The Federation Tribune - October 2004

[Rob Versteegt]

                  ==== The Federation Tribune ====
                           ==== August 2004 ====

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USS Atlantis Status Report, September 2004, by David Susman.
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Stardate: 2391.04.19

The crew of the Atlantis find themselves hijacked by person or person(s)
unknown.  A radiation leak was reported in Engineering and three crewmen,
Robbie Zhora, Elizabeth Draco and Petty Officer Morgan were trapped
inside.  Suspicion has fallen on these three since all computer controls
have been rerouted to Engineering, leaving the crew a view to the outside
by means of the External Sensors and Life Support.

The crew are working in teams to try and overcome this attack from within,
while the ship hurtles at Warp 9 towards an unknown destination and an
unknown fate.

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USS Odyssey Status Report September 2004, by Dennis Church.
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Stardates 2391.04.15, 2391.04.21, 2391.04.26

With the assistance of the USS Caduceus, a medical ship, Alvas Kylie was
safely transported to Starbase 12 for treatment.  However, about a week
after the Odyssey is assigned a new mission, which better suits the ship's
designed purpose.

A KPS starcluster near the Federation's borders needs studying, and the
Odyssey is given the task of doing so-with a unique pulsar double star that
is about to fuse, it looks like an interesting mission.

However, shortly after the ship arrives and begins their study of the
sector, an unknown alien vessel arrives and hails them, urging them that
they are in mortal danger.  Captain Bennek invites them onboard, not knowing
the aliens but also knowing that he needs to know precisely what this danger
could be...

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USS Calhoun Status Report September 2004, by Adrian Rodd.
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The Calhoun has left Delta One and returned to Earth for repairs, a full
review of systems efficiency, a report on the transwarp core's performance,
a complement of new crewmembers, and shore leave for the crew. After an
uneventful trip, the crew beamed down to various locations on Earth. . .
only to find themselves mysteriously whisked into the past a few minutes
after arrival. Now, over six hundred people are scattered throughout Earth's
history. . . and it rests upon John Hart, former Calhoun crewmember, now
visitor from the future as captain of a timeship, to set things straight.

Hart has already retrieved Captain Sarin from early twenty-first century
North Korea, and explained to her that the " accident " was the result of a
time-travelling outlaw who intersected an artificial subspace rift with the
Calhoun's transwarp drive, permeating the crew with a time displacement
effect that was then activated by the transporters. Hart and Sarin have
teamed up to find the rest of the crew, and are presently in sixteenth
century Scotland, trying to prevent Ensign Jamison from being burnt at the
stake as a witch ! Meanwhile, other crewmembers adapt as best they can to
their new surroundings. . .

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USS Valkyrie Status Report September 2004, by Brandon Allard
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Stardate: 2391.04.28

Here we are on our own again. (Pandora just couldn't release those docking
clamps fast enough...) There is little to report thus far as we have just
left Pandora station on this day and, high warp speed limitations being in
effect, have not covered a great distance yet. However in the time it took
to ready the ship for travel once more, the new additions to the crew have
had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their departments, and
their fellow officers. With no reports from sickbay describing horribly
mutilated corpses or other unusual instances, I can only assume that our new
members are fitting in will. Though provided they get their jobs done and
nobody gets hurt too badly, I'm quite content to leave analyzing their
interactions to the counsellors.

On a personal note, I'm finding myself more and more distrubed by the new
helmsman... woman... thing. Luckily she's the only one on board and I spend
most of our coinciding duty shifts together seeing the back of her
containment suit. Watching her face dissolve and then reform before my eyes
is more than a little disturbing. It's about as close as I care to get to
meeting a ghost. I can only imagine what it must be like for the children
aboard.

Log ends.

-FO Giellun Maiek

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Pandora Station Status Report 2004, by Bram Peeters and Rob Versteegt.
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Stardates 2391.04.25 - 2391.04.30

Finally... the Kotarrani have been beamed on board the Valkyrie, and were
then delivered back to Pandora Station, where the USS Nexus would pick them
up, and take them back to their planet. That would, however, probably result
in a civil war, because there were now 2 groups: one group that still
believed the Borg were the Holified Ones, and another group, which believed
just the opposite: that the Borg were ruthless killing machines.

Once the crew had said goodbye to the Kotarrani, the USS Nexus left Pandora
Station. Shortly thereafter, the USS Valkyrie departed. And only a day or so
later, the USS Epimetheus, which had been assigned to Pandora Station for
such a long time, departed as well. Under the command of Captain Janssens,
it set out to explore a region of the Gamma Quadrant which hasn't been
explored yet. They would first stop by Earth though, to bring home Commander
Holmes, who has been assigned on another transwarpproject.

This left Pandora Station without it's Captain and First Officer. However,
the last task that Captain Janssens performed as CO of Pandora Station, was
promoting several members of his crew: Mr. Tek became COUNS and Ltjg, OPS
Nel got promoted to Ltjg, CMO Truesdale received a promotion to full
Lieutenant, and 2O/CSO Jalando was promoted to Commander, and First Officer
of Pandora Station. So... when Janssens left, Pandora Station was his. At
least... until the new Captain would arrive...

Stardates 2391.05.01 - 2391.05.02

The new CO of Pandora Station arrived at may the first: one day after
Captain Janssens had left with the Epimetheus. Captain Kane, the new CO,
quickly got introduced to his new crew, by the way of a meeting.

