Deep Space Guardian: Season III-Episode 43

[Founder]

-DSG, Runabout-

Ian nodded as he held onto T'Sa. Thankfully, a medical team was on the way. It was certainly too late for T'Sa's bloodied wingmate, but it wasn't for her. He would see to it that she was made safe and when that was done, he'd go after whoever did this. Ian planned to contact Juliana to scan the runabout and ascertain the weapon's signiture that tore the vessel apart. However, until he could do that, he had to wait for someone from sickbay to get there...

[Lord Borg]

The Rusty Cup

Jon looked at Ziona in surprise, how could the two be so close, and yet...she know nothing of him? Archer was not a stupid man, he saw the looks, he saw the moments in private. Jon cleared his throat and touched his tea cup softly. He had heard her comment about him being around, and he looked to her.

"It's nice to be around, the ship's been so busy with the relief efforts everywheres."

Jon pondered a moment, then spoke to her again.

"What do you want to know about him?"

DSG, Brig

Stone raised an eyebrow and turned to face the source of the voice that had just hollered to her. She saw a man, human by the looks, but he could be any species these days, was standing inside a cell, he didn't look happy. Alicia wondered what he had done, to earn a reservation in the bring.

"Lieutenant Stone" she corrected.

Stone stepped towards the brig, and placed her hands infront of her body, folding them together by lacing her fingers.

"Can I help you" she asked.

DSG, Runabout

T'Sa wimpered as the pain shot though her body, her one good hand shot out at Ian, and gripped at his uniform jacket, pulling on it with what little strength she had left. T'Sa attempted to swollow, but failed and tried to pull Ian forward, and again failed. T'Sa grunted as her head fell back, and her eyes began to roll up into her head.

DSG, Shuttlebay Deck

The Doors to the turbolift opened and several people with a teal division collar rushed out as they either pulled, or pushed a floating gurney along the floor. Sue Burns was leading the group, she had a med kit in her hands, and was yelling at people in the corridor.

"Clear a path, medical emergancy, clear a path!"

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Shuttlebay-

Callie was close on Sue's heels. The usually stumbling nurse acted swiftly as she helped the doctor shoo away the standersby.

"Quicky people, Quickly! Lives are at stake here."

[Spellbinder Marik]

-G�Tarkin, Bridge, 2311-

While N�Tran liked the music he too began to feel uncomfortable with it playing.
�Shut it off.� The music stopped. He felt as though some of the officers weren�t comfortable with the way he ran things. He�d been raised on rules and regulations for a long time. Before he left Romulus he wouldn�t have dared let things become so lax.

�Lt. Salor, this is your first long range tactical mission under my command. What do you think so far? �and feel free to speak openly.�

-Romulus, Krocton Segment, 2311-

�I don�t want to go to school here.� N�Tran had been protesting all morning. Levek wouldn�t be able to spend time with his son. Perhaps, one day N�Tran would understand.
�You haven�t even tried. Try it before you decide you don�t like it.� The two of them entered the building. Levek led N�Tran to the office.
�General Ditex, we�ve been expecting you. This must be N�Tran.� N�Tran didn�t raise his head.
�My son doesn�t have very good social skills. Something I hope he can improve on here.�

The attendant motioned to another.
�Take this young man to classroom 6.� Levek watched as N�Tran was shuffled away. Levek got his sense of duty and business right back.
�Where is the other child?� The attendant led Levek out of the office and down the hall. The two of them stopped in front of another room.

�He�s there. Third from the right.� Levek peered in. He saw a child reading from a monitor. This child didn�t know it but he too was a son of Tayvor. Levek felt extreme anger toward his wife�s unfaithfulness. If she hadn�t asked him to make sure N�Tran and T�Rell would be raised together Levek would already have had T�Rell executed. The attendant started speaking.

�He�s a very good student. His recollection rate is higher than that of any student we�ve ever had here.� Levek turned away.
�He�s half Vulcan is it possible that has anything to do with it?� The attendant shrugged.
�It could be but I think it has more to do with the fact he likes to be well informed and on top things.� Just like Tayvor�
�Keep me informed and keep them in separate classes.� The attendant nodded. Levek had to go. With this taken care of he could get back to things that he should have been doing while he was away.

