Season 3 Episode 1 - Dead in the Water

[Aryn Corliss]

Tanibak turned when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye from the Ops station, and when the Starfleet crew member introduced herself, the Romulan relaxed some. Some. He put on a small small, barely noticeable in the twinge of the corner of his lips, and nodded to the Lieutenant, holding his hand out to offer to shake hers.

"You would be correct, Lieutenant Corliss, or would you prefer that I called you by Aryn? I have been assigned to the station, at least for the time being. I'm told my assignment might be temporary, something about staffing issues on other ships and stations alongside this one. That doesn't mean that I intend to slack off, of course, and I hope we can have a productive acquaintance during our time working together. As I hope with all the station's crew. I need to report in to the Captain or the First Officer, might you know where I can find one of them?"

His tone wasn't harsh, exactly, but he wasn't the warmest or friendliest either. It was rather plain, to the point, almost stoic in nature, like a Vulcan rather than the normally arrogant, suspicious, or deceivingly jovial nature of most Romulan stereotypes.

[Ops]

Aryn caught that there was something not quite typical about the Romulan, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. Responding to his comments, she said, Either is fine. I'm not picky about my name. I've had quite a few over the years, though Aryn Corliss is the original. She grinned, but didn't elaborate. I'm sorry to hear you won't be with us long, she continued. I'm afraid the Captain is in the midst of mediating some delicate negotiations, but I believe the XO is available. I'll call her.[/color]

Tapping her combadge, Aryn called Flick.  Corliss to Lt. Commander Ellis. I have a new crew member in Ops right now who would like to report in - Lt. Tanibak. 

[Leanna Mazal]

[Deck 1 - Observation Lounge]

After her small detoutr and conversation with Flick not to mention the slight awkwardness with Volskene, who Lea believed to be completely lost for words as he tried to comprehend the changes that had happened in such a short space of time. Thinking that he would eventually come round and hopefully not be totally broken as she finally entered the Observation Lounge.

It looked a lot different since she was last here a few hours ago and smiled, proud at what Seamus and her staff had achieved during her time away. She figured that some of their guests might not appreciate the lengths she had gone too in order to ensure a pleasant dining experience but this was her first formal Banquet and well it wouldn't be her style to keep things simple when she could show off just what the Columbus was capable of.

She had a lot of pride and love for her adopted home and yet hadn't forgotten even the smallest detail in order to cater for all of their guests needs and also show the diversity and appreciation for their homeworlds and customs.

Moving forward, she examined every piece that now adorned the long table, then the backdrop and centrepieces before stepping back to admire it once more.

" So how did it go with loverboy ?"Seamus teased as he came up behind Leanna almost making her jump before she realised and stuck her tongue out at the Irishman then answered him.

" Oh very funny Shay and as if I need to tell you" Lea replied thinking she should change the subject slightly as she didn't know if she wanted to talk about Deg'arf at the moment but at the same time enjoyed the banter that her and Shay always had.

" Anyway enough about Deg'arf, How's Rixxy?" she asked grinning as Seamus blushed but quickly recovered with the comeback of. " Touche, Lea"He said also grinning.

" Other than being bored she's feeling much better".

Lea smiled relieved that her close friend and bodyguard was getting better. " That's great apart from her being bored and I love what you and the others have done here, it looks just how I had pictured it when we began to plan it out" Lea admitted getting back to business especially with the time frame that they had.

" Thanks Lea, I had a feeling that you would and the Kitchen are finished with the prep so as soon as the delegates arrive we'll be ready to go".

" Good as I don't want to keep them waiting, so while we wait we can go over the schedule and finish the welcome drinks".

Seamus nodded and together they sat at one of the smaller tables in the corner with PADDs to go over everything.

[Felicity Ellis]

[Deck 2 - Passageway]

Felicity was striding down the corridor, her eyes and attention on her PADD when she became aware of the almost scuttling sound of a Volskene, following her. She looked up, slowed a little, and turned around. She regarded the Tholian carefully as she proceeded to walk backwards in the general direction of the turbolift.

