Talk:Fan Fiction

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The Distress Beacon (not a Pegasus chapter...) 

* An older story that was started and died off some while back 

* Pretty much in stasis at the moment... 



TEMPORARILY ARCHIVED HERE Archive One

Pegasus Revisited -- NEW STORY/MISSION

• Proposed story line started OCT 2008 by CAPT Greg Preast
• Please completed the form at http://maquis-sim.treksimms.org if you want to join in... not so much as to gain permission but so that we can contact you to obtain further information and to discuss character development.

• Story is also happening on the RP Sim mailing list, but posted here for everyone to see what is happening...
• We welcome new participants!

Prelude 1

CAPT Preast and CDR Shultz were recovering in the CO's cabin at LP Linwood following their most recent starfleet adventure.

"You know, Boss, we need a ship. We'd be so much more fleixible."

"Well, lemme do some studyin'," replied the Captain with a twinkle in his eye, and a mischievous grin. "You go on to the wardroom/briefing chamber, whatever you wanna call it."

Shultz had been around long enough to know that look meant the Skipper already had something in mind, but he would not let on to the other two officers as he entered the wardroom..

Eventually the skipper entered the wardroom, "ATTENTION ON..." began LCDR Ellison.

With a wave of his hand and a "whatever" kind of look, the Captain squashed that. "Look guys, it's just us. 'Til we get a full crew, 's'okay. Y'all ch-i-i-i-ll."

"Alright here's the game plan...XO, beer." Three puzzled faces looked back at him. "Round for all." With that the scheming started. "AYYYYYY!"

"Who here has heard of the USS PEGASUS?" asked CAPT Preast. Rob raised an eyebrow, as he and CAPT Preast had already discussed the situation. The other two officers simply shrugged.

"Some accident, lotta legal mumbo jumbo for Starfleet, landed Riker in the brig for a bit. Well, the deal is they were testing a interphase cloaking device, unbeknownst to most of the world. Something went wrong, and the ship was feared lost. The ENTERPRISE and Romulans found her phased into an asteroid into the Devolin system, Asteroid Gamma 601 to be exact. Riker and Pressman went in, retrieved the technology, and Starfleet assumed that was the end. I want that hulk. We can take her to the Badlands, and refurbish, refit..."

"Rebuild her!" exclaimed Shultz. The look on the Captain's face drew a quick apology for the interruption.

"Sometimes it's scary how well you know me." grinned the Skipper. "Now, to get her out, we need another interphase cloaking device, and I think I know where we can get one."

To Be Continued. -- Greg Preast

Prelude 2

"No, I am not going back into Starfleet," said the man, perhaps a bit to loudly even for Quark's.

The two federation officers in "science blue" flinched back at the vehemence in his voice. "Look, Chris, you are good at what you do," the tall one said, two solid pips on his collar. "You maybe the best alien relations officer to come out of the Academy since the program started."

Chris Huff, former xenopolitical relations officer of the USS Orion, drained the last of the iridescent blue drink and then look him in the eye with a sober, dark glare.

"Look, Lt. Smith," He said in a barely audible hiss. "We both know that 31 doesn't have any interest in my in-depth knowledge of Andorian municipal structure or the truth behind the recent "recalling for advisement" of the Tholian ambassador."

He let the folds of his blue science coat--the only remnant of his former uniform he wore--fall open to reveal a klingon Dragonstang disruptor strapped in a extra large shoulder holster. An Andorian ice blade was in a thigh sheath. His clothing was a hodgepodge as well. Breen leathers and a Tholian silk shirt under a security vest from the 23rd century. A closer look might have revealed that the lab coat had been tailored with an black, metallic lining that was not standard issue for science officers.

"Do they Lt. Junior Grade Jones," He looked at the other, shorter officer. "They are more interested in the skills I learned during the assignments and training that we can't talk about here."

Smith and Jones tried to cover up their frustration.

Smith started, "We don't know what you are talking about."

Jones continue, "Yes, we are here from the office of Retention and Recruiting to offer you a new assignment. We understand that you didn't get along with Capt. Riker during your time on the Orion and..."

Huff sneered. "Riker was right. We shouldn't be using assassination for political gain." He tried to get the last drop of Romulan ale from the bottle, but it dripped onto his unkempt beard. He wiped the drop away with a dirty hand.

Jones looked around, "Please, Lieutenant, keep your voice down. Nobody was trying to assassinate anyone."

"Tell that to the Nausicans."

Smith places a calming hand on the shoulder of his partner. "We realize that being used by a rogue intelligence officer who had no official authority to order you on that assignment could...disillusion you. However..."

"'No official authority'," It is terms like that that make me regret ever agreeing to be a NOC." Huff stood up, his large frame framed by the blue coat. He turned to walk away. Jones grabbed at him.

"You just can't.." A century old Type-1 handphaser was suddenly in Jones's face. They hadn't seen that on him, but the small device was about half the size of medical scanner, and while underpowered when compared to modern phasers, it was more than enough to wipe the man from existence. Jones stepped back and put his hands up. Smith's hand was on the hilt of his more modern Type 2.

"I wouldn't think about it," Huff told Smith swing his arm to point the phaser at him. "Odo made quark install weapon suppression fields. "Modern weapons won't fire."

Smith smiled, "Then you are bluffing, cause that old type 1 won't work either."

"No, it is working just find...as a distraction," Huff said, gesturing down to the to the crystal blade of the Andorian knife pressed against Jones' groin.

Smith glared. "You can't stay in here forever, and you can't hold us knife-point all night."

"Of course not," Huff grinned, putting the knife away with a flourish. The phaser vanished as well. "I am leaving now. And I suggest you, and your back ups over there at the Dabbo wheel, don't try and follow me."

Huff left a strip of lathium on the table and turned to walk out of Quarks. He was going to need a fast ship out of here before the night was through.

--Tag Anyone.

OOC: This is not deja vu. I reposted this from one of the failed reboot attempts from earlier in the year, but I liked it, and the character premise. It may not be an exact fit for this starting story arc, but sometimes beggars can't be choosers when it comes to science officers, especial those that might have had access to classified information relative to their current objectives. So, if anyone wants to come save me, or help me steal a ship...or recruit me...

Lt. Cmd. Christopher A. Huff

Huff part 2

::Per Logan:: ::NOTE: Huffs followup response added in green text::

Huff left the Promanade and headed for Brown Sector. Every space station that has civilians on it and passing through has a "Brown Sector". It was some kind of in joke from way back in Earth's entertainment history. Now it was simply part of the slang. It was the area where those with no place to go and no money to leave gathered and eaked out a survival. It was also where the grey and black markets were, at least those not controlled by Quark. Huff knew he could book passage there to get off the station unnoticed. He at least was not lacking funds, even if he didn't keep them readily visible.

Stepping off the turbo lift, he headed towards his goal, but as he turned a corner someone blocked his way.

"Christopher Huff" It was not a question. The black furred Caitian stood about 6 foot tall and was dressed in leather, from the boots to the pants to the sleeveless vest. There was even a leather band wrapping his long hair into a ponytail. Chris had never known a Caitian who let his head fur grow long enough to be styled like normal hair. "I have a proposition for you."

"Obviously you guys in the 'Office of Retention and Recruiting' aren't very good with the hearing. Or piss poor communicators. I told Smith and Jones 'no' and 'no' the answer remains. Now get out of my way or die."

The man's only answer was to pull out a knife and assume a fighting stance. Huff noticed that it was a Daqtagh, and the stance was a Klingon one. Huff purposefully bypassed all his ranged weapons, pulling the Andorian blade. While he didn't expect this from a Caitian, he figured he wasn't the only one to learn Klingon fighting techniques.

::Huff:: There was a buzzing in Huff ears, and it was getting more persistent. Damn, they are getting closer, he swore internally. The subspace tracer dust (a nanite cloud of transmitters) he tagged Smith and Jones (and their Dabbo back-ups) responded to movement and proximaty to the in-ocular communicator . They were moving quickly toward him, if the increasingly annoying buzz was any sign, which it was. However, this cat wasn't setting off any alarms...well, other than being a big scary Caitlan with a sharp, pointy thing aimed at him.

The Caitian didn't move. Huff didn't move. For several minutes, the stalemate persisted.

::Huff:: The buzz was louder. Too loud. They must be right above them...or coming down the turbolift. So, either this guy was clean or hadn't met up with his '31' buddies to get "contaminated" with his dust. But one tango with a knife was better than five with who knows what. Time to play a different game.

Finally Huff said, "You're not Starfleet or 31 are you?"

"No, I'm not. Are you going to try to kill me or not? While I wouldn't mind the combat practice, I really think CAPT Preast would rather have you in one piece."

"Who are you?" Huff sheathed the knife and stood up straight. If the man hadn't attacked by now, odds were he would keep to Klingon Honor and not attack when he was (visibly) unarmed.