The next day, Commander Jalando had some news for the Captain: the solar
storms, which have been going on for the past 2 weeks, only increased,
instead of diminished. Something had to be done fast, because the sensors
and communications' efficiency was already degrading...

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Public Relations Status Report September 2004, by Rob Versteegt
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This month, I've done some more PR than usual. (which is of course a good
thing.) I've checked quite some voting sites, and I've entered the address
to the Frontierfleet site there. This means, now that the Webmaster has put
the addresses of these sites online in the comm-section of the site, that
you can... no, should all vote, to promote ST Frontierfleet!

You can vote here: http://www.frontierfleet.net/comm/vote. Make sure to vote
every day! ;-)

Well.. then the signups. This month, we had 19 signups... but only 4 of them
made it past the first check. Ah well... I hope to see better signups soon,
with all you FF'ers voting out there... ;-)

Let's see how they found us:

10: Searching on the net by Google, another search engine, or just by
looking around. (4 of these are the same signup send in 4 times...)
3: A link to the site.
1: Voting site
1: An ad at Startrek.com
1: had been a member before.
1: unknown
1: Through a friend.
1: an ad at topwebgames.com

Well... that's about it for now. If you have an idea about how to attract
more members, or how to make Frontierfleet even more interesting and
exciting  than it already is... let me know. ;-)

Oh, and don't forget to vote!

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SF Academy Status Report September 2004, by Rob Versteegt
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Instructors: (8)

Chief Instructor Sedaq, played by Adrian Rodd
Instructor Joran Moore, played by David Susman.
Instructor Vivienne Creenan, played by Rob Versteegt
Instructor Randy Orsolo, played by Dennis Church
Instructor Miranda Winter, played by Ben Versteegt
Instructor T'Pott, played by Bram Peeters.
Instructor Sophie Jaune, played by Rob Verlinden

==================
Instructors gone: (1)

Instructor Patrick Kelly, played by William Lea

==================
Cadets lost: (4)

Cadet Ritarin, played by Kall. Shakespear.
Cadet Tarth Solano, played by Jordan Rattet.
Cadet Andree Dothan, played by Kenneth Martin
Cadet Tsssarvk, played by Jacob T.

==================
New Signups: (19) Useless 15, leaves 4 (!!!)

==================

List cadets: (4) (Instructors are Sussie, Bram and Bobby.)

Cadet Straden Kile, played by Shawn Prince.
Cadet Ben Moore, played by Jeremy Shaffer.
Cadet Emile Gil Shofield, played by Ruber Hilbert.
Cadet Tom Collard, played by Gareth Davies.

Summary:
Stardate 2389.03.08.

When the Academy ship USS Tempest returned from a mission to Starbase 153,
where it retreived some alien device, Lt Creenan and Cadets Ritarin,
Keening, Collard, Moore and Kile, started working together with Instructor
T'Pott, to find out what exactly this device does...

However, when Instructor T'Pott started scanning, a white flash appeared,
and took T'Pott with it. When the white flash had disappeared, so had the
Instructor. Now, Instructor Creenan, together with Cadets Collard, Moore and
Kile, and Schofield, (Cadet Keening got sick, and went away... Cadet Ritarin
accompanied her to the medical facilities,) will have to find out where
Instructor T'Pott is now... and how to get her back...

Posting Statistics:

Sussie Andersson: 4
Rob Versteegt: 6
Kall. Shakespear: 5
Bram Peeters: 2
Gareth Davies: 5
Shawn Prince: 1
Jeremy Shaffer: 1

Total number of posts: 24.

==================
Individual Cadets: (6)

Cadet Jonas Banks, played by Joshua Willerton (Bobby)
Cadet Zim Tannan, played by Mike Tipy (Bobby)
Cadet Peter Franken, Played by Peter Franken (Bobby)
Cadet Andrei Brovchin, played by Andrei Brovchin (David)
Cadet Blake Dorsey, played by Jason Frisk (Rob007)
Cadet Callum Robinson, played by Callum Robinson. (Bobby)

==================
Graduates: None yet...

==================
Admiral Baine's personal comment:

The last month hadn't been the most productive month. I haven't graduated a
cadet in.. what was it.. 2 months? Well, at least the list is going well. A
bit slow maybe, but still... I hope to graduate some cadets soon: there are
a few who are almost ready.

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Fleetwide Posting Stats, September 2004, by Rob Versteegt.
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Posting Statistics September 2004:
Note: This time, I've made sure the posts of the Academylist also had been
counted. They do not, however, count for the total number of posts, except
for the cadets who are only at the Academy... ;-) Next time thought, I am
planning  on counting the Academyposts for the total number of posts. Anyone
got any objections to that? ;-)

Top 10 Posters of September 2004:

#10 Ben Versteegt: 13 (Panda 5, Ody 8) PC: 5

#9 Angelic Noble: 13 (Cal 13) PC: 13

#8 Sussie Andersson: 21 (Panda 16, Ody 5, *Acad* 4) PC: 10

#7 David Susman: 26 (Atly 12, Panda 5, Ody 6, Valk 3) PC: 7

#6 Jake Hanlon: 30 (Cal 30) PC: 29

#5 Laura Elliot: 31 (Cal 31) PC: 13

#4 Bram Peeters: 39 (Atly 6, Panda 21, Ody 4, Valk 8, *Acad* 2) PC: 12

#3 Kelley MacKinnon: 50 (Cal 50) PC: 14

#2 Adrian Rodd: 50 (Panda 13, Cal 37) PC: 16

AND THE NR 1 POSTER FOR SEPTEMBER IS:

