S2 M2: "Pursuit of Yesterday"

[Julia Rellek]

[Captains Ready Room]

"Captains log, supplemental. We continue on our mission of charting and exploring the newly granted access of the Gamma Quadrant. Yesterday we detected a tachion pulse in an uncharted system. We are enroute to investigate and according to Lieutenant Galloway we should be there within the hour.

End Log.

[Zed Masters]

[Personal Quarters]

Zed sat alone on the floor in the center of his room. The lights were all but off, and other than mild ambience from the ship the room was silent. The young Betazoid's eyes were closed as he tried to focus in on the calm. That's when the lights came up to their brightest setting and a blaring alarm began to sound. Within seconds Normandy was on his feet, a startled look was sprawled across his face as he looked to the clock next to his bed. He wrongly assumed it was still far earlier that it actually was. "Computer, mute alarm and bring lights back down to half brightness!" Masters shouted over the alarm. Luckily for his sanity the alarm was silenced almost immediately. The man dawned black jeans and a loose grey dress shirt which had it's top three buttons undone and it's sleeves rolled up to his biceps. He rushed over to his wardrobe so that he could get changed before he had to get to the bridge. No matter what he did now, he was going to be late. That wasn't necessarily a surprise though, he was always punctually behind. It was probably his biggest work related flaw, that and his personality. Once he had changed into his uniform he turned to leave and ran straight into his locked door. After he had proceeded to unlock the door he left and made his way to the bridge.

[Bridge]

Entering uncharted territory made Zed feel remarkably unsettled. His empathic abilities did put him slightly at ease though, because he could sense that he wasn't alone in being apprehensive about the situation. The bridge was surprisingly quiet, which didn't help with the whole uneasiness thing. He was about five minutes late, which wasn't terrible for him when considering that he once slept off the empathic equivalent of a hangover...all the way through a shift. Normandy quietly strolled over to the Ops station while attempting to avoid any notice of his tardiness. To his knowledge, he succeeded, ironically though time was the only thing that could tell that.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Ian dropped the Tempest out of warp at the edge of the uncharted system and slowed to one half impulse.

"Wherever here is, we have arrived Ma'am."

After checking his console, Ian continued.

"All maneuverin' systems show nominal. No hazards ta navigation noted. Six planets detected with multiple moons. We are clear ta enter the system at yer discretion Ma'am."

[Klizh]

Bridge

Zed might have slipped in unnoticed, had K'lizh not already been keeping an eye out for him. He was sympathetic to the Betazoid's medical problems, but he also had a department to run, and while he wasn't going to run a tight ship, he did not want the captain to find any fault in him either. He was responsible for the conduct of those within his department, and he took his responsibilities seriously, despite his reputation as a practical joker in other matters.

K'lizh suddenly manifested himself over the Ops station, planting his hands on the console and chair to lean in and speak with a low voice, so as not to publicly humiliate the ensign. "Mister Masters," he said, resonating of aggravation, "This is the fifth time you have reported to your shift late, when you have reported in at all. I've been an extremely tolerant head of this department up until now. But this will not happen again or else I'll have no choice but to file a report that will go on your permanent record, is that understood?"

K'lizh found himself trembling from the slight burst of adrenaline. His own rise in the ranks had been proverbially meteoric and this was the first time he had ever dressed down a subordinate officer.

[Jada]

Bridge

Jada shook her leg out, easing the stiffness and not liking the standing arrangement for the Tactical station. She wondered if she could have Facilities Management install a chair up here... She could do that now, she recalled with surprise. Being elevated to Chief of Security/Tactical still came as a shock to her, since she hadn't been in the fleet very long, and she was still young, even for an Orion. Fortunately, Starfleet seemed to have counted her time served as a teen soldier with Teish Security in the corporate war. Still, she wondered if she was quite ready. She'd decided against enrolling in the Academy with s'Metra in favour of getting to work faster, and here she was, Sec/Tac Chief on a Galaxy-class starship before her. When they were finally back on the other side of the Wormhole and Senior Chief Petty Officer Jada, Chief of Security/Tactical, could send a message to her family, Cadet s'Metra was going to be so jealous.

In any case, her position was technically one of indefinite Acting Chief of Security/Tactical after Lieutenant Kehrav Th'taraq had to leave urgently on a family matter.