[Founder]

-DSG, Runabout-

Ian spun around when he heard voices, medical voices approaching. He had green blood smeared on his uniform from T'Sa, but he didn't care at that moment. What mattered to him was saving his mentor, T'Sa. As the officers rushed in, Ian lifted T'Sa into his arms and approached the medical gurney they had. He gently laid her down and looked at the medical team.

"Hurry!" He ordered.

It was probably a stupid order, as they were doing everything they could and they knew that in a medical emergency one had to "hurry". However, Ian felt a special kinship to T'Sa and feared her possibly imminent death. As the medical team began to move her, two thoughts ran through his mind. The first thought was solely on T'Sa and the other was on revenge. Not very nice thinking from a Starfleet officer, but Ian already lost a parent, he wouldn't lose another. He slapped his combadge with a bloody hand.

"Xavier to Roberts," He said in an angry tone, "Get to shuttlebay 3 now."

-G�Tarkin, Bridge-

2311

The Romulan officer hesitated before speaking as he was a firm believer of the chain of command. However, N'Tran had given him the opportunity to speak as he wished. That was not always the best thing to do on Romulus as you risked "speaking your mind" to a Tal Shiar agent. On Romulus, you always spoke favorably towards the government or the Tal Shiar would come for you...

"This has been a unique mission," He allowed, "But I must question its value to the Empire, admiral."

[La Forge]

Deep Space Guardian, Lab

Juliana was watching the video recording of the Protector's death for the umpteenth time, when the loud chirp of her combadge rang out and broke her concentration on the computer screen.

"Computer, pause." the Frenchwoman ordered the computer to halt the recording, which happened to pause on the Protector's exact moment of death. There was a faint hint of annoyance and agitation in her typically dull and dreary tone of voice. She didn't like to be interrupted when she was in the middle of something. Whoever was calling her had better have a good reason for doing so.

"Xavier to Roberts. Get to Shuttlebay Three now." came the voice of the station's commander, Commander Ian Xavier. While the commander, or captain as she still called him from time to time, didn't specify exactly what was going on, she knew that whatever he needed her for, it was for a good reason. The young scientist tapped her combadge, in order to respond to Commander Xavier's message.

"I'll be right there, commander." Juliana replied, briskly, before she tapped the combadge once more, terminating the link. And, with that, she deactivated her computer console, turning the video recording off in the process, and then made her way out of the dark lab, off towards Shuttlebay Three, as had been ordered to do.

Deep Space Guardian, Shuttlebay Three

About ten minutes later, due to the station's sheer size, Juliana arrived to the shuttlebay, only to find it packed with medcial personnel and others.

"What is all the fuss about?" Juliana thought to herself, as she made her way through the sea of people to the severely damaged runabout which seemed to be the epicenter of all of the commotion.

After barely being able to push herself past the crowd, she approached Commander Xavier, who was inside of the runabout or what was left of it. She could just barely make out the name U.S.S. Columbia on the side of the runabout's scarred hull. The runabout was shot to hell. Juliana could only ponder as to who or what had done that to the runabout.

Currently standing behind the commander, Juliana tapped the man's shoulder, in order to get his attention, as it was hard to hear anything over the shouts of the medical personnel.

"You called, sir?" Juliana asked the commander, a bit of uncertainty in her voice. Ian seemed a bit, well, more than a bit, angry at the moment. She wouldn't want to do anything to set him off. She had done that once before long ago and she would like to avoid such an encounter again.

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Shuttlebay-

Burns rushed towards T'Sa the second Ian set her down, and followed next to the gurney as the nursing staff began to push it for the door. The newest nurse, known as "Callie" followed behind, holding on to a case that contained emegency equipment ranging from hyposprays, to braces, to cortical stimulators. Suddenly, an alarm on the gureny rang out, and Sue saw it on the tricorder as soon as it appeared on the gurney's display.

"She's not breathing" someone yelled out.

Burns cursed under her breath and grabbed at the box, taking out the Cortical stimulator, and attached it to T'Sa's temple, and pressed a control to activate it. She thought the charge was taking to long, and also took out a Cardiostimulator, fearing the worst. Another voice warned that the heart had just stopped, Burns turned and tapped a control to send a jolt through T'Sa's body in an attempt to revive her. Her body bounced off the anti-grav unit she laid on from the force of the jolt. Burns leaned over T'Sa's body and muttered to herself, trying to find where her heart was, Vulcan hearts were where a Human liver would be. When she found the proper place, she applied the Cardiostimulator to the area, and sent another jolt though her body.

