Mission One: Operation Starbase

||Starbase 12
||Lillian’s Quarters>Promenade
||August 2, 2387
||0730


Lillian woke up that morning with a smile on her face and stretched in her bed, reveling in the feel of the soft, warm covers against her flesh. She turned over on her side and opened up her eyes, taking a deep breath and then sitting up to yawn before rustling her hair and swinging her feet over the side of the bed, letting the balls of them touch the plush carpet. Squishing her toes into it, she smiled and then got up, heading straight to the bathroom and slipping the straps of her nightgown off and letting it flutter to her feet before getting into the shower.

She loved mornings just because that meant that she got to go and be in Sickbay, even though today that meant she also got to do a Senior Staff Briefing. This was going to be her second one, her first one since the accident and after getting all dried off and towel drying her hair, she got dressed in her uniform and then returned to the bathroom mirror to put lipstick, eyeliner and mascara on, pulling her hair over to one side and braiding the chocolate locks over her shoulder. Then it was time for her shoes--which were really knee high boots--and she headed to Sickbay with a swing in her step.

Senior staff meetings meant a lot of things.

Not only did she get to spend the morning with Marlo, but Lillian got to get some coffee and maybe sneak a glance or two at Taylor…unfortunately that also meant seeing Cecily. Trying not to let that affect her day since she was probably going to get some new assignments, Lillian went into Sickbay and she went into her office to check her messages. She wanted to be as up to date as possible since Gan used to be the CMO and she felt as if he was always expecting so much of her--as he rightfully should. So, she was going to go into this thing professionally and prove that she deserved this and she belonged here…that was all she was allowed to focus on.

“Hannah? I will be back as soon as the meeting is done and I expect to have my tray out and stocked,” Lillian explained as she grabbed the PADD off of her desk. “Yesterday made me feel like we were seriously lacking.”

Nurse Catuun nodded at that. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“'Doctor', please--‘Ma’am’ makes me feel old,” Lillian said waggling a finger at her. “Now, if you get too swamped, you can get Doctor Stone to come in as well. See you shortly.”

“See you shortly,” Nurse Catuun repeated with a nod.

Feeling pretty good about leaving Sickbay in her hands when it wasn’t busy at all right now, Lillian headed into the corridor and contemplated stopping for coffee first. There was something about freshly roasted coffee from the Promenade that made her mouth water and she knew she needed that instead of whatever the replicator had to offer her. That might have meant another pit stop, but Lillian didn’t feel like she could function without her coffee and so she got into the turbo lift and went straight to the Promenade to get her fix. She was a java junky and she wasn’t even going to apologize for it.

In fact, Lillian was starting to feel like she was really in her prime because she was the new CMO and she was the new 2XO and she was rocking it out of the park. She was on top of her paperwork, she was fixing up people in record time and she hadn’t lost a single patient yet--in fact she was starting to feel like everything could get better. If she could make sure to give herself a reputation as a healer and get people to come into Sickbay even if they weren’t too terribly sick or marred, she felt like she would be making a difference. She couldn’t do that if she was half asleep though, so where was that barista that she liked so much…oh, there he was!

Nothing quite like roasted grounds and flirty conversation to set off a morning.

||Starbase 12
||Outside the Starbase 12
||August 2, 2387
||0732

The outside of the starbase gleamed with light as two Gryphon-class fighters skimmed above the docking ring with precarious closeness. One wrong move could have sent the fighters being turned into useless balls of fire. Yet the pilots' steely nerves kept that from happening as they scared the bridge crew of a freighter. The fighters had an aggressive look to them, designed for a combat purpose.

One was being piloted by Taylor who stared at the station once his path was clear of any objects, taken in my the intoxicating view. "That's a view." he told his wingman, a female Andorian who went by "Cracker". "Almost beautiful." Of course it was. There was little that could compare to a man-made structure in the midst of space. It was a bastion of growth and survival amongst dead ground. Taylor of course had to make sure it remained that way. Not an easy task if an proper force decided to dislodge them from the area. Eight fighters. Eight. That was all the marines they had and they were pilots. Trained riflemen yes, but still pilots.

"Let's wheel this in Cracker. Been flying for six hours. Let someone else take up CAP." ordered Taylor who swung his fighter towards the station.

"Roger Iceman." replied Cracker.

The two fighters moved to swoop towards the landing deck, their sleek and graceful designs almost slipping into the station. One of many patrols done.

(Just a filler to make my mark)

||Starbase 12
||Promenade>Briefing Room
||August 2, 2387
||0750


Lillian had a smile on her face as she strolled through the Promenade with her coffee cup in hand, letting the to go substance cool down just a bit. she was feeling a bit more ready to go just knowing that she literally had coffee at her fingertips, and she beamed when she saw the tousled locks of a redhead she knew so well. Marlo was obviously also gearing up for their little impromptu with the captain and the other senior staff and Lillian was more than happy to find a walking and lift buddy for the stroll to the Briefing Room.

"Carrots! Jumja stick?" Lillian inquired with a bright grin.

Marlo frowned at her cup of Deka Tea--Carrots, again--but helped herself to the Jumja stick. Lillian had known her long enough to know that she loved to start her day of with a truckload of vitamin C. It was early and they'd been out late, but she didn't have a hangover...she knew enough tricks to keep from ever having them. It was another beautiful day in space, though...hopefully Marlo would have a chance to enjoy it to the fullest--her fingers itched to build something.

"Thank you...see? This is how to start a day off well. Vitamin C, and tea." She said. "Not that coffee crap, Java Junkie."

"Actually, did you know that caffeine is actually good for you in the morning? It jump starts your metabolism for the day and you know I like my sexy body of mine," Lillian teased with a smile as she drank it. "You know...for having such a sweet tooth, this bitter blend of loveliness really hits the spot."

She smiled and then she sipped again before she held up her donut. "This on the other hand is fattening and I'm going to have to go to the Gym and work it off tonight. Hopefully I don't have to deal with Taylor this time though. I swear to the Four Deities, I see him so much lately and I don't know if it's fate trying to toss us together, or some sick and twisted humor."

"Maybe the universe wants you two to work out your differences...maybe it wants you two to be friends...or maybe you did something horrible in the past and it's your karma." Marlo teased.

"Right, that thing about doing something bad in a past life, and it affecting your current one?" Lillian asked her, laughing. "Shelley told us that, didn't she? Back in the Academy? I don't know, perhaps...I want to be friends, but he hates doctors, remember? Until I prove I'm not just some girl in medical blue I'm just going to be a punching bag for him and that bothers me, but this isn't about him...you ready for another mission? We haven't had once since...since..."

Marlo held up a hand and shook her head. She didn't want to go there again; they'd visited the topic enough while they were drinking the night before, and there was no reason to do it once more. Sure, she felt guilty as Hell that she had been promoted because of the death of her predecessor, but it wasn't like she'd killed him.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Maybe when things cool down, you can try to be friends, but you need to focus. Clear your head...maybe use him as a punching bag too. You have a lot of pent up anger, I'm sure, so give him a taste of his own medicine."

Marlo snorted--the pun was not intended.

Lillian laughed a little too as they neared the Briefing Room. "I suppose so...I do owe him a drink after all for losing the bet. Maybe I can sit down and try to see if he and I can actually try to be friends--I'd hate to have a marine hate me, you know? I like it when everyone likes me...when everyone wants to be around me. I am friendly and accommodating and I just I dunno--let's focus on the mission, yeah? I like the sound of that."

"Anything to move past the last one." Marlo admitted, sighing.



JP by These Lovelies:

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||Starbase 12
||Science Labs
||August 2, 2387
||0745


"Don't touch that!" Cecily exclaimed as one of her officers reached toward a test tube for her.

