Campaign Update (03/03/01) Part 2
Campaign Update Part 2 – Lindsay’s Lament
With Flag Admiral Nechayev’s orders in hand the crew of the USS Endeavor make final preparations for their mission. But first the Captain and the Counselor have a meeting. After some discussion of what has gone on, the Captain is encouraged to get a pet, a cat in fact. The idea being that the creature is just self reliant enough to be left alone for hours at a time, but requires enough basic maintenance to give Lindsay a responsibility. She also insists that the Captain name the cat Illona, after Lindsay’s dead friend, so she can have someone to talk to and share her feelings with. Lindsay agrees and promises to acquire one.
On Earth Dr. Lansing III and his father Dr. Lansing II fight a mutated Cardassian cold virus, picked up by colonists and brought back to Earth. Fearing this could lead to an epidemic, the father and son put aside their years of differences and manage to pull off an 11th hour miracle. Almost by accident they stumble onto a genetic sequencing that returns the virus to it’s non-lethal cold roots. With a hug and a job well done, the Drs. Lansing part with perhaps a bit more understanding of each other.
Back on the ship, Lindsay goes to talk with Dr. Tish about Dr. Lansing being given the CMO position ahead of her. The talk does not go well, and Tish takes this opportunity to torment the Captain about her studies. Tish has been studying interspecies sexual relations for most of her career, a side pursuit. She has even written two papers on the topic. She muses out loud how a Bajoran woman raised by an Earth man a Centauran woman would provide a very unique sexual experience. Lindsay demurs, telling Tish she is engaged and that it wouldn’t be appropriate. Tish agrees, but asks for permission to give the Captain a kiss. Lindsay says she will ask Sito if it’s okay. Tish seems pleased with herself. It won’t last. When Lindsay tells Sito what Tish said, Sito excuses herself and says “I think it is time she and I had a little talk.” That Captain pays it never no mind. Less than half an hour later Sito comes back with a blackened eye, a fat lip and scratch marks n her face. She triumphantly claims that Tish got the worst of it. Lindsay, shocked but some what amused asks what happened. Sito is unclear on the details but does remark that “Someone called someone a spotted whore and then that someone called the other someone a wrinkle nosed bitch. After that I just hit her.” Lindsay chastises her and immediately goes to see Dr. Tish.
Dr. Tish, suffering from a broken nose and 2 black eyes assures the Captain that she will not press charges as she was out of line and wishes the matter to be settled one on one the holodeck. When Sito is asked if she agrees, she does. No date is set, but anticipation runs high.
With Dr. Lansing beaming back on board the Endeavor heads first for DS9 to re-supply. On the way there the crew deal with what is going on around them. First Dr. Tish goes to see Commander Kolar and asks him if he will teach her the Mok’bara. He asks why and at first she plays coy, but he persists and she tells him about what has happened between her and Sito. She also informs him that Sito is a student on Ambassador Worf’s Mok’bara. Perhaps he could use this as a chance to compare styles. He agrees but after an hour in the holodeck he begins to regret his decision.
Captain Lindsay heads to Earth for a last minute stop and acquires a kitten with yellow fur and purple eyes that remind her of Illona. Once back on the ship she takes Illona and heads to the holodeck so the kitten can play and run. Sito contacts her to inquire where she is. The Captain asks her to join her on the holodeck. She does, and within seconds Illona does not like Sito. She hisses and growls at her, meanwhile Sito is having a horrible allergic reaction to the cat. She bows out and heads for Sick Bay.
There she meets up with the newly returned Dr. Lansing. Lansing gives her a mild analgesic for the allergic reaction and promises to find something longer lasting since Sito will be living with the cat as well. He then tries to pump her for information about the Farscape a et al. Sito inquires if he has some brandy, which he does and tells him only the following. They have been ordered by Starfleet never to talk about what has happened, but then tells him about the Bajoran Orbs, ending with the Orb of Time. This she says may help him understand how Lindsay had advanced knowledge of the two Romulan Warbirds at Relvar. He seems to get the hint as she bids him good night and heads out.
At DS9 days later, they take on supplies. Lindsay deftly evades a dinner invite form Commodore Jellico and quickly they are on their way to Deneb IV (Farpoint). As they go, Operations Chief Jago Vlasdric is called down to the main cargo bay by Quartermaster Lava Hughulagh (Tellarite Female). It seems that a package for the Captain has been found in between two liquid coolant tanks brought on board. After Tactical is called in and examines it, they take it to the Captain. She recognizes the hand writing as that of her rogue Conn Officer Lt Thomas Lowell. Inside is a PADD. She activates it as a video recording of Lowell, in an indescribable place. He apologizes for his leaving, but it was necessary and he states he hasn’t found his mother just yet, but he thinks he has found something the Captain may want.