#1 Rob Versteegt: 58 (Atly 8, Panda 35, Ody 4, Valk 4, Cal 7 *Acad* 6) PC:
10

Posting stats:
#1 Rob Versteegt: 58 (Atly 8, Panda 35, Ody 4, Valk 4, Cal 7 *Acad* 6) PC:
10
#2 Adrian Rodd: 50 (Panda 13, Cal 37) PC: 16
#3 Kelley MacKinnon: 50 (Cal 50) PC: 14
#4 Bram Peeters: 39 (Atly 6, Panda 21, Ody 4, Valk 8, *Acad* 2) PC: 12
#5 Laura Elliot: 31 (Cal 31) PC: 13
#6 Jake Hanlon: 30 (Cal 30) PC: 29
#7 David Susman: 26 (Atly 12, Panda 5, Ody 6, Valk 3) PC: 7
#8 Sussie Andersson: 21 (Panda 16, Ody 5, *Acad* 4) PC: 10
#9: Patrick Buidin: 16 (Atly 5, Cal 11) PC: 11
#10 Ben Versteegt: 13 (Panda 5, Ody 8) PC: 5
#11 Angelic Noble: 13 (Cal 13) PC: 13
#12 Dennis Church: 12 (Panda 3, Ody 9) PC: 9
#13 Martin Miller: 10 (Atly 9, Panda 1) PC: 4
#14 Gael Imaddine: 10 (Panda 10) PC: 5
#15 Aaron Langston: 9 (Panda 9) PC: 3
#16 Werner Knoesen: 9 (Cal 9)
#17 Michael Smith: 8 (Panda 8) PC: 7
#18 Rob Verlinden: 8 (Ody 8) PC: 7
#19 Richard Clogston: 8 (Valk 8) PC: 8
#20 Matt Brown: 7 (Valk 7) PC: 7
#21 Treassa Cumpston: 7 (Cal 7) PC: 7
#22 Alonzo Soban: 6 (Atly 6) PC: 5
#23 Eric Hess: 6 (Cal 6) PC: 6
#24 Aaron DeLay: 6 (Cal 6) PC: 5
#25 Dawn Johnson: 5 (Ody 5) PC: 5
#26 Brandon Allard: 5 (Valk 5) PC: 4
#27 Guido Dorssers: 5 (Valk 5) PC: 5
#28 Chantal Marie Sellers: 5 (Atly 3, Ody 2) PC: 3
#29 Kall Shakespear: 5 (*Acad* 5) PC: 5
#30 Gareth Davies: 5 (*Acad* 5) PC: 5
#31 Craig D: 4 (Atly 4) PC: 4
#32 Jonathan Hardy: 4 (Panda 2, Ody 2) PC: 1
#33 Cody Ferro: 4 (Cal 4) PC: 4
#34 Chris Alexander: 3 (Ody 3) PC: 3
#35 Reed Aiken: 2 (Panda 2) PC: 2
#36 Alessio Arleo: 2 (Valk 2) PC: 2
#37 Jed Cohen: 2 (Valk 2) PC: 2
#38 Linia Jones: 2 (Valk 2) PC: 2
#39 Tom Shilakees: 2 (Valk 2) PC: 2
#40 Mike Sheinin: 1 (Atly 1) PC: 1
#41 Clare Bradley: 1 (Valk 1) PC: 1
#42 Dreamer Jopnes: 1 (Valk 1) PC: 1
#43 Shawn Prince: 1 (*Acad* 1) PC: 1
#44 Jeremy Shaffer: 1 (*Acad* 1) PC: 1


Top 3 USS Atlantis:
#3: Rob Versteegt: 8 Posts.
#2: Martin Miller: 9 Posts.
#1: David Susman: 12 Posts.

Top 3 Pandora Station:
#3: Sussie Andersson: 16 Posts.
#2: Bram Peeters: 21 Posts
#1: Rob Versteegt: 35 Posts.

Top 3 USS Odyssey:
#3: David Susman: 6 Posts
#2: Rob Verlinden / Ben Versteegt: 8 Posts
#1: Dennis Church: 9 Posts.

Top 3 USS Valkyrie:
#3: Brandon Allard / Guido Dorssers: 5 Posts.
#2: Matt Brown: 7 Posts
#1: Richard Clogston / Bram Peeters: 8 Posts

Top 3 USS Calhoun:
#3: Laura Elliot: 31 Posts
#2: Adrian Rodd: 37 Posts
#1: Kelley MacKinnon: 50 Posts.

Top 3 Starfleet Academy List:
#3: Sussie Andersson: 4 Posts
#2: Kall Shakespear / Gareth Davies: 5 Posts
#1: Rob Versteegt: 6 Posts

Dutystation rankings:
#1: USS Calhoun: 206 (Congrats!)
#2: Pandora Station: 129
#3: USS Odyssey: 55
#4: USS Atlantis: 54
#5: USS Valkyrie: 50
*#6: Starfleet Academy-list: 24*

Number of Fleetwide posts:
494 Posts, excluding the Academyposts from the list.
518 Posts, including the Academyposts from the list.