On the one hand she had asked for the man to hand her the test tube, but on the other hand she hadn't asked for him to reach over and drag his sleeves around in it. They were all in uniform and wearing masks because they were dealing with spores, but for some reason Cecily found everyone rather more incompetant than normal that morning. It was almost as if they were all getting on her nerves on purpose and she wanted more than anything to be far, far, away from them.

Her only relief would be the staff meeting, but even that came at a price it seemed to her. She was hoping that things on the station could get back to normal because after such a tragedy, everybody needed some kind of hope to get them through to the next day. Cecily was sure that she could hold her head up high and get everyone in her department through it, smiling a little when her officers all recoiled at her raised voice. The authority that she held in this place didn't go past these walls and she had to take a deep breath before continuing.

"While I would rather us all stay fully clothed, if you are going to reach across places you shouldn't, roll up your sleeves or go for it at a different angle." Cecily explained to them.

Ensign Droug nodded. "Of course, Sir. I just wanted to get it to you as fast as possible."

"I would prefer as safely as possible," Cecily admitted with a nod and then she adjusted her goggles. "Now...the test tube..."

With a nod from the officers, Ensign Droug moved so he could get the test tube safer and picked it up, gently passing it off to the Chief of Science. She smiled at him and thanked him, doing her work the way that she always did, hoping that it would get her noticed at one point or anything so all of this hard work wasn't for nothing. After she was finished, she and her little team made sure that they were all safe to be out and about with the others and then she pulled her hair back and she yawned--she was still pretty tired.

The night before had been spent tossing and turning a bit and now she was up early and already taking care of things before she was ready to move toward the Briefing Room. She wanted to get there early and with enough time to pick a good seat...away from the CMO. If she had to sit near her she would suck it up and play it off like they were the closest of colleagues, but she preferred to sit near Security and Navigations than Medical and Engineering. Of course it didn't matter, but they were still people before they were personnel and Cecily wanted to start her day off on the right foot.

"It's in your hands right now, Lieutenant," Cecily told Lieutenant JG Oswald. "Just don't let the place explode before I get back."

Lieutenant JG Oswald smiled. "Of course not, Sir."

Smiling and nodding, Cecily heading out the parting Science Labs doors and got into the lift--hopefully this whole day would yield excellent results.

||Starbase 12
||Briefing Room
||August 2, 2387
||0845

Gan had scheduled the Briefing for 0900 the morning of the second and was in the room early to set out PADDs for all of his senior staff with checklists he wanted to them to run over and the like. This would be their continued test to see if they could make this work out in the wake of the accident that left him here in command. He still wasn't used to it, and often fiddled with the extra pin on his collar. It was a weird thing, to imagine himself in the metaphoric big chair at the end of the table. He didn't think it was any larger than the rest, but he had never bothered to really measure. He shuffled around the various seats, assuming that he could guide them to where they would be sitting for the rest of their time together if they didn't remember from the first staff meeting where he had appointed most of his senior staff members. And he hoped nothing would pull them apart or that he would lose some of them..or himself. After all, things happened as was well demonstrated by the universe to his last CO and the men and women that had been there on the away mission. Their first meeting had gone well, and he seemed to get along with his chiefs of staff and his XOs. They were good people, and he trusted them. They knew what they had to do, but he wanted to make sure that everything was green before they had to go out on another mission.

He got all of his job done and checked off the list he had made for himself of things that he needed to take care of. He moved to the replicator, "Coffee. Black." He pulled the mug out of the machine and sipped at the steaming liquid, letting the caffeine do its work, waking up his neurons so he could run this meeting. It had been three weeks since the accident, and he certainly had not slept very much. It was a hectic job, making sure that everything was working and getting new people to fill shoes that they otherwise might not have been ready for. Sorren certainly wasn't ready for all of this, but he felt with Lt. Crae's assistance he could get this rabble to toe the lines that they were supposed to. Of this he had no worries, she was a good CMO and his staff had seemed to taken a liking to her. And he had their respect of course, but he felt that he would further earn their trust as well as he knew how.

The thing about running a space station was even though there were a lot of tasks to accomplish, there were a lot of people to accomplish them. Though his commanders, there were far fewer of them. He would probably have to rank up some of his lieutenants over then next month or two in accordance to their positions. They will have deserved that accommodation and more by then. He smiled and sat down in his chair, sipping his coffee from the mug as he waited for people to start to arrive. He wondered if he was a menacing figure at the end of that long table, unsure of how to sit that wouldn't make him look like he wasn't run ragged and haggard and possibly very upset. He couldn't help it though, perhaps it was just one of those weeks and his family, his shipmates would understand. He kicked his chair back a little and tried to put off an aura that he was relaxed and welcoming. He wasn't a bad guy, but he would have to make a lot of hard calls over the next few weeks about who was going to fit where and who was going to be in command of what. They had gone through a terrible process of change, but he felt it was a good sign that they were back on their feet and this briefing would in his mind would cement what they needed to do before they were go on mission status once more.

"Into the Lion's Den," Lillian said gently.

Smoothing down her uniform and making sure her jacket was zipped up, Lillian looked at Marlo to just double check their appearances before they entered the Briefing Room. She had thoroughly enjoyed getting to walk with Marlo and smiled a bit when they entered the room and she saw Gan there with his sub par replicator coffee (she recognized the mug), which actually made her a tiny bit sad. There were just some things that were not acceptable and as the two had worked so close together when he was her CMO, she handed him her coffee before taking a seat, Marlo sitting down next to her. The two always tried to sit together and blocking any chance for Cecily to sit near her, Lillian felt safe.

"You can't actually drink that swill and survive, Boss. Have mine," Lillian said with a smile. "Start off the day with the very best that your Promenade has to offer."

“I prefer to start my day with some Deka Tea and a jumja stick. All my nutrients at the start to keep me going throughout the day.”

Marlo personally found coffee disgusting and bitter and didn’t understand why anyone drank it…especially a Betazoid with an overactive sweet tooth.
She settled down into her chair, stuck her jumja stick in her mouth and pulled out her phaser sticking it on the table, and opening it up. She might as well do something productive while she was waiting for everyone else to arrive. Pulling out her gun at a meeting probably wasn’t the best idea, but she shrugged and pulled out a mini laser, a hydro spanner, and a screw driver, laying her tools on the table in front of her.

“Let me know when we’re ready to start. I’ll just be over here…modifying my phaser.” Marlo muttered.

"Nice, Marlo...couldn't be more intimidating if you tried..." Lillian laughed, a smile on her face.

The doors to the briefing room hissed open and Max hurried in just then, looking more than a little haggard. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep, and his uniform was merely acceptable, not immaculate. Still, he did his best to give a cheerful "Morning, Captain," to Gan. In truth the two surviving senior officers had seen little enough of each other since the disastrous away mission and subsequent losses. Max had his done his best to keep it that way. Guilt, maybe? No. he couldn't start thinking like that, not now. He had to keep it together, make it through this meeting, the coming weeks...and the investigation.

Arriving so close to the scheduled meeting time was so unlike him that it smacked of lateness, and Max tried to recover. "Those latest Tholian signal intercepts took most of the night to decode, sir, but I think once they're fully decrypted and processed I think we'll be able to extrapolate some significant fleet movements from them. Of course, that doesn't do much for my headache," he said, offering a weak grin.

With that he turned to glance at the other two in the room, the new CMO and CEO. Well, not really new anymore, but they still seemed new to him. Since the loss of their predecessors he hadn't had much to do with the senior staff of other departments other than official correspondence.

His eyes widened a bit at Marlo's phaser, but then again he had been so jumpy lately he still started a little whenever he saw a yellow uniform. No wonder he'd been spending so much time in his office. Nothing but gray shirts there. As for the CMO…well before the away mission, he might have had some unprofessional thoughts about her, but at the moment he was a bit distracted.