"Vice Admiral Logan Andrews, Maquis. Like I said, I'm here to offer you a job."

::Huff:: "A Maquis admiral?" Huff said. "I didn't know they had those." The buzz was terribly loud now. "Does that mean you got a fleet near by? Or at least a ship?"

The turbolift opened revealing a crowd of people, including Smith and Jones and the three Dabbo players. The other three looked like they were booted out of the StarFleet Marines for being too mean.

"Or perhaps...some Orion Space Pirates tucked away somewhere..."

Tag ::OOC:: Logan, don't kill them all, leave some for me....particularly Smith and Jones.

TAG -- until...

Meamwhile aboard Serendipity

To most observers, the ship was the standard Ju'day class freighter, one of thousands plying the trade routes to, from, and amoung the fringes of the Federations territory. On the outside she was not much to look at, typical in that she carried numerous odd and usually unidentifiable external modifications and upgrades. Nothing to betray the fact that she was really a Maquis Raider, MFS Serendipity.

On-board the Serendipity, Chief Engineer and acting Captain Ten-of-Nine looked over the engineering readouts once again. To most engineers all was well, but Ten was more demanding than most. He craved perfection plus ten percent. The ships engines were already running at nearly warp 8, well above the rated nominal warp 6 plus. Most of that accumen on Tens part was due to his history as a Reformed Borg. Other slang terms included "Born-Again Borg" and "Emancipated Borg". Regardless, his knowlege and skills retained from his time as a former member of the Collective were simply enviable and amazing amoung his peers and friends.

Since the Dominion/Cardassian War had nearly wiped out the Maquis, the Maquis had achieved a remarkable resurgence post war. On the borders and frontiers of Federation space, the Maquis had nearly as much respect from the various species and inhabitants as the Federation. The growth and strength of the Maquis had gotten to the point where special units and commands were now possible. Such was unthinkable before the war.

This mission was a differant twist on the normal. This was explained to be a difficult and possibly impossible salvage mission of a former Starfleet top of the line starship. Ten liked those odds. The impossible was a challenge. This was also the first mission using Serendipity as a Maquis Corps of Engineers (MCE) reserve vessel. Many of the crew onboard already were hand-picked as the best in their fields. Several others were either being picked up enroute or meeting the ship at a Maquis Listening Post, LP Linwood, in just over six days hence.

Activating the comms :::Engineer to Bridge::: "Harker, how are we doing? I believe we should be at our stop at DS9 fairly soon. Any problems?" Lieutenant Elizabeth Harker was the Security Officer on Serendipity but pulling bridge duty at the moment. Most raider crew were used to wearing multiple hats. Harker was one of the best security officers Ten had worked with in quite a while.

TAG... more to come -- VADM Steve

Serendipity bridge....

Lt. Elizabeth "The Tornado" Harker
Chief of Security, MFS Serendipity

She leaned forward intently checking the tactical station for possible threats and shifted in her seat. She wore her standard uniform of a brown leather jacket, with a female hawk in flight on the back and the words 'LadyHawke' below it, with beat up combat pants and boots, a black shirt and a pistol in a low slung holster. Of course that was the only weapon you could see, didn't mean she didn't have others hidden throughout her person.

She answered Ten's comm with, "Hey Baker's Dozen, No problems yet but the night is young" She quipped over to Ten-of-Whatever. They'd known each other for years so he didn't get offended when she called him by the old nickname. When they were introduced she thought it odd his name was a number. Somehow the joke got started on "10, 11, 12, a baker's dozen.." No one remembers quite how anymore--all that was known was Ten would tolerate it from a few people only.

<Tag>

Later, after arriving at DS9...

Roughly six hours later, Serendipty sat docked to a lower pylon amidst several other ships. She had been there just over three hours waiting for passengers. Ten-of-Nine was getting impatient. Just where the heck was that damn Doctor? Whats his name... oh yeah... Doctor James Evans, retired from Starfleet Medical. He and a couple of junior engineers with science backgrounds should have arrived half an hour ago. "Tornado" Harker had half convincingly wanted to outfit an assault team to find them. Guess she was on edge as well. Instead, Ten had quietly sent a young security officer/helmsman who had spent a little time on DS9 off-ship to make contact. He was overdue...

<<OOC>>--We pause here before Logan & Huff make their escape. Dr Evans, you may show any time now... --<<IC>>

Back to Logan and Huff...

::Per Logan:: <<OOC>>--For now, until guidance is given, I'll be doing overlap, which is the last bit of the particular thread you're in. I'm also used to where one posts parts of a previous post to correct or add to it for their character, which is what you did on your last post. --<<IC>>

PREVIOUSLY= The turbolift opened revealing a crowd of people, including Smith and Jones and the three Dabbo players. The other three looked like they were booted out of the StarFleet Marines for being too mean.

"Or perhaps...some Orion Space Pirates tucked away somewhere..." =AND NOW...

"A few pirates thrown in might be good....to help even the odd for them." Logan launched himself towards the group of agents. His feline agility served him well here. Smith and Jones tucked and rolled under the Caitian as he clothes lined the other three. Smith and Jones Came up to Huff's fist hurling towards their faces.

::per Huff::

Rarely do you get such a perfect set up. Smith and Jones came out of their rolls, and Huff was in the perfect position at the perfect distance. Both fists shot out in parallel courses. Jones was a little shorter than Smith, so the blow caught him on the chin, knocking him back into the frame of the turbo lift. Smith caught the blow full in the throat and crumpled to the ground immediately.

Huff could feel the tingling in his hands after the blows. Smith and Jones were wearing some kind of personal forcefields...inertial dampening suits or something.

"Damn," he hissed. Smith was already getting up, while Jones was still breathing. "I hate cheaters." He delivered a nasty kick to Jones' groin. He may not be able to get a solid blow through their shields, but that was till going to hurt like hell, and keep the agent on the deck for another second. He drew is Andorian ice blade, prepared to make sure that he wouldn't get back up. Smith intercepted him, knocking Huff away from the downed agent.

Fortunately, the inertial dampeners worked in against the agent as well as protected him. Protecting the head and torso from impacts, it left the limbs uncovered for striking. The field worked both ways, so a punch from within a PIF (protective inertia field) would be robbed of its energy the same way an incoming strike would. So, Smith's body tackle felt more like someone bumping into him in a crowded party. Smith's fist wrapped around him and knocked him in the back of the skull, but could not land a solid strike.

Huff spun and let Smith slide off of him, and took the opportunity to let his Kelvin-cold crystalline blade slide across the back of Agent Smith's neck. The inertia field would stop all but the strongest cuts, but the icy touch of the crystal would go right through the shield, freezing or at least numbing whatever it touched, in this case, The top of Smith's spine.

The agent dropped like a stone. That would keep him down for a good while, but know his partner was starting to get up, and Huff felt the buzz of more agents getting closer.

"They invited some more friends!" He told the Caitlian.

::per Logan::

Logan sprang to his feet and kicked back to catch one guy on the chin as he was getting up. He whirled to see the other two were on their feet. They advanced, splitting up to flank him to either side. Logan ducked under one punch as another struck him where a human's kidney would be. He stood straighter and looked at the man, wagling his finger then driving his fingers, claws out, into the man's stomach. The second man grabbed him around the chest pinning Logan's arms to his side. Logan kicked backwards and up while throwing his weight forward, kicking the man in the back of the head.

He turned and saw that Huff had manage to floor his two, but realized that they would not be down for long. He also didn't trust that 31 only sent these five. His sources told him they wanted Huff pretty badly. "Let's go!", he yelled.

The two men took off down the hall, while Logan tapped his commbadge, a red shell-shaped item. "Trin, where are you?"

"I have you, boss. Take the next right and go straight. That should put you along the outter wall."

The pair skidded to the right and ran down the corridor. Behind them they could hear others running and it sounded like more than 5 men. In fact Logan thought at least one was a Brikar. They skidded to halt at a dead end. They hadn't passed any other corridors or doors. Turning they saw about a dozen agents closing in.

"Trinity....."

"Gotcha" A transporter beam snatched them up and when the effect cleared, Huff found himself on a runabout. Mare Class if he was correct. Logan was alreay heading for the pilot seat. He saw no one else, and went to take the co-pilot seat. As he stepped forward, a woman suddenly appeared before him. He couldn't stop himself, but instead of hitting her, he passed through her.

"Boss, I think....oh sorry....I think one of the docked ships is a 31 undercover. Their engines just powered up beyond what they should be."

"Huff, Trinity...Trinity, Chris Huff. She was my EMH, but she's grown a little beyond that....and occasionally beyond her britches." She just stuck out her tounge at the Caitian's back. Logan tapped a few controls as he maneuvered the runabout away from the station wall. "Secure the channel, Trin. Maquis 1285. This is Andrews to any Maquis in the area. I need a Sun-eater, because it's about to go nova around here!"