Still, Jada was eager to impress and not be seen to fail. As they dropped out of warp, she quickly initiated tactical scans of the system. 'Sensors show no vessels in range, no recent ion trails, or marker buoys. Looks like an uncharted system, captain.' she reported her findings, an edge of tension in her voice. Each new and unknown finding in the Gamma Quadrant raised her Orion dread of the Outer Dark, but she couldn't exactly tell the humans her conception of outer space was like their old weird-horror pulp fictions. 'The tachyon pulse occurred on the spinward side, near the third or fifth planet.'

[Solluk]

[Main Shuttlebay]

"Well, if it isn't Mister Too-Good-For-The-Rest-Of-Us," Jorian quipped as Solluk entered the cavenous main shuttlebay of the Tempest.

Solluk nodded to the Petty Officer, taking the ribbing in stride.   He'd just been away for several weeks taking an extension course on Psi Epsilon III, and the general consensus among the flight deck crew was that he was trying to escape to a different department.

This was not a consensus entirely without merit, though any thought that he'd be changing departments soon was premature.

"I expect to be with you here for some time, Mister Fellous," he told Jorian, "Perhaps with a more imperious attitude thanks to my new certifications and rank."

Jorian eyed him seriously for a moment, and then barked a loud laugh.  "Welcome back, Chief.  Looks like they installed a good humor upgrade while you were away.."

Solluk shrugged, "I have always had a good sense of humor, Mister Fellous.  It is simply that you are rarely funny."

Two crewmen within earshot broke out into laughter, and Jorian joined in.  Solluk had not realized how much he'd missed the daily interaction with the other flight crewmen until now.

"I hope Security has completed their investigation into the catastrophic shuttle failure while I was away," Solluk mentioned, remembering that Jada was somewhat suspicious of the Sarium Krellide powercell rupture.

"Yeah," Jorian said, "no foul play.  Just a manufacturing fault with the new C-29's that was exposed by a perfect storm of coincidence and rough handling.  Starfleet Engineering posted a replication pattern hotfix, so we're on the C-29-A powercells from here on out."

"Have the recovered shuttle parts been recycled or stripped back into inventory, yet?" Solluk inquired.

Jorian cleared his throat and his face showed an expression of discomfort, as though he suspected he might get into trouble.  "Uh, not yet.  It just hasn't been a priority.  Everything is still sitting in storage."

Solluk nodded, "It's good to hear, actually.  I intend to place a request with Lieutenants Galloway and Mortier."

Jorian frowned, "A request?"

A smile touched Solluk's features.  "There is little point in attending classes if I don't quickly put the skills I've learned to use.  I intend to perform a complete rebuild on the shuttle.  From the ground-up."

"There's not that much left of her, Chief.  At least, not much that's of any use." Jorian noted.

"That will make it all the more challenging," Solluk replied.

[Kintiss]

[Ten-Forward]

For Kintiss, breaks were rare, so when one came up, he took the opportunity. While he hadn't been on board for that long, he felt as though he'd already met most of the crew. Whenever he was sent on a new assignment, he liked to get a feel for the crew, just to see how hard they would be to treat. So far, he'd been pleasantly surprised, since only a handful were averse to Sickbay, and he suspected that was more to do with his alarming appearance.

As he tucked into a cooked desert rat (a Selay delicacy), he read and re-read the message he'd received a few moments ago.

The Starfleet Selay Social Club were meeting again.

There were only a few Selay in Starfleet, since many of their kind simply didn't have the stamina to keep up with the mammalian species. As a result, most of them were acquainted with each other and regularly met up to swap stories and play the immensely time-consuming game of Thisss. It had become a social club of sorts, with meetups held regularly. This time, it seemed, they were meeting on Vulcan in a month's time.

As he took another bite of rat, Kintiss made a mental note to request some leave.

[Zed Masters]

Bridge

Zed might have slipped in unnoticed, had K'lizh not already been keeping an eye out for him. He was sympathetic to the Betazoid's medical problems, but he also had a department to run, and while he wasn't going to run a tight ship, he did not want the captain to find any fault in him either. He was responsible for the conduct of those within his department, and he took his responsibilities seriously, despite his reputation as a practical joker in other matters.

K'lizh suddenly manifested himself over the Ops station, planting his hands on the console and chair to lean in and speak with a low voice, so as not to publicly humiliate the ensign. "Mister Masters," he said, resonating of aggravation, "This is the fifth time you have reported to your shift late, when you have reported in at all. I've been an extremely tolerant head of this department up until now. But this will not happen again or else I'll have no choice but to file a report that will go on your permanent record, is that understood?"