"Lieutenant…Lieutenant," he nodded to each of them, by way of greeting.

Lillian smiled at Max and nodded. "Max..."

Sure, she should have probably thrown a more professional greeting at the CIO, but at the moment she felt pretty good and didn't want to ruin that. She had certainly hit on him a time or two before the accident though afterwards it had never been appropriate and now things were on the mend and she was glad to see him up and about regardless of the fact that it was a Senior Staff Meeting and he was the XO. In fact, because he was the XO, it was probably best if Lillian made sure that she didn't overstep any boundaries there...a 2XO could easily be demoted or reported for sexual harrassment.

Taylor strolled into the briefing room with a sigh on his lips. Frankly he hated the idea of being on the senior staff but it was one of those niggling little details. The CAP had been organised, reports had been filed and then he hadn't had time to change out of his midnight flightsuit, his helmet tucked underneath his left arm and his compression phaser pistol tugged snugly into his thigh holster.

He stepped into the room and offered a salute to the captain before taking a seat, any seat, before placing his helmet on the table like it was a mere paperweight. He recognised a few faces but few names. Lillian of course stuck out. For some reason they bumped into each other more times than not.

Lillian's whole face lit up for a moment when Taylor stalked into the room, her eyes on him from his salute to his chosen seat, but away by the time he glanced at her. She certainly didn't want to be obvious and yet she was watching him out of the corner or her eye and drummed her nails on the table for a moment. Seemed as good a time as any to say something before the others arrived though, if for no other reason than to let everyone know that she was awake and prepared and in the mood to get some things out of the way.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you've all had a proper amount of sleep and breakfast--healthy officers are happy and prepared officers." Lillian said with a smile.

Bridget returned from the bathroom to find the room stock full of officer's whose ages far outnumbered that of her own. Great, now they'll think I was late. Running a hand down the front of her uniform, smoothing away any imperfections, she started for her seat. She quiet on arrival, nervous. It was not a quality often bubbling within her, but today was quite frightening. She assumed it would be the day they'd strip her of her rank and appoint someone with more years on their record to take over such a difficult, important position on the station.

She took her seat, looked about the room at all the happy, tired, and apathetic faces around her, and twiddled her thumbs in the hopes that Cecily might show to take the seat next to her, for opposite her now sat her new friend's arch nemesis, the CMO. The woman was stained to Bridget, a blemish to the station, but only because of the way Cecily went on about her. It still wasn't entirely clear why they disliked one another, but the snide looks/remarks were too bountiful to ignore.

"Good morning, sir," she whispered softly in the direction to the Captain. He seemed to like her. She wondered how gentle he'd be in dismantling her new title, though. Would he just come out and tell her to leave the meeting, or wait until it was over? Worry marred her features as she tried to feign a simple smile to all those that took the time to make eye contact with her.

She'd wanted to be early and get a good seat near the captain, but no...no, work had pulled her back to the labs and now Cecily was faced with entering a pretty full Briefing Room. The moment she entered, Lillian visibly stiffened up, but she relaxed because she hoped that no one would notice what it was that was going on. Trying to ignore her and avoiding eye contact with the CMO and smiling at Bridget when her eyes fell on her. Taking a seat next to the CSO, Cecily decided to focus all attention away from Lillian even though part of her was curious because something about Lillian was off today...Cecily just couldn't put her finger on it.

"There was an issue in the labs but I handled it, Sir," Cecily told Gan with a smile, letting her eyes wander away from Bridget for a moment. "I also have a PADD for you so you can be updated on what we're working on right now."

Gan eyed the coffee that Lillian had given him. It probably had things in it like milk and sugar. Such things did not deserve to be in such a beverage. He liked his coffee to be able to degrease engines and sometimes maybe peel the paint off walls. He smiled warmly and nodded his thanks to her before everyone started to file in for the meeting. He acknowledged Marlo, wondering if he could ever turn to tea. But his time in starfleet had given him a lot of bad human habits, and he was not about to give up his coffee. He enjoyed it too much.

At Lt. Commander Ritter's entrance, he avoided locking his gaze with the man. They had gone through a lot when they had lost so many members of their Senior Staff. They were the old relics, so to speak. He nodded and looked down to his PADD, adding the details the man gave him about the sensor readings and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. I will take that into account. I apologize for the late nights, but we will be settled down soon enough to take a load off everyone's shoulders, I would think."

As everyone else filed in, he nodded his head to Taylor, Bridget and Cecily. He noticed Lilly taking notice of the new MCO and shook his head, smiling softly to himself. Not that he was old or anything, but young people was the thought that crossed his mind. He remembered how they felt, and he certainly found being around attractive women enticing still. But with everything on his plate, he didn't think he could handle another serving of anything right now. He nodded to Cecily last as she commented on the trouble in the Science Labs, but he knew she could handle whatever came her way. "Thank you Lieutenant. I'll take the PADD after the briefing." He just wanted to make sure that everyone would get along, though he supposed in the case of Lillian and Taylor, perhaps not too well. Fraternizing with other officers wasn't necessarily against any codes, they were of more or less the same rank and in two completely different departments so he couldn't chastise her for chasing him. He wouldn't mention it unless it came up as an issue, though he would have to take a little caution in his Briefing Room. He didn't want to scare anyone off their jobs. He needed them to stay in those jobs. He picked these people because they were the best for the position.

Gan glanced around for a moment counting heads and making sure that the PADDs he had gathered got to the right people who needed them. "Good morning everyone, I won't hope that you are well rested as my emphatic Lieutenant will. Not that I hope that you did so otherwise, but because I know that you all have been working just as hard as I have, and probably have not achieved sleep very much over the last few weeks. I thank you each for striving to be the best that you can be. I know it's been hard, but we are reaching the point where we can perhaps get back to a state of normalcy and everyone won't be quite as sleep deprived. I've handed you out checklists for green mission status, just a last couple things before I can let Starfleet know that we're once again ready as a response station. I hope you and your marines are adjusting well to the station, Lieutenant Lucas. Thank you for all your hard work, and getting here so promptly. I'd like to talk to you after the meeting though, for just a moment." They had to work together and he wanted this to be an open environment where people could ask questions or voice concerns. "Are there any questions?" He looked around the room, meeting the eyes of his Staff members each for a moment, even Max.

For a moment Taylor seemed a bit worried why the captain would want to speak to him in private. He hadn't done anything wrong, at least nothing he could recall. "Yes...sir...." he said slowly as he allowed his mind to go from cockpit to briefing room. It was a different situation and environment so it required a different mindset. "Only eight of us sir so it wasn't long till our fighters were stored along with munitions, equipment...we're used to being part of a carrier group so guarding a static target will take some getting used to but we'll rise to the challenge. We can also act as a small ground unit if needed but...we're not big on numbers, sir."

"I'm sure they'll remind us how nice it is to have marines on the station," Lillian piped up, glancing at Taylor and offering up a smile before looking around at everyone else except for Cecily. "I do, however, stand by my previous statement and I know it's a very doctorly statement, but it's true. I know that things are hard and we're rebuilding and there aren't enough hours in the day, but sleep and a hardy breakfast are the keys to success and it helps to keep our bodies less stressed out. Just try to stay healthy so I don't have to call people into my office because despite my friendly demeanor, I can get very forceful when my crew is suffering."

She shrugged a little bit because she wanted everyone in the room that didn't know her as well as they would like to understand that she meant business. Yes, she enjoyed flirting and she was normally incredibly bubbly, but she also cared about everyone's health and she didn't want anyone to work themselves to death...there had been enough death in the last month and she wasn't ready for more. Besides, she was the doctor and it was her job to make sure that everyone was fit for duty and if she thought they weren't, then they were on leave from work and she knew how that annoyed more people than it made people happy and she hated being the one to have to issure that order, but it happened.