::per Huff::

Huff dropped in one of the aft station seats.

"So much for an early retirement," he whispered to himself in exasperation. His head ached from where Smith landed his blow. He reached up to feel the bump, and his hand came back with blood on the fingertips. "What did he hit me with?..."

He tried to shake it off, but the headache increased. He tried to ignore it and pulled out his tricorder. It was a late model medical tricorder, with the remote sensor attached, but most of the medical information had been replaced long ago.

He entered a series of commands and set the tricorder to interface with the station he sat at. The control panel sprung to life with sensor data.

TAG

Serendipity - The GIFT

<<OOC>> Sam (Bibb of course)... Sorry, but despite the fact I emailed you today I need to take action now. So I shall get you on the ship--kinda. Hope to see you active soon... CD... We are jumping forward in time to get in sync with Logan and Huff. In case anybody wonders what happened, we played 3,496 games of Tic-Tac-Toe. Nobody won. Tally ho! <<IC>> <see below>

Previously...

<<OOC>>--Serendipity actually arrived prior to the events of Logan & Huff meeting, oblivious to their presence... CD, you can fill in any of the gap here that you like... --<<IC>>

Roughly six hours later, Serendipty sat docked to a lower pylon amidst several other ships. She had been there just over three hours waiting for passengers. Ten-of-Nine was getting impatient. Just where the heck was that damn Doctor? Whats his name... oh yeah... Doctor James Evans, retired from Starfleet Medical. He and a couple of junior engineers with science backgrounds should have arrived half an hour ago. "Tornado" Harker had half convincingly wanted to outfit an assault team to find them. Guess she was on edge as well. Instead, Ten had quietly sent a young security officer/helmsman (ENS Akorem) who had spent a little time on DS9 off-ship to make contact. He was overdue...

<<OOC>>--We pause here before Logan & Huff make their escape. Dr Evans, you may show any time now... --<<IC>>

And now on DS9...

Nearly seven hours after Serendipity docked at DS9, Ten-of-Nine entered the bridge just as Harker arrived to resume bridge duty from LTJG Do'kor-Rue the senior Comm Officer (npc).

"Anything at all to report, Mr Rue?" asked Ten

"Nothing from ENS Akorem (npc), Sir. However I have been monitoring some of the stations secure channels and there seem to be some sort extreme tension in the tone of the stations command and security channels. Nothing specific. More like a lot of reports of little problems and abnormal activity. From what I can tell, it has been going on a few days. We best be alert, Sir."

Ten smiled a tired grin. "Good job Rue. Keep monitoring for now." He added, " Lizzie, let's you and I see if we can squeeze any sensor data from the stations systems without tipping our hand. You know the drill."

A short time later, Rue spoke... "Sir, I just received a low power, short range comm link from ENS Akorem. He is headed for our ship. Not too far away. He said he has our cargo but it is not exactly as manifested."

"Very good. Lizzie, please alert the crew in case there is trouble and then meet our arrivals at the hatch. I don't need to tell you to be careful, but do watch that trigger finger" Ten smiled as he tensed for the unexpected. "Rue, double check our status to be sure we can leave on short notice."

Just then sensor worm tapped into the stations network triggered an alert on his console. Interesting Ten thought. A very plain freighter had docked on one of the upper pylons just before the station started experiencing their troubles. Bears watching, he thought...as he entered new commands into the computer.

"Main screen display outside our hatch to the station." The scene showed Akorem arriving with an anti-grav cargo handler. He was accompanied by a male Trill and a female Andorian. Harker and two other crewmen greeted the group outside the hatch, conversed with Akorem, and then scanned the cargo container. "All clear" she reported then "Package complete", as they moved aboard Serendipity. Ten used the intercomm to have Lizzie send the new arrivals to quarters with an escort, then request that she and Akorem report to the bridge.

Before Ten could inquire about the cargo container, Rue suddenly got excited. "Sir, something big is happening over in the Brown Sector. From the station channels it sounds like they have a war going on. There is a lot of movement but it is headed away from here."

Moments later, a secure coded comm message came through on a Maquis emergency channel, "Maquis 1285. This is Andrews to any Maquis in the area. I need a Sun-eater, because it's about to go nova around here!"

What the heck was that crazy cat Logan doing here? Ten thought. And what kind of nest did he stir up this time? "Akorem, take the helm. We need to tip our hat and quietly skulk away. We do NOT need to draw any attention to ourselves so keep things calm." "Rue, get ready to notify the station we are departing now and thank them for our stay. Then prepare a transmission to Bajor notifying our patron we are departing the area. Order 65 protocol. Send it via normal channels through our Comm Buoy we dropped in orbit on our way in. Hold until I give the word because we are going to tight beam piggyback a signal with it."

Order 65 means to make it up, convincingly.

"Lizzie, I need you to break out one of our toys. The Remora. We are going to transport it on a tight beam to relay through our special comm buoy and then drop it right in front of that suspicious ship thats powering up right now. A parting gift."

What happened next seemed a blur. Serendipity calmly departed the station, whose personnel were kinda busy at that moment. Five other ships were coming or going at the same time including the suspicious one which seemed to be in a huge hurry. Logan's shuttle was out of visual range. On command, the message for the 'Bajor Patron" was sent via the buoy. Moments later the target ship closed with the tiny, unseen Remora which subsequently latched onto the ship and immediately started to drain power and propulsion. The ship must have been in a huge hurry because it only took a short time to max out the Remoras capacity. The Remora released itself from the enemy and drifted only about 10 to 15 meters when it self-destructed. The ship showed a breech in its hull when the blast died away. They were not going anywhere soon, but they should be able to get repairs in a few hours.

"Set a course on a likely trade route until we are out of sensor range of DS9 and have verified we aren't being followed. Lizzie, please have the ship scanned to make sure we don't have any tags and pay special attention to our cargo we just picked up. Once we are secure and out of sight, set course for LP Linwood."

<<TAG>>

Aboard Shuttle Imbri (Logan & Huff)

IC: ::per Huff (repeating a little):: Huff dropped in one of the aft station seats.

"So much for an early retirement," he whispered to himself in exasperation. His head ached from where Smith landed his blow. He reached up to feel the bump, and his hand came back with blood on the fingertips. "What did he hit me with?..."

He tried to shake it off, but the headache increased. He tried to ignore it and pulled out his tricorder. It was a late model medical tricorder, with the remote sensor attached, but most of the medical information had been replaced long ago.

He entered a series of commands and set the tricorder to interface with the station he sat at. The control panel sprung to life with sensor data.

::per Logan & Huff:: At first, the incoming data was pretty standard, but soon the enhanced data that Huff's tricorder had directed the runabout's computers and sensors to look for began to filter in.

"Now, now Mr Huff. Don't you know it's not polite to just plug yourself into a woman and start downloading your data without permission?" Trinity's voice made clear the implication. Huff looked at Logan.

"I warned you she was too big for her britches, sometimes." he said without looking up from his controls. He was busy trying to figure out a path through the closing ships. He wouldn't normally run from a fight but the mission was more important.

"Trust me, I always practice safe downloading..." Huff said, grimacing at the pain. "But knowing what is out there seemed to be just cause for the lack of...manners."

"Here, let me look at that for you." Trinity began carefully moving hair away from the wound. "Mother of the Matrix! What did you get hit with!? That's nasty." She picked up a dermal regenerator and started to apply it to the wound.

"Wait a moment..." She touched the wound, and felt something that shouldn't be there. She checked her sensors, but nothing showed up on the scans.

"I can stop the bleeding, but I really recommend we get him to a better facility for more indepth scans, his....impressive instrumentation not withstanding."

"We'll get him to Linwood just as soon as I shake off these......what the hell!?" An explosion occured just aft of the ship that Logan has suspected belonged to 31. The hole it tore in it's propulsion unit, would keep them busy for a while. "Huh! Not what I expected but it'll do. Trin, drop a set of warp tracers and let's get out of here."

The sensors at Huff's station went red almost immediately after the explosion, which actually helped. Cloaking was nice in deep, relatively empty space, but when things went boom, it didn't matter if you you were invisible when things started bouncing off of you.

Huff pointed to the screen, "We got a...Defiant-class..vessel coming toward us...not are THE Defiant, nor are they broadcasting IFF. Anyone want to bet that they are a mirror universe attack on DS9 as opposed to our friends at 31?"

Rapid fire phasers lit up the space across the runabout's bow.

Trinity triggered a series of small drones that would scatter in several random directions leaving a warp trail signature that matched the Imbri's. Only luck would allow someone to pick up the right trail. And once they hit the Badlands, it would be impossible to trace them anyway. He warped out right away wondering who had pulled his tail out of the Targ pit this time.

The stars stretched as the ship accelerated to warp, and the phaserfire stopped. Things were quiet for the moment, but sensors at Huff's station still flickered red on occasion.

"That's not good." He said, trying to adjust the parameters of his sensor program.

