the gold on the edges. It looked like it was her size, as were the pants that came with the jacket.

Jackie was curious as to how this ended up in her quarters and who put it there and how did they get her size so quick. Laying the jacket aside, Jackie made her way to her work area, activating her workstation, Jackie pulled up security logs of her quarters. They were all clear. Nothing suspicious was reported or seen or noted on the records.

Jackie huffed lightly, double checking the records with the same results. She checked to see if they were tampered with, and came up with nothing. She wondered who would or could do something like get her measurements and sneak the uniform into her quarters and erase the records.

Rubbing at her temples, the Caitian was stumped. However there didn’t seem to be any damage done, if anything they left her a present. Starfleet sure worked in weird ways.

She made her way back to her bedroom, staring at the uniform she heard Taylor’s voice in her head, recalling the conversation they had in the ready room right after he pulled out the first rabbit out of his hat.

“trust the judgement of someone who is in command,… You were chosen because someone thinks you’ve got what the fleet needs….So, I’d advise you to get on and prove them right. You’re more likely to meet god before you would ever get close to unravelling the mysteries of why Starfleet Command does what it does”

Jackie blinked, the words striking a chord in her mind as they resonated inside her mind. She clicked her tongue against her fangs as she picked up the uniform and slipped off into the bathroom to freshen up and change.

It took her a few minutes to slip into the new uniform and she was right; it fit perfectly and felt quite comfortable. As she clipped her rank insignia to her collar, Jackie couldn’t help but smile at things. She didn’t look half bad in an Admiral’s uniform with rear admiral pips. Aas she straightened her uniform, she just hoped she could manage to putt off the actual job that came with the rank and title.

“At the end of the day……you’re a Rear Admiral and a Task Force Commanding Officer of Task Force Fifty Eight, situated in the Rayean Sector….Now you have work to do.“ Jackie sternly told herself looking at her image in the mirror.

“Someone thinks you’ve got what it takes, don’t prove ‘em wrong” She narrowed her eyes at that. “Instead prove ‘em right and blow ‘em right outta the airlock” She grinned, her eyes twinkling as if she’d been dared to do something and she was keen on taking up the challenge, and with that the Caitian confidently strode out of her quarters dressed in her newly acquired uniform signifying her status and the Rear Admiral’s pips pinned to her collar.

OFF:

__________________

[Taylor]

OOC Enter the Nutty one

ON

<< Some bar - Starbase Bravo >>
< 2 Hours before the Horizon’s arrival >

Toby sat in the corner of a smoke filled bar, the whole place was meant to be an accurate reproduction of a twentieth century bar. Like many of the patrons Toby had his doubts that it was, not that he or anyone would ever dream of making a comment on the fact. The bar was perfect for those who wanted to sit quietly and be in the company of others, while being entirely alone.

For the past month Toby had been prodded, poked and evaluated by Starfleet medical again. He knew that they were trying to figure out if he was really fit for duty, his return to the fleet had been on the coat tails of a very publicly liked Falco Tauvits. Since Falco’s sudden and Toby had to admit, unexpected resignation Lieutenant Commander Nutley had found himself subjected to all manner of tests both physical and psychological.

At the end of it all they just left quietly, never telling Toby their findings or in fact what they were really looking for. Not that it mattered; he did know the reason even if the refused to tell him.

Starfleet wanted conclusive proof of whether Toby Nutley was psychotic.

The last test had been administered over a week previously; thankfully Toby had been left alone every day since. That was a little lie he told himself, he wasn’t truly alone. Where ever he went at least three security officers followed him, Toby knew he was meant to see two of them, the third he had picked up on purely by accident. That was the officer sitting three tables away through the smoky haze, had it been any other day Toby might have invited him over for a drink.

Today had turned in to a bit of a nightmare for Toby; it was the anniversary of his first assignment after graduating Starfleet Academy. Usually something celebrated by people in the Fleet Toby had been slowly trying to drown himself in vodka all day, anything to numb the aching void he felt in his stomach. Toby had to admit that he felt like a failure, every hope and dream he had seemed to have crashed and burned. He had planned to be on the bridge of his own Starship by the age of 35, now at 36 he found himself a down and out former Executive Officer, a crazy one too boot.

Momentarily he wondered what the security officers who followed him thought about him as a person, he tensed his muscles with the intent of going to ask them. His body betrayed him as it went limp before he could actually raise out of his seat, consoling himself with another shot of Vodka Toby decided it was probably better that he didn’t go and ask. The answer might cause more harm than good.

The liquid burned his throat as it slowly made its way to his belly, savouring the feeling Toby’s mind wandered to his history in Starfleet once more. The crowning achievement of his career had been reaching the rank of Commander aboard the USS White Dove a little over two years ago, had he known then what a mistake that would turn out to be he would probably have ran away screaming. His mental illness had started then, the non-existent mental illness.

The time between his leaving the White Dove and leaving Starfleet medical on earth was almost a haze for Toby, at the time he was complete unaware of the almost constant sedation he was subjected too. Now it seemed to so painfully obvious Toby wanted to kick himself for not realising it sooner.

The most painful part of the whole thing for Toby was knowing what he knew now; he hadn’t been crazy, or suicidal. He had just been a little depressed; it had all been caused by the issues around him. A week or two on leave would have sorted it most likely.

Starfleet Medical trying to help had only made it worse; Toby knew he would never truly escape their clutches now. They had him on record as manic depressive suicidal maniac, and they would never believe otherwise.

“Excuse me Commander” Said a voice from the side of Toby, he resisted the urge to turn and see who it was. Instead he finished his drink and poured himself another, he hoped that whoever it was would get the hint and disappear. Toby wasn’t in the mood to chat.

As he took another sip the voice spoke again “Commander Nutley, I have a message from Starfleet Command for you” this caught Toby’s attention, he turned to find himself facing a young enlisted crewman. The idea that the crewman was young suddenly caught in Toby’s mind, taking a closer look at him Toby began to realise that he had to be at least 28. Shaking his head at his own folly Toby downed his vodka.

“What is it crewman?” Toby asked despite himself, he knew it would be orders to head to some dark distant Starbase to sit and rot. Starfleet didn’t want Toby Nutley around.

“I have orders to deliver this to you personally Sir, please give you thumb print here to acknowledge receipt.” He waved a PADD in Toby’s direction; Toby placed his thumb in it and let the PADD scan his finger print. In return the crewman gave Toby a second PADD, this one had the Starfleet Operations seal on the front, it was waiting for Toby to enter his security code. He did so and read the contents, his jaw dropped.

He looked up to ask the crewman a question, but he had already left. He turned back to the PADD once again and re-read his orders. After the fourth time reading it through Toby finally realised there could be no doubt, he was being posted aboard the Starship Horizon to serve as Rear Admiral Clawson’s Executive Officer. It was a direct swap for him from the Redemption’s bridge to the Horizon’s, a Galaxy to an Intrepid.

Re-reading the PADD for a fifth time Toby suddenly became aware of the dates on the PADD, he checked his chronometer and realised he had less than 2 hours to get himself sobered up and ready for the Horizon’s arrival.

Draining the last of the Vodka from the bottle Toby smiled, perhaps life wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

OFF

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<Starbase Bravo - Guest Quarters>>

Robert Barnes reached into the closet and pulled down the spare uniforms inside. Folding them neatly, he stowed them in his duffel along with his smaller personal effects. The larger items were in a container down on Bravo's Cargo Deck, waiting for transfer to the Horizon.

Making a quick sweep of the room, Robert felt confident he had collected everything. He'd been on station for a week, since the Columbia had dropped him off before heading off to her next assignment. Since then, Robert had spent most of his time reading up on Intepid-class vessels. He wanted to get off on the right foot with his new CO...

'You've been saying that all week. If Starfleet didn't have confidence in you, they'd have left you on Columbia.'

Robert pushed that thought back down. He remembered that Commander Pavlik had warned him that he was pushing too hard. She'd called him in to her office just before his transfer to offer some advice, most of which consisted of trusting his staff. "A staff that I've never met and had no hand in choosing," he muttered as he slung the bag over his shoulder.

Grabbing a PADD off the desk, he quickly walked out into the corridor. After a couple of minutes, he came to the turbolift.

"Docking ring, Berth 4."

The lift began to move.

OFF

[Grenn]

<<USS Horizon - Docking Seal - Starbase Bravo Birth 4>>

J'al walked off the Horizon with not much but his pride on his back. And in his uniform of course. Looking around the massive berth, and back through the wall of windows at the enormity of the Horizon, he was almost in a state of awe. But he'd seen it a lot before. He turned and walked towards the Turbolift. Before he left, he got a glimpse of the new crew comeing onboard, and their files. Intelligence was a good thing to have, and as CIO for the ship, he had as much as he could ask for.

Nearing the lift, he saw a Lieutenant walking towards him, bag in hand, and PADD in the other. He called out to him as he passed. "Hey Robert! Welcome aboard!", walking the other direction and letting that sink in for a second.

The man turned around and said something as J'al passed and kept walking, and J'al smiled to himself as he turned to his response.

"Just trying to scare you. I'm Lt.J'al Grenn, Chief Intel Officer on the Horizon" he said with a big grin and a handshake.

OFF: :) I love messin with people :D

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Docking Seal - Starbase Bravo Berth 4>>

Robert looked through the transparent aluminum window at the starship that was going to be his home. Sighing, he glanced down at the PADD as he headed towards the boarding ramp.

"Hey Robert! Welcome Aboard!"

Robert snapped his head up at the sound of his own name. A quick look around told him the person who spoke was the Caitian who had just passed him, but was now stopped in the corridor just a few paces down.

Circling back, he tried not to look rattled. "As they used to say, you have me at a disadvantage."

The Caitian grinned and stuck his hand out. "Just trying to scare you. I'm Lt. J'al Grenn, Chief Intel Officer on the Horizon."

Robert gripped the offered hand. "Robert Barnes, Chief Engineer. But you already knew that. You wouldn't also happen to know where I could find the captain; I'd like to report in and meet my staff."

OFF

OOC - Nice to be able to spot the oddballs right away...

[Grenn]

OOC: Oddballs!? *tackles Robert, and uses claws, creating a cartoon dust cloud around the fighting crewmembers* :D

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Docking Seal - Starbase Bravo Berth 4>>

Robert gripped the offered hand. "Robert Barnes, Chief Engineer. But you already knew that. You wouldn't also happen to know where I could find the captain; I'd like to report in and meet my staff."

"Well, the Captain should be onboard still, as for your staff, they're probably long gone from the ship. Let's see...." he said, taking his commbadge off and clicking a small part of the back with a claw. "Commnet, USS Horizon" he said into it and waited for the confirmation click. Each badge could be tied into one or more comm networks. Before he left, he registered it on the Starbase network, but to locate the Captain on the Horizon, he had to reconnect into the Horizon's. Each ship's commnet was connected to Starbase while in dock, but the dock team was in the process of doing that.