"Captain, will it be possible to get a shipment of terakine? I'm running a bit low and I like to be overly prepared just in case." Lillian explained, changing the subject a little bit as she looked at the list in front of her.

"No need to bother the Captain with that kind of request, Lieutenant," Max said quietly. "Forward it to me and I'll see that the necessary paperwork goes through." As he said that he looked down at the PADD in front of him and typed in a reminder, mostly to avoid having to make eye contact with the rest of them. He had seen the look that Lillian had given the new MCO, and it did nothing to lighten his mood.

"The same goes for the rest of you. In my capacity as Executive Officer I'll handle departmental allocation requests and the like to keep the Captain free for matters of more pressing concern. Just try and forget about my gray uniform when it comes to such matters. I promise not to have the Intel department overanalyzing your personnel reports," he offered, giving a weak smile to try and keep the feeble joke from faltering.

"That being said…if you have any matters that require the attention of the Chief Intelligence Officer rather than the Executive Officer…don't hesitate to contact me through the proper channels." Max hoped that statement left just enough unsaid to get the point across, however each individual listener chose to take it.

"Then I suppose that I should come to you to ask about some renovations to the labs?" Cecily asked Max with a little smile.

She didn't know what to make of Max regardless of working with him before, but she knew that since Lillan spoke highly of him sometimes, that there was something there. Maybe it was nonexistent and maybe Lillian just liked to talk up her peers, but if Lillian trusted him, then maybe Cecily shouldn't trust him at all. Still, he was a Lieutenant Commander and he was the XO of the station and she knew that she shouldn't provoke him. Provoking him would be the surest way to get herself fired or demoted and so she might be able to deal with him with a smile that said she could work with him and a meaning behind it that said she didn't trust the CIO farther than she could throw him.

Marlo stared at her still open phaser in silence as she listened. As the CEO of the station, it was her job to make sure they stayed operational, but she had nothing pressing on her mind right now. No questions, no concerns, no inventory issues. It was a relatively quiet place for an Engineer on a Starbase that just got up and running. The CIO seemed a tad shady, but she wasn't blind...any monkey in a flight suit could tell he had a crush on Lillian. She smiled to herself.

Lillian opened up her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by a beep that was followed by a rushed voice on the other end of the comm. A message was being patched through directly to the captain even though they were in the middle of a briefing, so it had to be important because otherwise the man would lose his job. Pausing a moment and listening intently, Lillian forgot about all of her personal problems and instead listened to what it was that the message had to relay.

"We're in terrible trouble," came the distorted voice of a man, "heavy casualties. We need assistance. Armed forces. Medical experts. A ship to take us away. I don't know how much time we have. Milos System. Fifth planet. Help us. Please."

There it was...Starbase 12 was once again the Response Station that it was set up to be and someone needed their help. They had no idea what was going on or why the people needed their help in the first place, but they had to act, didn't they? The last time anything had happened, everyone had gone out and so very few had come back, but they'd been rebuilding just for this very moment and Lillian supposed as she chewed on her lip and ran through medical supplies to pack, that it was Gan's choice...it was in Gan's hands.

Bridget sat quietly, nodding along when appropriate. She dared not speak up. Nothing could quell the wild thrum of her heart. Nerves stilled her lips, leaving her a mute. If they needed for her to do something, she would do it.

He looked over his assembled Staff and shook his head. He didn't know if they were really ready for this. But he couldn't just ignore their mission. He looked to Taylor for just a moment. "Well..we can handle this Lieutenant, if you can." He nodded and looked around the room, "But most of you will have to stay on station. Crae, you're with Lucas. We'll need a doctor on the ground, and I can watch sickbay for you while you're gone. She'll still be here when you get back." He pondered for a moment, "Take your squad with you Lieutenant, they could be of use. Keep me appraised of the situation. Oh and Commander." He looked to Max and pointed to him, "You're in command of the away team." He gazed around, "This is a good opportunity to show Starfleet we can handle green status for missions, so lets do the best we can people. Good luck out there. Meeting is adjourned." He stayed in his seat in case anyone needed anything, but people knew their places and what they needed to do.

Since he was ordered to remain behind, Taylor sat in his seat with a somewhat worried expression. He glanced from face to face as if looking for answers but instead remained silent. "Still want that word sir?"


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||Starbase 12
||Sickbay>Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||0940


Lillian wasn't all that thrilled to be on the Away Team with the marines, but her want to do this mission and help people overpowered that. She could be professional if she wanted to be and so she had gone straight to Sickbay after being assigned to the Away Team with Max, Taylor and the marines, gathering a small medical team and packing her medical bag. Lillian had supplies and she pulled her hair back, smiling as everyone geared up to head on out to Shuttlebay II to rendezvous with the rest of the party.

"Follow my lead," Lillian explained nodding.

Her team followed her down the corridor, comprised of some nurses and herself, and as they got into the lift, Lillian sighed. She wanted to make sure that she had evrything under control and double checked what they were all supposed to have before they made it to Shuttlebay II and she sent the two nurses ahead of her onto the ship. Opening up a panel on the side, she looked to make sure everything was good to go even though this was Marlo's forte and she didn't really know what it was that she was doing.

Mostly, Lillian was feeling a bit restless and nervous because last big rescue mission, 90 percent of the party didn't make it back. She knew she couldn't help that and she'd tried, but people had died on her biobeds and she had lost friends and this was so vague that...she just felt like part of her wasn't prepared. It didn't matter in that moment who was going with her either, because all that mattered was keeping everyone safe and making sure they all stayed alive...all of them.


<Taggles: Taylor and Max. Open Tag: Rest of the Starbase.>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||0943

Soon after Lillian's arrival, Taylor found himself and two of his pilots geared towards ground assault walking towards the shuttle bay with a sense of foreboding. It was like someone had forgotten that the only marines on board were fighter pilots. It was hard for marines to usually be accepted by the majority of a crew but for a fighter squadron to be made into ground troops usually meant two things; you were good or they were desperate. Somehow Taylor couldn't help but think that they were desperate.

Yet they were dressed in olive green uniforms with tactical vests and helmets on. Phaser rifles were hanging across their chests on slings. It was like they were ground pounders already. Still the basic and advanced combat training was firmly in their minds. They were riflemen long before they became pilots. He caught Lillian's face as he walked onto the deck and Taylor gave a somewhat weak smile at her before thumbing to his two marines.

"2nd Lieutenants Voss and Carrick. Romeo and Stepmother respectively." he told her before nodding at the shuttle. "Been a long time since I've been behind the helm of one of those things. Be hard to get used to the lack of speed."

<tag: Max and Lilly>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||0946


Lillian took a deep breath as replaced the cover, standing up and giving him a weak smile as she tried to compose all of her thoughts. The last mission was supposed to carve out what they did for the future and yet she needed to make sure that she was on top of things and nodded at the marines. There was a time when this station held a bunch of marines and now it was just fighter pilots...were they even going to make it through this?

"Nice to meet you," Lillian said with a smile and a nod. "Make yourselves at home until Commander Ritter shows and try not to get maimed to the point where I have to give you new limbs."

She was teasing of course and she smiled at the marines and then took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to apologize to Taylor because she was a little jumpy but after clocking her in the nose, she didn't think she needed to. If she screwed up with something she'd apologize for that later and right now she could just be friendly and maybe she and Taylor could be friends at some point. Besides, they were a team and she didn't want to alienate him even though she wouldn't be taking any crap he might pull--she was a doctor, certainly, but she was also an officer and a damn good teammate.