Trinity interrupted. "I am picking up a faint subspace signal of unusual encryption. It seems to be sending short range bursts in our wake."

"Damn," Huff cursed as he started to shimmer. "You have to flu....Warp.....s....... before...."

An alert went off, Trinity shouted "Incoming Transporter Beam attempting lock"

Huff started to disappear....

Meanwhile back at LP Linwood: "MFS Trinity to LP Linwood, Request permission to pull alongside for repairs and R&R"

Serendipity (very nearby)

::Serendipity:: -- "Lizzie, I need you to break out one of our toys. The Remora. We are going to transport it on a tight beam to relay through our special comm buoy and then drop it right in front of that suspicious ship thats powering up right now. A parting gift."

What happened next seemed a blur. Serendipity calmly departed the station, whose personnel were kinda busy at that moment. Five other ships were coming or going at the same time including the suspicious one which seemed to be in a huge hurry. Logan's shuttle was out of visual range. On command, the message for the 'Bajor Patron" was sent via the buoy. Moments later the target ship closed with the tiny, unseen Remora which subsequently latched onto the ship and immediately started to drain power and propulsion. The ship must have been in a huge hurry because it only took a short time to max out the Remoras capacity. The Remora released itself from the enemy and drifted only about 10 to 15 meters when it self-destructed. The ship showed a breech in its hull when the blast died away. They were not going anywhere soon, but they should be able to get repairs in a few hours.

::Trinity Shuttle:: -- "We'll get him to Lynwood just as soon as I shake off these......what the hell!?" An explosion occurred just aft of the ship that Logan has suspected belonged to 31. The hole it tore in it's propulsion unit, would keep them busy for a while. "Huh! Not what I expected but it'll do. Trin, drop a set of warp tracers and let's get out of here."

::Serendipity:: -- "Set a course on a likely trade route until we are out of sensor range of DS9 and have verified we aren't being followed. Lizzie, please have the ship scanned to make sure we don't have any tags and pay special attention to our cargo we just picked up. Once we are secure and out of sight, set course for LP Linwood."

::Trinity Shuttle:: -- The sensors at Huff's station went red almost immediately after the explosion, which actually helped. Cloaking was nice in deep, relatively empty space, but when things went boom, it didn't matter if you you were invisible when things started bouncing off of you. Huff pointed to the screen, "We got a...Defiant-class..vessel coming toward us...not are THE Defiant, nor are they broadcasting IFF. Anyone want to bet that they are a mirror universe attack on DS9 as opposed to our friends at 31?" Rapid fire phasers lit up the space across the runabout's bow.

::Serendipity:: -- "Sir, Our comm buoy has detected more trouble than we thought" Rue reported. His composure was remarkable, as usual. "It appears there is also a cloaked ship still headed after the shuttle. Good news is thus far we seem undetected."

::Trinity Shuttle:: -- Trinity triggered a series of small drones that would scatter in several random directions leaving a warp trail signature that matched the Imbri's. Only luck would allow someone to pick up the right trail. And once they hit the Badlands, it would be impossible to trace them anyway. He warped out right away wondering who had pulled his tail out of the Targ pit this time.

::Serendipity:: -- Ten-of-Nine settled back into the command seat. "Mr Akorem, looks like we need to assist a little more. We should be far enough along. Red Alert. Engage our cloak, then divert to a parallel course at max warp to get us in range of our friends and their pursuers. Ready three enhanced photon torpedoes and one Quantum torpedo.

::Trinity Shuttle:: -- The stars stretched as the ship accelerated to warp, and the phaserfire stopped. Things were quiet for the moment, but sensors at Huff's station still flickered red on occasion. "That's not good." He said, trying to adjust the parameters of his sensor program. Trinity interrupted. "I am picking up a faint subspace signal of unusual encryption. It seems to be sending short range bursts in our wake." "Damn," Huff cursed as he started to shimmer. "You have to flu....Warp.....s....... before...." An alert went off, Trinity shouted "Incoming Transporter Beam attempting lock" Huff started to disappear....

::Serendipity:: -- Rue reported, "Sir, we just lost our comm buoy. Just before, it detected some sort of problem with the shuttle's warp drive. It is fluctuating all over the place, almost at random."

Curious, thought Ten. It almost seems intentional since drive problems normally fail in repeatable patterns. As Serendipity closed the distance Ten said, "Status on that cloaked ship, Mr Rue?"

"Sir. I keep getting hints and faint sensor ghosting, but there's not enough to lock on."

"Set the three photon torps to proximity. On my mark, fire them in a triangular spread at your best guess coordinates. As soon as you light up our target, send the Quantum straight up the middle. Be ready to re-cloak as soon as we're able and then engage evasive pattern gamma-7 to place us somewhere else fast. Hopefully our timing will take them by surprise, then we can shadow the shuttle for a bit to make sure there aren't any other guests lurking nearby." Ten had hardly finished when he followed with "Fire"!

Then all heck broke loose...

 ::OOC:: Note that we are NOT in a direct trail to the shuttle and cloaked ship but rather off to one side/below the cloaked ship

Imbri, Serendipity, and enemy makes three...

Huff started to disappear....

"Oh no! Not on my watch!" Trinity cried. "Shifting shield harmonics." Huff solidified some more. "That helped a bit but the signal is still getting through. What are those guys at 31 bluiding nowadays?"

"Don't le....atch warp spee.." Huff struggled to get the words out of the grip of the carrier beam.

"Shifting warp speeds. Beginning evasive manuvers!" Logan called out. "Trinity, get me a damn fix!"

"If someone wasn't so cheep as to turn down the Breen sensor grid last month...."

"Fine! Then find a way to block that subspace signal! That has to be how they are tracking us"

"Working....."

Weaving and banking, Logan drove the Imbri like a madman, shifting speeds at random. Suddenly space exploded in a large ball of flame. Caught on one edge was an outline of a Defiant class ship. Locking on, Logan launched a dozen micro-photons at the ship. As they made contact another torpedo also struck the vessel broadside. It exploded, debris scattering everywhere.

Huff, slumped down into the chair, breathing heavily.

"Transporter beam gone. But I can't fully shield out the subspace transponder." Trinity sighed. "I can try to jam the signal by overloading subspace with white noise, but we'll be all but broadcasting our general location by the big hole in subspace."

"Can we get the transponder out?"

"Not with what I have here. I can just barely touch it, but it's lodged so close to the brain, that without a full medical facility with better tuned transporters than I have, I'd rather not risk it. The good news is I did get a IFF from that ship before it recloaked. It was the Serendipity!"

"Damn that Borg! He's never going to let me forget it now. Open a secure channel." He turned to a screen where the image of the former drone appeared. "Well this is a surprise! Didn't expect you out here. Thanks."

 ::Serendipity:: -- Seems our attempts to remain unnoticed paid off. If you only just now figured it out... Well good. We were picking up some cargo and crew at the station when we started to notice varying degrees of turmoil on DS9's secure channels. I should have known you'd be involved. You really make life difficult for a ship trying to look unimportant and harmless. <wink and HUGE grin> Anyway I have an idea you may be involved in little mission thats developing. <<exchange details on injurys and damage>> So... do you need a shepherd to watch your six?

"Well as is, we're going to have to detour away from my original plan to go get this tracker out of Huff. You go on to wherever you were headed. I know a good doc out by Vargus IV. Just pass along to HQ what I'm doing once you get close enough to home for a real time signal. (OOC: I'm assuming that we don't use relays for encoded stuff.) I should only be delayed by about a day. I doubt that they have someone to immediately persue us, and I'll be sure to send them on a wild targ chase."

 ::Serendipity:: -- Well then...good luck. Try NOT to break anything else. Unfortunately the person on-board who might could help is in stasis. Long story for another time... See you soon. Oh. When we got your assistance call, we knew we had to do something. It isn't every day that we get to rescue a damsel in distress. I'd HATE to see anything bad befall Trin... you should take her to better neighborhoods. Let her know that anytime she wants to trade up... Ten out.

"Good to know. Imbri out."

Turning back to Huff, he said, "Let's go find you a surgeon."

Huff weakly replied, "Oh...what I wouldn't give for a good old asprin...and maybe some bourbon...." Then Huff past out.

 ::Serendipity:: -- "Stand down from Red Alert but keep the cloak active. Run some quick diagnostics on all systems. Set a random course away from Imbri and DS9. Hold course for a little and then pull a Crazy Ivan to be sure we're alone. If we are holding to our luck, we should then be able to reset our course for LP Linwood at warp 6.5 and drop the cloak."

The Gathering at LP Linwood

The next chapter in the quest for Pegasus...

Serendipity finally arrives

Ten-of-Nine is seated in the command chair on the bridge when his ship drops out of warp and the welcoming sight of LP Linwood fills the viewscreen. The station appears quite a bit larger than most listening posts. Docked to one side is a huge ship he recognizes as MFS Trinity, Logans ship. In a nearby synchronous orbit he spots an old Olympic class ship that appears to be in the latter stages of the process of refitting.