Still holding it in his hand, he flipped it back over to the proper side, and pressed the front as usual. "Computer, locate Admiral Clawson."

"Admiral Clawson is in her quarters................ Update. Admiral Clawson is in Corridor 2 Dash 3-3-4 Point Baker heading in the direction of Turbolift 3." it said in its friendly, yet still monotonistic voice.

"Sounds like she's going to debark. I'd wait for her here, as this is the only access right now, and if she doesn't show up in 5 minutes, check the system again." he said, pressing the back corner of his commbadge again. "Commnet Starbase Bravo only" he said as it confirmed and he placed it back on his uniform.

OFF: :D

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Docking Seal - Starbase Bravo Berth 4>>

"Sounds like she's going to debark. I'd wait for her here, as this is the only access right now, and if she doesn't show up in 5 minutes, check the system again." Lt. Grenn said, pressing the back corner of his commbadge again. "Commnet Starbase Bravo only" he said as it confirmed and he placed it back on his uniform.

Robert nodded, "Sounds good. I've been cooling my heels here for a week since the Columbia made their scheduled stop, so I'm a little antsy to actually do something other than sit around and read technical journals." He put his duffel down and leaned against the bulkhead. "So, do you have any advice before I meet my new CO? I don't want to make the wrong impression."

OFF

[Grenn]

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Docking Seal - Starbase Bravo Berth 4>>

"So, do you have any advice before I meet my new CO? I don't want to make the wrong impression."

"Yeah" J'al said with a slight grin. "Don't call her kitty, and don't go overboard on the "Admiral" thing, she's still not that used to it. "Captain" as a term of respect for her command is just fine in her mind."

OFF: :p

[Taylor]

ON


<< Bridge – USS Horizon >>


Toby stared blankly at the PADD in his hand, they contained orders from one Dan Taylor. The man Toby had recently found out gave him his second chance to XO in Task Force 58, Nutley had spent hours the previous day searching for him in order to find out why he had done it or at the very least thank him for doing so.


His search had been fruitless, the orders in front of him appeared to explain why. It left Toby feeling a little hollow people were taking an interest in his life again and he had no contact with them.


Still, he smiled to himself the orders did mean that he was in command of the ship for a few days.


Opening a ship wide comm he spread the news “Now hear this, Rear Admiral Clawson is away attending the 4th Annual bet'leH competition on behalf of Task Force 58 and Horizon as a whole, in her absence I've been authorised to grant crew leave, over the next week everyone will get some time on Starbase Bravo to enjoy themselves.�? Toby continued as he read the final bit of the PADD “All senior staff are invited to a party in Jefferson's Rest tonight too, thrown by myself to welcome our new officers aboard�? Toby smiled as he added “Bridge out�?


“That will teach you to read it all won't it Toby�? he said to himself quite loudly “Organising a party? What does Taylor think of my skills�? he continued without realising he was speaking aloud.


“Well it looks like you need to go down and speak to Jefferson Toby boy�? Still oblivious to the fact he was speaking outloud Toby stood up, he had heard all about Jefferson's 'personality' from others on the ship and from the reports left by Captain O'Neill. Now it was time to face the monster himself.


OFF


OCC Short I know, but I'm back none the less :-D

[Taylor]

ON

<< Briefing Room – Sovereign Class USS Astalder>>
<08:00 hours>

Dan sat quietly in the briefing room, awaiting Jackie’s arrival. His message to her had been phrased politely, yet it was still an order. Yet more proof of his unique position in the chain of command at this time, organising a few days crew rest and re-supply had been easy, especially in light of Commander Nutley’s recent re-assignment. From his personnel files he would have expected Toby to be down about another ship based posting, yet he had seen himself how happy the young man seemed.

Pausing for a moment it suddenly filtered through his brain that he had just described Commander Toby Nutley as a young man, Dan himself wasn’t that old yet it seemed as though there was a life time between the pair. Events in Taylor’s life had caused him to grow up quickly, thinking back to Toby’s personnel jacket he realised that Toby’s life had been different but no less challenging.

The more similarities he saw between them the more different they seemed too be; it was true what they said about Starfleet Officers. Give 10 Officers a problem and get 10 resolutions, there is no one size fits all way of dealing with issues.

The comm. Crackled to life “Bridge here, we thought you would like to know Rear Admiral Clawson is on-board�?

Dan smiled “Thank you bridge, please execute your orders now�? he paused for a moment before adding “execute them silently�?

“Understood sir�? came the reply from an officer who didn’t understand his orders; he just knew he had to comply with them.

Dan picked up a few PADD’s and arranged them on the desk, each one was a different issue he had to talk to Jackie about, by his estimation it would take about 6 hours to read them through. By that time they would be well outside of the Raeyan sector.

Leaving the PADD’s in place he walked over to the replicator and ordered two drinks, a raktajino for Jackie and a hot chocolate for himself. As he sat down at the table Jackie entered. With a smile he greeted her, determined to keep her entertained.

“Ah, Jackie please come in, sit�? he pointed to the chair with the raktajino in front of it “I prepared you a drink, I’m sorry there isn’t more Bloodwine�? he rubbed his head for a moment before continuing “I think I drank too much of it last night at that Klingon Bar�?

Jackie smiled lightly.

“Raktajino will suffice.�? She noted. “I’m not much of a bloodwine drinker myself. Certain occasions.. only. Although apparently I don’t do that bad a flying job after a few mugs of bloodwine�? She smirked. “Not that I’d do it again, unless there was a need for it…�? she shook her head lightly before reaching for the raktajino. “Raktajino helps me think, I’m pretty much up to triple shots since…�? she tapped her rear admiral’s bars and the tailor made uniform she was now clad in. “heh…I’m just hoping I won’t be up to more than a triple shot of raktajino after today�? She smiled, realising that she sort of just rambled on a little and Taylor didn’t really need to know that.

He pointed to the first PADD in the line on the desk “First things first, we need to discuss a few sensitive Intelligence Issues�? he passed a copy of the PADD to Jackie; he let her read the contents. He knew from his own copy that several clandestine intelligence cells were operating in the Raeyan sector trying to infiltrate pirate clans and other assorted evil enterprises within the Raeyan system. In reality Jackie had no need to know about any of these operations, it was one of those issues he should be discussing with one Falco Tauvits the same man who broke Taylor’s nose at last years betleH competition. But he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Falco around Starbase Bravo, and Starfleet Command just listed him as TD – totally detached.

Dan could only make guesses at where he was.

Telling Jackie of course, meant that she would be forewarned and fore-armed against bringing in any of these cells. Years of intelligence could be ruined by a chance encounter with the latest flagship of Task Force 58. At least if she came across them now she would be able to do something about avoiding them, or if push came to shove let them slip off the hook.

“Any particular reason you’re telling me this?�? Jackie asked. “Provided that the results are there…�? she tapped the PADD, scrolling through the information once again, trying to get it all in. Was she really meant to be on top of every thing that happened in the Raeyan Sector? How was she ever going to remember all that and keep up to date and command a ship at the same time?

Jackie regarded the pile of PADD’s on Taylor’s desk, her mind wandering back to her own pile of PADD’s aboard the Horizon; the pile that was there even before she got promoted and got handed the reigns of Task Force 58; how much more would that pile multiply after a while?

“Simply because�? he paused for a second “we really can’t afford for you to mess things up by stumbling on something plus any one of the ships within your command could end up causing us trouble. Believe me when I say, this is only a very small slice of the Intelligence activities I could be briefing you on today, I’m only telling you what we absolutely need you too know�?

He took a sip of his drink before adding “Forewarned is forearmed�?

He let his words sink in to Jackie’s brain, no use in bombarding her with information, it would only cause problems later. “You are going to find�? he continued on “that you suddenly become privy to all kinds of things you think you don’t need to hear�? another pause came as Dan took another mouthful of his drink “But listen to this if you listen to nothing else, keep your eyes and ears open to everything. You’ll be more help the fleet if you don’t limit yourself to a limited view of your role�?

Jackie smirked at that.

“Not the type to limit myself to just one thing, Mr Taylor�? she quipped. “It’s not really my nature. I was trained to keep my eyes and ears open to everything. Both as a security officer and as a fighter pilot. Up there you blink at the wrong moment, you’re a goner. I suppose it applies in other situations as well�? she noted, nodding at the PADD with the Intel. She reached for her raktajino, as she glanced over the Intel data once again, letting Dan’s words sink in her mind at the same time.

Dan smiled “Your preaching to the converted Jackie�? the smiled deepened as he added “you aren’t the only pilot in this room Miss Clawson, I know all about ego’s and training�? he paused once more as if he had finished then suddenly added “Nothing can prepare you for this job, except doing the job�?

He drained the last of his drink before standing up and heading to the replicator, “Coffee now wait cancel that, Vodka neat double shot�? he suddenly decided that he needed something stronger for the next part of their conversation.

“Jackie, your about to have to deal with your first real Task Force issue�? he smirked and then drained his drink in one mouthful “You are going to this years bet’leH competition on Serenity Base�? she moved to say something but Dan silenced her with his hand “let me finish please�?

“This is what we call flying the flag, at the betleH competition you will be the face of Task Force 58, now it’s up to you whether that face competes or just attends. I can organise either for you�? Again he alluded to the pull his orders created, not something normal for a civilian, even one temporarily wearing a Starfleet uniform “You may not want to do this, you may feel there are more important things to be doing�? he threw a PADD which detailed the orders he had left for Commander Nutley in her direction as he spoke the next set of words “or you may be worried about your crew�?

“Don’t be, you have to do this. It’s an unwritten requirement�?

Jackie blinked a few times as she read the orders on the PADD. This seemed rather.... sudden. And curious, why the competition....

"Whu...betleH competition?" Jackie queried, she wasn't fully sure of what it was exactly, but she had a feeling it had something to do with battling with Klingon weapons. In particular the bat'leth. To date, for a decade or so she's used Klingon training scenarios to train herself and her security department in the holodeck as she found the Klingons' ways of battling very effective. And their ways definitely woke up the fighter in her. After you have a few unpleasant run ins with Klingon weapons, you notice things; and you definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of a bat'leth, a mek'leth or a Daqtagh. the predator in the Caitian has finally found something to feed upon and aid Jackie in her career over the long run.

Even she herself admitted to using the scenarios in her leisure time because she enjoyed the battles and the weapons she used even if they weren't particularly 'the real thing' Jackie never thought of herself as someone worthy of having real Klingon weapons in particular because she didn't know a lot about the Klingon culture and their ways; the experience is different when you're experiencing it as opposed to hearing about it or reading about it. She knew about rituals and ways they did some things, but Jackie knew she herself would need a lot more training and discipline in order to become skilful enough with a Klingon weapon to actually own the real thing and do it justice. She kept her secret indulgence to herself and the holodeck. At once she wondered if Dan knew just how much she loved those scenarios.