K'lizh found himself trembling from the slight burst of adrenaline. His own rise in the ranks had been proverbially meteoric and this was the first time he had ever dressed down a subordinate officer.

[Bridge]

Zed let out an annoyed sigh as his fingers drummed in sequence on the edge of his console. "Would you rather me be in immeasurable pain, and as a result completely useless? It's either I do my meditation before shift or you hit me with pain killers. There's no option three." Master replied with a slight pause before his next sentence. "Well, except the immeasurable pain I suppose." The young Betazoid spoke in a flat but not disrespectful manner. "I've disclosed this before. Finding empaths with my level ability has been hard. Finding ones who are also willing to help me reel in my abilities has been ever harder. But I am trying to fix my problems, but until then I can't really promise any more than I do now." Every word he spoke was true. He wasn't the most powerful empath to ever live, or even close actually, but he was the most powerful in several generations of his family by no small margin.

That's when they arrived. "Is that all? Because we just got to our destination and there's work to do." Zed was rarely blunt or short with people, but K'lizh had hit a sore spot for him. He didn't really like discussing his abilities at all, let alone that he didn't really have full control over them.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Zed let out an annoyed sigh as his fingers drummed in sequence on the edge of his console. "Would you rather me be in immeasurable pain, and as a result completely useless? It's either I do my meditation before shift or you hit me with pain killers. There's no option three." Master replied with a slight pause before his next sentence. "Well, except the immeasurable pain I suppose." The young Betazoid spoke in a flat but not disrespectful manner. "I've disclosed this before. Finding empaths with my level ability has been hard. Finding ones who are also willing to help me reel in my abilities has been ever harder. But I am trying to fix my problems, but until then I can't really promise any more than I do now." Every word he spoke was true. He wasn't the most powerful empath to ever live, or even close actually, but he was the most powerful in several generations of his family by no small margin.

That's when they arrived. "Is that all? Because we just got to our destination and there's work to do." Zed was rarely blunt or short with people, but K'lizh had hit a sore spot for him. He didn't really like discussing his abilities at all, let alone that he didn't really have full control over them.

[Bridge]

Ian could hear the exchange between the two Ops officers and unconsciously clenched his fists as he forced himself to stay out of another division's business.

"That lad would have more than his share of pain if'n he were ta talk ta me like that on the bridge. When he woke up, he'd find himself in the brig and pendin' charges fer insubordination and dereliction of bloody duty."

Ian however, remained silent and, after unclenching his fists, he continued to make minute course adjustments as the Tempest entered the system.

"I just hope there is something more interestin' here than another bloody anomaly that doesn't do anything but emit random bloody tachyon pulses."

[Nicholas Mortier]

[Mess Hall]
The relative silence of the Mess Hall was disrupted by a sudden spitting sound.
Anyone who looked would've noticed an old man (Nicholas Mortier), his face rapidly turning red, with a mug in his hand.
That's not coffee! he exclaimed, That's dish soap!
Nicholas made a mental note to inspect this replicator, as he made his way to the bar. Surely, one of the replicators could make him something drinkable.

[Klizh]

[Bridge]

Zed let out an annoyed sigh as his fingers drummed in sequence on the edge of his console. "Would you rather me be in immeasurable pain, and as a result completely useless? It's either I do my meditation before shift or you hit me with pain killers. There's no option three." Master replied with a slight pause before his next sentence. "Well, except the immeasurable pain I suppose." The young Betazoid spoke in a flat but not disrespectful manner. "I've disclosed this before. Finding empaths with my level ability has been hard. Finding ones who are also willing to help me reel in my abilities has been ever harder. But I am trying to fix my problems, but until then I can't really promise any more than I do now." Every word he spoke was true. He wasn't the most powerful empath to ever live, or even close actually, but he was the most powerful in several generations of his family by no small margin.

That's when they arrived. "Is that all? Because we just got to our destination and there's work to do." Zed was rarely blunt or short with people, but K'lizh had hit a sore spot for him. He didn't really like discussing his abilities at all, let alone that he didn't really have full control over them.

The Caitian Lieutenant Commander's tail frizzled, his ears flattened and his lips curled, whiskers pointing almost straight at the Betazoid. "I can think of a third and fourth option, Ensign," he said, almost hissing as he spoke. "If you require time to meditate before coming on-duty, you can set your alarm to wake up earlier. But since you don't appreciate my previous attempts to be understanding, we shall go with the fourth option."