"Mr Rue", Ten addresses LTJG Do'kor-Rue the senior Comm Officer (npc), "Please contact the station and request docking permission."

"Sir, Linwood welcomes us and requests we allow their station tractor beam to guide us to our dock"

Ten thought a moment before he replied, "Very well, Mr Rue. ENS Akorem (npc), please allow the station to guide us but I want you to be ready to resume the helm at the least sign of a problem. I am certain we shall be fine, but just to be safe... stay alert."

The last two days had been relatively easy after saving Logan and Huff's collective butts, not to mention that wonderful Holographic A.I. "Trin" Trinity. Logan, all kidding aside, was a masterful programmer and computer engineer that the Maquis could ill afford to lose.

Also, despite many course deviations and switchbacks to verify any tails, Serendipity apparently had elluded being followed. That was a huge relief after taking so many chances around DS9 and Section 31's spooks. LT Harker's security team had swept Serendipity repeatedly and found nothing amiss. She even took the small shuttle carried aboard and combed every inch of the hull exterior looking for trouble.

Thinking about the LT reminded Ten and he tapped his comm badge, "Lizzie, I need you to work out a rotation schedule for the crew. I want a ready watch maintained on the bridge at all times. Other than that, they should take advantage whatever recreation the station has to offer. You too."

"What? You expect me to waste time goofing off instead of training?", she replied.

"Well pretend you are under deep cover on a mission and 'pretend' to have fun then... and thats an order!", Ten laughed as he broke the link.

Before too long they were gently docked at the station.

"Mr Akorem, you have the bridge until LT Harker gets the watch schedule in place. See if Linwood's weapons officer can spare a few torpedoes to replenish our stores, if you can arrange it." Then Ten departed the bridge to see the station.

Later:

Lieutenant Elizabeth "Tornado" Harker 

Chief of Security 

The Serendipity, privately known as 'The Dippy'.  <Huh???> 

With 12 of PI <double Huh??> occupied and the security situation stable, Lizzie, rocked on her heels for a minute in her office or the closet that passed for a security center anyway. A tough decision: make the security staff do drills or let them rotate to the Linwood for a change a scene. Deciding she was in a good mood, she sent out the rotation roster. Even in the Maquis she refused to leave a post unguarded--everyone would just have to wait their turn. For her part, she spun around in her chair. Checking to make sure everything was done. She was irreverent, and often silly but one thing she took very seriously and that was the safety and security of those on her ship. She spent a while talking to the Chief of Security on the Linwood--they updated each other, passed on news etc. That last bit of work done she stood thinking to head to Linwood and seeing what was up.

::OOC:: -- LOL!! Apparently substance abuse might be the reason "Lizzie the Dippy" has only advanced to LT over the years, despite her impressive skills and qualifications... ROFLMAO!! JK...maybe

A Visit To Linwood: The Welcome

"Welcome to Linwood," greeted CAPT Preast as he offered a handshake to 10of9.

"Thank you Captain. Good to be in a port for some liberty, however short it may be."

The SERENDIPITY had arrived at LINWOOD just a few short hours before. 10of9 had put down "Liberty Call" for his crew. They were now busy exploring the station, and enjoying some much needed recreation. There would be little time for such in the coming weeks.

"Mr. Shultz, you have the conn. 10of9 and I will be in my Ready Room in conference. Please ensure I am notified when the other parties arrive."

"Aye aye, Captain Preast," came the sharp reply. Leaning into his trusted XO's ear, Cap'n Preast began: "Don't worry; I will..."

"Fill me in later. I already know," grinned the XO.

"How do you...?"

"You've done the same thing with me many times, knowing what I'm thinking without me saying it, finishing each other's sentences. Face it, we're a team."

"Ok, smart guy. Oh, please have some lifer juice, er, I mean coffee, and bloodwine sent to my ready room."

"Will do Captain. Already got your 'private stash' stocked up?"

Tapping the top of his right boot, neatly tucked under his pants leg, greg grinned, "If you have to ask, maybe you're not as psychic as I thought. Plenty of Kentucky's finest product."

"Roger, Cap'n."

10of9 took in the decor of Captain Preast's ready room/cabin/asylum. "Interesting choices, Captain, but I mean that in a good way. A pot-bellied wood-burning stove, a 20th century shotgun on the wall..."

"Yes. Little touches that make it feel like home. Pull up a chair and pop a squat."

10's eyebrow shot up Vulcan style. "Beg pardon?"

"A country colloquialism. It means please have a seat. And get comfortable."

"I understand that you made some scans of DETERMINED and sent them to Mr. Johnson, who is in the process of making recommendations for modification."

"Affirmative, 10. Mr. Johnson is due to arrive within the next day or so, along with other members of the expedition."

Preast then turned, looking out his replica porch window. The DETERMINED, an OLYMPIC-class hospital ship, was moored within view. He sat there, big ol' grin, just taking her all in.

"10, you are the top engineer I know, except for the Miracle Worker, rest his soul. Here is the long and short of it all: DETERMINED could get underway as is, but I'm not happy with her armament, but shield wise she's ok. I also want to get those engines in top conditions. Would you mind taking a look over them? as you already know, we are going after the hulk of the USS PEGASUS. She will fall uder my command upon recovery and through refurb. When all that is done, and pending my promotion to FCapt, I will then promote Rob Shultz to Captain, and hand PEGASUS over to him as his own bird.

"Also, once Mr. Johnson makes his recommendations, I would like you to be there and review them with me. together, we can decide what must be done now, and what can wait. I want to set out soon for the Devolin system. I think Logan is bringing TRINITY, so that will give us a three-ship formation. You are my senior, so the ultimate decision is yours. May I suggest that, once we get underway, we fly in a straight line bow to stern,until we reach our destination? Upon arival at the Devolin system and the asteroid, we can devlop a security pattern for the ships and our support craft, the shuttles, fighters, etc."

The door chimed. "Come in!"

The doors slid aside to reveal the yeoman with the coffee and bloodwine. Following the yeoman, was FCapt Barbara Adams, the Trinity's First Officer. Preast got up and moved over to her to shake her hand. "Barbara, it's good to see you again."

"You too, Greg." Looking over at the former Borg, she added, "You too, Admiral." She took the seat offered by Preast and the coffee offered by the yeoman. "I recieved a encoded burst from Logan just before I headed over here. He says that Huff is going to be fine. They managed to get the transponder out of his head. They should be here by 0900 tomorrow, station time. He sent the transponder on a probe heading for the Gamma Quadrent.....the long way!"

"What's the status of the Trinity, Barbara?" asked 10.

"Operationally, I think we're finally fully up and running. The hardest part was trying to get those micro torpedo launchers working. Some of the tech from the other Federation is so different from anything the Feddies have here. Thank goodness for those remaining crewmembers who defected to our side. They've been a big help. All of our external docks are fully functional. At any point we can take some Intrepids or Defiants with us. We are now up to 25 fighters and 6 runabouts, both Danube and Mare class. We've managed to get the regerative ablative armor system up and running, but too prolong a use of it will seriously drain the matter reserves and leave us without source materials for the replicators. So we can't use it except for an emergency. We still can't get the holographic cloak working. I've wanted to call in a couple from the Romulans from the MRL, but Logan doesn't trust them yet. That's where we stand."

::TAG:: -- ::per 10of9::

Barb, I believe Maquis R&D has been working on some solutions to the Regenerative Ablative Armour System [RAAS] shortfalls. Seems they developed one process that uses a cross-linked transporter combined with some borg cutting beam tech and a modified tractor beam all working together. Provided a suitable source is nearby for the matter, they've been successful in tests stripping the needed raw materials to supply the RAAS as it is being used instead of draining internal stores. Nearby asteroids and moons, even the enemy ships themselves can be mined on-the-run so long as their shields are breached. Of course there is still the issue of power consumption. Powering the RAAS is bad enough without near doubling the load harvesting matter needed for the shielding. Maybe if we have a little time we can jury-rig something along those lines for you. We certainly should have plenty of asteroids to scavenge. <huge smile and a wink>

Greg, once everyone has arrived we need to go over the mission briefing files so we all understrand the special challenges we'll face in the recovery. I have started such a file which should be complete by that time.

Elsewhere aboard LP Linwood

::LT Elizabeth Harker, Chief of Security Serendipity::

Lizzie jumped to her feet glaring at the station security officer. "Lucky shot" she said and the Klingon laughed. "Luck has nothing to do with it, little human..."

"Lets dance..." said Elizabeth Harker, as she took up a defensive position.

Well ten-of-nine said she had to relax and what better way than a little hand to hand. Fortunately some the people here were totally willing for a little practice. She had to be careful though, last thing she needed was for him to think she wanted a relationship. So it was with careful abandon that they flung each other about in the gym. Harker using her speed and agility with significant strength and the Klingon going for brute strength. It was good match, "Thanks for the workout..." She then left quickly heading for the private shower area quickly, not liking the look in his eyes.