"Why...?" she asked after a long pause. "Attend or compete, what's... " she paused, stealing a look at her empty coffee mug, "I should be meeting the Task Force staff, not attending competitions, certainly not competing in them. I mean I barely...." she fiddled with her mug, part of her longing for something way stronger than just the coffee. "I don't even have a... bat'leth....per se..."

Jackie looked to the side, something inside of her had woken up; the fighter, the part that she briefly unleashed on Powell back on the Horizon, the part that let her remember how she was back before she took a command. The Caitian closed her eyes for a moment to mull things over. She wanted to fight. But she also knew things changed, and right now she had other things to do. She was no longer a Lieutenant, she was a Rear Admiral, she had to act like one, not fold onto her own urges. Jackie held her head with a hand as she felt a hint of a headache coming on as she mulled things over fighting off the urges rising inside.

“Consider this your final fling Jackie�? Said Dan as he passed her another handful of PADD's for her to read thought at a later date “Besides, you can't really say no now since the Astalder left Starbase Bravo as soon as you came aboard�? as he spoke he pointed to the window behind Jackie the familiar view of the stars from a ship at warp. They flashed by for a few minutes as the room filled with silence, Dan thought it best to leave Jackie to think things over. He didn't think she would attack him for this, but it couldn't be ruled out.

Jackie stared out the window, as his words sunk in; she was too astounded to say anything in response for a few moments. The PADD she was holding slipped from her grasp and hit the ground, breaking the silence in the room. How can he do this? Her first instinct was to lash out and let him have it, but Jackie stopped the thought even before it fully formed in her mind; she couldn’t go anywhere, she had no choice as Taylor just said, fighting him wouldn’t make things any better. This was a clear case of kidnapping, considering she wasn’t informed about this. But if he would’ve informed her what are the odds she’s agree? Just how much did he know about her character and ways to do something like this?

She sat in silence for a brief moment, fighting urges inside, her ears flickering. Urges not to maim the human in the room for blind siding her in such a way, but urges to answer a calling that her soul wanted to answer right now, regardless of her current rank and position. Regardless of the extra responsibility dropped onto her shoulders by Starfleet when she least expected it.

Jackie haven’t felt that way in a very long time, as the urge had overtaken her and before she had a chance to stop herself even if she wanted to, she caught Taylor’s attention with a hand, and took yet another flying leap to face her fate and let her instinct guide her; it only took part of a second, but she knew it was what she really wanted.

“Where do I sign up to fight?�? She asked her voice firm and steady, as she allowed herself to do what she yearned to do for a long time: let go of the responsibility of a command, let go of her worries and be herself; just like she was when she took a fighter out for a ride or flew the Horizon.

She realised that Taylor had just given her a chance to expand her horizons and possibly the last chance she would have to unwind and probably truly be herself before she had to take on her new given responsibility and live up to her rank. Her gaze levelled and intently gazing over at Dan Taylor before he left the room the Caitian broke into a grin that very few people got to see; for a moment showing the real Jackie Clawson that she was when she didn’t have to worry about anything for a brief moment or two. Jackie had no idea what exactly she agreed to; but right now the Caitian didn’t care. All she wanted to do now was to find her true self once again and come back to her ‘roots’. As the Astalder swiftly passed the stars, leaving the USS Horizon and Starbase Bravo and Jackie’s worries further behind as it sped to its destination.

OFF

[Michael Lynch]

ON:<Starbase Bravo outer docking seal to USS Horizon>

Mike dropped his bags to the deck outside the docking seal.Where was that padd with his orders on it?He placed his glasses on and began rummaging thru his bags looking.He knew he had it in there somewhere.....or oh yes wait it was in his coat pocket!

"Eureka!here it is."

Mike reached down into the large pocket of his blue lab coat that he always wore and pulled out the padd with his transfer orders on it.Life aboard a ship as the CMO!Mike had wanted to get back into space for years.Planetside duty was interesting but out there in the great unknown thats where the challenges were!He approached the docking seal and hit the button for it to open and went inside.

ON:<Docking seal Uss Horizon>

The inner door swooshed open and a large security officer stood in front of mike.

"My my you are a large one arn't you?"mike said stunned at the officers size.

"Orders".the guard simply said waiting for mike to respond.

Mike produced the padd and handed it to the security officer.

"I think you'll find everything in order."

The guard didnt even glance up at the doctor and continued to read.finally he handed the padd back and stepped aside.

"Welcome aboard doctor.The lift to the bridge is to your right.You'll find the XO or officer on duty there"

Mike smiled at the guards newfound friendliness.

"Why thank you my good man oh umm.I suppose i shouldn't bring my bags up with me to the bridge should i?"

The guard sighed and picked up the doctors bag's

"I will have them sent to your quarters for you.....sir."

Mike smiled again.

"Excellent thank you my good man!"

Mike entered the turbolift and was on his way to the bridge.

OFF:
LT.Michael Lynch
CMO Uss Horizon

[Robert Barnes]

OOC - just skipping ahead a little...

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Main Engineering>>

Robert walked through the double doors and stopped in the center of the "well" around which all of the master situation monitors were situated. "Everyone, I want just a minute of your time."

Several engineers looked up and then ambled over. Others ducked out to grab crewmen who may not have heard the announcement. Within a couple of minutes, a cluster of a dozen engineers stood in a semi-circle around Robert.

"My name is Robert Barnes and I'm the new Chief Engineer. I'll get a chance to meet with each shift individually, but for now I want to lay out two basic groundrules:
First, I am not 'Lieutenant Barnes' or 'Sir'. I like to keep things fairly loose, so I would prefer if you call me 'Chief' or 'Boss'. I'm an engineer too, not some paper-pusher that thinks everything will work because the equation balances.
Which leads me to my second point. If I decide to tag along on a maintenance job, it's because I like to see what's happening in the nuts and bolts. It's not because I don't trust you, but because I've always been a hands-on guy. Anyone who can't accept these terms is free to request a transfer, no questions asked."

"For now, I'm not going to change any of the command structure in place or make shift adjustments. We've got some refit equipment to install and I want it done by the time we're ready to pull out. Dismissed."

As the gaggle dispersed, Robert smiled a little. That was easy. Almost as easy as meeting the Capt...Admiral before she left.

At the tri-tone of the ship's "all-call", Robert looked up at the ceiling speaker.

“Now hear this, Rear Admiral Clawson is away attending the 4th Annual bet'leH competition on behalf of Task Force 58 and Horizon as a whole, in her absence I've been authorised to grant crew leave, over the next week everyone will get some time on Starbase Bravo to enjoy themselves. All senior staff are invited to a party in Jefferson's Rest tonight too, thrown by myself to welcome our new officers aboard. Bridge out”

Robert headed for his office. Better draw up a rotation for shore leave so that we can get everything done. And I need to probably replicate something for the party...

OFF

[Taylor]

ON

<< Jefferson’s Rest – USS Horizon >>

Jefferson leaned back against his counter as he watched people enter; he knew Captain Clawson was gone. That strange civilian had cut orders for crew rest for the crew and new arrivals.

There was something strange about the man, Jeffery almost felt as if he knew him. It was a very strange feeling considering he had never seen or even heard of him before in his life. Stranger still was Jefferson’s ability to say the man’s entire name, including his middle name that didn’t even appear on Starfleet records. As he spoke the man a familiar twinge appeared in his leg the same one he had been plagued by for a few weeks now when he woke in the middle of the night chilled to the bone yet sweating his leg ached.

It was all purturbetory, very purturbetory.

He sighed as he let the thoughts drift from his mind, today was a different day. The strange man was gone and Jefferson had a job to do. Commander Nutley had organised a small welcome aboard party for the new crew members on the ship, it was a chance for him too meet them. Jefferson just thought it was an excuse for Commander Nutley to get himself drunk at Starfleet’s expense.

The doors to his establishment opened once more this time to admit Commander Toby Nutley, the Horizon’s newest Executive Officer. The promotion and reassignment of Commander O’Neill hadn’t been a surprise to Jefferson; it was obvious from the way he had spoken and his body language that being on horizon wasn’t enough for him. Sam O’Neill had the twitch that Jefferson had seen many times in his career, he wanted up the chain of command even if he didn’t realise it.

He looked at Toby as he walked across the bar, Toby didn’t appear to have the itch. As far as Jefferson could tell he was happy with his lot in life, maybe even he had risen above his desired position. Jeffery knew it was unusual to find an officer who had the goal of reaching Executive Officer, yet it seemed as though one stood before him now.

“Commander�? he said with a nod of his head, for some reason Jefferson had found himself warming to Commander Nutley from his arrival. Considering the way he treated every other officer he crossed it was quite remarkable.

Toby returned the nod “Mister Jefferson, how are we fixed?�?

“Everything is fully stocked, I’m ready to open the bar on your order�? Jefferson smiled as he spoke.

Toby gazed at the man’s expression, Jeffery Jefferson had not been the man he had been warned about before his arrival. The man had been nothing but polite and courteous every moment he had been in his company, the reports left by his predecessor Sam O’Neill about the lounge manager made no sense.

“My order?�? He said with genuine surprise.

Jeffery slapped him on the arm “Aye lad, your orders of course. You’re picking up the tab tonight remember�? he winked as he finished speaking.

Toby could only laugh as the lounge manager spoke “Understood Master Chief�?

Jefferson tilted his head “You’ve been checking up on me I see�?

Toby spread his arms in mock surrender “Just my duty as Executive Officer, I need to know everyone although�? his voice trailed off for a moment, Jefferson prompted him “yes?�?

“That was about the long and short of what I read Master Chief, I know what rank you attained but I know nothing about where you served�?

“That makes two of us�? muttered Jefferson so that Toby couldn’t possibly hear, quickly he added “Well, when you’ve earned my trust I’ll tell you lad�?

Toby shrugged “Fair enough Master Chief, fair enough�? he paused for a moment before adding “lets get this little shindig started�?

“Aye aye sir�? Said Jefferson with a twinkle in his eye, it was obvious the old man was looking forward to tonight as much as everyone else.

OFF

OCC Party time... everyone please come get to know each other a bit better - everyone! ('Cept kitty! ;) )

[Michael Lynch]

ON:<sickbay Uss Horizon>

Lynch stood in the middle of the now empty sickbay.He hated to do this but as everyone was occupied with shore leave and the party.

Lynch:Computer activate the EMH.

The EMH program shimmered to life.Lynch raised an eyebrow at what he saw.It was a new model of EMH a female program tall and slender with medium brown hair and dark eyes.She smiled at him.

EMH:Please state the nature of the medical emergency.

Lynch:Well i must say this certainly is a suprise!

He started to slowly walk around her .

EMH:And who might you be.If there is no medical emergency then please deactivate me.

Lynch smiled his eyes roaming the EMH's body.

Lynch:Not just yet.Righto! im the new chief medical officer of this ship.I'd like to hear what you know about the previous medical officers who served aboard this ship and there relationship with its commanding officer.