He was still having one of his 'does not compute' moments, she could tell. The only thing she could do really was give him time to process, and be on hand to answer the inevitable barrage of follow up questions.

Corliss to Lt. Commander Ellis. I have a new crew member in Ops right now who would like to report in - Lt. Tanibak. 

Lieutenant Tanibak... Tanibak... Oh, yes. If she recalled correctly, he was the Sec/Tac officer assigned to them temporarily until construction of the new Starbase was completed. She tapped her commbadge to respond to Aryn.

"This is Ellis. Thank you, Lieutenant, I'm on my way."

She turned back around to face the turbolift doors and stepped inside. There has to be a pulse for it to count as a date, Greg. She tapped out the message on her PADD, not looking up when the sound of Volskene's movement stopped, signalling that he too had joined her in the 'lift. "Deck Two."

[Ops]

"Just a quick stop, Specialist, then we can go to my office," Felicity said to Volskene as she exited the 'lift, scanning Ops for Aryn while she spoke. Once she'd spotted the Operations officer, standing with a Romulan she assumed to be Lieutenant Tanibak, she started forward. She nodded a few greetings as she walked across the floor, though she knew that most eyes were on her Tholian shadow. It would seem that he still commanded a lot of curiosity.

As she neared the Lieutenant, she recognised him clearly from his personnel files. She nodded another greeting at Corliss, the corners of her mouth curling upward slightly into a small smile. "Lieutenant Tanibak," she turned to the latest arrival, coming to a full stop in front of him. "Welcome to Starbase Columbus. I'm Felicity Ellis, XO." She offered her hand to shake in welcome, before gesturing toward the Tholian scientist. "This is Specialist Volskene." She was unsure if Vol would respond, but she felt it would be poor manners not to introduce him. She looked back at the Romulan. "I trust your trip here was... bearable?" The question of how one enjoyed their long, uncomfortable trip was something she normally found trite; she often preferred a more direct, realistic line of inquiry. That an individual managed the journey without spiraling into madness precipitated by boredom was usually enough for her.

[Naira]

[Ynari Shuttle]

With the shuttle left unguarded, Cage made quick work opening hatches, digging through compartments and peering into all the tiny nooks and crannies one might hide their most valuable treasure. Cage viewed himself as a finder of such hidden treasures. For the right price he could find just about anything and if the rumors were to be believed, these Ynari held a great trove of information that could be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

He accessed their computer files, downloaded the history of their last several flight paths, attempted to search for useful keywords such as 'treasure,' 'profit,' 'trade,' 'arrangement,' 'mine,' and anything else that popped into his mind. The Trade Commission would be pleased if he returned to Ferenginar with information pertaining to some new and rather exclusive trading routes and locations to mineral-rich mining sites and after he sold the information to them with a rather generous finder's fee, he could turn around and resale it, with further markup, to wouldbe traders and treasure hunters.

He was so busy calculating the expected profits of new fortune that he failed to notice the silent alarm he had triggered. 

[TRell]

[Conference Room]

No wonder there had been little challenge to her offer to lead the security detail for the conference, her knees ached and she was bored, and it took most of her self control not cheer when the arrival of the Ynari delegation meant she had a reason to leave her post, the change over was sadly brief and T'Rell gave the delegates a quick once over to ensure the safety of all before dismissing the team, she said nothing but turned and opened the doors to the conference room, the automatic function having been disabled for security reasons, she stepped into the room followed closely by the Ynari,

"The Ynari delegation" she purred as the Captain looked up, with practised ease T'Rell stepped aside and indicated the chairs left empty, this bought the security officer closer than she liked to the Ferengi, who luckily, or possibly unluckily was still more interested in his food than anything else, the sound was nauseating to the keen eared Caitian, she could only imagine what it looked it like.  Still it wasn't her place to make comment.  Hopefully unnoticed she took another half step away and adjusted her holster waiting for the newest members of the summit to take their seats before she herself moved back into position.