"Two cc's, Cordrazine" she yelled. Burns was handed a hypospray and she injected it into T'Sa and looked to the display. "Come on, T'Sa" she yelled at the woman, trying to revive her.

Burns applied another jolt from the Cardiostimulator and suddenly T'Sa's eyes shot open, she attempted to scream, but a strangled gurgle was all that escaped her throat,

"Move it" Burns yelled, the team rushed forward again, rushing T'Sa to sickbay.

[Ziona]

DSG, The Rusty Cup

Ziona smiled and laughed lightly at Archer's comment about what she wanted to know about him.

"I know I could probably ask you a million questions, but to be honest, I'd rather have Ian explain himself." She sighed heavily. "It just seems as if we never have time together. We're always busy, you know, what with my promotion and everything. And saving the universe." She laughed again, brushing a piece of hair from her eyes. "I just, I just wish I knew him outside of being on duty. That's all."

Ziona looked down into her coffee cup and fell into silence.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-G�Tarkin, Bridge-

2311

N�Tran hadn�t thought about value to the empire in a long time. He wasn�t sure this mission had any value to the empire. It was more personal than anything else.
�I don�t believe it has any value to the empire.� N�Tran didn�t know if he should discuss the finer details or not. Part of him said it was a mistake but another part of him said that they deserved to know. So he would tell them�
�In this year, 2311, the Tal Shiar wanted my mother dead for some reason. She was infected with a virus that doesn�t have a cure as of this time. My father suspected that she was deliberately infected but couldn�t prove it. So he hid her away in a safe location.� N�Tran paused for a moment.

�You asked if this mission had any value to the empire? As I have previously stated I don�t know if it does or not but I do know my father wouldn�t have saved her if she didn�t know something that the Tal Shiar didn�t want others to know. It would had to have been something big if they were willing to go as far as attempting to kill one of their best operatives.� N�Tran paused again. Some of these officers couldn�t understand the way he thought about this. Some officers required the structure that the Empire provided.
�When we return to 2382 I will allow you and any other officer that asks, to return to Romulus. You shouldn�t be made to suffer exile because of my decisions.�

[Valathous]

~ Prominade, Deep Space Guardian ~

It had been some time since the station had been swallowed by the large creature from the planet. Blake had spent his time during that situation hunting down a Klingon rather than helping, which he had been none to pleased about but life went on, apparently thanks to Lieutenant Ditex. Blake had only skimmed over the report due to his annoyance at being given a menial task, but heard Ditex had somehow managed to save them. For that he was grateful.

At the moment Blake was spending some time doing a few rounds of the Prominade by himself, monitoring everything from several civilians purchasing groceries, to people standing around having conversations. Blake had his eyes and his ears open, though there hadn't been as many petty crimes since a large portion of the civilians left after the ordeal with the monster.

Blake sighed as he walked through the prominade, which still bustled despite the decrease in population. He walked at a decent pace with his hands behind his back and a perfect posture, slowly craning his head from side to side as he observed. He noticed a Bolian who was in an isle of a store looking about with a concerned look on his face, but when Blake took a closer look, the being had simply dropped a small trinket. Nothing serious.

The Prominade was the most active part of the station, with the most crime to be prevented, such as the several shipments of illegal substances he confiscated this morning which were headed to a shop, which Blake had promptly closed for the day as the owner faced his charges. During his travels this lovely space afternoon through said bustling location, Blake overheard several familiar voices coming from one of the new establishments, The Rusty Cup. He looked in and noticed Commander Andreas and Captain Archer sitting around a table. He noticed someone else off to the side, an ensign from the Ops crew, Ensign Johnson, he thought it was.

Blake walked towards this establishment towards the table with his two superior officers. He walked past ensign Johnson, "Good day, ensign," he said briefly as he pasted by her and moved to the table with Ziona and Archer.

"Captain, Commander," Blake said as he nodded in acknowledgement of the two as he stood by the table, "Enjoying some of the brief time off from duty, sirs?"