The EMH frowned.

EMH:Your not going to like what i have to say.Didn't you get a full report on this ship before you arrived?

Lynch:Yes but reports are so impersonal....

Lynch sat in a chair in front of the hologram and crossed his arms.

OFF:TBQ
LT.Michael Lynch
CMO Uss Horizon

[Grenn]

<>Starbase Bravo - 1230 HRS<>

OOC: Some backstory in here since it has been a while and we have a lot of new faces :) This is something Clawson and I have planned to do for a while though.

At last! A chance to look for a project worthy of his talents!

J'al stood in front of the interior scrapyard on the base. Basically it was a ghost fleet, but in a real atmosphere on huge shelves, in crates, and hanging from the ceiling 10 decks up in some cases.

Everything in this room was 100% Starfleet surplus equipment. Much was left over from the massive building efforts undertaken in the Dominion War. It was cheaper and more economical to leave the equipment scattered in organized depots around the fleet to be used as needed then scrap it and build when necessary.

For some time, J'al and Captain Clawson, the crew still called her Captain, as it made her more comfortable, and had a more familiar ring to it for the older members, had wanted to do a project together.

They were both former fighter pilots for Starfleet, and both served in the Dominion War. They had even sparred earlier in their careers when J'al was in flight training. He drew then Lt. Commander Clawson as his veteren to fight for his final.

Long story short, his 4 years in the Caitian Military as a pilot in the war's early stages when manpower was so stretched they had to use member world militaries, caused him to be a match for Jackie.

The two were in a vicious mock dogfight that ended when they collided in the middle of it. Jackie was fine, but J'al lost his engines in Earth's upper atmosphere. Not being able to bail due to damage, he set her down in a soft glide (in comparison to slamming into the ground) that caused his tail to be severed at the base on impact, and various other injuries.

He never really recovered from it. Caitian balance is 80% from the tail, not to mention about half of verbal cues come from tail movements, so he fell a lot and was hard to read until he got used to it. To this day he was unstable sometimes.

When he was assigned to the Horizon, he and Jackie had a very awkward time at first, not speaking since the accident, but when they finally formed a friendship, they decided to build their own fighter.

J'al got clearance to go through the inventory thanks to the Intelligence Access he had. It was about equivilent to a normal Starfleet Commander and XO's level. Not the full Lieutenant level he would carry if he was not Intel. Which may not have allowed him to go through this kind of thing.

Lot 594507-AA1 was what he was looking for. He followed the lifts to the metal scaffold walkways about 6 decks off the main floor and looked down the 590500-AA aisle. There she was.... beautiful! A perfectly intact spaceframe for a Rogue Class fighter. It was in 50 sub-assemblies for storage, but it was complete! "Do you know how hard it is to find a complete frame of a still active fighter?" he asked the attendant with glee. "And its here! While we're in dock!" he said, looking at the lines he could see on a few parts. "Ok" he said, standing up and susting off his hands. "What do you want for it?"

The attendant thought for a moment. "You're going to be taking something I only have 2 of, so I need something rare in turn. I'm in parts, so I need something hard to find." he said with a sly grin.

"Try this", J'al said, tossing a part wrapped in paper to him.

He caught it and unwrapped it with an inquisitive look in his face. "Ohhhhh, you have gotta be kidding me." he said with a smile. "I don't even know what you had to do to get this away from your CEO."

"Well... he may not know yet." J'al said with a small laugh. "But we've got several of them. He won't miss it. Besides, we're heading to the Raeyon Sector from here. They've got those things in droves out there." he said pointing at it. "So do we have a deal?"

"You bet" the attendant said, shaking his hand and ordering a beam-out into the Horizon shuttle bay.

OOC: The mystery part is for our CEO to discover at a later date ;)

<>USS Horizon - Shuttle Bay 1 - 1330 HRS<>

With the Rogue Class fighter's space frame sitting in 50 sub-assemblies on the deck, J'al felt like he had accomplished something here today. The Captain would flip when she got back from the tournament.

He pulled up a crate and sat down looking at the pieces, and around the side bay he had taken up as the assembly area for this. He and the Captain would build this thing piece by piece and totally by hand. His assignment here was indefinate. Intelligence was that way. But this brought forward a few thoughts he had been hiding for a while.

Opening a Caitian beverage he got from the replicator, he took a sip and stared at the parts again. He was remembering the glory days. A pilot's life was an exciting one, and one that he hated to leave. The incident with that damn Romulan Scout Ship almost got him kicked from the fleet. Instead, he just got reassigned to Intelligence. If that idiot hadn't fired on his unit, he'd still be out there flying. When someone shoots at you, you shoot back! Doesn't matter if you are at peace or not, he's trying to kill you! Oh well, he thought. This turned out pretty good in the end, and there was a bright future here.

But he was growing tired of Intelligence. He had a crazy idea to talk with Jackie when she got back about transferring. They needed a good full time Flight Controller onboard, and he wanted to do it. At least he could be flying. Starships had more power anyway. But you can't replicate flying a fighter. At any rate, he wanted to talk to her about this upon her return. He needed to be certified to fly an Intrepid Class, but she would be the one to help him with it. After all, she was.... at least he thought she was. She flew the Horizon a few times after all.

He took another sip and sat the drink down beside the crate. Standing up, he took his uniform jacket, and grey undersirt off. He opted to just wear his blue-grey tank top undershirt to start welding this thing. He untucked it, letting it hang loose over his uniform pants, and grabbed a welder and face shield from the wall. He wanted to get the entire bare frame assembled before the Captain got back, and he had nothign but time on his side.

OFF:

Tags to anyone that wants to come by :p :)

[Taylor]

OOC You were asked nicely but now....

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

Toby stood by the bar, Jefferson had served him two drinks since his arrival. He shook his head as he checked the chronometer draining the last of his glass he tapped his comm badge.

"All senior officers report to the lounge, right the hell now"

OFF

[Adam Kao]

OFF: Thats just rude, Daniel! ;)

ON:

Adam had overslept for the first time in his life. He moaned and groaned, tossed and turned, and after a while decided to get up. He looked at the chornograph and sighed. Yep, he had definately overslepped, but being docked at a starbase and having the day off had its perks. I mean, what could honestly go wrong in a starbase, right?

"All senior officers report to the lounge, right the hell now"

The comm blurted out, nearly causing Adam to fall out of his bed and have a heart attack. He groaned a bit more, knowing he would have to attend. He tossed his sheets back and jumped down off his bunk. Grabbing his uniform, he quickly changed, hurriedly, in fact so hurriedly that he'd placed the wrong boot on the wrong foot. Changing them round and slipping it on correctly, he grabbed his commbadge and jogged out the door.

=====

Stopping to collect a phaser on the way, Adam stopped outside the door. He counted to three in his mind, and then opened it. Performing a sideways roll, the unholstered his phaser and pointed it directly at Nutley.

"Er..."

OFF:

[Taylor]

OOC Take your gripe to the XO, he deals with on ship issues like that ;)

ON

Toby laughed a laugh that came from his belly as he turned to face Adam "Lieutenant is that meant to scare me?"

He placed his empty glass on the bar and turned to Jefferson, "Another please Mister Jefferson, and whatever the cowboy wants"

"Aye aye Commander" Jefferson spoke with an uncharacteristic smile, Lieutenant Kao's roll had obviously tickled him too.

Turning back to Kao he stretched out his hand "Lieutant, I'm Lieutenant Commander Toby Nutley, the Horizon's new XO - I don't believe we've met yet."

OFF

[Adam Kao]

ON:

Toby laughed a laugh that came from his belly as he turned to face Adam "Lieutenant is that meant to scare me?"

"With all due respect, someone did say that they wanted senior staff, and I thought that something had happened and..." Before Adam could finish, the Lt. Commander had turned back to the bar.

He placed his empty glass on the bar and turned to Jefferson, "Another please Mister Jefferson, and whatever the cowboy wants"

"Cowboy?" Adam got up, finally and placed his phaser back in the holster. He walked towards the bar. "Orange juice, please." He looked to Jefferson and smiled as he ordered.

Turning back to Kao he stretched out his hand "Lieutant, I'm Lieutenant Commander Toby Nutley, the Horizon's new XO - I don't believe we've met yet."

Adam extended his hand and shook. "Pleasure to meet you, sir. Lieutenant Adam Kao, ships..." He hesitated a moment. "Ships chief cowboy." Adam smiled at Toby as Jefferson bought over the drink Adam had ordered. "I apologise for that incident sir. Its just it's my day off and, well, I was hoping something interesting would happen. This is why I was re-assigned out of CTU Security because I got bored easily. Its just a little pet thing with me."

OFF

[Taylor]

ON

"It was frustration cowboy" Toby picked up his now filled glass as Jefferson placed it on the table "All the staff were invited here for this little get together, I seem to have given people the impression it was optional"

He smiled "I'm going to have to teach everyone the difference between freedom of choice, and actually being allowed free choice"

"So, how long have you been a security officer Mister Kao?"

OFF

[Grenn]

J'al flipped the screen up on his welding mask and heard the commbadge go off on the shelf behind him.

Cursing softly, he put it down and put his uniform jacket back on. He had wanted to work on this for a lot longer. By now he had it halfway assembled. The welds were pretty easy and straight forward. Getting the interior framework done would be hard. Stupid "optional" get together. This would throw a wrench into the works.

Walking in, one would probably have seen a 5 o'clock shadow if he was human. In his case though, he simply looked like he had been working for a while.

He went straight to the bar and sat down next to the other guys. "Heya." he said to the Commander, extending a hand. "Lieutenant J'al Grenn, CIO. Commander Toby Nutley if I'm not mistakin'" he said, shaking the man's hand.

OFF:

[Taylor]

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

Toby extended his own hand to shake the Caitian's paw "Thats correct Lieutenant" Toby was cut off by the sound of the comm

"Bridge to Commander Nutley" Toby sighed "excuse me a moment Lieutenants"

Tapping his own badge he responded "Nutley here, go a head bridge"

"Sir, we have a message from Starfleet Command asking for authorisation on a Klingon / Federation Officer exchange program for the Horizon"

Toby pulled a face, he wasn't ammused by the message "Bridge, why ask me? Your wasting my drinking time. Tell Command I've authorised it, I'll tell the Admiral on her return, Nutley out"

Turning back to J'al "So lieutenant, name your poison, tonight the drinks are on me"

OFF

Tag Grenn / Kao

[Grenn]

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

"Scotch" J'al said, turning to lean on the bar. "Klingons?" he asked, accepting the drink and taking a sip. "We're getting a Klingon Officer.....?" he said, putting the drink down.

OFF:

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Deck 4 Portside Transporter Room>>

"Okay, that should do it."

Lieutenant Barnes slid out from under the transporter control console and tapped the controls. The panel immediately lit up and Robert keyed in a diagnostic sequence.