Relaxed but a bit sore she headed for the Pub for a drink. She pulled a PADD out of her pocket on the way and began tinkering with training setups. She picked a table in the corner, her back to the wall, and ordered an Earth Ale called Abbot Ale. She sat sipping the drink as she studied the PADD. She glanced out of the nearby window, wondering if she could get someone to part with a space suit. Space walks were one of her favorite things to do. She debated on this as she sipped at her drink. She kept glancing outside, it was too much. She put the PADD in her pocket and finished her drink.

Later she was suited up and sitting on the upper part of the station, via magnetic boots and attachment cords. And she simply sat enjoying the vastness and peace of it all.

Back to the Welcome in Linwood's Ready Room...

Sipping his coffee, Greg turned to the Trinity's First Officer. "Barbara, I'd be glad to take a look at the holographic cloak and the regenerative armor situations. Perhaps I can find a wee bit of power somewhere..."

"Was that a Scottish accent I detected, Mr. Preast?" inquired Barbara.

"Well, only when I get inspired about working on engineering challenges. 10, did you want to give Barbara a 'sneak peek' at the mission, or wait until Logan and Huff arrived and give everyone the mission brief at one time?" inquired Greg.

"That's your choice, Greg," replied 10.

"No sir, Admiral. I defer to seniority. I may be hosting this shindig, and may have initiated the mission, but laying out the plan is your bailiwick. Makes me no nevermind. We're not going anywhere for awhile are we? I mean, Trinity has those couple'a issues, Determined is getting rehabbed a bit, tryin' to put more teeth into her bite, and Logan's not here yet..."

"No, I think we'll be here a little while anyway."

Reaching into the infamous top of his right boot, Cap'n Greg produced the now famous 'stash' of Kentucky's finest product. He tapped his commbadge.

"S-H-U-U-U-L-TZ!"

"Shultz, aye, Captain."

"You have the conn. We are not to be disturbed. Conference level BR549, got it?" Shultz tried unsuccessfully to surpress a snicker. "Got it, Captain." The weathered Captain then proceeded to loosen the zipper on his tunic, chug his last bit of coffee from his mug, then recharged it with the potent liquid from his flask. "Since this is gonna take some deep thinkin', figgered we could all relax into it. Anyone else care for a snort, or at least a refill on coffee?"

Early at the next day's briefing...

<<10of9 hears a subtle chirp and notes a priority message on his PADD. He then makes a few entries and puts the PADD away.>>

"Very well Greg, I shall have Logan and Chris intercepted and given a minor diversion. I have just gotten word that one of our resources has located a Federation IPCD that was supposedly secretly stored at a remote research outpost that 'nobody knows about'. <Guffaw...> It should only take them an additional day to divert to retrieve the package from our Operative. With any luck, it will be operable."

"Once they arrive within two days, as the last key players in our team, I want to have a final Mission Briefing and Brainstorming session. In preparation for that meeting, I am releasing a mission dossier file and a summary of some details that you and I have discussed. I have included a secure version for Logan and Chris when they are tasked with the side trip so hopefully everyone will be up to speed and ready to work together on this task."

"The file is here: http://wiki.maquis.com/w/MFI_RP_SIM/MFS_Serendipity/Pegasus_Mission Everyone should take time to study it."

During yet another planning session a mere 30 hours later...

Mission details were being smoothed out during a meeting already in progress...

"Also Greg, I defer to your planning to lay out our transit to the mission area and arrange a defensive plan to cover us while our engineers work. Seredipity shall be engaged in the recovery operation. So I assume that Determined and Trinity along with their support craft will cover the security operation. I may be able to arrange for some squadrons from MFS Compliance to ride along on Trinity since she seems to have the available deck space, if that is OK with Barb and Logan" he smiled.

"That should not be a problem, Admiral. We've plenty of space on the flight nacells, and tons of room inside," Adams said.

The former Borg was pleased. "My own Security Chief, Lt. Harker will handle local security for Serendipity and the salvage crew. You'd like her Greg. She's tough and talented...built like a turtle..." he chuckled with a look like he was sharing an inside joke.

"You did receive the Berserkers and Peregrine Fighters we sent you, didn't you Greg?"

At that moment, the door chime to the ready room sounded. "Come"

The door slid open and in walked Logan and Huff. "When did you get here, Sir?" Barbara asked. "I left orders to alert me when you docked back with the Trinity."

"Admiral's privilage. I also ordered the transporter chief not to send word forward. And technically I didn't dock with the Trinity. Trin flew the Imbri in by herself."

Changing his focus from his First Officer to the room in general, he continued. "Gentlemen, this is Mr Christopher Huff. I believe we have the makings of a mutually bennificial arrangement here. Mr Huff has some skills and knowledge we need in order to successfully obtain the Pegasus, and we can provide him the means to better avoid those who would wish him harm. Mr Huff, introducing my First Officer--Force Captain Barbara Adams, Vice Admiral 10--CO of the MFS Seredipity, and Capt Greg Preast--Commander of the LP Linwood." Handshakes were exchanged.

Ten-of-Nine looked pleased. "Logan, once again you have exceeded my expectations. Your early arrival is most welcome and appreciated. I take it that your side trip to retrieve the 'package' went smoothly as expected?"

"Yes sir it did. When we are done here I assume you wish it to be transferred to Serendipity?"

"Most excellant, yes that would be perfect" Ten replied.

Looking about the room, Ten added, "Well everyone. Seem as if we have our work cut out for us to finish our preparations and get underway as soon as possible. Thank you all."

The final briefing

Ten days after MFS Compliance's first arriving at LP Linwood...

In attendance: Greg Preast, Rob Shultz, Logan Andrews, Barb Adams, Chris Huff, Lizzie Harker, 10of9, and approx 8 misc (NPC) engineering and sciences minions...

Ten of Nine cleared his throat to divert attention from the half dozen or so discussions going on in the Briefing Room aboard LP Linwood. Glancing one last time at the viewscreen display on the table in front of and to his left, he summarized:

"We've had more than a week keeping quite busy preparing."

"Determined is ready to go in all key systems. We've managed to throw together an aux power pod containing more than enough portable power units to operate systems aboard Pegasus. Greg has all four of his Berserker runabouts operational and checked out. The first seven of Greg's Peregrine fighters were delivered via cargo ships and have by now been assembled and checked out."

"Trinity has had some improvements installed to help make the regenerative ablative armor [RAAS] a little more effective and useable. We've taken some unused hanger space and installed portable power cells to ease the load of the RAAS in operation. We also modified three of the cargo transporters and cross linked them with three tractor beams modified to function as borg type cutting beams. With any luck, we should be able to scavenge nearby asteroids and debris fields to supply and replenish the matter stores needed to fuel the RAAS. Theoretically it should work even during a running battle. Also a few ships and shuttles have arrived to ride along aboard Trinity to assist us."

<<will insert list of aux ships here later>>

"Serendipity has enhanced a borg type cutting/tractor beam system. Hopefully it will allow us to clear the debris blocking the fissure entrance to the rift which in turn leads within the asteroid to the Pegasus hulk. The IPCD appears to be ready to install once we get to Pegasus's Main Engineering."

"The primary plan is to get there, then have Determined and Trinity provide security and support outside the asteroid along with the lesser shuttles, fighters, and ships. Serendipity will unblock the fissure and proceed inside the asteroid to Pegasus, install the IPCD, leave a minimal crew on Pegasus, and get out before Pegasus tries to extract herself. Pegasus will then cloak and use thrusters and remote manuvering micro tugs to hopefully get out of the asteroid. Once clear, Pegasus will decloak and be towed back for salvage repairs."

"The alternate plan is something we'll come up with if needed. Any concerns, new sugestions, or questions?" as Ten looked around the room.

"What about opposition?" Harker asked. "Who else do you expect in the area? Any intell?"

Ten answered, "Right now we don't have much recent intelligence reporting. It has been a while since Enterprise recovered the original IPCD. However it wouldn't surprise me if the Romulans still maintain patrols of the area. We just will have to be alert and take things as they happen."

Pegasus Revisited - Emergency Breakaway

After sufficiently satisfying his thirst, Captain Preast began to think, as his loosened brain cells arc’d and sparked.

‘Lessee,’ he thought to himself. ‘I have the dossier on the mission with me, which I can review enroute. There’s an awful lot of talking, and not enough action. I could sit here n’ continue to twiddle my thumbs, but that hurts after awhile. Hmmm…’

Tapping his comm badge, he spoke efficiently, “Mr. Shultz, inform engineering to make ready for emergency breakawy. ensure LCDR Palatsky is sufficienty instructed. Have him, activate cover music, lock onto my signature, and energize transport. Priority Alpha 36!”