[Naira]

[Conference Room]

No wonder there had been little challenge to her offer to lead the security detail for the conference, her knees ached and she was bored, and it took most of her self control not cheer when the arrival of the Ynari delegation meant she had a reason to leave her post, the change over was sadly brief and T'Rell gave the delegates a quick once over to ensure the safety of all before dismissing the team, she said nothing but turned and opened the doors to the conference room, the automatic function having been disabled for security reasons, she stepped into the room followed closely by the Ynari,

"The Ynari delegation" she purred as the Captain looked up, with practised ease T'Rell stepped aside and indicated the chairs left empty, this bought the security officer closer than she liked to the Ferengi, who luckily, or possibly unluckily was still more interested in his food than anything else, the sound was nauseating to the keen eared Caitian, she could only imagine what it looked it like.  Still it wasn't her place to make comment.  Hopefully unnoticed she took another half step away and adjusted her holster waiting for the newest members of the summit to take their seats before she herself moved back into position.

[Conference Room]

Naira forced herself to stand up to greet the Ynari representative, but in doing so, she was met with a sharp abdominal pain. She ground her teeth and tried to keep her eye from twitching as she felt something hard scrap against her pelvis. It felt as if a knife of some kind was trying to carve her up internally. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on the table and slowly exhaled trough her mouth.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet us today," she looked up to meet the eyes of the Ynari representative, forcing herself to try to put on a smile. "If you would please join us at the table, we can being to discuss the matter at hand."

She took another deep breath before trying to stand up again, this time supporting the weight of her stomach in her hands.

Gul Tirratt seemed to be quite fascinated by the events unfolding before him. He wore a bemused smirk upon his face as his focus shifted between the brutish Ynari and the captain, but he didn't speak a word. Zylak, on the other hand, began to loudly suckle upon his fingers before extending a hand out in the direction of the Ynari.

"Come, sit, eat and we will talk trade. I'm sure we can come to an agreement that will be most profitable to the both of us...all of us," he corrected himself with a big, toothy grin with bits of blood flies caught between his teeth.

The Ynari moved passed the Ferengi and grabbed the back of an empty chair, pulling it out from the table. He was about to sit down when a small chirping sound began to go off. "What is this?" He roared in anger and stepped back from the table.

"What seems to be the problem?" Naira asked.

"Someone has triggered the alarm on my ship! This wasn't a trade meeting, you hoped to lure us here to steal maps and the locations of our mines!" The tusked figure was fuming.

"I assure you that was not our intention," Tirratt finally spoke up. "Isn't that right, Captain."

"I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake, Lieutenant T'Rell," she looked to the Caitian standing beside the door, "would you escort our visitor to his ship to assess the situation." Her attention then turned to the counselor, "Counselor, would you like to go with them, perhaps you can help put defuse the situation." Finally, she turned towards the other representatives as she was greeted with another round of pain, "If you two wouldn't mind waiting while we sort this out, I'm sure we can get the security officers waiting outside to kindly escort you to the banquet."         

[Tanibak Black]

[Ops]

Aryn caught that there was something not quite typical about the Romulan, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. Responding to his comments, she said, Either is fine. I'm not picky about my name. I've had quite a few over the years, though Aryn Corliss is the original. She grinned, but didn't elaborate. I'm sorry to hear you won't be with us long, she continued. I'm afraid the Captain is in the midst of mediating some delicate negotiations, but I believe the XO is available. I'll call her.[/color]

Tapping her combadge, Aryn called Flick.  Corliss to Lt. Commander Ellis. I have a new crew member in Ops right now who would like to report in - Lt. Tanibak. 

Tanibak nodded, keeping these comments of hers in mind for later on. Since they would be working together for some indeterminate time, he didn't want to accidentally create animosity by mispronouncing her name or addressing her in a manner she found to be offensive.

"Then Aryn will suffice, except in formal settings, naturally. Then I'll refer to you as Lieutenant Corliss." He said courteously, waiting while she summoned the XO to Ops, something which evidently did not take long.

[Deck 2 - Passageway]

Felicity was striding down the corridor, her eyes and attention on her PADD when she became aware of the almost scuttling sound of a Volskene, following her. She looked up, slowed a little, and turned around. She regarded the Tholian carefully as she proceeded to walk backwards in the general direction of the turbolift.