He turned to the transporter chief on duty. "Okay, the new molecular imaging scanner is installed. I want a full test cycle run to realign the system before we clear this unit for personnel use. Understood?"

"Yes, chief."

Robert started packing his tools up when his communicator activated.

"All senior officers report to the lounge, right the hell now"

Damn, I forgot about the XO's reception. Robert finished putting his tools away. "I'm running a litle late, so I'll be back to pick these up later."

With that, Robert hurried out into the corridor.

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Jefferson's Rest>>

Robert walked in, trying not to look rushed. Unfortunately, he was even later since he stopped at his quarters to clean up a little. He saw the Caitian he'd met earlier...Lt. Grenn, was it?...talking with an officer in Command Red. Another officer in Services Gold was also standing near them. Robert strode over to them and coughed softly.

"Sorry I'm late. Little problem with one of the transporters. I'm Lieutenant Robert Barnes, the new chief engineer."

OFF

[Grenn]

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Jefferson's Rest>>

"Heeey. There he is." J'al said, swiviling his stool around and shaking his hand again. "Thought you weren't going to come for a minute there."

<tag for Nutly and Barnes>

As Barnes met the new XO, J'al watched the two interact next to him and his mind went back to the Klingon exchange. He didn't have anything against them, but there was something inside him that said he didn't want to serve with one on this Federation Ship.

That thought went away fast though. The Captain would be back soon, he could get back to their fighter build, and the new people he had met so far seemed like great people. Yes... this would be a good posting.

OFF: Actually, I am fine with a Klingon player onboard. Already know who is coming, and the backstory, but for those who do not, I'll keep that to myself. It should prove to be quite fun for everyone though, so look forward to it :)

[KVok]

<<Shuttle>>

K'Vok ne' of the House of cheng looked at the intrepid that his shuttle was about to land on, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the meH'Haj, a negh'var, in size or in intimidation. The Horizon was a sleek vessel, designed to be 'asthetically pleasing' to the terrans eyes while still somewhat practical. In the Operations officer's mind, it didn't look like it could withstand much in battle, however, there were some benefits to it. The neural gel-packs would be fun to play with, better than isolinier chips.

K'Vok's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the pilot speaking, "ne', when you get aboard, report to the XO since the Admiral hasn't made it back aboard yet." When the KDF officer grunted in reply, the pilot hit the com, "Shuttle to Horizon, request permission to dock..."

<<10 minutes later, Jefferson's Rest>>

The short stout Klingon/Vulcan walked into the lounge, looking around. He had spent the entire trip memorizing Federation ranks, so that wouldn't trip him up. Still, he wanted to be on the safe side, on which one was the XO. "Which one here is Commander Nutly?" He asked loudly, looking around again.

[Taylor]

OOC To fix a time split, this takes place the day before Jackie returns – this is the day after betleH.


ON


Toby didn't get a chance to reply to the ships Chief Engineer, his eye was caught by a Klingon stomping in to Jefferson's Rest. Garbed in full Klingon Defence Force uniform including a Daqtagh. Every muscle in Toby's body tightened as if someone had stabbed him, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and his hands shook uncontrollably.


As K'Vok moved closer Nutley finally saw his face and forced himself to calm down.


"Which one here is Commander Nutley?" Said the Klingon / Vulcan loudly.


Toby leaned forward his head tilted to the left until his face was a few inches from K'Vok's he sniffed once before smiling and moving back to the bar, he muttered “Not the pasty who wants to kill me�?


Turning back to the bar he smiled to Jefferson “Get this officer a bloodwine�? Jefferson nodded in response leaving Toby to speak to the other new arrival.


“Lieutenant Barnes�? Toby extended his hand “Welcome to Horizon, name your poison drinks are on me tonight�?


OFF


TAG's all round

[Grenn]

J'al looked over at the new arrival. He had not had a chance to see his service record yet, despite being able to get if he wanted to. Mainly because he didn't know his name.

He held up his drink to the Klingon/Vulcan. "I'd welcome you aboard, but I don't think you'd really care." he said, taking a drink and putting it down on the counter.

He waited to see what would happen next. Klingons, even half Klingons were not exactly renouned for formalities.

OFF: :D

[KVok]

As K'Vok was handed a mug of, ugh, replicated bloodwine by the bartender, and the Caitian in a grey uniform held up his drink and spoke, the halfbreed still looked around, a little confused. He grunted slightly, "It is good to be aboard. Which of the HaDI'baH here is Nutley? I was ordered to report to him when I got aboard, and it is quite impossible when the man will not identify himself...Red uniform? Three..." K'Vok searched for the right word in Standard, it was an unusual word, "peeps?"

[Taylor]

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

Toby rolled his eyes as he finished his third drink of the night the stupid pasty head couldn't read Starfleet Rank pips it appeared. Putting down his glass he removed the pips from the right side of his kneck and pressed them in to K'Voks hand.

"These make me Lieutenant Commander Nutley" He smiled "Perhaps if you learned a bit of patience you would have found that out instead of interupting me while I was speaking to our Chief Engineer here. I got you a drink what more could you want?"

OFF

[KVok]

"But, Lieutenant Commander Nutley, I did find that out, so there is no flaw in my methods." K'Vok replied, "As for your replicated bloodwine, I've tasted sewage that's of better texture and vintage..." He hid a slight smirk behind his mug as he took a large swig of the drink, despite the fact that it was replicated.

K'Vok then observed Nutley, the man didn't seem very normal, even by terran standards. Of course, the KDF officer was no fan of normal terrans, so perhaps after he got to know the lieutenant commander it would prove to be a benefit. "As for what I wanted, I was ordered to report in to you, so that is what I am doing. That is the only reason I'm at this...gathering."

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Jefferson's Rest>>

Robert watched the Klingon barrel in. Typical. Lots of bluster, little patience. The commander's features tightened, then relaxed. But Robert could swear that the smile on his face afterwards was like the one Commander Pavlik used, at least when she didn't want her engineers to know she was angry about something.

"Lieutenant Barnes," the XO said, hand outstretched. "Welcome to Horizon, name your poison drinks are on me tonight."

Robert shook Nutley's hand. "Thank you, sir."

Before he could order, the Klingon spoke up again. Robert sat down at the bar, watching the scene unfold. He looked over at Grenn and the other human.

"Senior Staff meetings are going to be fun..." Robert whispered to them.

OFF

[Grenn]

<<Jefferson's Rest>>

Grenn leaned over to Barnes.

"Oh, you bet. And they were a blast to go to before." J'al said, laughing a little.

He stood up and stretched a little, stretching his arms straight up which caused his claws to extend. They were not white as most were, but Black like the fur on his hands and part way up his arms.

He walked past Nutley and K'Vok as they had their exchange, and grabbed a bite to eat from the replicator. Sitting back down after passing them again, he looked over to Barnes.

"So how's Engineering?" J'al said, with a sly grin. Barnes probably had not noticed the mystery part that J'al had.... procured from their inventory to trade for his and the Captain's fighter's spaceframe. Even if he had noticed, he wouldn't be able to pin it on J'al, and there were plenty more of them in the Raeyon sector to replace it with.

OFF: The part is nameless, but its valuable. Remember, a depot keeper took it in exchange for a fully in tact Rogue Class fighter's spaceframe..... :)

[Robert Barnes]

ON

Robert waved over the gentleman who seemed to be tending bar. "I'll take a vodka martini, dry."

While he was waiting for his drink, Robert noticed a bit of a mischevous grin on Grenn's face. Probably some "Welcome Aboard" prank like reversing the gravity in my quarters. Get the new fish early.

"Engineering is a little manic. Apparenlty whatever happened before I came aboard really shook those folks up. I've had three requests for transfer sent to me already, and several people seem to be wary of working on the upper level."

"Not to mention the upgrades that Starfleet wants to make this ship a Task Force leader and the usual maintenance swapouts. Since I've had a week of leave already, I'm pulling the extra shifts so that my crew..."

Robert paused a moment. When did they become my crew. Shaking his head, he continued.

"...so my crew can get as much leave as possible. I hope Quartermaster doesn't make any mistakes with our inventory. I won't have time to check until we're underway again."

Jerking his thumb towards the other man at the bar, Robert leaned over. "So who's the strong silent type with the phaser?"

OFF

TAG: Grenn or Kao

[Adam Kao]

Jerking his thumb towards the other man at the bar, Robert leaned over. "So who's the strong silent type with the phaser?"

"Yeah, dont you start!" Adam said, jokingly. He'd already made a prat of himself in front of the new XO, and now the Chief Engineer, whoever next... Probably Grenn, knowing his luck. "Ready for all evntualities, Lieutenant." Adam began to murmur. "Just like your engineering crew should be." He smiled across, raising his full again glass to Barnes.

"So, J'al, what scary stuff has intel got planned for us this time?" Adam began to laugh. "I mean, honestly, you don't expect us to believe that you didn't know our last CMO was a murderer, do you." The room fell silent as everyone fixed eyes on Adam. "What?!" Adam looked sternly at everyone who was new. "You should have been told this before you accepted assignment here." The crew turned back to what they were doing, chatting amongst themselves.

OFF: Tag Grenn and Barnes

[Sammy Jo Swan]

Sammy had just arrived on the base her orders were to find the XO or the Chief Security/Tactical Officer and report in. She walked over to the nearest comm panel and located the where abouts of both officers, "Well that will make things a bit easier both are in the bar called Jefferson's Rest" She shouldered her bags and headed for the bar. Upon entering the bar she scanned it looking for the officers in question, she spotted them both at the bar slightly apart and both in conversation with people.

She walked over to the officer that had just taken his pips off and handed them to the officer in Klingon Uniform that had just interupted his conversation. She stood just behind him at the attention and waited to be acknowledged.

Off- Tag Lieutenant Commander Toby Nutley

[Grenn]

<Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon>

"Kao, if I had known he was a murderer, I would have created a reason to send you to sickbay." J'al said, leaning back against the bar cracking a little bit of a smile.

OFF: :)

[KVok]

K'Vok turned from Nutley to get a different drink, it wasn't worth it to keep sipping the replicated sludge they called bloodwine. He might try the human drink 'voDQa' if they had any, if not he'd try any hard liqour that wasn't replicated. However, when he turned, he was a little surprised to find himself face to neck with someone, looking up, he saw a half breed, a very tall terran half-breed.

"Hu'tegh," That's a fine body, not as fine as kitty's, though, pity it's wasted on a half-terran, K'Vok thought, finishing his verbal thought silently. Why was it that Klingon/Terran half-breeds were always tall and looked good and here he as a Klingon/Vulcan stood only 5'7"? Oh well. Grunting, he moved past her, wondering a little if she was a true warrior, or just someone with Klingon blood.

[Sammy Jo Swan]

Sammy looked down as the Male spoke to her a half breed like herself but half Vulcan by the look of it instread of teran. She grinned evily "Thankyou, I presume you ment that as a compliment" her grin widened "as i would hate beating you senceless to be the second thing i do here".