[Ziona]

DSG, The Rusty Cup

Ziona glanced up at Blake as he entered and smiled.

"Oh, sir makes me sound too... old." She motioned for Blake to have a seat. "I'm off duty," she said making a motion at her attire. "It's Ziona when I'm off duty. I thought you'd know that by now." She smirked slightly over her coffee cup.

Ziona sat back and waited for the other man to take a seat and relax a bit.

[Founder]

-DSG, Shuttlebay-

Ian was pacing around as T'Sa had been taken from the medical team. He looked at Juliana as she had arrived swiftly to the shuttlebay. Ian nodded towards the destroyed runabout.

"I want you to find out who did this," He said, "Do every type of scan Humanly possible. Contact me when you're done."

He felt a little bad for snapping at Juliana and then treating her in such a dismissive way. However, there was plenty of time for apologies later. What mattered now was going after those that did this to T'Sa. He tapped his combage as he walked away from Juliana.

"Xavier to Andreas." He said.

-G�Tarkin, Bridge-

2311

The Romulan officer nodded his head, still not feeling as if he understood what they were doing here. It seemed like N'Tran was going against the Tal Shiar with this mission. That was usually a daunting task for anyone, Romulan or not.

"Understood, admiral." He said.

Salor didn't comment on if he would leave for Romulus once this task was done. He wasn't sure how Romulus would find out about it and wondered if N'Tran planned to reveal to the Tal Shiar what he had done.

[Valathous]

~ Rusty Cup, Promenade, Deep Space Guardian ~

Noticing that Ziona had motioned for him to take a seat, Blake pulled out a chair and sat down at the table with them. Blake figured that he put in enough overtime that he could spare a few minutes here or there.

"Actually, I don't think you ever mentioned that to me, though that is likely my fault for my normally antisocial nature," Blake said with a smirk, "The food here any good? I'm feeling slightly peckish."

Blake had posed the question to either of them as they both had food in front of them. For the moment, it had slipped his mind that this establishment was run by Sofie, the very woman whose husband Blake had killed in the ordeal with the mirror universe counterparts.

[Ziona]

DSG, The Rusty Cup

Ziona watched Blake as he took a seat and was about to answer his question regarding the food when her combadge chirped with Ian calling for her. She motioned to Blake with an apologetic look.

"Andreas here. Go ahead, Captain." Ziona paused, waiting for Ian to answer.

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Turbolift-

The medical team had taken the wait on the turbolift ride to look T'Sa over fully, it'd seem that making a list of what was not damaged would have been faster. Burns noticed that T'Sa's clothing was torn, the manner which it was done frightend her to what the cause could have been. There were wounds that seemed to be cuts, and wounds that was clearly gashes and puncture wounds from weapons of some sort.

Burns placed a hypospray on T'Sa's shoulder, not daring to try and get to her neck and injected her with the medicine inside. The hiss was drowned out by the speaking of the medical officers as they exchanged information, and recived orders from Burns.

T'Sa stared blankly up to the ceiling, she saw several faces she couldn't recognize, and was frightend. Pressure built up within her chest and T'Sa let out a groan of agony. T'Sa's left hand clenched slightly, gripping at the fabrich, her lips parted.

"Ian" she croaked out.

Sue looked down and frowned as the turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened. She rushed forward as the medical team pushed the anti-grav unit forward. Burns stoped at the doors to sickbay and stood in the sensor of the door to force it open, and then she placed her hand on the frame, and stood to the side to allow the anti grav unit room while she kept the door from closing as she had moved from the sensor.

"Get her on a bio bed" Burns ordered.

She rushed forward and checked T'Sa's vitals, and saw they were still weak, and in fact were begining to weaken even further. She sighed, and ordered another injection of Cordrazine, and several other types of stimulant and resuscitative drugs incase it was needed. The first task given to everyone, was to ensure T'Sa would remain alive.

"She's lost a lot of blood, begin scans of Vulcans on the station, visiting or otherwise for compatible donors" Burns ordered.

Burns sighed and then removed what was left of the jacket of T'Sa's Starfleet uniform then gasped at what she saw. There was signs of extream tourture on T'Sa's body. She took a step back for a second to clear her head then steped forward.