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Promotions in September 2004, by Rob Versteegt.
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Promotions in September 2004:

>From Ensign to Lt.jg:
Ensign Rowan O'Gallagher, ACMO (Played by Dawn Johnson) -> Lieutenant jg
Rowan O'Gallgaher, CMO on the USS Odyssey.
Ensign Pieter Nel, OPS (Played by Aaron Langston) -> Lieutenant jg Pieter
Nel, OPS on Pandora Station.
ACOUNS Aslam Tek (Played by Gael Imaddedine) -> Lieutenant Junior Grade and
Chief Counselor on Pandora Station.

>From Ltjg to Lieutenant:
CMO Jessica Truesdale (Played by Sussie Andersson) -> Lieutenant Jessica
Truesdale, CMO, on Pandora Station.

>From Lt.Cmdr to Commander:
2O/CEO Lieutenant Commander Paul Velden (Played by Ben Versteegt) ->
Commander Paul Velden, 2O/CEO on the USS Odyssey.
2O/CSO Lt.Cmdr Jeff Jalando (Played by Rob Versteegt) -> Commander and First
Officer Jeff Jalando, on Pandora Station.

Other Promotions:
ACSO Ensign Hearst Morgan (Played by Chris Alexander) -> Acting CSO Ensign
Hearst Morgan on the USS Odyssey.

Congrats to you all!

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'Did you know?' by Clare Bradley
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Did you know that Paramount initially suggested "The Next Generation"
center on a group of cadets running an Enterprise? Gene Roddenberry
didn't like the idea, and began to draw out a list of characters that
would eventually become the crew we all know.

Did you know the pilot of The Next Generation was planned to be one
hour, centering only on the Bandi station Farpoint? The Studio
insisted that the pilot be a two hours, so Gene Roddenberry created
another storyline centering on a character named Q to integrate into
the original plot.

Did you know how that Deanna Troi's accent began as an Eastern
European accent? When Marina first auditioned, it was for the role of
Tasha Yar, who at that time was from Eastern Europe. After they cast
her as Troi, they told her to make up a Betazoid accent, so she just
modified the Eastern European accent a bit, and based it on an
Israeli friend. In a later episode, Lwaxana Troi had an American
accent, so they explained to Marina that the accent came from Troi's
father.

Did you know we almost had a pink Data? There were some stages where
Data's makeup was bubblegum pink in color. They did two dozen color
tests with different make-ups and different colors before deciding on
gold.

Did you know that Visor is an abbreviation? It stands for Visual
Input Sensory Optical Reflector.

Did you know how they made the creature Armus? The black slime that
composed Armus in the Next Generation episode "Skin of Evil" was made
of Metamucil and black printer's ink.

Did you know that Stephen Culp, who appeared in Enterprise as the
MACO commander Major Hayes had a previous role in Star Trek? He was
cast as Commander Martin Madden, the Enterprise-E's new first officer
in the movie Nemesis. However, his scene was cut from the final
version.

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The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 16 - A Stand-off, by Ben Versteegt
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Summary:

When mysterious crystals are found in the Alpha Centauri system, they become
a wanted commodity. A Cardassian named Enbek attempts to steal the samples
from Starfleet Ensign Sandra Burke, but his plan is thwarted and he is
imprisoned. After a Romulan raiding party beams into and destroys the
Starfleet base on the planet, it is clear that it is the samples they are
after... Which Sandra was carrying with her. She, Enbek and the Ferengi
named Zaag are beamed up by the Aquinas, an old Excelsior class under the
command of Captain Ayer, Sandra's uncle. He intends to take her to a
Starbase, since she and the samples clearly are no longer safe on Alpha
Centauri.

But the ship never makes it to the Starbase. A Starfleet Prometheus class
vessel intercepts them and opens fire, crippling the Aquinas. Sandra and the
samples are beamed off the Aquinas and onto the attacker, after which the
Prometheus class warps away.

For the remaining Aquinas crew, there is nothing to do but wait, when
suddenly help arrives in the unexpected form of a Romulan Warbird. The
Romulan commander forces Ayer into co-operating, after which Ayer shows the
Romulans how to track the Prometheus class ship.

The Warbird intercepts the Starfleet vessel, and cripples her. The Romulan
commander takes a team to beam down to find the samples and -- contrary to
the agreement he and Ayer had -- orders Ayer and his crew locked up in the
Brig. They escape with the help of Enbek, and beam to the Prometheus class,
where they hope to find Sandra and the samples before the Romulans do.

And now the continuation...

Captain Donovan slammed his fist on the conference table. His eyes were
flaming and he looked like he could breathe fire and turn the conference
room into ashes. "I want those Romulans off my ship!" he shouted. "One way
or another, I want them gone!"

"My teams are well-trained, Captain," said the chief of security. He was a
muscular human and was wearing the same type of black uniform as his Captain
did -- as did the rest of the crew. The three pips on his collar indicated
he was a Lieutenant Commander. He responded calmly -- almost stoically -- to
the demand of his Captain. "We will have the Romulans off of the Iapetus,
sir. We'll throw them out of the airlocks one by one if we have to."

Donovan wasn't all that convinced. He knew his STC probably had the best
trained team in Starfleet, but when dealing with Romulans, one could never
be too sure. "Where are the Romulans now, Vince?"

"They beamed down in the shuttle bay, Captain," the STC replied. "They have
broken through our initial defences, but my teams have them pinned down
further down the corridor. Deck 8, section J-30, to be precise."

"See that they stay there, commander."

"That goes without saying, Captain."