[KVok]

K'Vok stopped and turned around, facing her again, his right eye twitching. "As if you could, Starfleet. You may have a height advantage, but that is hardly anything. Do not challenge me, I believe it is illegal on a pacifistic vessel such as the Federation employs, but that won't stop me."

[Sammy Jo Swan]

Her grin widened she liked this male he was no coward like most of the terrans on her last ship, speaking in Vulcan "Not a challenge just a warning, I may be in part terran but that does not mean I am either stupid or weak. I will not allow anyone to push me around or insult me and get away with it, that is not my way much to Starfleets dismay." She turned back to wait for the XO to acknowledge her.

[KVok]

K'Vok paused, he'd been ten the last time he spoke Vulcan for any length of time. As it was, this was a little hard for him to translate back into Klingon, however, when he did, he laughed loudly. He thought for a minute, then replied in Vulcan as well, "You have spirit."

[Sammy Jo Swan]

She turned back to face him still talking in Vulcan "maybe you would join me for a drink later, it would be good to drink with someone who is not scared by my size or mixed race" she locked her eyes on his so he knew she was not trying to insult him while she waited for his answer.

[Robert Barnes]

ON

Robert shook his head. A murderer? And a senior officer no less... He looked at the man Grenn had called Kao. "Well that would explain the tension among the Engineering staff. Old spacers tell that ships with murderous crewmen have one of two fates: they become legendary or cursed. Sometimes both at once."

He looked over at the Klingon and the half-Klingon woman. They seemed to be uttering challenges at one another. If a good old-fashioned pub brawl breaks out I'm going to make those two clean up the mess.

The woman definitely had the edge in height, but the man's stocky build would give him a lower center of gravity and make him harder to move...

"Lieutenant...Kao...is she in your section?", Robert indicated the woman by a small movement of his head, "Her poise and demeanor scream 'security guard'."

OFF

[Michael Lynch]

ON:<Doctors office sickbay Uss Horizon>

Michael looked down from the desk at all the items strewn about on the deck.
The EMH he had taken to calling her "shelly" after someone he knew in medschool had went into the next room to get him a drink.It had happened so fast after he loaded the emotional subroutines into her program.Her program changed drastically and she had almost attacked him.Not that he minded such an attack mind you but it was unusual to say the least.She walked slolwy back in smiling a glass of wine in her hand.She even looked a bit different to Michael her eyes no longer had that blank expersion the holograms tended to display.She handed him the wine glass and sat on the edge of the desk.Michael took a sip and looked up at her.

"You know we cannot do that again...i ahh i mean its not proper."

The EMH turned and looked down at the deck.

"I know its not proper Michael but i have such deep feelings for you now...."
She turned and looked into his eyes."I don't know what i would do if i couldn't be with you......forever."

Michael's eyes grew wide at the obvoius innuendo in her voice.He gulped down the last of the wine and stood adjusting his uniform.

"I ahh i umm have a meeting with someone important in a few minutes and i cannot be late.Umm Computer deactivate the EMH."

Michael sighed as the EMH vanished he wasn't going to reactivate it again.In the morning he would erase the subroutines he loaded and then that would be that.Turning on his heels michael quickly hurried from the sickbay.As the door closed behind him "shelly" shimmered into existance once again a large smile on her face.

[Devid Silva]

Devid Silva steps off the transporter pad and nods to the transporter operator "Thank you Chief"

Devid walks out the door and to the nearest computer "Computer please locate Lietenant Commander Nutley" the computer voice comes back and says "Lieutenant Command Nutley is currently in the bar"

Devid had studied maps of the Horizon before coming aboard and heads off with his bag towards the bar. The bag slung across his back similar to a mountain climber backpack.

I reach the bar as the doors slide open before him. I see Lieutenant Commander sitting. I place my bag just behind the bar out of the way and walk over to where the Lieutenant Commander is seated.

"Good Day Lieutenant Commander Nutley. Devid Silva reporting for duty. May I refresh your drink Sir"

[Jefferson]

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

Jeffery sneered as he looked at the Klingon something passing for distaste was passing accross the animals face. Jefferson clawed at the bar before him a little before finally loosing his cool, he couldn't let the Klingon dog sit there and look at him in that way.

"What is the matter pasty head?" He said angrily "Don't find K'bird'lok Bloodwine to your taste? Would you prefer some prune juice?"

OFF

OCC And thus, the Angry Man Spake and the sh*teth hiteth the faneth :-D

[Taylor]

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>


Toby wrenched his attention away from K'Vok, he had been studying the Klingon intently for a few minutes trying to figure out why he hadn't been beaten to a pulp yet. Every other Klingon he had ever encountered had a sudden urge to slam his head through the nearest bulkhead, the only one who hadn't.

Toby shuddered as he recalled the memories of T'klak she had been hard to put off.

Cold fear grabed at Toby as a thought slowly rolled through his head resisted the urge to slap himself in the face as he thought about it.

This K'Vok wasn't interested in that was he?

His thoughts were broken by two events, the first being the arrival of someone claiming to be his aide the second was by Jefferson.

"What is the matter pasty head?" said Jefferson angrily "Don't find K'bird'lok Bloodwine to your taste? Would you prefer some prune juice?"

At this point Toby did in fact slap his hand against his face, he groaned as he pulled it away. This was obviously what O'Neill had ment when he mentioned Jefferson's lack of patience.

"No thank you crewman" he said quietly talking to Silva he turned towards K'Vok and Jefferson again "Now gents, please lets not have any trouble here tonight"

OFF

[Sammy Jo Swan]

Sammy stood back while the man behind the bar had a go at the Klingon/Vulcan she had been talking to whilst waiting patiently for the XO to notice she was there, while she had been talking to him someone else had comein and interupted his conversation so she waited while he answered him then stepped forwards.

Coming to attention again, "Excuse me Sir i am sorry to disturb you but i was ordered to report to you, Ensign Swan, Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer reporting for duty, Sir." She stood at the attention and waited for him to reply.

Tag Lieutenant Commander Toby Nutley

[mrclark]

ON:

<<Starbase Bravo>>

Jason Clark whistled as he walked through the prominade, his hand in his pocket, smiling at the uniformed officers as he passed by. It felt good to be back in civilian clothes again.

There was so much on this base to see and do. It was a shame that his stay here was going to be so short. The Horizon would be headed out again soon, and he needed to be on her. The hull of the Horizon came into view as he rounded turn, and he parked himself at a lounge directly across from the portal to board her.

"Water, please," he asked the bartended as he stared out the view port at the Horizon.

"Pretty ship," the bartender said, sensing what Clark was looking at.

"Nicer than the Defiant's that I am used to," Clark said with a grin, drinking his water.

"Oh, you Fleet," the gentlemen asked, making small talk.

"No, not really," Jason said with a smile, setting down his glass. "Have a good one."

Clark walked over to the two large security guards at the entrance of the umbilical. "So, how much for a ride on that puppy?"

"You're going to have to move along, sir," one of the guards said dryly.

"No, really, because I am willing to pay," Clark pushed.

"This isn't an amusement ride."

"No, sadly, it's not," Clark said with a sigh. "Anyway, here's my boarding papers."

The guard looked over them, then at Clark. "Next time, just show the assignment. I'll let the watch commander know you're coming abaord."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Jason said as he boarded the ship.

"Please be advised," the security officer said, calling the bridge, "that coorespondent Jason Clark is boarding the ship....unescorted."

tag anyone?

OFF:

[Grenn]

<<Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon>>

J'al waited for Barnes to talk with Kao, then jumped in with his own question.

"Hey Rob. I've got a little project I may need some help on." he said, putting his drink down and turning towards him on the stool.

"The Captian and I are working on a small project. I was able to get a Rogue Class fighter's spaceframe from Starbase a little bit ago. We're going to build our own. Being pilots and all. Its going to need a micro-warp core, and I'm not that great at building one from nothing. Is there any chance you can lend a hand? Or maybe know of where I can.... acquire one?" he asked with a bit of a sly grin.

OFF: Tag Barnes :)

[KVok]

K'Vok moved quickly towards the bar, slamming his mug down on the bar before glaring at the barkeep, ignoring Nutley. "Perhaps then, it is your incompetence at keeping drinks, which has ruined what would normally be a fine blend, if this is really k'brd'lok and not a lie or a cheap knockoff, petaQ! And if you call me a pasty head again, I will put my fist through your stomache, grab your spine and forcefeed it to you."

[mrclark]

ON:

<<Cooridors of the USS Horizon>>

"No welcoming committee," Jason said to himself as he boarded the ship. "I figured the Captain would have had someone here to meet me."

The Horizon was indeed a beautiful ship. The Intrepid's were not the biggest class in the fleet, but it was suited for its mission. Even in dock, the crew hustled about in their daily routine and getting ready for departure. Clark found his assigned quaters, which were spacious for a non-Fed tagalong.

"Computer, where is Captain Clawson," Jason asked as he put up his belongings.

"She is not aboard," the computer responded.

"Oh," he said, slightly surprised, "how about the Executive Officer?"

"Lt. Commander Toby Nutley is in Jefferson's Rest."

"Ok, what is Jefferson's Rest?"

"Jefferson's Rest is the name of the primary crew lounge."

"I guess I should go introduce myself," Jason said, leaving his quarters. It was a short journey to the lounge and Jason entered to find a Klingon doing what they did best... threaten to yank a spine out.

Either way, noone was paying much attention to Jason as he walked in, so he stood back to observe.

OFF

[Michael Lynch]

<Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon>

Lynch walked into the party a large smile on his face.He walked up to the bar where a few had gather and ordered a drink.Brandy please neat!He smiled and looked around at the assembled crew.An interesting bunch to say the least.He had no idea what the future had in store for him.

OFF:Short i know anyone wanna bug the doc?:)

[Robert Barnes]

ON

Robert looked up. "Well, it's not something that we keep parts for. I might be able to use some of the parts we keep for the shuttlecraft, but most of it we're going to have to replicate."

"Engineering to Barnes"

Robert tapped his communicator. "Go ahead."

"Chief, I think you need to get down here. We're getting some very strange readings from the warp core."

"On my way." Robert rapped the bar with his knuckles. "Lieutenant, put together whatever specs you need and send them down. I'll see to it. Excuse me."

And with that, Robert ducked out of the lounge.

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Main Engineering>>

Robert entered to find several technicians scurrying from console to console. He walked over to the Ensign who was in command of the shift. "Report."

"Boss, something's not right with the warp core. Take a look at this." With that, the young Ensign handed over a PADD.

Robert looked at the numbers and graphs scrolling across the screen. That can't be right. The power curve is all wrong... "Ensign, take two people with you and check the antimatter pods. I'm going to have a look at the injector assembly. It's probably just a sensor glitch, but I want it done by-the-numbers."