Sue took a device and attempted to stop what little blood T'Sa had left from seeping from her body, she heard a wimper from T'Sa and looked over, the woman's eyes were wide open, the pain was appparent to Burns. She wondered if she should are attempt a simulant to mask the pain.

[La Forge]

Deep Space Guardian, Shuttlebay

"Yes, sir." Juliana had replied, but, the commander was already gone, having disappeared into the crowd, leaving her all alone, standing next to the wreckage of the U.S.S. Columbia. She stood there for a minute, silent and motionless, trying to understand why Commander Xavier was in such a hurry. Juliana had seen someone being carted out of the shuttlebay on a gurney, but, she didn't get a good look at the person, so, she didn't have a clue as to who it was. Maybe it was someone close to Ian? Perhaps, but, it wasn't as if it mattered to Juliana. No, her duty was to figure out who had attacked the Columbia, a daunting task, indeed. The runabout was in such poor shape that it would be difficult to conduct any kind of tests on it. She would have to rely on the scanners if she wanted to learn anything of value about the heaping hunk of scrap that once was a Starfleet runabout.

As Juliana stood there, deep in thought, the people who had once filled the spacious shuttlebay began to file out, slowly at first, until there was no one left in the room aside from Juliana herself. When the Frenchwoman looked up, she found everyone gone. The commotion had passed. She could only let a deep sigh pass through her lips. She had quite a daunting task ahead of her.

And, with that, Juliana plucked her handy dandy tricorder off of her belt, flipped it open, and set to work, scanning every square inch of the wreckage, looking for some kind of clue as to who had attacked the runabout. Usually, every weapon has some kind of recognizable signature that one could use to determine what kind of weapon had damaged something and who that weapon belonged to. Weapons with similar signatures typically all belonged to the same race. Juliana had never found two weapon signatures that were the same before. At least, not two different weapons with the same signature, anyways. However, as she scanned the Columbia, she couldn't make heads or tails of the weapon signature. There was little evidence of weapons fire left on the scarred hull of the runabout, which is suprising due to the sheer amount of damage that had obviously been inflicted upon the poor thing. And, the trace of weapons fire that she could fine was nigh undecipherable. There was no pattern to it. Everything had a pattern...or mostly everything anyways. And, the kicker was that she couldn't match the weapons signature to any known signatures. Nada, zip, zilch. The weapons signature from the evidence found on the Columbia belonged to no known alien races. She even cross-referenced the data with the computer. Nothing.

The young Frenchwoman, all alone in the massive shuttlebay, toiled for some time, cross-referencing every minute detail that she found with the computer's databanks. Still, nothing. She couldn't find one clue that would point her in the right direction. She was completely lost. Whoever had attacked the Columbia was a complete mystery to her right now and probably would remain a mystery for some time. With the tools she had, there was simply no way to figure out who had attacked the Columbia. And, even if she had access to the tools at the Daystrom Institute, she still would find nothing, as it is impossible to trace a weapons signature to a race that hasn't been discovered yet, which, in Juliana's mind, seemed to be the case for the Columbia's mysterious attackers.

"Zut!" Juliana cursed, in her native language. She was frustrated. She had been working for some time now and found nothing. She was just about ready to pull her hair, which was a mess at present, out of her head. She had already nearly thrown her tricorder across the room, but, thought better of it. If she did that, she would have to find another one, which would require her to have to get up and look for one, which would therefore interupt her current work, which is something that she didn't want to do.

The young Frenchwoman let out a groan as she pressed her back against the side of the Columbia's hull. The metal was cold and sent a chill down her spine. She dropped her tricorder to the floor as she slid down the side of the hull and onto her bottom. She hugged her knees to her chest for a second or two before she decided to contact Commander Xavier and inform him of her progress or lack thereof.