<Taggles: Max and Taylor>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||0947

The marine pilots went into the back of the shuttle to settle down and store their gear. For whatever reason the joke was lost on them, since they were both interested in getting on with the mission and coming back to the station. That was something Taylor could understand since whenever they leaved for a mission they always assumed they wouldn't be coming back. It was a somewhat unique wave of thought that only pilots seemed to share. Taylor didn't even give Lillian a moment of his personal time before climbing into the shuttle.

He made his way to the cockpit and sat in the pilot's chair, reaching for straps and finding none. That was something he'd have to get used to; inertial dampeners being on at a much higher setting. Riding a fighter in warp was a tough deal on a pilot's body and as such they were never far from their carrier ship. Still he knew how to do the pre-flight checks and ran through his mental list. The LCARS interface gave the pilot all he needed to know.

"Sure no one else wants to take the helm?"

<tag: Max, Lilly>

|| Starbase 12
|| Quarters > Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0948

"It'd be nice if I wasn't all alone here, is all. In case something happens and I need backup. Can't one of you join me?" Dahlia asked the image of a man on her LCARS. She tried her sweetest, most imploring tone, all the while knowing it wouldn't work.

"We've been over this before, D" The voice she recognized and knew well, but the face was a stranger to her. As usual. "I need to keep a close eye on Starbase 7 for the time being, so you're out on your own. Nothing is going to happen that you'll need backup for because for now your assignment is just observation. Keep it that way," he drawled, but with an overriding tone of stern authority.

"Well, can't you ask L to-" she started but was interrupted by a chime.

"Pilot Stedenko, report to Shuttlebay II immediately," her comm badge suddenly commanded.

"Duty calls," Dahlia sighed.

"Remember my instructions," the man told her brusquely, and terminated the connection before she could reply. Frowning, Dahlia quickly got dressed and made her way to the turbolift. It wasn't her scheduled shift, so something must be up. Her suspicions were confirmed when she found the shuttlebay a hive of activity.

"What's the word, chief?" she called out to the noncom at the hangar control station.

"Scramble orders coming through. Emergency away mission. You're lead pilot since Letovik is out sick," the deck officer grunted.

Dahlia nodded. This was her official job and she would do it well. And keep her ears open. "All right, I'm going to get geared up."

"On the bounce, pilot. Some of the away team are already on board, and you don't want those leathernecks commandeering your shuttle if they think you're running late," the chief called out to her retreating back.

After hastily donning her flight uniform, she rushed to the shuttle. As she climbed in Dahlia took note of the away team stowing themselves and their gear in the back, and nodded to a medical officer she did not know. As she was about to inquire who was in charge of the mission, she heard a voice call out from the cockpit. Her cockpit. Spinning on her heels, Dahlia strode into the front of the shuttle to find a Marine lieutenant making himself comfortable in the pilot's chair.

"You're in my seat, pretty boy," she said with mock severity, hands on hips.

<Tag: Taylor, Lillian>

|| Starbase 12
|| Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0950


"Yes, because I want to deal wih this," she thought to herself.

Lillian got herself all nice and coxy in her chair, watching the cockpit and wonderng when Max would get there because this would be unbearable if she had nothing to keep her mind off of everything. She felt jittery and as she took a deep breath, she decided to rummage through her medical bag instead of looking at whatever was going to unfold in the cockpit. There was honestly nothing worse than seeing a guy that you were rejected by, hit on a random stranger in front of you and since Dahlia seemed like the Marine's type, Lillian hated that it bothered her. No, no...there was not allowed to be jealousy, or sick feelings in her stomach--there was only the mission now.

Max would get there and they would get to go on a mission and she'd get to fix people up and prove her worth, not that she had to prove such a thing to anyone. She knew that she was a good person and one of a kind and while she didn't know why it bothered her that Taylor didn't know or see it, she knew deep down that she was great and that other people respected her: people like Max. Max, who was the only person going on this mission that she trusted other than her nurses and just having him there would make her feel so much better than she did right now.

"Well, let's pick a pilot before the Commander shows, shall we?" Lillian asked aloud, still trying to keep her eyes to her medical bag, but the problem with being a Betazoid, was never truly getting to keep to oneself.


<Taggles: Max, Dahlia and Taylor; Open tag to everyone else on the starbase>

|| Starbase 12
|| Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0950

"I am?" he said as he worked his fingers around the interface before leaning back into the chair and looking up at the source of the woman's voice. It took him a moment before he smiled, a genuine smile curling on his lips. A pilot was someone he could get along with unconditionally. Regardless of that they flew it was a bond that meant he could joke and tease all he wanted. "Well I'll be, I am in your seat. How about that?" said Taylor with his smile still etched onto his lips. "I guess that leaves you with two choices. My lap, or co-pilot."

Rather than give her the choice he slid to the other chair before running his fingers along the new LCARS before him. "Pre-checks have been done. Of course you can do them again if you can't trust anything coming out of my mouth. Everything checks out. 1st Lieutenant Lucas at your service Ensign, I command the fighter squadron. I figured the actual pilot for this thing was napping or...putting on her lipstick."

<tag: Dahlia, Max, Lilly>

|| Starbase 12
|| Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0952

"Ensign Dahlia Ul- uh, Stedenko, your driver for today," Dahlia replied, faltering for a moment with the last name. Hoping that he wouldn't catch it, she continued the banter as Taylor slid into the copilot's chair. "What's the matter? Afraid I might grab the wrong throttle if I chose your lap?"

With a smile of practiced vivacity she seated herself delicately in the newly-vacated pilot's chair. Seeing that he had indeed been running pre-flight checks, she switched to a clearly faked scowl. "What do you know about checks? This isn't one of your rickety fighter craft, rocketcrotch," she lectured with exaggerated sternness, and gave the LCARS a close examination for a moment. "Well…I can hardly believe it, but everything checks out. How could - wait, I know. You must have been training to be a shuttle pilot before you washed out and got stuck wearing green. Probably for the best," she teased.

After rolling her neck and giving a toss of her luxurious black hair, Dahlia settled back into flight chair, shooting a sidelong glance at Taylor before continuing. "Looks like we're good to go, if everyone is settled in back there. I could have spent more time on my lipstick though, since we're still waiting for the…" she peered at the LCARS "…Executive Officer, is it? Important away mission then? Why are they sending in the marines too? They need a mess cleaned up…or a mess made?" she said with a grin, running her tongue along her teeth.

<Tag: Taylor, mostly>

|| Starbase 12
|| Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0954

"Or afraid you'd grab the right one." he retorted with a wink. "And it's those rickety fighters that keep the wasps off of your perfectly fine arse should they try to molest it. The shuttle of course." added Taylor as he grinned. She was playful which was good. Since his female company tally was standing at telling a doctor that he hated all doctors meant that things seemed to be on the uplook. Taylor winked again as his mind worked on the next answer.

He looked at Dahlia with a look of equal faux sternness but then lost it in his cheeky smile, shrugging. "I was infantry, marine recon. Part of the training is flying various types of shuttles in case you need to steal one in a quick getaway. However after a nasty little tour on Thesa Prime I decided I wanted to be above the carnage and decided to enlist in flight academy. Course with my background it was just getting used to the fighter and protocols. Now here I am. A pilot being made to be a solider again."

Taylor gave a glance to the rear bay as if checking to see that the Executive Officer was nowhere to be seen before letting his cool, grey eyes focus on Dahlia's face. "I think your lipstick is fine. Probably tastes as good as it looks. As for our valiant XO and our presence here, pass. Apparently someone squawked for medical help and military assistance but what three marine pilots are suppose to do is beyond me. These types of missions don't warrant anything above a junior officer, a few medical staff and maybe some Starfleet Security officers if it's a hostile environment. My thoughts? This billet is his springboard for promotion and he's clutching at every away mission he can get."