"Yes, Chief"

OFF

[Adam Kao]

OFF: Sorry for the late reply guys, been working alot recently.

ON:

"Lieutenant...Kao...is she in your section?", Robert indicated the woman by a small movement of his head, "Her poise and demeanor scream 'security guard'."

"Oh fantastic." Adam sighed. "Just what I need, another gungho security type person." He watched as the Klingon and his new officer continued to talk, hoping, praying, they wouldnt come to blows right in front of the new XO. Things calmed down a bit after a few moments and Adam went back to his orange juice. Drinking the final contents of it, he placed the glass back on the bar and waited to be served again.

Either way, noone was paying much attention to Jason as he walked in, so he stood back to observe.

Adam had heard the doors go and looked round briefly to see an average looking male, doing an average looking job in average looking civvies. Turning back round to Grenn and Barnes, Adam wondered who it was. "Hey guys, do you know who the civvy is behind us that just walked in?" He asked.

"Engineering to Barnes"

Robert tapped his communicator. "Go ahead."

"Chief, I think you need to get down here. We're getting some very strange readings from the warp core."

"On my way." Robert rapped the bar with his knuckles. "Lieutenant, put together whatever specs you need and send them down. I'll see to it. Excuse me."

"Well, I guess we wont get an answer from him, J'al." Adam smiled as the waiter came over and took his order again.

<TAG: Clarke/Grenn>

OFF:

I'll post a bit more later. Right now, Ive got a few things to do.

Mack.

[Michael Lynch]

Lynch stood near the bar nursing his drink taking in all the available ladies at the party and enjoying the site of quite a few of them.He slowly sipped on his drink and thought about how interesting the next round of yearly physical examinations was going to be.He smiled inwardly to himself as he saw two med techs who were identical twins and also on his staff sitting at a table looking his way and talking between themselves.He put on his most devestating smile and slowly walked over to the table.

"Hello ladies mind if i join you?"Michael said while allready sitting down and making himself comfortable."So tell me.....how identical are you?"michael said with a mischevious grin.

[Grenn]

<<USS Horizon - Jefferson's Rest>>

"That's Ok." J'al said, looking around. "We've got the Doc over there getting his "mojo" as I have heard humans say "on". And we have the always entertaining Commander Nutley and company to watch." he said, gesturing slightly to the conversing K'Vok.

"Wonder what the Captain will say when she gets back?" he asked with a grin, knowing nothing about how astute his statement may be after all.

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Main Engineering>>

For the second time in less than 12 hours, Robert was on his back reaching into a computer trunk. The tricorder in his hand beeped softly. Where are you, you little... The thought was interrupted as someone tapped his leg.

Sliding out, he spotted the Ensign and who he assumed were the two technicians that went with him. "Report."

"Well, Chief, the antimatter pods check out. Nothing wrong on that end."

Robert nodded. "The injector assembly is fine. I think we're chasing a sensor ghost. If there was a real problem, we'd have half the alarms on the ship going off. Run a Level-2 diagnostic. Let's find this bug before somebody decides that we need to go to warp."

OFF

[Adam Kao]

ON:

"Wonder what the Captain will say when she gets back?" he asked with a grin, knowing nothing about how astute his statement may be after all.

"I'd hate to think." Adam said, receiving the incoming glass from the super speeded waiter. "After all, she's coming back to a newly crewed ship, where her new XO is always at the bar, her Chief Engineer takes his work too seriously, and a new deputy security and tactical officer who wants to brawl with a new Klingon exchange person." Adam downed his orange juice. "What has it all come to, Grenn?"

<TAG: Grenn>

OFF:

[Taylor]

OOC Okay folks, we all happy to start wrapping this up now? Kitty is itching and scratching to get on the ship again. I think its time we let her ;)

ON

<< Jefferson's Rest - USS Horizon >>

Toby yawned, thankfully he had managed to cow Jefferson enough to separate him from the Klingon Male. In the time the pair had been busy both appared to have forgotten the other. A lucky escape to Toby's mind, one he hoped would stick. The last thing he wanted to hear about was finding Jefferson dead in a corridor somewhere, it was entirely possible his own stubborn mule like attitude would cause that to happen. Toby couldn't say he would hold K'Vok responsible if it happened either, the man was a liability.

Taking a sip from his drink he watched the senior staff chatting amongst themselves, it was something almost alien to him. His time onboard Theseus and his time in hospital before that hadn't given him masses of time to interact with other people.

It was difficult to say the least, especially since he knew he was basically a geek on the inside with little concept of social skills.

Several more minutes passed in silence before Toby yawned again, he drained his glass and turned to the assembled "Good night crew, the Captain's back tomorrow so party well tonight. Jefferson will serve anything he stocks and charge me tomorrow"

Without another word Toby turned away and yawned, suddenly intent on finding his own bed the weight he had felt on his shoulders evaporated.

OFF

[Jackie Clawson]

OFF:
Don’t call me kitty, dammit! >.<

ON:

<<USS Astalder – Enroute to StarBase Bravo >>

Jackie sat at the helm controls, her fingers flying over the panel as she guided the ship towards its course: StarBase Bravo in the Raeyan Sector. It took her some work to persuade the Commanding Officer of the Astalder to let her take the helm, but she really did need this before she went completely nuts by idling about on the bridge with nothing to do but think about what happened at the betleH tournament and what was waiting for her once she got back to the Horizon and the Raeyan Sector.

She had no intention of riling herself up and worrying about things before she knew the situation for sure; so she decided to get some therapy in the form of flying, even if the sight was a bit unruly. Not to mention such behaviour wasn’t how a typical Rear Admiral would behave on the bridge, but Jackie hardly cared.

Rank or not, she still had the fire in her to do what she truly enjoyed and loved. And she truly did enjoy having the chance to fly again. Nothing compared to flying a fighter, but flying starships was an art form on its own; one that Jackie’s managed to master over the years. To her this was a great de-stressor, a way to relax and still be useful.

Each moment took them closer to the base, closer to her home: the USS Horizon. Jackie smiled to herself as the Caitian worked the controls to bring them home. Initially it took her a few moments to get used to the Sovereign controls considering how used she was to flying an Intrepid, but once she got used to the controls the Caitian was in the zone and loving each moment she spent behind the controls as her worries and concerns dissipated into the air around her.

Big grin plastered across her face, not caring what the bridge crew of the Astalder thought of a Rear Admiral flying the ship, the Caitian was engrossed in her task as her fingers flew over the controls guiding the ship further towards the Raeyan Sector through the star scape. Jackie grinned slyly as she executed a sharp dive that went unnoticed by most of the Astalder’s crew.

"You might want to hang a left at the next star system. I know a shortcut that takes us out of the heavy traffic this time of day; might even get us home before dinner's finished cooking," a familiar, cheerful voice commented from just over her shoulder.

Startled, the Caitian’s mood shattered in an instant she threw her head back in the direction of the voice, her hands still on the controls, still in control of the Sovereign.

“Whu…” she blinked before she recognized a familiar face. “Going my way too I take it, Mr Tauvits?” she smirked lightly, thankful she wasn’t wielding a weapon right now. “What’s wrong with dinner here?”

Tauvits was leaning against the back of the empty chair a few stations over, clad in slightly scruffy civilian clothing and looking more comfortable than he had recently when in uniform - though a tad dishevelled.

"Mess hall replicators have been on the blink. Coffee tastes like gnat's piss." He nodded towards the viewscreen. "Mind the starscape, or we'll end up getting cut up by some bastard comet..."

Jackie smirked, “Not tried the coffee yet, thanks for the heads up” she noted half wondering what the hell she was supposed to drink instead. “I happen to like playing tag the comet…with phasers however. My engineers hate it when I use the ship” she noted playfully rolling her eyes for a moment before making a slight adjustment in the course.

She threw a glance at the man noting his slightly dishevelled look, Jackie wondered what exactly happened there as she’s not seen much of him after the Rogues incident; but she wasn’t sure it was appropriate to ask, at least not at this time.

"That's always fun when you're up for a lightshow," Tauvits agreed mildly, still looking rather relaxed. "So, I imagine you're looking forward to fun in the Raeyan Sector? Things have been dead quiet there; it's been awfully boring. Though boring sometimes can make a nice change." He scratched the back of his head, expression casually emotionless.

“That depends on what you define as fun” Jackie noted lightly. “Frankly I’m still not fully sure what I’m in for” She chuckled lightly. ‘or why me?’ she thought to herself, “I’m looking forward to coming back home though” she admitted, “even if the Horizon’s been fairly quiet most of the time, well not recently really” she added the last line as an afterthought as her mind drifted to Powell and the kind of trouble he’d caused on her ship. Of course that was all before Taylor stepped aboard and changed her life in a drastic way.

Jackie glanced over at Tauvits yet again; still curious as to why he was no longer in command of the Task Force and why he was now in civilian clothing. He looked relaxed, almost too relaxed, almost as relaxed as Jackie was when sitting behind the helm controls.

“Boring, or not; can’t keep away from the Sector yourself, I take it?” she asked, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"It's not home," Tauvits said, with a degree more force in his voice than his previous laid-back tones, "but it's somewhere to hang my hat that's pretty comfortable. Plus, I can actually be useful there." His eyes flickered back over to the starscape, only briefly narrowing as his brow furrowed a little. "When the place isn't boring, it's a hotbed of activity. You'll probably have your hands full when things heat up. Klingons, Chaks, natives, corporates, pirates, occasionally Romulans... the best bits the galaxy has to offer. All right on your doorstep." His lips twitched faintly in amusement.

“Sounds like my kind of fun” Jackie smirked, “Of course I bet I’ll have my hands full with reports and whatnot even during the boring parts of things to make sure everyone in the Task Force is coordinated and doesn’t get caught off guard when any of the uglies do stick their heads in.” she noted. “How did you deal with all that?” her ears twitched lightly, imagining all the PADD-work that’d have to be done and dealt with once she was officially in command.

Jackie let out a little ‘mrr’ as she thought about the administrative side of things. She had a hard time dealing with the administrative side of the Horizon spending a lot of time in her ready room going over the reports and various PADDs to ensure things were going smoothly, surely administrative side of the Task Force would be way harder to get her head around and not die out of sheer boredom. When the hell was she going to get the time to fly the Horizon or practice with her new betleH?

"A very competent aide." Tauvits smirked, then shook his head. "Task Force maintenance matters which reach your attention are either far more interesting than shipboard matters, or simple cases of you giving authorisation for various things you don't always need to study in full. It's a whole new level of bureaucracy which will try to claw your brain out and replace it with goose feathers... but it's somewhat easier to keep hold of your senses if you just focus. And get a good aide." He gave a slightly exaggerated shrug, all with that same oddly deliberate casualness. "You get used to it. Plus, I doubt things will stay boring for long. The universe isn't that kind."