Donovan turned to his science officer. "Anything?" he simply asked.

The Trill CSO folded her hands and brought them to her chin to rest her head
on. "In all honesty, Captain, we really haven't got that far. We need more
time to study the crystals."

"Our engines are gone, we lack the capability to defend ourselves properly,
and Romulans are invading the ship. I wouldn't say we have any more time,
would you, Lieutenant?" said Captain Donovan, his sarcasm apparent. He
slapped his hand flat on the table, but his voice, contrary to his posture,
was not aggressive at all. In fact, his voice sounded calm and controlled -- 
an eerie sound to listen to. "Tell us what you do know, Lieutenant."

The Trill Lieutenant took a deep breath and then informed her Captain what
she and her team had discovered. "The crystals emit a strange form of
high-intensity radiation, sir," she began. "Just as we expected. "We have
confirmed that the radiation can be harnessed and used as a power source. We
expect that the power output of a single crystal will be at least twice as
much as a conventional warp core." A smile crept up her face. "And here's
the best part, sir. We believe it is fairly easy to harness the energy from
the radiation. Together with the engineering staff, we have devised an
energy conversion matrix to collect the energy radiating of these crystals."

Donovan looked at the box of samples on the table. Per his instructions, the
crystals always had to be near a senior officer -- preferably near the
Captain. In the Romulan attack, the samples would be safest on the Bridge,
he had figured. He looked from the samples to the Halian Chief of
Engineering, and the expression on his face made clear to the CEO that she
should begin her report.

"The contraption is nearly finished, sir," she said. "It's relatively easy
to build. The tricky part will be to hook it up to the ship's systems. I'm
not sure how the stronger power flow will affect the engines -- we don't
want an overload, so I'll probably have to reconfigure every EPS conduit,
every power intake valve..." She shook her head while blowing air through
her lips. "Going to be quite some work, sir. Two months at a Starbase, at
least."

"Forget about the engines," Donovan sighed. "We're crippled." he seemed lost
in thought for a minute. "Can you tie the conversion matrix directly into a
single system?" he then asked while a sly smile formed on his face. "Like...
weapons?"

The Halian CEO thought about it. "Yes..." she said softly. "Yes, I think I
can. We'd be risking a major overload of all weapons systems and could even
blow out every power coupling on the ship if we fire our weapons then, but
we'd be giving them one hell of a blow."

Donovan grinned. "Exactly. Go down to Engineering and finish your work on
the conversion matrix. When you've finished, find a phaser array that works
and hook up the matrix to it." He opened the container which held the
samples and tossed her a crystal. She caught it. "Make this work,
Lieutenant."

"What about the rest of the samples, sir?"

"They're staying here on deck 1, where they will be safe," answered Donovan.
"Now, dismissed."

The Halian stood up, but Donovan stopped her from walking out of the
conference room. "Bring a security team with you. I don't want the Romulans
getting their hands on the samples or the conversion matrix. Understood?"

The CEO simply nodded and walked out of the room. Donovan stood up as well,
as did the other officers. "In the meantime," he said. "I'm going down to
sickbay to have a chat with your guest." He smiled. "Vince, you're with me."

* * *

The fact that Ayer, Watters and Zjavick were wearing Starfleet uniforms
didn't seem to work to their advantage. Blending in with the crew seemed
impossible, since every crewman Ayer had seen on this ship was wearing a
totally black uniform, instead of the customary regulation grey and black
outfit. The only colour on those strange black uniforms came from the
collar; its colour indicated to which department an officer belonged. Ayer
had heard Watters complain about the lack of colour on his own uniform, but
at least the grey and black, as opposed to totally black, offered some
variation.

As a result of their wearing different uniforms, Ayer and his team had
quickly been identified as not belonging on the ship. Granted, the fact that
the crew of this ship wasn't expecting Starfleet officers to beam aboard,
facilitated their walk through the ship, but the enemy crew seemed to be on
alert. Not long after leaving the cargo bay, they had encountered heavy
resistance already. Of course, besides the difference in uniforms, Zaag and
Enbek were not exactly typical Starfleet officers, and neither did they
behave as such.

The resistance they had encountered was overall quickly disposed off; the
crew expected to see Romulans, not humans, a Cardassian and a Ferengi. The
enemy vessel's crew's initial hesitation in firing made it easier to get the
upper hand in a fight. But gradually, as the crew of this ship had contacted
each other and informed one another to the presence of hostile Starfleet
officers on board, resistance got stronger. Still, there was some
hesitation, mostly among the junior security crewmen. They weren't used to
fire at Starfleet officers.

However, the security team they had run into now, clearly consisted of more
hardened security officers. They had been ordered to shoot anything that
moved, so they did, be the targets Starfleet officers or not. After finding
out that turbolifts were rigged to only open to officers with the right
access code, Ayer and his team had taken the long way to wherever they were
going (Ayer himself didn't even know where Sandra was -- they needed a place
to go where they could access the computer and locate Sandra first). It
turned out that some of the jefferies tubes had been closed down as well,
but they were relatively easily opened: A Romulan disruptor served many
purposes.

Now, they were pinned down on deck four, after having fled inside some
unused quarters. Ayer turned to his companions. "Anyone got a plan?"

"The samples are probably on the Bridge, where they could be guarded
easily," said Enbek. "It was a mistake going down two decks."

"Then why did you come along?" hissed Ayer. "If I read the internal sensor
readouts correctly, there is a human female in sickbay. That must be
Sandra."