He was still having one of his 'does not compute' moments, she could tell. The only thing she could do really was give him time to process, and be on hand to answer the inevitable barrage of follow up questions.

Lieutenant Tanibak... Tanibak... Oh, yes. If she recalled correctly, he was the Sec/Tac officer assigned to them temporarily until construction of the new Starbase was completed. She tapped her commbadge to respond to Aryn.

"This is Ellis. Thank you, Lieutenant, I'm on my way."

She turned back around to face the turbolift doors and stepped inside. There has to be a pulse for it to count as a date, Greg. She tapped out the message on her PADD, not looking up when the sound of Volskene's movement stopped, signalling that he too had joined her in the 'lift. "Deck Two."

[Ops]

"Just a quick stop, Specialist, then we can go to my office," Felicity said to Volskene as she exited the 'lift, scanning Ops for Aryn while she spoke. Once she'd spotted the Operations officer, standing with a Romulan she assumed to be Lieutenant Tanibak, she started forward. She nodded a few greetings as she walked across the floor, though she knew that most eyes were on her Tholian shadow. It would seem that he still commanded a lot of curiosity.

As she neared the Lieutenant, she recognised him clearly from his personnel files. She nodded another greeting at Corliss, the corners of her mouth curling upward slightly into a small smile. "Lieutenant Tanibak," she turned to the latest arrival, coming to a full stop in front of him. "Welcome to Starbase Columbus. I'm Felicity Ellis, XO." She offered her hand to shake in welcome, before gesturing toward the Tholian scientist. "This is Specialist Volskene." She was unsure if Vol would respond, but she felt it would be poor manners not to introduce him. She looked back at the Romulan. "I trust your trip here was... bearable?" The question of how one enjoyed their long, uncomfortable trip was something she normally found trite; she often preferred a more direct, realistic line of inquiry. That an individual managed the journey without spiraling into madness precipitated by boredom was usually enough for her.

He saw the XO enter Ops via the Turbolift almost immediately, many years of various training in security and espionage having formed within him a habit of watching every entrance and exit to a given room. His deduction skills hadn't changed much either, as he noted that the XO did in fact command respect rather than fear from her crewmates, an admirable quality which meant he knew he could get along well with her. He bowed at the neck slightly as she approached, then took the outstretched hand with a firm grip and shook it in greetings.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I look forward to working with you and everyone else aboard the station, and I assure you that I will allow my conduct and performance, no matter how long or brief my stay aboard the Columbus may be, will be nothing but my utmost. As for my trip, well, it was bearable, at least." He said confidently, glancing over at the Tholian over her shoulder, finding it curious that the Tholian Assembly would want a representative this far from their space. "And a greetings to you, Specialist Volskene."

[Aryn Corliss]

Tanibak nodded, keeping these comments of hers in mind for later on. Since they would be working together for some indeterminate time, he didn't want to accidentally create animosity by mispronouncing her name or addressing her in a manner she found to be offensive.

"Then Aryn will suffice, except in formal settings, naturally. Then I'll refer to you as Lieutenant Corliss." He said courteously, waiting while she summoned the XO to Ops, something which evidently did not take long.

He saw the XO enter Ops via the Turbolift almost immediately, many years of various training in security and espionage having formed within him a habit of watching every entrance and exit to a given room. His deduction skills hadn't changed much either, as he noted that the XO did in fact command respect rather than fear from her crewmates, an admirable quality which meant he knew he could get along well with her. He bowed at the neck slightly as she approached, then took the outstretched hand with a firm grip and shook it in greetings.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I look forward to working with you and everyone else aboard the station, and I assure you that I will allow my conduct and performance, no matter how long or brief my stay aboard the Columbus may be, will be nothing but my utmost. As for my trip, well, it was bearable, at least." He said confidently, glancing over at the Tholian over her shoulder, finding it curious that the Tholian Assembly would want a representative this far from their space. "And a greetings to you, Specialist Volskene."