<tag: Dahlia, Away team>

|| Starbase 12
|| Shuttlebay II
|| July 27, 2387
|| 0953

Stalking through the corridors to the shuttlebay, Max wore an expression that no one in the 24th century would have recognized as being eerily similar to that of a condemned man making his way to the gallows. Still, they knew enough to see he was not in the mood for idle chatter. Officers and enlisted personnel got out of his way, or offered hasty greetings when they could not do so fast enough. He returned such greetings with a nod, at best.

When the distress call had come through in the meeting, his mind had immediately switched to the Intel priorities he knew would come as result. Then Gan had pointed at him and given him command of the away mission. Command. Of the away mission. Away mission.

Out of practice he had kept his face impassive, and made it back to his office to prepare. Only there had the shaking started. The faces of people he had worked and socialized with flashed before his eyes, memories of that briefing before the last away mission, in which they all had been so lackadaisical, thinking it another routine mission of mercy.

Now they were gone. Now it was his turn to go.

Gan must be sending him out to get rid of him, make him a scapegoat in another disastrous mission before the investigation. Then he could bring in his own people with impunity. If not that then it simply was fate, coming back to get him after missing the first time. Max was sure of it, and damning the consequences he poured himself a few stiff drinks, something he would never have considered before the disaster. Now though…raising a toast to the stars outside the station, he murmured "Morituri te salutant," and knocked back the drink. To be fair, it helped the shakes, and made him think.

What were the chances of another disaster of that magnitude? What if this was fate giving him a chance for redemption? What if he could turn his misfortune around, and more? Prove himself a competent officer, leader, and decision maker in this most crucial hour? Win recognition from the highest echelons of Starfleet? Trade his gray uniform in for a red one someday, and black rank pip for a gold one…and then another? Trade his encrypted LCARS desk in for a captain's chair? Trade the starbase in for…a starship?

"Do or die Max, do or die!" he had shouted, and tossed the empty glass to shatter against a far bulkhead. If he made it back he would clean it up and think on that again, and if he didn't make it back…well, let it be a lesson for his potential predecessor then. And with new resolve, he packed his gear…but still slipped the flask of brandy in with it. For medicinal purposes. In case he got the shakes. Wouldn't do for the others to see that.

So he avoided conversation on the way to the shuttlebay, to avoid damaging his resolve. Then it was with an iron will he boarded the shuttle, and made his way to the back. Seeing the CMO there gave him pause, but Max recovered and nonchalantly took a seat opposite her…but still close.

"Hello, Lillian," he said quietly. With a glance at the other occupants, he noted the two nurses stowing their gear in the back. "Are your people fully briefed and equipped?" As soon as he asked it, the question sounded lame and unnecessary, but he was doing his best to keep it all official and by the book, so his nerves wouldn't show.

Noting the two marines, he also put in "Where's the Marine Lieutenant?" He knew Taylor's name by now, had scanned the man's dossier with some obsession as he prepared for the mission, but still didn't want to let on that he knew anything more about the man than the color of his uniform.

<Tag: Lillian, mostly>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||0958


Seeing Max made Lillian's whole face light up and she turned a little bit in her chair to give him her full attention and a warm smile. Whatever was happening in the cockpit could now be put behind her, but it seemed that the universe had other ideas in mind because then Max asked about Taylor and Lillian very visibly went from smiling to frowning. Nothing about Taylor Lucas did a thing for her mood and she certainly didn't want to talk to Max about him, but her XO had asked her a question and she had to answer.

"Sexually harrassing the pilot, where do you think the marine is?" Lillian asked, albeit bitterly without thinking. "Something cute walks in and starts flirting with him and he goes from obnoxious to repulsive in two seconds flat." Yet somehow manages to not be able to be nice to me for even a moment. "Only attention from a gal in medical blue he's going to be getting is going to be me and my suddenly bad bedside manner...sorry, that was unprofessional."

She knew she sounded like a jealous crazy woman and maybe she was, but Taylor riled her up more than anyone else and she didn't know why that was the case. Taking a calming breath, she reached out and rested her hand on Max's trying to give him a warm smile again because he was actually helping to calm her nerves by just being there. Lillian knew that Taylor didn't hate her, just doctors, and so she needed to focus on the mission and be a good teammate instead of a crazy person--she could do this. Max was counting on her and she couldn't let down the one person that she trusted the most right now--the one person who seemed to see her as any other woman.

"Lieutenant Lucas is in the cockpit with Ensign Stedenko finishing up the pre-flight checks for flight," Lillian explained calmly. "Now that you're here, Commander, maybe you can make them take off instead of tease about consumable lip products. We're on a mission and I think as the two highest ranking officers here, we should show them how it's done..."

Nodding, Lillian gave Max's hand a squeeze and took a deep breath to calm her own nerves, slowly pulling her hand away and glancing at her nurses. "They've been briefed and they're ready, I just wonder what it is we're flying into as all we have is a destination. What is going on? Who are these people? What is the complication?" the doctor asked as she glanced at the cockpit and then to Max again. "All something that we can find out I guess--sooner rather than later as medically speaking, the longer we wait, the more people might be dead when we get there..."


<Taggles: Max and the Away Team>

||Starbase 12
||Science Labs
||August 2, 2387
||1002


Cecily was a little annoyed she wasn't part of the Away Team, but she was a Science Officer with absolutely no combat experience except that that she got in the academy, so she wasn't an option. Going back down to the Science Labs, she put a smile on her face and went back to the spore experiment she had been working on to get her mind off of it all. This could potentially be big and that on top of the Away Mission meant that the starbase was right back on track.

"You wanted these, Ma'am," Ensign Dolling told her.

Cecily looked at the young woman and smiled. "Yes, thank you, Ensign."

"I couldn't find the PADD you asked for," Ensign Dolling admitted slowly. "It was gone--no one has seen it."

"I swear," Cecily said slowly shaking her head and going toward her office.

"We looked and looked during your briefing," the young woman tried earnestly. "We've been searching high and low, but things are missing. A test tube here and there, that PADD of data...something is wrong."

Cecily turned to look at the ensign and frowned. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner? Have you secured the project?"

Without waiting for an answer, Cecily ran off to make sure that everything was alright, typing the passcode into the console. It beeped, but the lab doors wouldn't open, making Cecily panic for a moment and she tried again, only for a small but loud eplosion occured, a conduit blowing and the door staying sealed. The sound that came out of Cecily was almost the sound of an animal as she some of her work destroyed where she couldn't save it, shaking her head and sending word to Gan and Bridget...this was the work of a sabetour...


<Taggles: Starbase 12 while the Away Team takes off>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||1005

Max's raised a single eyebrow ever slightly at the vitriol in Lillian's comments about Taylor. Well now…that was interesting. He looked down at her hand on his for a long time, and a slight smile crept onto his face. Yes, fate was giving him a second chance, he knew for sure now.

"No apology necessary. Even a Marine can be expected to have some tact…can't he?" Max was feeling positively jovial now, and not just from the brandy. "And as for the mission, my department estimates it to be some colonial power struggle. The Milos System is somewhat isolated and of little strategic value. Our tasks will be mediation and damage control…and likely medical attention. That's why I'm glad you're along." His tone, and the squeeze he gave her hand back was meant to convey the fact that he was glad for more than just her doctoring skills.

With a sigh he said "I suppose it is up to us to set a good example." Gently, he patted her hand before removing it and standing. "Let's get this mission underway then, shall we?" He strode into the cockpit then, giving the pilot and the marine a look like they were kids and he had caught them doing something naughty. For Lillian's sake, he told himself.

"Marine," he inquired officiously, looking down at Taylor in the copilot's chair, "Are you qualified to co-pilot this shuttlecraft?"


<Tag: Lillian, Taylor. Takeoff soon, in eight hours or so if you don't mind>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||1008


"If people need medical attention, then Flyboy should be told to keep it in his pants and let the Ensign fly..." Lillian told Max with a wink.