Zjavick had his doubts. "Captain, how can you be sure? There must be dozens
of human women on this ship. Maybe it's someone who was hurt when the
Romulans attacked." He shrugged. "Respectfully, sir, the logical place to
start looking for Ensign Burke would be the brig."

Ayer shot him a glare. "I've accessed internal sensors. The brig is empty."

There was a moment of silence. The only sound that was heard came from the
phaser beams that rapidly shot in and out of the quarters through the doors
that had been forced open. It seemed as if there was an entire army out
there, with the sole purpose of shooting down every member of Ayer's team.
Things didn't look too pleasant... again.

"USS Iapetus," Watters said suddenly. Ayer turned to see Watters staring at
a monitor, which displayed ship diagrams. "We're on the USS Iapetus," said
Watters, now addressing the rest of the team.

"Never heard of it." Ayer sounded surprised. He had come across many
starship names in his career, most of which he could even name the Captain
of. But not this ship. The name Iapetus sounded completely unfamiliar.

"That's because it doesn't exist," Watters explained. "Not officially,
anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Zjavick. "If it looks like a Starfleet ship,
smells like a Starfleet ship..."

"...And attacks like a Starfleet ship, yes I know," Watters said,
interrupting the CEO of the Aquinas. "It is a Starfleet ship all right.
Just... a very unofficial one."

Ayer looked at his STC questioningly. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I would say that its unofficial status allows this ship to go on certain
equally unofficial missions," surmised Watters. "Maybe even missions that go
against Federation principles." He paused and typed in a few commands at the
console. "This ship's mission is classified," he informed the rest. "As is
practically everything else, actually. Apparently, this whole ship has been
classified."

"A classified, unofficial ship for classified and unofficial missions?"
Zjavick asked in disbelief.

"Unofficial missions... like attacking the Aquinas and stealing the crystal
samples!" Ayer realised. "I can't believe that these bastards were on a
Starfleet mission. No Starfleet vessel ever attacks another!"

"This one has," argued Enbek, as he fired his disruptor at the crowd of
Starfleet security crewmen in the corridor. "It would seem that this vessel
belongs to an organisation not unlike the Cardassian Obsidian Order, or the
Romulan Tal Shiar."

Ayer, Watters, Zjavick and Zaag stared at him, not quite believing what
Enbek had said. But still, Enbek's hypothesis did make sense. "You're saying
that this is a vessel of Starfleet Intelligence?" asked Zjavick.

"No. I am saying that this is a vessel that belongs to a more..." Enbek
paused and fired his weapon. "...unofficial organisation." At seeing the
surprised look on the faces of his team mates, he frowned. "Surely this
doesn't surprise you. The Romulans have such an agency, so do the
Cardassians, and a number of other species. Or did you think the Federation
was too 'civilised' to have such an organisation? Hmm?" he added with a
sarcastic grin.

Before anyone could reply to this, an object was thrown into the room. It
landed about two metres away from the door opening, and rolled toward the
group of five. Watters immediately recognised the object.

"Stun grenade!" he exclaimed.

As fast as they could, all five members of the group jumped away from the
grenade, seeking to find refuge behind a table, a chair, a bed, anything to
escape the unavoidable stun field the grenade would emit. They knew they
would have less than a few seconds to try to get way. But it was not enough.
A blinding flash enveloped them moments later.

* * *

Sandra woke up with a major headache. Whatever drugs they had put in her, it
sure made her head feel as if it was going to explode. Pondering the
usefulness of such an after-effect for any interrogations, she tried to sit
up straight. ~Big mistake,~ she told herself, and went to lay down again.
She couldn't sit fully straight even if she wanted to: her hands and feet
were restrained by locking mechanisms that held her limbs firmly in place.

The truth serum that was injected in her had finally worked. She had given
the Captain of this vessel the co-ordinates of the asteroid field near Alpha
Centauri where the crystals had been found. She didn't want to, of course,
but she'd had no control over her own words. She had told them everything
they wanted to know, but had felt like she was hearing someone else speak in
her voice. It had been a weird feeling, to say the least. She was just glad
that the truth serum seemed to have worn off now.

Her mind took her back to the moment in this strange Captain's ready room,
or quarters, or interrogation room, or whatever it was. Dazed from the drugs
she was administered, she had been laying on the ground all the time, trying
to move but not being able to. When she had finally regained an ounce of
strength, that strength was sapped away from her when her abductor had
informed her that the Aquinas had been destroyed. Lost with all hands. There
were no survivors.

The shock had still not disappeared. Disbelief had turned into anger,
frustration, hate, sadness. She knew that someone had to survive to tell the
tale. She was that someone; she had to tell Starfleet what happened. She had
to break the news to the Federation council that a Federation starship had
attacked one of their own.

She didn't even care about what happened to the samples anymore. The only
thing that truly mattered was to survive and escape, preferably with as much
information as was needed to get this crew, which, in her opinion, didn't
even deserve to serve the Federation, to trial. And there was no doubt in
her mind that, when she had nailed these phoney Starfleet officers, they
would spend the rest of their lives in a Federation prison. The charges were
clear, and so was the proof against them: attacking and destroying another
Federation starship, abducting a Starfleet officer... Those charges were
easily proven. She would come up with a few more charges when she finally
was free.