[Ops]

Once Tanibak had introduced himself to the new arrivals, Aryn dipped her head at the Tholian: Specialist Volskene, good to see you. Nodding politely and flashing a cheeky grin, she added, Commander. How are things going with our visitors? Not sure I'd want to be in on those meetings. I'm happy taking care of things here.

In general, Aryn was easygoing and got along with almost anyone. But she did not envy Naira the task of moderating negotiations with Ferengi or Cardassians. She didn't know enough about the Ynari to judge, but the other two gave her vague uneasy feelings that made her wonder if she'd had some kind of negative dealings with either race in the past.

[TRell]

[Conference Room]

"I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake, Lieutenant T'Rell," she looked to the Caitian standing beside the door, "would you escort our visitor to his ship to assess the situation." Her attention then turned to the counselor, "Counselor, would you like to go with them, perhaps you can help put defuse the situation." Finally, she turned towards the other representatives as she was greeted with another round of pain, "If you two wouldn't mind waiting while we sort this out, I'm sure we can get the security officers waiting outside to kindly escort you to the banquet."

[Conference Room]

T'Rell nodded at the order "yes Ma'am" she said simply turning to the Ynari, her face set professionally, her tail straight down, "This way sir" she said to him, with enough force to show that she was in charge, but enough politeness to his rank to indicate she knew her place in the Heirarchy.  The Ynari captain moved quickly, but not before casting a threatening eye over the other guests and the Starfleet officers, T'Rell slapped her combadge,

T'Rell to docking bay teams lock down the area around the Ynari ship, to two sections each way, no one goes in or out until i, or other ranking officer says so  this was perhaps over stepping her rank, but the conference was important and it was always good to project a little bit of overt power in such discussions.  The Ynari hadn't slowed and was at the door before her, the Caitian hurried after him, pausing just beyond the doors to beckon a lanky security officer over "Lieutenant Nixon, you're in charge here until i return, keep an eye on the Captain, I'm concerned we may need medical before to long" Nixon nodded and turned on his heel replacing her in the conference room while T'Rell again hurried after the Ynari.  She hoped that Gibbons was keeping up as well.

The trip in the Turbolift was quiet, at least on her behalf, the Ynari captain muttered and what T'Rell could only guess at, swore the entire time, by the time the doors opened he had worked up a good head of steam and practically stalked off in the direction of his vessel, T'Rell composed herself quickly and followed him again all but jogging to get slightly ahead of him before the hastily erected security barrier.

[Volskene]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I look forward to working with you and everyone else aboard the station, and I assure you that I will allow my conduct and performance, no matter how long or brief my stay aboard the Columbus may be, will be nothing but my utmost. As for my trip, well, it was bearable, at least." He said confidently, glancing over at the Tholian over her shoulder, finding it curious that the Tholian Assembly would want a representative this far from their space. "And a greetings to you, Specialist Volskene."

Once Tanibak had introduced himself to the new arrivals, Aryn dipped her head at the Tholian: Specialist Volskene, good to see you. Nodding politely and flashing a cheeky grin, she added, Commander. How are things going with our visitors? Not sure I'd want to be in on those meetings. I'm happy taking care of things here.

The Tholian faintly sensed the other humanoids attempting conversation with him. Volskene was deep within his thoughtspace, almost in a meditative state. For the first time in a long while, his thoughtspace was pure enough to reach the Lattice. Light-years upon light-years away. He communed with his people, sharing all that he'd seen, felt, experienced. And the shocking revelations that had come with those events. To a humanoid, it would seem like he simply wasn't paying attention; the most he could give to the humanoids was a slight turn in their direction as they called his name. But the Tholian was mostly fixated upon his brethren. Their thoughts were one.

A sudden realization came to him that broke the trance momentarily: The Primary Medical Castemember (?) would certainly need to exert some form of damage control to compensate for Volskene's supposed "rudeness". But it was only fleeting, as he returned to brooding.

[Gibbons Vasha]

[Main Conference Room]

[Conference Room]

Naira forced herself to stand up to greet the Ynari representative, but in doing so, she was met with a sharp abdominal pain. She ground her teeth and tried to keep her eye from twitching as she felt something hard scrap against her pelvis. It felt as if a knife of some kind was trying to carve her up internally. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on the table and slowly exhaled trough her mouth.