Straightening up, K'lizh tugged his uniform down to straighten it. This time, he raised his voice for the rest of the bridge to hear. "Ensign Masters, you are hereby relieved of duty for insubordination. I will also be filing a formal report over your conduct." Now K'lizh was really shaking, and his tail was twitching dangerously.

[Jada]

Bridge

At the back of the Bridge, Jada couldn't hear what conspired between K'lizh and Masters; she'd assumed it to be just changeover reports for Ops. But Commander K'lizh raised his voice, she realised it was for a serious dressing down. Jada knew better than to get involved, and kept her eyes down on her console, feeling the tension and embarrassment that came when other people fought. A public rebuke wasn't the Thiratin Orion's habit; in her classes and now as a senior Security chief, she'd preferred to take people aside and do it quietly, however firmly, and let them keep their pride (like when she'd eventually heard about that crewman disrespecting Solluk in the lirpa class). She wasn't quite sure that really resolved much, however.

So instead she focused intently on a tactical analysis of the system: gravimetric topology, active sweeps of potential hiding places behind moons and comets. She didn't want to be caught out in an ambush.

[Michael Deus]

[Bridge - USS Tempest]

The Ensign walked through the turbo-lift doors and entered the Bridge, flanked by two Security Crewman. Taking a moment to straighten out his already pristine unfiron, he took a cursory look around and caught the tail end of the conversation between the Commander and the fellow Ensign, a slight frown crossing his face as he registered what was being said. "Ensign Masters, you are hereby relieved of duty for insubordination. I will also be filing a formal report over your conduct."

He gave a slight look to the men behind him, before he continued forward to stand behind and slightly to the right of his fellow Sec/Tac colleague at the Tactical consoles.

"Chief." He acknowledged her quietly, a little unsure as to the protocol of addressing a person of superior position, but not rank, in his own Department. Ignoring this for the time being, he leaned forward, his eyes easily seeing over her smaller frame to the read out in front, before moving up to the central view screen. "Uncharted space," He said after a moment, more toward the Crewmen behind him, but also including the Petty Officer in his musings, "If there was such a thing as a tactical nightmare; that's it, right there."

[Zed Masters]

The Caitian Lieutenant Commander's tail frizzled, his ears flattened and his lips curled, whiskers pointing almost straight at the Betazoid. "I can think of a third and fourth option, Ensign," he said, almost hissing as he spoke. "If you require time to meditate before coming on-duty, you can set your alarm to wake up earlier. But since you don't appreciate my previous attempts to be understanding, we shall go with the fourth option."

Straightening up, K'lizh tugged his uniform down to straighten it. This time, he raised his voice for the rest of the bridge to hear. "Ensign Masters, you are hereby relieved of duty for insubordination. I will also be filing a formal report over your conduct." Now K'lizh was really shaking, and his tail was twitching dangerously.

[Bridge]

Zed turned to look K'lizh dead in the eyes and offered an uncaring shrug. "I take it you didn't get the memo? After this mission I am going on indefinite leave from Starfleet to go home to Betazed in a last ditch effort to get my abilities under control. If I had to take a guess, I'll never be back. I'm on a ticking clock. Empaths on my level that can't handle the noise....they don't make it to their thirties. I put off my trip for one last mission, a proper send off before I spend the rest of my limited time trying to extend my limited time." Normandy spoke in a quiet and surprisingly somber tone. Slowly he shook his head and spoke again. "So write me up. I'll probably be dead before it can make a difference to me. But don't rob me of this." An explanation was about as close to an apology as he would ever get. The truth was, despite how cynical he was, or how many times he put himself into situations that nearly got him killed, he was terrified of the truth that was plain in front of him.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge]

Ian couldn't help but overhear the conversation behind him and frowned slightly at the ensign's circumstances.

"I didn't know that bein' too good an empath was a problem, but K'lizh is still in the right. If the lad was unfit fer duty, then perhaps his actions weren't insubordination, but regardless of cause, they were still detrimental ta 'good order and discipline'.

"Empathy and sympathy fer a fellow crewman's situation is important fer a leader, but neither can stand in the way of the safety of the ship. I think it would be possible ta find something in ops that the lad could do that would allow him his last mission that he could do that wouldn't require him ta work on the bridge."

Ian sighed softly as he reflected on the ongoing situation.

"It never ceases ta amaze me how complicated life and leadership can be. I can't imagine what it's like ta be the captain and it's times like this when I find myself wonderin' why I'm so determined ta sit center seat."

He returned his focus on negotiating the Tempest through the uncharted system and figured that the ensign was K'lizh's challenge to resolve.