That was, if she was ever set free. As long as there was still some
information that they had to drag out of her, she would remain on this
vessel in relative safety; after all, they needed her. But it was entirely
possible that when this mysterious Captain had no use for her, he would
throw her out of the nearest airlock personally. He didn't seem to enjoy her
company, to say the least. Sandra was afraid that she had reached that point
where she was no longer useful, and feared for her life every time the
Captain or any of the senior crew came to see her.

This was one of those moments. Taking large steps, the Captain was walking
into Main Sickbay to check up on Sandra. She felt chills run down her spine
when she saw him again. This time, there was an armed escort with him. The
Chief of Security looked menacing, and was a formidable presence. It was
hard not to notice him, actually.

"Well well, she's awake," said Captain Donovan with a sinister smile. "Ready
for some more questions, doll?"

She decided to be uncooperative. Again. "What do you want from me?" she
cried out to him. "You've already taken all the information you need! Just
give me a shuttle and I'll be on my way." When she saw she wasn't having
much success at convincing the Captain -- which was something she had been
expecting already -- she changed strategies. "Please," she said, looking at
her captor with a pleading look. "Please, let me go. I won't trouble you
again."

"Oh, but you will, doll." He smiled and ran the back of his hand along her
cheek. Sandra winced, and wanted to lash out with her right arm and push
Donovan away, but the restraints around her wrists made that impossible.
"You'll go straight to the Federation council and blow the whistle on us."
Sandra wanted to respond to this, to say that she wouldn't do that at all,
but Donovan had already placed a finger on his mouth and was looking at her
as if daring her to try to bite it off. Sandra was tempted to do just
that -- to cause this Captain at least some pain -- but she noticed the
security guards around the Captain, all of them armed to the teeth. She knew
that they would respond to any threat to their Captain, and wouldn't
hesitate to use deadly force. She was valuable, she knew, but not *that*
valuable. So Sandra simply said and did nothing.

"Besides," began Donovan. "We need you to help us mine more crystals. And to
analyse the samples of course." He sighed. "Not that we can go anywhere with
this damned Romulan attack we have on our hands." He saw the look on her
face -- it was one of relief combined with worry -- and added, "Don't worry,
Ensign Burke. Those Romulans are just a minor nuisance. We have the
situation perfectly under control."

And then happened something that neither Donovan nor Sandra nor any of the
security personnel in the room had expected: the sickbay doors slid open and
an angry Ferengi lurched forward. Before anyone could react, Zaag, standing
behind the Captain, had the neck of Captain Donovan in one hand and a
Romulan disruptor in the other, pointed at Donovan's temple.

"Zaag!" shouted Sandra in surprise. The Ferengi sure was a sight for sore
eyes to her. Especially since she thought he was dead; killed when this ship
blew up the Aquinas. To say that she was happy to see her friend again,
would be an understatement. She was on the verge of crying and laughing at
the same time.

Not so for Captain Donovan and his crew, however. "Kill him!" shouted the
Captain, but Zaag quickly backed away, so that his back faced a wall and his
hostage faced the phasers of the security officers.

"I wouldn't fire if I were you. You'll only vaporise your Captain," Zaag
informed them, breathing heavily. He had gone through a lot these past few
minutes. But at least he had escaped the blast of the stun grenade -- he
wished the others had been so lucky... He felt quite alone right now. "And
if you stun him, I'll vaporise him."

"You're sure about that?" the STC, Vince Hall, said in a tone of mockery. It
was almost as if he considered the situation amusing. "If you kill your
hostage, we will kill you."

"But I will have killed your Captain already," countered Zaag.

"Then I guess we have an old-fashioned stand-off, wouldn't you say?" said
Hall, still smiling.

"I guess so too," said Zaag with as much confidence as he could muster.
"Now," and he nodded his head toward Sandra. "Release her."

Hall grinned and swung the phaser in Sandra's direction. "I have a better
idea," he said with a threatening voice that gave Sandra the willies.
"Release the Captain..." If possible, his grin grew broader. He was enjoying
this. "...Or I will kill her."

To be Continued
By Ben Versteegt

--------------------------------------------------------------------
IRC quotes: Collected and edited by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Well... I've been monitoring IRC for the last month... and I've collected
the things which I thought were most funny. Well... you judge for yourself
of course... ;-)

Here goes. Enjoy!

[12:10] <Bobby> of course ;)
[12:11] <Sussie> of course :P
[12:11] <BramP> off course
[12:11] * BramP crashes into a star

[12:27] <Merijn> one CO to kill them all
[12:27] <Merijn> or one CMO

[12:33] <BramP> Rob, at what time does Jalando talk to Kane at the end of
the meeting? <G>
[12:33] <Bobby> 1226
[12:34] <BramP> that was a fast answer, you expected that question?
[12:34] <Bobby> nah... I just paid attention :P

[12:36] <BramP> intr.v. snif·fled, snif·fling, snif·fles
[12:36] <BramP> To breathe audibly through a runny or congested nose.
[12:36] <BramP> To weep or whimper lightly with spasmodic congestion of the
nose.
[12:36] <BramP> why is Jalando doing that?
[12:37] <Bobby> oh..
[12:37] <Bobby> I thought that was laughing
[12:37] <Bobby> hmmm
[12:37] <BramP> dictionaries were invented for a reason :P

[13:02] <Ben> "Sir, there is a solar flare coming towards Pandora!" "It can
wait till lunch, commander, that's an order"

[19:47] <Merijn> hey weird brit ;p
[19:47] <John|posting_Grakhus> what?
[19:47] <Merijn> I meant the other one
[19:48] <Bobby[posting]> I'm not a brit!
[19:48] <Bobby[posting]> oh... :P
[19:48] <BramP> just weird
[19:48] <Bobby[posting]> how'd you guess?
[19:48] <BramP> because you responded?
[19:48] <Bobby[posting]> oh yeah

[17:15] * BramP just overloaded any sarcasmometer within 10 miles.