"Roberts to Xavier." Juliana began, as she spoke into her combadge. "I've run every possible test that I could think of on the Columbia and I've got nothing. I could run a few more tests, to see if I missed something, but, I don't expect to figure this out anytime soon." she reported to the commander, sounding a bit frustrated. She wanted to say that she couldn't figure a damn thing out, but, was able to restrain herself. She just hoped that the commander would be satisfied with her findings...something that she highly doubted, as she had no real findings to speak of in the first place.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-G�Tarkin, Bridge-

2311

�Lt. Chilnak to bridge.� N�Tran pressed a button on the arm of his chair.
�Go ahead Lieutenant.� N�Tran heard some sounds in the background of the com.
�Full power has been restored. We can go to maximum speed.� N�Tran pressed the button to respond.
�Glad to hear it. Bridge out.� N�Tran closed the com and looked toward the helm.
�Helm, proceed to maximum warp.� The officer at the helm increased their speed.
�ETA to Romulus is now 10 hours at present speed.� N�Tran sat back and waited.
�Lt. Salor,� N�Tran began, �How are the system upgrades holding up?�

[Sam Kenobi]

-DSG, Brig-

Derek clenched his jaw at this woman's causal demeanor, frustrated with what he's become over the past couple weeks being cooped up in the brig.

"Lieutenant Stone," he corrects himself angrily. "Yeah, you can help me. Why don't you go ahead and tell me why the hell I'm in here. Why the hell nobody has told me what's going on and why the hell I've been in here for so long."

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Brig

Stone was taken aback by his demeanor. She caught the point he was fusterated about something, but didn't understand what, or why he was fustrated. Seeing no one sitting at the duty desk, Stone walked over to call up the manifest and look up his information.

"I've been off duty, So, I'm afraid I do not know anything. What is your name, and how long have you been in the brig?"

[Sam Kenobi]

-DSG, Brig-

"Derek James. I'm the chief of Operations. And I have no idea how long I've been down here, the last time I was anywhere else, we had gotten swallowed by something. It's like everyone forgot me, how the hell does Starfleet account for something like that?"

He began to pace in the cell as he went off on his short rant, ignoring looks from the Klingon who was still sitting in the cell across from him. After going so long without anyone to talk to, Derek figured he needed to take something out on someone. Anyone. even if it was this woman who clearly had as little idea as he did what happened.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Bajor, Hendrikspool Province-

After a long and mostly uneventful trip Kiris arrived on Bajor. He�d randomly selected a beam down site and soon found himself in the Hendrikspool Province. Kiris saw a path before him and a temple in the distance. When seeking information about religion or salvation a temple was a logical destination. Kiris began walking the path. He passed Bajorans as he walked. Some of them stared but it was a different stare than what he was used to.

He felt no hatred or disapproval from the Bajorans. He felt only curiosity and compassion. Despite having been ravished by the Cardassians Bajor had recovered remarkably. There was natural beauty here that Kiris didn�t see on many of the other worlds he�d been to.

-Bajor, Dakeen Monastery-

Kiris entered the monastery. He was careful to be quiet. If there was a service or prayers he didn�t want to interrupt them. The construction of these temples was amazing. Some of the structures on the planet had to be thousands of years old. Kiris would liked to have taken some pictures but he knew some religions didn�t approve of photography so he refrained.

Kiris heard a voice not far away and looked. He noticed a Bajoran speaking with others. Kiris wasn�t familiar with what the Bajoran version of a priest was but guessed the man speaking held a similar title.

-Elerra Prime, Laura & N�Tran�s Home-

Laura sat quietly on the step of her home. She sipped at a cup of coffee. Her head turned when she heard a growling sound from Trip. She observed him for a moment longer before deducing the sound was coming from his stomach. He must have been hungry.
�When was the last time you ate?� Trip turned his head toward Laura.

She was a small being compared to him. In fact the only beings that remotely approached his stature were the Klingons and he hadn�t gotten to know them as well as he wanted to.
�Twelve of your days ago.� Laura began to feel the effects of hunger after a day if she hadn�t eaten anything.
�Why don�t you go get something to eat then?� Trip had figured this women�s earlier attempts to get rid of him wouldn�t be the last.
�I am charged with your care, besides I can go one of your months without succumbing to the effects of hunger. The Yautja are a very resilient species.� Laura no longer felt intimidated by this creature.
�So what happens if it takes more than a month for my husband to return?� Trip looked back toward the beach.
�Then I will suffer but I will not leave you alone.�

Laura admired Trips sense of loyalty. She wondered if it was from some form of training from his own people or the simple fact he�d promised N�Tran she�d be taken care of.
�If you wish to go hunting I will accompany you. I give you my word I will not try to escape.� Trip looked at the frail human again. He could easily outrun her if she did try and he was hungry.
�Then let us proceed.�

[Founder]

(Sorry about the lack of posts.)