The young doctor smiled rather genuinely at Max, glad that he wasn't telling her to just knock it off and be professional but she got that--he understood her to some extent and that smile on his face meant she was making his day too. She nodded as she watched him head to the cockpit and only briefly rummaged through her medical bag before she motioned to one of her nurses and took a rather deep breath. Right now their mission was to get to the Milos System and get in orbit of the fifth planet and she wanted to be on top of all of the schematics and the type of planet and all of that...she just wanted to know what it was that they were dealing with.

"Clara, do you think that it's possible to get a couple of readings for me?" Lillian asked the blonde gently. "I really don't want to have to--"

"--go into the cockpit?" Nurse Rhodes asked with a smirk.

Lillian gave the young nurse a look. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, and they have the schematics...pilots and all."

"You could pull rank..." Nurse Rhodes tried, though she could tell that Lillian was just a little touchy at the moment.

"I might pull it right now instead of kindly asking for a favor," Lillian snapped and she instantly felt bad.

Just when Max had showed up and made her think that she was calming down, Lillian was once again in a bad mood because the nurse had even so much as insinuated that she was avoiding Taylor and his new conquest, Dahlia. She apologized quickly, a bit red in the face, never really rude to anyone and she sighed and got up to go to the replicator because coffee would make her feel so much better and that was strange for a Betazoid to say...but coffee made her happy and when she was happy, she was relaxed. Besides, maybe Max would keep her some sort of company on the flight over and keep her grounded and her head on the mission--or whatever Max wanted to talk about. In fact maybe she'd get to act more like her old self around him again now that he was here and they were trying to get back to normal.

It wasn't as if she'd never hit on him before--she just figured there was something going on with him and another officer and then the accident and it just wasn't alright. She remembered barely being able to hold it together when she gave him the after accident check-up like she had to give everyone as the freshly appointed CMO back then and he'd been patient with her and she was thankful so why not rely on that friendship now? The two got along and he was the one that she was going to rely on the most this mission and she was thankful that he was leading it because she didn't mind taking orders from him at all.

"I just want the schematics, please," Lillian said with a smile on her face.

Nurse Rhodes nodded gently. "Right away, Doctor."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Lillian told her merrily and then raised her voice a little bit so everyone else could hear, "then maybe we can actually make our way toward the people that asked for our help. I can't save people I can't see, you know..."


<Taggles: Anyone who wants to get my shuttle off so we can switch to the other thread and leave this for our Starbase Lovelies>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||1009

Turning in his seat, Taylor was met with a smell of light booze which made him pull a face of both disgust and surprise. His eyes were met with the rank pins of a lieutenant commander and the face of the Executive Officer which did nothing to suppress his loathing of drink being in his presence during a mission. The man should have known better and thus Taylor's eyes narrowed and his arms folded as he leaned into the seat, a sign of someone or something he didn't like or want near him being in the same vicinity as him.

"Lieutenant Commander." he parried back with the same tone, albeit with a much gruffer accent. "Are you qualified to pilot the mini-bar?"

His attention was brought from the panel in front of him and then back to the man's face. "I'm rated for shuttles, runabouts and fighters. And the first two aren't just Starfleet shuttles. So I suggest you sit back down like a good gentleman in case something untoward happens when we get over the planet." said Taylor flatly before he shimmed around. "I'll be bringing us out and the good ensign here will be flying us."

Taylor properly sat is his seat and looked to Dahlia with a shake of his head. "Anyway....engines, check. Weapons, check. Shields.......check." he stated to her before tapping open a comm channel. "Flight control this is shuttle Two-Forty-Alpha requesting departure permission on bearing 240 mark 0."

"Shuttle Two-Forty-Alpha your departure route is clear, leave on your go. Good luck."

"Roger that flight control, leave the lights on." quipped Taylor back across the channel before closing it. The shuttle lifted off of the ground and slid out of the shuttlbay, veering away from the station. It was some time before Taylor spoke to Dahlia again. "Minimum safe distance achieved, cleared for use of impulse engines and warp drive. You have control."

<tag: any?>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||1015

Max scowled down at Taylor, but refused to let it get to him. This cocky punk hadn't been through what he'd been through, he reminded himself. How could she have feelings for him? Well, this was all playing into his hands anyway. He waited, hovering over their shoulders as Taylor guided the shuttle out, and when the man had deftly navigated to safe distance and turned control over to Dahlia, Max cut in abruptly.

"Marine, you are hereby docked three weeks pay and sentenced to three days in the brig upon our return to the Starbase, for insubordination." Upset Lillian, will you? "I see however that you are qualified to co-pilot this shuttle, something that could have been achieved with much less difficulty for yourself by a simple answer. Stay here and assist the Ensign. We are proceeding to an unknown disaster situation and she will require your advice on landing in potentially hostile areas. I assume you have extensive combat drop experience that you are very eager to share with her. Carry on."

He turned to regard Dahlia for a moment, liking what he saw. She would do nicely, especially if the flirting Lillian had complained about had actually happened. Now to turn them both against him and drive them closer together. "Ensign, take us into warp. And even though the Marine is assisting you, final responsibility for navigation is yours. I want no slip ups. Now get to it," he snapped, and without a further word turned and strode to the back.

Seating himself opposite Lillian again, he gave her his most understanding smile, the one that had won him so many favors and promotions in the past. "Well, we're off. How are you feeling? I'm not trying to play Counselor or anything. Really, I'd be lying if I didn't say I've got a bad case of the nerves, but in the end I have a good feeling about this one." A very good feeling about it all, and you especially.

<Tag: Lillian, mostly, but answer in the other thread>

||Starbase 12
||Shuttlebay II
||August 2, 2387
||1017

Dahlia had stiffened upright and sat ramrod straight in her pilot's chair when she had seen the shadow of the Executive Officer come in. She had winced to herself when he had practically demanded to know what Taylor was doing in the co-pilot's seat. And at hearing Taylor's angry retort, she had given him a blatant are you crazy? look when the Lieutenant Commander wasn't looking. As soon as Max had left the cockpit, she repeated the thought aloud.

"Are you crazy? He outranks us all by quite a bit of shiny metal, and he's pretty much the second to last word on the station. Yeah sure, you could appeal to the Captain, but I doubt he'll stick his neck out for leathernecks and shuttle drivers. What were you thinking?" she asked in an incredulous tone, curious in more ways than one.

In truth, this kind of attitude and disregard for pomp and procedure spoke well of him in a way. This was a man who had a moral compass and followed it, consequences and Federation bureaucracy be damned. A man who knew what was right and what was wrong, even if the politicians didn't know it or lied about it. A man who could be useful to her…and her associates. Dahlia filed that all away for future reference, and after deciding to keep cultivating this particular asset by any means necessary returned her attention to her 'official' job, the flight controls.

"All right, standby, crosslocking now. Pre-warp autocycle engaged. Confirming crosslock and flight stations secured…confirmed. Standby ten seconds. Warp on my mark." Dahlia spoke seriously now, mind on her work. It was all a bit redundant, calling it out, but they had drilled it into her in flight training and it was comforting in a way. So she went through with the whole countdown until "5…4…3…2…1…Mark." And with that the shuttle thumped into warp, on it way to the Milos System and the mission.

<Tag: Taylor, mostly, but in the other thread>

||Starbase 12
||Engineering
||August 2, 2387
||1012 hours

Marlo was humming quietly to herself, as she strode through engineering; it was a great day, Her crew was working fervently, and nothing seemed to be the problem at the moment. She hadn't minded not being on the away team, her skills weren't needed down there, unless you count her combat training--but war zones were not really her cup of tea. An ensign rushed up to her, clutching a data pad.