"Are you alright, Captain?!" the orange haired Bajoran asked.

The youthful Counselor Gibbie reached over towards the beautiful Orion Captain with a great look of concern plastered over her face, placing an arm on the shoulder of her superior. It was clear that this entire endeavour was bringing an immense amount of stress onto Naira. A form of trauma that came in waves both physically and mentally.

Nevertheless, the acting Captain nodded in response to Gibbie's question and then proceeded to engage in the matter at hand. The inner-strength displayed by the Orion was truly admirable to the Jalanda native.

Somewhere along the discussion the Ynari Captain expressed distaste. No, that was too light a term. Distrust is what the Ynari emitted as her tossed out an accusation of betrayal on part of the Columbus.

[Conference Room]

"I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake, Lieutenant T'Rell," she looked to the Caitian standing beside the door, "would you escort our visitor to his ship to assess the situation." Her attention then turned to the counselor, "Counselor, would you like to go with them, perhaps you can help put defuse the situation." Finally, she turned towards the other representatives as she was greeted with another round of pain, "If you two wouldn't mind waiting while we sort this out, I'm sure we can get the security officers waiting outside to kindly escort you to the banquet."

"Absolutely, sir, I'll do my best," the orange haired lady uttered immediately after Lieutenant T'Rell. The two then would proceed alongside the Ynari Captain in order to evaluate the situation. Truthfully, there was quite a bit of tension. Gibbie felt as if the negotiations were fairly close to going better than she expected.

[Conference Room]

She hoped that Gibbons was keeping up as well.

The trip in the Turbolift was quiet, at least on her behalf, the Ynari captain muttered and what T'Rell could only guess at, swore the entire time, by the time the doors opened he had worked up a good head of steam and practically stalked off in the direction of his vessel, T'Rell composed herself quickly and followed him again all but jogging to get slightly ahead of him before the hastily erected security barrier.

[Turbolift]

All of the individuals took their leave of Turbolift. The Counselor found herself speeding up to match the pace of T'Rell. "Hey Lieutenant, do you think there's really a chance someone tried to steal from the the Ynari?" Vasha whispered into the ear of her Catian friend, a woman Gibbie found herself on adventures with often since coming onto the starbase.

[Naira]

[Main Conference Room]

"Are you alright, Captain?!" the orange haired Bajoran asked.

The youthful Counselor Gibbie reached over towards the beautiful Orion Captain with a great look of concern plastered over her face, placing an arm on the shoulder of her superior. It was clear that this entire endeavour was bringing an immense amount of stress onto Naira. A form of trauma that came in waves both physically and mentally.

Nevertheless, the acting Captain nodded in response to Gibbie's question and then proceeded to engage in the matter at hand. The inner-strength displayed by the Orion was truly admirable to the Jalanda native.

[Conference Room]

The reassuring hand the counselor placed on her shoulder brought a small smile to her face. She locked eyes and nodded at the Bajoran before watching her leave the room with the security officer and the Ynari captain.

Naira stepped around the table to follow the others out. She moved slowly, placing one foot in front of the other, breathing in and then out with each step. She stopped only when she reached the other representatives, ushering them towards the door. Ambassador Zylak was all too willing to set aside business for the time being to move on to the banquet. It was Gul Tirratt who was standing in her way.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, if we can move to the banquet hall for now, I'm sure we can get this meeting back on track here soon."

"I sure hope so, Captain, for all our sakes." He stood tall for a moment, sizing her up, before leaning over to whisper into her ear. "You're bleeding." He nudged his nose back over her ear and she turned her neck to look over her shoulder. Sure enough, a trail of dark green droplets trailed behind her.