-Bajor, Dakeen Monastery-

The heavily robed figure, a Vedek, was speaking to a group of Bajorans and waving his hands dramatically as he attempted to emphasize his point. The Bajorans looked slightly perturbed, while some looked interested in his words. After a few moments, the crowd dispered and the Vedek was left standing alone, contemplating his words. The figure was none other then the controversial Vedek, Karak Luna. He was the front runner to be the next Kai and with the support of the next First Minister, Reja Joram, he would win that title. Politics and religion have become one on Bajor since the second Occupation, although many would argue that that was always the case. Karak believed the sacred texts were purposelly being misread and used for personal gain. He believed that the Prophets were not allowing these grave horrors to befall the Bajoran people. However, he was openly criticized for his words for years, until recent events. The Bajorans grew weary and tired and needed a new voice. Karak and Reja represented that new voice. Both of them wanted a Bajor-first policy to be instituted. A policy that would turn Bajor into a major power in the Alpha quadrant. Karak turned and noticed Kiris standing nearby. It was hard not to notice him as he was not wearing robes and he was obviously not Bajoran. Because of his mixed heritage, Karak was not really able to tell what race he was. He wondered if Kiris was here due to the pletheora of aliens that came after Starfleet arrived and assisted in the rebuilding efforts. Now, it wasn't that uncommon to see aliens on Bajor, something Karak did not really like.

"Can I help you, my child?" He said.

Despite calling Kiris "my child", Karak was not that much older then him. In fact, many argued that Karak should not be made Kai because he was so young, while others cited this as part of his strength.

-G�Tarkin, Bridge-

2311

Salor softly tapped on the controls before him and ran an internal scan. So far, the Klingon vessel was holding together. He found it a bit distasteful, not to mention smelly to serve on one. However, he would obey the admiral, N'Tran.

"Surprisingly well." He replied, not believing it himself.

Who knew Klingon ships were this versitle?

-DSG, Corridor-

Ian walked though the corridor, ignoring the stares from other officers as they eyed his bloodied uniform. Ziona, from the Rusty cup, had responded to his call.

"Captain T'Sa has been seriously injured," He told her, "I don't know what's happened, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it. You have command of the station, commander. Xavier out."

He figured that Ziona was still attempting to come to terms with the fact that she was so recently made first officer of DSG. However, she has had command of the station in the past and knew how to handle it. Ian had the utmost confidence in her abilities. Meanwhile, he would go in search for whoever...did this to T'Sa. Immediately, his combadge chirped and the voice of Juliana came though. She explained to him that she had been unable to get anything from scanning, just like the sensors on DSG. Ian didn't care though. He planned on searching for the attackers and Juliana, despite her inability to ascertain what happened to the Columbia, was still the best science officer in the system. Ian planned on taking her with him as he embarked on his journey.

"Fine," Ian replied, "Check the logs on the Columbia and see if you can find out anything. Check its flight path. Check what it had scanned. Check everything. Xavier out."

Ian began to weigh in his options and considered talking to T'Sa, but at the moment, she was too injured for that. He would go to Ops and see if he can find T'Sa's log or mission with the Columbia. Her vessel, the Amargosa, was docked and she had taken a runabout from DSG to do something. He didn't know what as she had taken the vessel without checking with him. Not that she had to, as she could simply check in with Ops on what she was doing. He decided to go and speak to Jones...

-DSG, Brig-

While the calamity with T'Sa was occuring, the Klingon Kopok was sitting in a holding cell. He listened as a figure in the opposite holding cell from his was ranting to a security officer. Kopok had been waiting for K'Vagh to come in and help him, but it didn't look like that was going to occur.

"You!" He shouted to Alicia, "Bring me bloodwine!"

There weren't any replicators in these holding cells, as there were in some others. He got stuck waiting for a security officer to bring him food or drink...

[Ziona]

DSG, The Rusty Cup

Ziona listened in horror as the message was relayed that T'Sa had been injured. She let the words sink in before she began to realize that she would be acting commanding officer until Ian returned, which could be for an indefinite amount of time. Her eyes raised to meet Archer's and Blake's in turn before she swallowed heavily.