"Aye aye, Cap'n. Stand by." Slightly shifting tones, CDR Shultz called out, "Engineering, XO..."

"Sir, yes sir!" came the reply from an ancinet sound Chief Engineer.

"Blue, Cap'n said make ready for emergency breakaway. I need the all engines online and ready to roll! You got me?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"BLUE, YOU'RE MY BOY!"

After a few minutes, engineering called back to rthe bridge, "XO this is Blue, everything is locked, cocked and ready to rock..."

"YOU'RE MY BOY, BLUE! Break...Captain, XO. Stand by for beam out."

As the Determined's CO began to shimmer, an astonished 10of9 asked, “What’s going on here, Greg?”

“I gotta go see a rock about a ship. Anybody wants to come along, saddle up and catch up with me. ‘Sides, I got to open up the Determined’s engines and blow some dust out of the carburetor.”

“Carburetor?” everyone seemed to exclaim in unison.

The moorings dropped from Determined as she did a high energy turn to starboard leaving the pier. Captain Preast materialized in the center chair.

“Welcome back, sir.” grinned CDR Shultz.

”Thanks. We’ll see who comes along for the ride on this one.” Nearly growling with his true Southern accent out of one side of his mouth, the captain declared “I can’t believe how slow things are. Guess Kirk was right about not letting them promote you past Captain; you can make a big difference on your own bridge. You, suh, shall find that out one day. Take the hint.”

“Well, Skipper, you set a pretty good example. By the way, hate to add more fuel to the fire, sir, but we are missing two of our crew, LCDR Ellison and LCDR Murray.”

“WHAAAAT?!?,” roared Captain Preast. "On report. NOW! On second thought, belay that; I’ll have them dropped from the ship’s records, and see about having them dropped from the Maquis altogether. If you can swing weapons, I’ll work with Blue in engineering. It’ll be tough for me…”

“Permission to speak frankly, sir?”

“Granted.”

“You ain’t fooling me. I know you’d rather be in Main 1 or Main 2, with magna-spanners, torquing around deuterium or dilithium seeing what you can get out of the engines, or bumping up power to different systems. With your love for those engines, sometimes I swear you are the Miracle Worker, God rest his soul, reincarnated. Besides, what did you tell me about the record for number of jobs at one time by one person?”

”The record is five by Ensign Mayweather’s grandfather aboard the ECS Horizon” replied Captain Preast. "OK, enough of this jibber-jabber. Let’s go get that ship. Stand by for the jump to warp…3-2-1, an-n-n-n-nd, <<whoosh>> there we go."

The MFS Determined was on her way to the Devolin system to retrieve the hulk of the ex-USS Pegasus.

Meanwhile, Linwood Control Tower was picking up some interesting audio.

A very young Ensign was bobbing his head to the tune of “Here I Go Again ” by Whitesnake.

At the same time, Captain Preast was in Main Engineering, taking another sip from the flask, and chanting the same tune…

<TAG>

OOC: So now that we are underway, who’s with me?

Havoc...Ten-of-Nine's POV

Aboard LP Linwwod, Serendipity, Trinity, and several other minor ships and shuttles all hell was breaking loose. In Linwoods Briefing Room, a dozen communicator conversations were happening all at once. Shaking off his initial shock and disbelief at what had just happened, VADM Ten-of-Nine had a determined, cold steeled look on his face that few in the room had ever seen. He uttered one word, "Report".

The VADM listened intently as one report after another was given, silent except for the occaisional quiet yet clear question. After several minutes, things began to calm down. One of the last reports was from Harker who had been in contact with Linwoods Sick Bay.

"All right everyone" Ten said as the room quieted down. "Logan and Barb, please see that Trinity is made ready to get underway. Lizzie, same for Serendipity. Someone get a hold of the senior officer still aboard Linwood, the Ops Officer is my guess, and convey my desire to have a face-to-face report in fifteen minutes. The rest of you, finish up here and report to your duty stations as I am placing all units here on alert. If anyone has a comment on our mission plan, please register it in the computers mission file as you are able. Make it so! Dismissed people."

He turned and headed for the Linwoods Ready Room.

Havoc...Logan's POV

As the Determined's CO began to shimmer, an astonished 10of9 asked, "What's going on here, Greg?"

"I gotta go see a rock about a ship. Anybody wants to come along, saddle up and catch up with me. 'Sides, I got to open up the Determined's engines and blow some dust out of the carburetor." "Carburetor?" everyone seemed to exclaim in unison.

With that the Linwood CO vanished. Immediately on the heels of that event there was a flash outside the room's observation windows and everyone's communicators went off.

Logan tapped his badge and did his best to filter out the reports comming from his Chief of Comms, Cmdr Evans. In the midsts of it all, the VAdm barked out "Report". Logan had never seen that look in the former Borg's eyes, and hoped he never did again. The VAdm started pointing at people to get their reports. Logan took advantage of not being first to get further details from his ship.

When Ten pointed at him, Logan reported, "All ship systems are functioning normally. We had two Bees out doing hull sweeps over the RAAS generators to see if the modifications were holding. They got caught in the impulse wake. Minor damage. They've been tractored into the fighter pylons and Doc's checking the crewmembers out now. I also have a report of two people in damaged EVA's. They were beamed straight to our sickbay. Badges identified them as LCDR Ellison and LCDR Murray of the Linwood. As soon as they are stable we'll beam them to the station's sickbay."

The other reports were given including some from the station crew. Then the VAdm spoke up.

"All right everyone" Ten said as the room quieted down. "Logan and Barb, please see that Trinity is made ready to get underway. Lizzie, same for Serendipity. Someone get a hold of the senior officer still aboard Linwood, the Ops Officer is my guess, and convey my desire to have a face-to-face report in fifteen minutes. The rest of you, finish up here and report to your duty stations as I am placing all units here on alert. If anyone has a comment on our mission plan, please register it in the computers mission file as you are able. Make it so! Dismissed people."

As everyone filed out, Andrews told his First Officer, to go ahead and make the ship ready then turned to the VAdm. "Sir, about Mr. Huff? Will he be traveling aboard the Trintiy or the Serenity?"

<fill in Huff's or Steve's reply>

"Very good, Sir. We'll be ready to depart within the hour." Logan turned and left the ready room. He made his way to the transporter room. Entering he said to the officer on duty, "Beam me to the Trinity, Transporter Room 2, please."

"Aye, Sir"

Private Comm Link

Entering the Ready Room alone he [Ten-of-Nine] sealed the door and ordered communications to establish a secure link to Determined. A private conversation for Captain Preast. After what seemed to be an excessive delay, a chime went off and the view screen showed the Determined's Captain with an odd silly grin on his face.

"Captain Preast, are you alone and is this channel secure?"

"Yes Sir."

Ten continued before more could be said, "I need a straight answer. Yes or No. Was there a bonifide emergency that precipitated your departure?"

"No Sir, but..."

The VADM continued, cutting off anything more that Preast was about to say, "It is your turn to listen until I ask for a reply. The Maquis have invested a great deal of time, manpower, and resources in taking on this mission that you requested. There is NO excuse for a starship captain to risk the lives of his crew, others in the vicinity, and Maquis ships and stations simply on what could arguably appear to be a drunken whim. In that regard you have disgraced your self and the uniform you wear."

"In addition, you have continued to show a lack of interest in doing the things required to ensure this mission minimizes the chance for loss of life or serious injury. You also seem to disregard the real life physics and engineering principles that constrain us. By the way, you keep referring to the 'Miracle Worker' as if he is dead. We both should know that Captain Scott is alive and well despite his lengthened life span and is still the Commanding Officer of Starfleet's Corps of Engineers [SCE]. I believe he would take exception at the news of his apparent passing. I also would like to point out that his reputation is not actually the result of miracles, but rather his knack for exaggerating his time estimates and his engineering genius at determining inspired and innovative ways to effect the seemingly impossible. He understands and respects the laws of physics at an intimate level. I dearly wish his loyalty to Starfleet was weakened to the point where he would join the Maquis, but I know that is impossible for a man such as he is."

"By the way, you might be missing some of your crew if you have not already noticed. We found both LCDR Ellison and LCDR Murray barely still alive in the wake of your departure. Station logs show they were EVA in the vicinity of Determineds impulse power exhaust ports doing inspections when you decided to have your 'fun'. They presently are in intensive care in Linwood's Infirmary."

"I am NOT going to request your resignation nor relieve you of command at this time. What happens from this point forward shall determine your future, but I strongly request that you seriously consider the lessons to be learned from this. It also might be advisable for you to choose to transfer command of Determined to CDR Shultz at this time. If you do so, simply say that you need to concentrate on the Pegasus Mission right now. Indeed that is a truth and I will support you in that. I believe that also answers your dilemma about who might pilot Pegasus out of the asteroid. You wanted to volunteer anyway. Just humor me and stop loosening your brain cells. You're going to need them all. By the stars, 'I' need you functioning at 100 percent if we have any hope of pulling this off."