[Conference Room]

T'Rell nodded at the order "yes Ma'am" she said simply turning to the Ynari, her face set professionally, her tail straight down, "This way sir" she said to him, with enough force to show that she was in charge, but enough politeness to his rank to indicate she knew her place in the Heirarchy.  The Ynari captain moved quickly, but not before casting a threatening eye over the other guests and the Starfleet officers, T'Rell slapped her combadge,

T'Rell to docking bay teams lock down the area around the Ynari ship, to two sections each way, no one goes in or out until i, or other ranking officer says so  this was perhaps over stepping her rank, but the conference was important and it was always good to project a little bit of overt power in such discussions.  The Ynari hadn't slowed and was at the door before her, the Caitian hurried after him, pausing just beyond the doors to beckon a lanky security officer over "Lieutenant Nixon, you're in charge here until i return, keep an eye on the Captain, I'm concerned we may need medical before to long" Nixon nodded and turned on his heel replacing her in the conference room while T'Rell again hurried after the Ynari.  She hoped that Gibbons was keeping up as well.

The trip in the Turbolift was quiet, at least on her behalf, the Ynari captain muttered and what T'Rell could only guess at, swore the entire time, by the time the doors opened he had worked up a good head of steam and practically stalked off in the direction of his vessel, T'Rell composed herself quickly and followed him again all but jogging to get slightly ahead of him before the hastily erected security barrier.

Somewhere along the discussion the Ynari Captain expressed distaste. No, that was too light a term. Distrust is what the Ynari emitted as her tossed out an accusation of betrayal on part of the Columbus.

"Absolutely, sir, I'll do my best," the orange haired lady uttered immediately after Lieutenant T'Rell. The two then would proceed alongside the Ynari Captain in order to evaluate the situation. Truthfully, there was quite a bit of tension. Gibbie felt as if the negotiations were fairly close to going better than she expected.

[Turbolift]

All of the individuals took their leave of Turbolift. The Counselor found herself speeding up to match the pace of T'Rell. "Hey Lieutenant, do you think there's really a chance someone tried to steal from the the Ynari?" Vasha whispered into the ear of her Catian friend, a woman Gibbie found herself on adventures with often since coming onto the starbase.

[Turbolift]

The Ynair captain followed the Starfleet officers, grumbling to himself the entire time. Coming here was a bad idea. Entering into these trade talks was a bad idea. His men knew better than to trip the alarm, it had to be someone else, someone on the station. Someone was trying to steal from him and he was not going to stand for it.

[Conference Room]

Naira waited for the representatives to leave before calling on Lieutenant Nixon, "I think I may need Sickbay."

[Felicity Ellis]

He saw the XO enter Ops via the Turbolift almost immediately, many years of various training in security and espionage having formed within him a habit of watching every entrance and exit to a given room. His deduction skills hadn't changed much either, as he noted that the XO did in fact command respect rather than fear from her crewmates, an admirable quality which meant he knew he could get along well with her. He bowed at the neck slightly as she approached, then took the outstretched hand with a firm grip and shook it in greetings.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I look forward to working with you and everyone else aboard the station, and I assure you that I will allow my conduct and performance, no matter how long or brief my stay aboard the Columbus may be, will be nothing but my utmost. As for my trip, well, it was bearable, at least." He said confidently, glancing over at the Tholian over her shoulder, finding it curious that the Tholian Assembly would want a representative this far from their space. "And a greetings to you, Specialist Volskene."

[Ops]

Felicity regarded the Lieutenant with interest as they shook hands, and when he asserted that he'd do his utmost, she felt the sentiment was likely a genuine one. "I'm glad to hear that, Lieutenant," she said in response, to both his oath and the news that his trip wasn't entirely maddening. When Tanibak greeted Volskene, she turned her head slightly to eye up the Tholian's reaction. He moved himself just a fraction in answer to both Lieutenants' polite welcomes.

Felicity glanced at Tanibak, and then back at Aryn before offering something of an explanation for Volskene's behaviour. She wasn't exactly pleased that she'd been forced into a position to have to do it, but she was uncertain of just how much experience the others had dealing with Tholians. "Specialist Volskene has had some unexpected news. I believe he's working through it via the connection he shares with his people." She neglected to share that the news in question had been that of her promotion.