"My god," She whispered, getting to her feet rather shakily and reaching for her pack which was on the ground next to her. It seemed her time off came to an end here. "I've... I've got to go to OPS... see what's going on here."

Her words were rather mumbled as she gathered her things, waved a half-hearted goodbye to Sophia and then began to exit the Rusty Cup. She didn't even register if Archer or Blake had said anything to her and she hardly heard anything in the Promenade as she walked towards a Turbolift to call for OPS.

She realized she wasn't in uniform, but at least, just maybe, she would be able to catch Ian before he went gallivanting across the universe looking for T'Sa's attackers...

"OPS, please." Ziona spoke, her words hardly audible. The Turbolift began to move and she took the moment to shut her eyes, take a steadying breath and try to organize her mind.

[Lord Borg]

DSG, Sickbay

T'Sa took a struggled breath, the air sounding raspy as she breathed the life giving oxygen into her damaged lungs. Her skin, once a taned color, leaning towards a greenish hue was now pale from the lack of blood. There was little blood left in her vaines, just enough to keep her alive...barely. T'Sa continued to place all of her efforts into breathing as the medical team worked on her, her eyes fluttered as she pursed her lips to speak.

"Iii..ann... da...da...dang.."

T'Sa's eyes widened from the shock of pain as she siezed up, moving about from the sheer force of the pain. T'Sa felt hands on her bare skin, the torn rags that once made up her clothing long since removed for the emergency medical treatment. She let out a scream from the sensation of the pain, and people touching her skin, which seemed to be on fire, her eyes darted around looking for the eyes that woke her up.

"Hold her down" Burns ordered.

Several nurses moved in and tried to hold T'Sa down, while being sensitive to her wounds in an attempt to keep her on the bed, and from further hurting herself.

Burns wondered what she had been trying to say earlier, it had been barely audible, she heard want sounded like "An Dang" nothing she had heard before, perhaps it was in Vulcan. In attempt to use the dermal regenerator, Burns tried to apply the device on some of her mid-body wounds, where it seemed to be the worst only to find...it wasn't working.

"Damn it" she cursed, as she grabed another guaze and applied it to T'Sa's adomen area.

"The wounds aren't healing, work on stopping her bleeding, where's that damn transfusion" she yelled.

DSG, Brig

Stone looked up Derek James' record, trying to figure out why he was here, and how long, it sounded like it had been roughly three weeks, that couldn't have been right, it just couldn't have been, She looked up when the Klingon screamed at her and frowned.

"We don't allow our prisoners to consume alcohol of any kind" she said apolgetically.

Stone looked back down to his record, to try and figure out what was going on.

DSG, The Rusty Cup

Archer froze in place, and felt the blood drain from his face when he hard Ian speak of T'Sa being injured. He had a feeling what his friend was about to do next and stood up, and headed for the door.

"Damn, Ian" he said to himself, "Your gonna go out there, arnt you?"

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Bajor, Dakeen Monastery-

Kiris bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect and raised it again before speaking.
�I seek understanding. I have led a troubled existence. Is it too late to change my path?�
Nothing else had helped Kiris find the answers he sought. Maybe�just maybe he could find something here.

-IRW Varix, Bridge-

2311

Levek entered the bridge. A year ago when he�d been assigned to this ship he loathed its very being. Now he was glad to be back on it.
�Systems report.� The Varix Ops officer checked his console.
�All systems functioning within normal parameters. Our Torpedo compliment has been restored. One last thing sir, our sensor pallets have been upgraded to include tachyon isolators. Theoretically it should make cloaked ships easier to detect.� Levek took his seat.

The Tal Shiar was becoming more paranoid by the day. They didn�t need to detect their own cloaked ships so the only other logical conclusion was that they expected a Klingon attack or some other type of involvement. Forty years prior to this date Levek�s father had been killed in a battle against the Klingons. The Battle of Klach D�Kel Brakt was one of the most humiliating defeats the empire had ever suffered.

Levek didn�t know why but it seemed the Ditex family was made to suffer. It was as if some unseen force made sure of it. Parents ripped from their children. Children allowing hatred to grow within them. Levek�s hate had been growing a long time and would continue to grow in his descendents. He had a sneaking feeling it would be hatred and bitterness that would ultimately end the Ditex line.
�Helm, take us to the edge of the Solar System. We have been scheduled for patrol.