"Lastly, you might want to find somewhere to stop until the rest of your TEAM arrives. Seriously, I do not know what you were thinking. You know you can't get to Pegasus by yourself and without the IPCD you have little hope of retrieving her. Do we have an understanding?"

<< insert your response here >>

"Right then. Lets get serious about the Mission, shall we? See you soon. Ten-of-Nine out." Link broken and the screen goes dark. Another chime. "Sir, Linwoods Ops Officer to see you" an unfamiliar voice said with a touch of discomfort.

"Computer. Release the locks and allow entry." The door opened...

<< OOC >> Thanks Greg for supplying this opportunity add a little drama to liven up this sim. It was starting to drag down. You are a good sport. Steve

ps- Playing this part is why I did NOT want to sim at my actual rank... LOL

< TAG >

Trinity

"Welcome back, Sir. FCapt Adams said to tell you she's on the Secondary's Bridge."

"Thank you, Ensign." Logan headed out of the transporter room and made for the PtP pad. Had he known she was going to be in the Secondary's hull, he had asked for a nearer transporter room.

The Trinity was a ship from another universe. In this one the Federation had control of all of the Alpha and the Beta quadrants. The Trinity had been built to patrol the boarders. It was essentially a warp-capable space station. As such it's Primary and Secondary hulls could separate and remerge similar to the Galaxy Class ships. But both were warp capable and battle ready. Each had it's one bridge.

With the ship being over three miles long, that universe had developed a special Point-to-Point transporter system. These individual transporter pads had special wave guides bulit into the hull of the vessel and were independent of the standard transporter system. While there were several, they were only near the key locations; the Bridges, the shuttle bays, the fighter pylons, and others. Transporter room 2 was near the Primary's bridge.

Andrews reached the PtP pad. He stepped up and and said, "Secondary Main Bridge." In even less time than a standard transporter he was stepping of the PtP pad near his destination. Not for the first time did he wish he could figure a way to build this speed into the regular transporter. But his Chief Engineer kept talking about how the wave guides bypassed the targeting algorithms or something like that. He entered the Bridge.

< TAG >

 :OOC: I have to stop there due to time constraints. I'll finish later.

LT Harker

NARRATORS NOTE: Harker had just left the Briefing when CAPT Preast decided to stir things up... When the alerts sounded, she sprinted back in time to hear the VADM request, "Report". Following those intense minutes, the VADM dismissed the meeting with, "Make it so! Dismissed people."

 ::IC::

She left the room heading for the Serendipity while the Station Security Chief, who was walking with her, filled her in.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lizzie Harker said as she looked at the Station Security Chief in disbelief. She had gotten the emergency call and had hurried back only to find that Captain Preast had done some kind of emergency breakway.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the unhappy man walking with her, "Let me get this right, because he's bored he decides to just go ahead?" In total disbelief she couldn't even think of an appropriate 'well this is like' connection. She waved at the Security Chief as he turned to his own duties and she continued for the Serendipity. "What was he thinking?" she wondered to herself. She met him--thought he was pretty alright. He was a bit weird but then again so were all the maquis.

They could ill afford to take on missions without proper prep--it's not like their resources were limitless. She hated inaction and smypathized with Captain Preast but wow.. She shook her head in confusion and entered the Serendipity. Arriving on the bridge she began getting it ready for immediate departure. Fortunately it was pretty squared away as the limited crew knew the jobs.

A part of her mind wondered, as she prepped the ship, when this could all be over. When could they stop digging through other peoples trash for ship and equipment. She hoped soon, it was her most burning goal to see the maquis come into it's own. She took the increasing respect and assistance by others as a hopeful sign but she knew it would be a long road. She only hoped she would live to see it....

time passed and she got on the comm,

+com+ "Harker to Admiral of the Vices, Sir ship is ready when you are."

Headed for Devolin

Just over an hour after Determined's departure Ten-of-Nine had completed a weeks worth of meetings in a non-stop sequence. As he boarded Serendipity he headed straight for the bridge and was pleased to find that LT Harker had everything and everyone secured and prep'd for departure.

Lizzie formally snapped to attention and called out "Admiral on the Bridge". She had a huge snicker grin barely concealed because she knew that Ten hated such formality, especially on Serendipity.

"Just for that, Lizzie, you get to pull first watch. You've got the ship." Ten grinned at her then he activated his comm badge. "MFS Serendipity to LP Linwood and MFS Trinity." When both acknowledged he continued, "Linwood, please clear Serendipity and Trinity for immediate departure. By the book. This is NOT, repeat NOT an emergency. Please advise when we are cleared for departure. Serendipity out."

Turning back to Lizzie, "I am going to try for some rest in my cabin. Get us underway along with Trinity for the Devolin system. Along the way, swing by and have Determined join us. CAPT Preast was requested to lay to and wait for the mission fleet. Keep us at something reasonable, say warp 6. We have three days travel and we'll need time to finish getting the special mods on-line. Wake me if we have a real emergency. Anything I forgot?"

"I doubt it, your Worship. Have a nice regeneration..." as she turned to her bridge duties.

Ten-of-Nine headed to his cabin after making a 15 minute informal inspection tour of Engineering and the modified Cargo spaces on the lower deck. By then they were underway.

<<TAG>>

::NOTE::

As previously promised-- Temporarily assigned to MFS Trinity for transport in addition to Trinitys own craft:

• << MFS Scavenger, Side# RS-41, call sign= "JOAT One", a T-Rex class Raider, part of Recovery Salvage Squadron 4 [VRS-4]
• << part of Space Control Squadron 24 [VS-24], (1 ea) Apollo Class ship Side# AJ-806 and (2 ea) Artemis Class ships Side#s AJ-802 and AJ-804
• << (11 ea) Type 9 Shuttles, (8 ea) Type 10 Shuttles , and (15 ea) Type 18 Shuttles -- these are standard general shuttles that have been optimized for use as make-shift fighters.

Quick mission plan recap...

Sometime the next day, while in transit to the Devolin System, CAPT Preast tight beamed a comm link to VADM Ten-of-Nine aboard Serendipity. He asked a number of questions about the mission plan.

The VADM replied with the following supplemental file [somewhat third person]:

I hate to beat this to death, but most of what you ask is covered in the briefing http://wiki.maquis.com/w/MFI_RP_SIM/MFS_Serendipity/Pegasus_Mission Are you having a problem viewing it?

RECAP: Think huge asteroid field with some asteroids that are huge themselves. The hulk is trapped in Gamma 601 about two kilometers deep. Note that does NOT mean that the center of the asteroid is 2 klicks, the whole asteroid is a lot bigger--like a small moon. It is also gravitationally and seisemicly unstable whith a high probability of cave ins. The hulk is deep inside a fissure that is currently blocked due to enemy activity during the last Enterprise mission.

There is a high chance that someone else may be active in the area. Romulans, pirates, prospectors, criminals, the Feds -- who knows? We have to try to discourage interferrence first via steath if possible and then by force if needed. We do have some significant firepower.

There is also a good chance that Romulans or someone else have tried to salvage the ship already [or parts of it] following the Enterprise mission.

We intend to clear the debris blocking the fissure. We have a couple of ships outfitted with modified Borg tech tractor and cutting beams that should be able to do that, provided that the asteroid is stable enough. Trinity and Determined have the big guns to overwatch the operation. Serendipity and the Salvage Raider will do the digging.

Once clear, Serendipity will enter the asteroid and navigate the fissure to the hulk. The plan is to do a quick survey of the hulk, power up systems needed to propel Pegasus out while cloaked, install and activate the IPCD when time is ready. Prior to that, all but a minimal crew [maybe three +/- ?] will transfer back to Serendipity and that ship will navigate out of the asteroid BEFORE the IPCD is activated. There is a high probability that the phase cloak will disrupt the non-phased rock causing massive collapses. So this is pretty much a one shot deal.

Questions about why a VADM or a CAPT would risk themselves...? Well, they are foremost engineers who promoted up and are very much hands-on still. Maquis are not so concerned about restricting ranks activity to keep them out of the trenches. [an aside: Kirk would have been a likely candidate to join the Maquis... doncha think?] Plus we are the sort to lead from the front... like Teddy Roosevelt.

I plan for the VADM [myself] to go in and see that everything has the best chance of success, then get Serendipity to safety. CAPT Preast is welcome to pilot Pegasus or pass that duty to someone else.

Assuming Pegasus is moved free, we will disable the IPCD as soon as possible. Then I expect that Pegasus will need a tow home to wherever she'll be repaired.

Sounds like a good plan. We shall see what we really have to do once we get there...

Following sending this file, Serendipity resumed comm silence...

 ::OOC::

Just wanted to share the general plan with everybody. If someone wants to add anything or request something special, please speak up!