[Ops]

Once Tanibak had introduced himself to the new arrivals, Aryn dipped her head at the Tholian: Specialist Volskene, good to see you. Nodding politely and flashing a cheeky grin, she added, Commander. How are things going with our visitors? Not sure I'd want to be in on those meetings. I'm happy taking care of things here.

Her smile turned a shade wry at Aryn's words. "I don't blame you. I managed to escape just as the casual sexism kicked off." She didn't envy Naira either, even with her fondness for challenges. "But if there's anyone who can keep our esteemed guests in line, it's the Captain. Which reminds me." She turned back to their latest addition.

"Lieutenant T'Rell has organised Security details and procedures for our visitors, and I'm sure she'd appreciate the assistance of another experienced officer. Once you've been settled, of course."

***

[NPC - Dr. Chief Kece Lunn - Primary Sickbay]

Lunn grumbled to himself in the relative quiet of Sickbay. He was pleased that the 'crowd' had departed, and he'd shortly thereafter proclaimed that he could finally hear himself think without someone calling out flower names or wantonly flirting. In his Sickbay, imagine, how altogether inappropriate! He whipped out his PADD and added another line to the agenda he'd composed. He was amassing an extensive list of changes and new rules he wanted to implement, and it was almost as long as his list of complaints, which he fully intended to present to the new XO during their very next 'handover' meeting that day. If he was to be forced to attend them then he'd just have to make them worth his while.

Despite his contrary mood and most hectic schedule, he'd still found the time to remind Leonora of his promise to help. His lovely friend was of course always welcome in his Sickbay, though he was seriously contemplating an early release for Ensign Edair in the hope that it would discourage her testy significant other from returning, armed as he usually was with assorted flora and snark.

He paused for a moment in contemplation, and then added another line, fingers tapping quickly.

[Xander Dorset]

[Passageways]

Xander casually cradled the cactus in one of his arms as if it were and oddly sturdy and spiky newborn as Mormor walked beside him. Helena had tucked some sort of Papaveraceae behind his ear, but he hadn't bothered removing it - both to humor her at the time, and because he honestly forgot it was there after roughly thirty seconds of conversation. So far it had been there almost twenty-three minutes, but Mormor wasn't going to say anything and spoil the record.

"Alright, Alexander, I should head back to the shop," the old woman sighed as they came to the next intersection of pathways. "Make sure you put Dericka where she is supposed to go, now. None of your usual mischief," she added as she glanced over his grin that was all-t00-excited for someone tasked with delivering a desk plant.

"Relax, Mormor, it's a cactus. What could go wrong?" He leaned down and pecked his grandmother on the cheek. Knowing exactly what he planned to go wrong, Xander walked down the opposite corridor. He already had the message for Felicity drafted on his PADD, and now he skimmed it, grinning at his own evil plan.

To: Felicity Ellis
Subject: None
From: Alexander Dorset

She is being taken care of.

Still grinning to himself, Xander marked the message as "not urgent" and sent it, before continuing towards Felicity's new office. It wouldn't interrupt what she was doing with an alert, but when she next returned to her office and saw what Xander was about to leave there, she'd connect the dots between the mysterious message and her missing desk plant rather quickly. Xander would be lying if he said he wasn't  looking forward to seeing how she reacted.

[Leanna Mazal]

[Observation Lounge]

With the last few items finalised and her staff dressed accordingly in more formal wear as opposed the smart casual attire that they were used to wearing in the bar, Leanna was satisfied that everything was set.

Yes there might be some internal muttering and grumbles about the starched white shirts but at the same time they knew how important this banquet was especially for Lea and for the Station as a whole.

So with everyone prepared and properly attired, the welcoming drinks poured and the lights lowered slightly to allow the reflections of the Ynari plants and other flowers to glitter and sparkle, creating an ambient atmosphere, they were ready for when the initial meeting ended.

However a message was soon received by Security that they had left the Conference Room a little earlier than planned but even though she hadn't been told the reason why, assumed things had gone well.

Therefore the Betazoid gathered her staff, gave them a pep talk and final instructions before standing with Seamus and Kit both holding drinks trays as they prepared to welcome the delegates.