[13:13] <boordt> (Merijn) I object !
[13:13] <BramP> you are an object?

[12:06] <BramP> would Jalando know the meaning of the phrase "flip a coin" ?
[12:06] <BramP> or would rock paper sciccors be a nice way to decide who
will command the Solstice?
[12:07] <Bobby[posting]> nah, just ask the Computer to select a number below
10... and then Jalando and Kane have to guess :P

[12:13] * Ben|Posting is now known as Ben|studying
[12:13] <BramP> Ben, no eeky names in here!

[12:14] <BramP> but leaving the chat is better while studying ;)
[12:14] <Ben> okay
[12:14] <Ben> bye!
[12:14] * Ben has quit IRC (Client beamed out)
[12:14] <BramP> stop taking me serious!
[12:14] <BramP> grr
[12:14] <BramP> I've got too much power

[17:43] <Ben> XP is too XPensive for me

[19:14] <Guido> Enjoy your meal Adrian
[19:14] <Bobby> Enjoy your mail Adrian.. <G>

[10:37] <Merijn_> she wasn't there yet :/ ... left a note :p
[10:38] <Bobby> who?
[10:38] <Merijn_> girl I have to do some experiments with
[10:38] <Merijn_> hmm, wait, that didn't sound right

[11:01] <Merijn_> "Three wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do..."

[13:51] <Bobby[posting]> watch out, or I won't post this Carrie post!
[13:51] * BramPosting shuts up faster than Lucky Luke can shoot his shadow

[16:58] <Bobby[posting]> silly Merijn... leaving us for weekend :P

[17:01] <Sussie> (about going to England)  this is crazy *Sigh* crappy
expensive tickets ..
[17:02] <BramP> get a plane to the NL, and then go to england by boat <G>

[23:39] <Sussie> oh crap, closing in to midnight again ...
[23:39] <Bobby> indeedy
[23:39] <Bobby> and back again
[23:39] <Ben> Oh no!
[23:39] <Bobby> with an apple and some tea!
[23:39] <Ben> AAAAAAAAAAAAAH
[23:39] <Bobby> HEY!
[23:39] <Ben> oh, and wb Rob
[23:40] <BramPosting> wb
[23:40] <Ben> the oh no and aaaaah were in response to the closing to
midnight again
[23:40] <Bobby> suuuure :P

[23:43] <Bobby> woo!
[23:45] <BramP> wee!
[23:46] <Bobby> waa!
[23:46] <BramP> ambulance?
[23:46] <Bobby> nope
[23:46] <Bobby> fire truck ;P
[23:46] <Bobby> close.. <G>
[23:47] <BramP> can't be a fire truck
[23:47] <Bobby> why not?
[23:47] <BramP> they have two tones only
[23:47] <BramP> not three :P
[23:47] <Bobby> oh...
[23:47] <Bobby> ambulances have 3 then?
[23:47] <BramP> yes
[23:47] <Bobby> ambulance simply goes waa wee waa wee waa wee... I thought
[23:47] <BramP> waa wee waa woo waa wee waa woo waa wee waa woo
[23:47] <Bobby> oh crap
[23:47] <Bobby> yeah, you're right :P
[23:48] <BramP> duh :P
[23:48] <Bobby> LOL
[23:48] <Bobby> and police cars?
[23:48] <Bobby> what do they have?
[23:48] <BramP> alsmost the same as fire things
[23:48] <Bobby> wooooooooooiiiiiiiiiii wooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiii?
[23:48] <BramP> that sounds more like the Ghostbusters car

[01:13] <BramP> everyone in this game needs to be a little silly or all
posts would be boring :)
[01:13] <Bobby> true!
[01:14] <BramP> and if you read my Melissa post, you know that I am silly
<G>
[01:14] <BramP> if you read Rob's Yalon post... well, there was never any
doubt about him being silly anyway
[01:14] <Bobby> ROFL
[01:14] <Bobby> indeed!

[17:41] <BramP> Rob posted
[17:41] <Merijn> that's stupid

[22:19] <BramP> they just have the freeware trial version  of Virt who can
only serve drinks
[22:20] <stranger> "here is your - please register - drink sir."
[22:21] <BramP> or every 30 days: Hi I am Bart, please upgrade to Virt now
or press my nose to continue using this trial version
[22:22] <BramP> if they decide to upgrade:
[22:22] <BramP> Installing Virt. Copying files.....
[22:22] <BramP> 10% - Your ship ran out of computer core

[22:22] <Ben> "This model of Virt has exceeded its thirty day trial period.
Please register now or this program will detonate the ship."

[22:28] <BramP> all Andorians are evil
[22:28] <BramP> Vok is making Truesdale fall in love with him on purpose, so
when Truesdale becomes 2O he can steal secrets about Virt or so from the
station's computer!

[19:20] <BramPosting> I need Rob to return
[19:20] * Bobby has joined #FF
[19:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Bobby

=========