"Huskley." She acknowledged.

"Ma'am...there's been an explosion in the science labs, and they can't get to it...the door's sealed shut." His words spilled out over each other as he shoved the data pad at her.

Marlo took it and immediately began to read, scrolling up faster than she should be able to read, but she'd learned a few tricks. As she read it, her eyes widened in surprise, and silent horror; the data pad seemed to suggest sabotage. She nodded to Huskley, and sent him on his way. She looked around engineering for a brief moment before she spotted one of her best, and made her way over to him.

"Sharpe, We've got a job to do; grab your tools." She ordered.

Gabe watched as the Science lab appeared red on the readout he was looking at and nodded, turning slowly to face Marlo. Already his mind was going through the decks and sections needed to get to the lab, the set up of the lab's EPS grid and other technical information he'd spent hours memorizing when he'd transferred to the station.

"With ya Chief." he said, reaching under a near-by console to grab his gear, the engineering kit was twice the size of a standard set. As well as the normal tools of his trade, Gabe kept various different odds and ends on the case as well, after all you never know when some of the 'junk' inside would come in useful. "Do we have a full report of the damage coz it's not on the system as yet."

Marlo nodded and handed him the data pad, Huskley had given her. It probably wasn't a full list yet either. who knew what they'd find when they got there, she made her way over to her station and grabbed her toolkit as well. It was never a bad thing to have two overly prepared engineers. They stepped inside the lift, and the doors whooshed closed behind them. It occurred to Marlo that they hadn't really had a chance to talk since she'd taken over with the death of her predecessor...normally she liked to know the people she was working with.

"Deck 8." She said calmly, and turned to Gabe. "So what's your story, Lieutenant?"

They had time to chat as the lift whirred to life.

Taking his eyes off the PADD Marlo had given him, Gabe rolled his neck slightly and turned to face Marlo, "Not much to tell really." He started, "I'm English, Son of an engineer as such I've spent a lot of time around machines. Got a really good memory and a habit of 'thinking outside the box'."

"Bit of a history buff and I have a collection of various ancient weapons." He said before flashing his best charming smile, "I'm a pretty simple guy, I tend to just get on with my job."

"Just get on?" Marlo laughed.

She lived, ate, and breathed engineering. For nine years, after meeting Montgomery Scott she could only dream of entering Starfleet Academy and becoming an Engineer and living up to her potential. She also had a bad habit of bringing her work home with her. Gabe was lucky--he'd grown up around technology...she hadn't even had the chance, what with the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. She nodded slowly.

"You're lucky. I'd give my left arm...not my right, I use it too much...to have grown up around ever changing technology. But I guess, we work with what we're given right?"

The doors opened in front of her, and she bent to retrieve her tools from where she'd set them on the floor. She'd motioned Gabe out ahead of her.

"Hence why I always carry around extra." Gabe replied, Stepping out of the turbolift. In his mind's eye he visualised the route they'd have to take to get to the labs.

"I may have grown up around technology but that's about it, barely knew what a girl was until i got to the academy for example. Still I've managed to do okay for myself I guess. What about you, Chief what's your story?"

He could smell the smoke and burnt metal from here and knew the explosion must have been quite bad, it had to be to have fused the lab doors so badly that the manual override didn't work. In his mind he went over all the compounds he knew that could have fused the doors shut... something here felt wrong.

"The first ten years of my life were spent under the thumb of Cardassians, in one labor camp after another." Marlo told him, keeping her voice calm, despite her anger at the memory. "They enslaved my entire race and planet, but my dad enlisted the help of your Federation to help the Bajoran Resistance expel them. We were picked up by the Enterprise D, where I met Montgomery Scott who realized I had a knack for engineering, and the rest is history."

Marlo didn't like talking about that part of her past...it just made her want to kill every Cardassian she met. The labor camps were where she'd first learned to fight, but Monty taught her to channel her anger into something more productive. Now she played the lute to calm herself. She knelt down on the ground and set her toolkit on the ground, unlocked the latch, and opened it, pulling out a laser gun to unseal the metal doors and a small disk with a handle, to manually push the doors open. she handed the disk to Gabe, before locking the case again, and they entered the lab. There were so many blue uniforms running around, frantically, but Marlo knew who she was looking for. She spotted the blonde head of the department and beckoned her over.

"Point me to the lab where the explosion happened." She ordered Cecily.

After donning an environmental suit...just in case...Marlo made her way where Cecily pointed, and pulled out the laser. Silly science types, they never had the proper gear to deal with these kinds of things--but what exactly had they been working on that required this kind of interference? She aimed the laser gun at the top of the door, and ran it down in a straight line. She held out her hand to Gabe, took the disk and placed it on one side of the door. It stuck instantly, but before she pulled, she reached over to the wall panel and sent up a force field. No reason to get anyone else caught in whatever was going to come out. She looked over hers and Gabe's suits before bracing her feet, and pulling as hard as she could.

It opened slightly...just enough room for them to wiggle inside.


JP by: Marlo and Gabe

||Starbase 12
||Ready Room->Science Labs
||August 2, 2387
||1020

After hearing about the explosion in the Science Lab, Gan moved around the starbase with a purpose. He went first to his ready room and wondered if he should sound general quarters. He didn't know exactly what was going on so he just grabbed a few things he might need, and started to run towards the Lab. He would check out what was going on and see if Branton suspected anything or if it was just something that an experiment had caused to go wrong. He would stop by Sickbay after that and make sure that the junior members of the Sickbay could handle the load if anyone was injured. His CMO was planetside so he would have to do whatever he could. And he was well trained, so he could handle whatever came his way. Unfortunately he couldn't be both the a doctor and the Captain at the same time. It was a difficult situation but he knew that he could count on his people planetside to do what they needed to do. He commed his Chief of Security, "Maldoran, meet me at the Science Lab." Together they would deal with the situation and he would leave Bridget in charge of the situation. If something was going on, she would have more experience dealing with it than his Chief Science Officer. Not that Cecily was bad at her job, it just usually didn't entail explosions and possible sabotage. He just needed information.

After a while he stopped running and strolled down the Promenade to the turbolift up to the Science Labs. He didn't want to give the impression that he was panicked in any fashion. He didn't want to scare any of the civilians and staff on the station. The worst thing that could happen was if there was the start of riot. Normal people were not meant to handle this sort of thing. Luckily he could count on his starfleet personnel to help him out. He just had to hope that nothing too terrible had gone wrong. He walked through the turbolift doors and walked down the hall to the Science Lab. He turned the corner and looked around. "Lieutenant Branton?"

||Starbase 12
||Science Labs
||August 2, 2387
||1015-1028

Fire splashed the bulkheads, making them blistering to touch. Bridget had a scolded hand to show as must. She stepped back and trained her phaser at the door, all the while changing the settings to utilize the weapon as a torch. Cutting a doorway through the doorway seemed far easier than burning off one's flesh.

"Maldoran, meet me at the Science Lab," chirped through Bridget's combadge. The Captain.

"I'm here, sir. Cecily called it in..." No response echoed back. "Sir? Sir? Dammit." Bridget sighed and refocused her attention on breaching the door. Whatever was futzing with her combadge she would have to deal with later. "Stand back."

Holstering her weapon, Bridget got ready to kick open the rectangular swath she had cut into the science lab's entrance. She was no expert in the science of fires and had no idea what would await them on the other side. Before she could put her foot to the glowing door, Gan's voice filtered in from around the corner.

"Lieutenant Branton?"

Bridget held off on her attempt. Beyond the door she could hear the fire raging stronger than when she had arrived. The explosion must've knocked out the fire-suppression system. What other explanation was there.

"Over here, Captain," Bridget called out, figuring he would want to make the call over her.

<Tag Cecily/Captain>