“How long can the universe keep throwing me off balance” Jackie murmured, “the whole week has been…well I’ve seen more ‘excitement’ and ‘fun’ and…been thrown off the balance and put into rather curious incidents and situations far more frequently than I have in the years I’ve taken over command of the Horizon” she paused, smirking lightly, “Not that I regret it mind you. Seemed to have forgot to expect the unexpected” she noted lightly. “I missed that kind of fun…” she had to reminiscence for a moment as she lightly tapped the Astalder’s helm controls.

“Any recommendations for a good aide, then?” she inquired, not particularly fond of the idea, but she guessed she’d have to get one to free up some of her time. “I’m not even sure how I’m gonna handle some of these Task Force matters” she said, “suppose deal with ‘em as they come, can’t be all that bad. Of course we’ll have to explore the sector for ourselves to see what we’re dealing with in most cases. It’s all good reading about it in reports, but at times you have to see some of these things for yourself.”

“Provided you can find someone with good organisational skills, not too chatty, and doesn't get bored of mountains of PADDs, you'll do fine. And you're right; there's only so much you're going to see from behind a desk." Tauvits gestured briskly towards the viewscreen, at more of the racing stars the Astaldar was shooting by. "You've got to see what's out there yourself, even more so in the Raeyan Sector. It's a wilder frontier than they'll have you believe." He paused, straightening up to clasp his hands behind his back and rock innocently on his heels a little. "So did some of your more curious problems from the tournament get resolved?" Falco asked lightly, one eyebrow faintly cocked.

Jackie looked up sharply.

“Curious?” she smirked lightly. “I think so.” She said. “Although it was indeed a curious problem.” She said shaking her head lightly.

"Klingons can often cause... curiosities." Tauvits nodded slowly. "So long as it got sorted out. These things can get messy before you know it."

“He’s part Klingon, part Vulcan, and apparently he was going through ponn farr and…lucky me…” Jackie slapped her forehead lightly “he wanted to mate with me” her eyebrows furrowed, not too pleased with even the thought of it. “Trust me to get into a situation like that…” she shook her head lightly, “I had to knock him out of ponn farr without killing him or…well.. the other option.” she said, her tone lower so that no one else on the bridge would overhear her words.

The initial words 'ponn farr' brought a small smirk to Tauvits' lips, though he did raise a hand to casually scratch his nose in a vague attempt to hide this hint of amusement - though as her predicament was further explained, his eyes grew somewhat more serious. "A... new challenge. I trust you dealt with it... suitably?" The eyebrow raised a hint further.

Jackie smiled lightly.

“Gave him a shock of his life, I bet. With the use of a holodeck and some on the fly programming and a bit of a ... white lie.” She couldn’t help but smile as she recalled K’Vok’s reaction when she ‘let the cat out of the bag’ She chuckled lightly, “I think telling him and making it look like he was…chasing after a male Caitian all this time was enough to snap him outta it” she smirked.

This did bring some outright amusement, in a bark of laughter from Falco he had to physically clamp his mouth shut with his hand to stop, before glancing sheepishly about the bridge as he briefly disturbed the professional near-silence. After taking a few moments to compose himself, shoulders shaking, Tauvits looked down at her, eyes definitely twinkling. "You did what?" he asked, clearly still struggling not to laugh.

“’ey I was desperate!” Jackie shot back, half amused herself as she cracked a smile. Re-telling the tale actually seemed funnier than it did when she executed her plan since at the time she literally was thinking on her feet. “But yeah.. little holodeck magic and a slightly tweaked hologram of… a male-ish myself over myself...and me telling him how even the males are considered effimenent by other species…” Jackie shrugged, trying to appear casual yet fighting hard not to laugh out loud herself.

Tauvits resumed sniggering, though with a shade more control at this point. "Bet the poor lad didn't know what hit him!" he exclaimed, shaking his head in what might have been mock-reproach were he not too busy being amused.

“Nope, didn’t see the phaser shot that knocked him out a moment later, either” she noted. “I’ve not seen him since, so I’m not sure what he’s up to. But his initial reaction was….amusing now that I look back at what happened” Jackie curiously raised an eyebrow at Tauvits' reaction to what she's just told him, although she had to admit, this was indeed...amusing.

“See, now, something like that happened to me at the Academy... I didn't realise that Torallian men didn't have anything like an Adam's apple, and it was kinda dark and there were a few pints involved... gave me the shock of my life, I can tell you." Tauvits' smirk remained, and he leaned back against the chair, vaguely straightening his shirt - though it did little for the rumpled piece of clothing. "It may sound a bit closed-minded of me, but if he's not around any more, he's not your problem. Let his CO handle him. Klingons will deal with Ponn Farr, and I imagine Ta'pez won't tolerate stupidity from the boy."

“Ta’pez wasn’t pleased I seemed to have been ‘courting’ his kr’tach, he was curious to know why.” She said, lightly smirking. “Honestly all I did was throw a mug at him to shut him up over at Lucky Strike. How many men take it as a sign of affection when a woman throws something at them” she shook her head, “especially when they’d just met and things haven’t gotten off to a good start” she let out a little mrr as she turned her attention back to the controls for a moment to make sure they’ve not gone off course.

“Little bugger bit me” she said, “and according to K’hare, they don’t usually do that, unless….” She shook her head “And last thing I need is a bloody half Klingon mate when I return to the Horizon” Jackie sounded a little peeved as she returned her attention to the controls and dropped into silence.


OFF:
Kay folks , CO’s on the way home ;) hide the toys and pretend like you’re working.

Joint post by the feisty feline RADM Jackie Clawson and the resident Blue Man Mr Falco Tauvits

[Robert Barnes]

ON

<<U.S.S. Horizon - Deck 8>>

Robert pulled open a panel and scanned the isolinear chips inside with his tricorder. I'm going to be here all night at this rate...

The tricorder's normal tones went up and a red light began to blink. Robert put the tricorder down, pulled out one of the chips and slotted it into his diagnostic PADD. After a moment, the PADD's display lit up:

ERROR DETECTED. REPAIR DEFECTIVE CHIP?

Robert pressed the "Yes" control, then tapped his communicator. "Barnes to Engineering. I found the problem. Switch the diagnostic down to a Level 4 and have the other teams go back to their scheduled duties."

"Yes, chief."

Robert waited for the PADD to finish correcting the flaw in the software, then replaced the defective chip. A quick tricorder scan showed no other problems, so he replaced the panel. Standing up, he put his tricorder back in it's holster and the PADD back in the storage locker.

Exiting the deuterium processing area, Robert ducked into a turbolift. "Bridge." I'll check the monitors on the bridge, then call it a night.

OFF

[Michael Lynch]

Michael slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling over his bed and smiled.The mirror up there was hard to justify but he had made a convincing argument about it having to do with some sort of religion he had converted to.He looked at the twin med techs tina and terri lying on either side of him fast asleep.He put one arm under his head and sighed.He remembered a time when he wouldn't have thought about doing anything like this.Then there was the accident and who he had lost.He decided that day to never let anyone or anything get in the way of him having a good time again......."shelly......"
He inhaled deeply after speaking the name.One of the twins woke up and smiled.He put the arm under his head around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"Well well well.I'm glad one of you decided to wake up."He said with a devlish grin. "I thought i might have to take you to sickbay and treat you for exhaustion."
"You may if you try anything like that with us again.......you wicked lil devil."Terri said kissing his nose. Michael smiled as he leaned in to kiss Terri.
"Well then ill alert sickbay for incoming casualties.".......

[Grenn]

<<USS Horizon , Jefferson's Rest>>

"I don't know, Adam. I just don't know." J'al said, setting his glass down on the counter. "But I'm going to duck out early. Catch 'ya on the bridge tomorrow." he said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder as he got up.

He headed right back to what he had left off on. The glorious looking spaceframe of a Rogue Class fighter. The project of dreams, he thought to himself as he switched the welder on behind him and put the face shield down.

Ah... it was coming together nicley. Big, but nicley. The absolute bare bones skeleton of the ship was half assembled. He had PADDs of schematics on the class on a shelf which also held a variety of tools.

Before long though, he got a little frustrated at looking at PADDs and shuffling them. Making a quick detour to one of the only actual physical printers on the ship, as paper was not needed if at all anymore, except in large scale engineering plans, he came back with a rolled up genuine printout of the spaceframe's plans that was 4 feet by 3 feet in size and tacked it up onto the bulkhead above the shelves.

Having a larger reference to look at speeded up the time he needed to make sure he was building it right. Within 7 hours, he had the whole base frame assembled. Standing back and looking at this object that was smaller then a shuttle, but just as powerful, he walked around it. Not bad so far.... not bad. The real trick would be building the rest. Installing interior components, not to mention outer panels and everything inbetween, including a computer core, micro warp drive with Lt. Barnes's help, impulse engines also thanks to Lt. Barnes, controls, and the rest of the endless list would make this fun.

Now the Captain had something solid to see when she came back. He almost couldn't wait to show her. 3 hours now until she was scheduled. He smiled to himself and sat down, leaning back against the bulkhead and looking at it. Before he knew it though, he fell asleep.

OFF: He's out ;)

[Sammy Jo Swan]

Sammy stood facing the XO it seemed that even though she had been polite he was not going to acknowledge her, if fact he had just turned away and finished his drink totaly ignoreing the fact she was there. Before she could say anything he turned to the rest of the crew and said goodnight. Her temper was starting to boil this was not a good start she turned seeing the Chief Security/Tactical Officer she walked over to him.

"Excuse me Sir, I don't mean to interupt you but i have just tried to report in with the XO and got ignored so I am reporting to you instead. I am Ensign Swan Your new Assistant.

Off: Tag LT Kao

[Adam Kao]

ON:

"I don't know, Adam. I just don't know." J'al said, setting his glass down on the counter. "But I'm going to duck out early. Catch 'ya on the bridge tomorrow." he said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder as he got up.

"Yeah, okay J'al. Night." Adam patted the hand as it came down onto his shoulder. J'al left the lounge and Adam sat alone; but not for long.

"Excuse me Sir, I don't mean to interupt you but i have just tried to report in with the XO and got ignored so I am reporting to you instead. I am Ensign Swan Your new Assistant."

"Ahh, I was told to expect a new deputy head." Adam set down his now empty glass and extended his hand. "Lt. Adam Kao, your new boss." The hand was shook, rather tightly in fact. Adam grinned as he stood up. "Consider yourself reported. If you go over to the wardroom, someone will give you a tour and show you your quarters. We'll go over everything tomorrow some time. But for now, I must retire. My head's killing me." Adam ubbed his temples. Indeed, it was either the formation of a headache or brain freeze from the cold orange juice. He smiled to Sammy and nodded, making his way out the door and back to his quarters.

OFF:

[Devid Silva]

Devid sees that quite a few are leaving so he picks up his bag and heads off to find his quarters.

"Good Night all"

Devid walks out of the lounge and straight for his quarters

[Jackie Clawson]

This continues in "Best Laid Plans" http://horizon.taylord1.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=85

Locking this.