The video then cuts to another video of a Cardassian work camp. As the camera passes around, we see Thomas Riker working the rock bed. As the camera continues to pan we see Ro Laren also working hard. Lastly the cameras catches a sighting of Sito Jaxa bringing water to the other workers. She too is a worker. Lowell comes back on the video at this point and provides the coordinates for this hidden work camp and insists the Captain due something as the video is less than three months old.
The Captain is stunned. Why is Sito Jaxa…her love…her fiancé on this video? She calls Sito to her ready room. Jaxa comes in from the bridge all smiles and relaxed. Lindsay mentions the PADD and then passes it to her for her to watch. She does and then as the Captain reaches to retrieve the PADD, Sito slams it edge first into the side of her head knocking her to the floor. She then locks a death grip on the Captain, designed to cut off the flow of blood to her brain. Outmatched and fading fast, Lindsay manages to tap her communicator and croak for help. Commander Kolar and Lt JG N'Nran Th'Ersa storm into the room with phasers drawn. Both make the same decision, and shoot both her and the Captain. The Captain is stunned, but Sito stays up and throws the unconscious form at Th’Ersa, knocking her over. She ducks another shot by Kolar and then scoops up Th’Ersa’s phaser. But Kolar gets the drop on her and another phaser shot sends her to the floor stunned.
The Captain and Sito are beamed to the sick bay and security is detached as well. A quick exam by Lansing shows both will live. But they cannot figure out why Sito attacked Lindsay. Lindsay is wakened and informs them to look at the PADD, which they do. Now with more questions than answers they decide to revive Sito. She sits up and rubs her eyes, a force field in place. They ask her why, but she has no memory. So they show her the PADD again. This seems to trigger something in her. She begins mocking the Captain at being so easy to manipulate, she even mockingly calls her by her pet name “Tehlani”. Dr. Lansing insists on doing a molecular level scan to determine if this is Lt Sito or not. His scans tell him that she is .78 cm shorter than Sito Jaxa and records indicate that Sito Jaxa is not allergic to cats. He also discovers the slight remains of two extra ribs. The only races he can think of with these extra ribs are Romulans, Vulcans and Cardassians. A quick for specific genetic markers and he discovers that the Sito Jaxa in front of him is not Bajoran at all, but a Cardassian modified to look and pass as Bajoran to almost all scans.
Lindsay is angered and outraged and with Kolar and Lansing heads to her ready room to contact Starfleet Intelligence. Meanwhile, Lt Vlasdric has begun to search for possible communications from Sito heading off the ship. She finds some, but as she goes to look, a system wide cascade power failure occurs. It seems a virus has been planted in the computers and is spreading through the gel packs.
Using the darkness to overpower her guard and escape, Sito heads for the Shuttle Bay to try and escape. Unluckily for her Lt Talok has had the same idea and heads that way to cut her off. As he enters the bay, he is hit by a stun blast. Still he pushes forward and manages to bat her phaser away and lock on a Vulcan Nerve pinch as Commander Kolar also storms in, a disruptor is hand.
Sito is returned to the brig and power slowly begins to come back on line, but the warp engines will take a bit longer. As Vlasdric tells what happened, Commander Mitchell has his engineering people working hard to bypass the fried gel packs and keep power flowing throughout the ship. Lt Talok detects two Galor class warships on approach. He estimates they will arrive in about 3 hours. Lindsay orders Lt JG Tanis Paige to take over as Conn officer and send her best pilot back to DS9 for help. In the meantime she wants communications back online ASAP.
Tension builds as the crew all pitch in to get main power back online, but Mitchell must inform the Captain that she can either have shields and weapons, or shields and warp drive. She opts to make a fight of it. Lt Talok locates a nebula 3 hours 10 minutes away at maximum impulse. If they can make it inside then can level the playing field. It is agreed and a race against time begins.
As the Cardassian ships close, they communicate one time. Gul Jelek of the Obsidian Order and the Cardassian Empire demands their agent be handed over. Lindsay plays stupid but he has no patience and opens fire. A pitched battle begins with one Galor begin beaten senseless. With her warp core about the breech and the Endeavor’s shields down, it looks like she won’t make it. But Mitchell gets a micro-warp hiccup to work and the Ship shoots across to the far side of the nebula. With long range sensors showing the USS Challenger and USS Defiant on the way, Gul Jelek chooses discretion and leaves the scene.
Upon arrival the prisoner is handed over to Commodore Jellico, who warns Lindsay that an inquiry may be in order. Lindsay, colder and shutting down her emotions tells him to do what he wants but she has a mission to get to. He agrees and orders her back to DS9 as soon as she has finished on Deneb IV.
And the adventure continues….
Needless to say Captain Lindsay’s player wanted my head on a stick. But those of you who have been following me long enough on this board know that I have been planning this form day one The kicker is I didn’t expect it to go this way. I expected Lindsay to show her XO or Tactical officer first and then question Sito alone. Her self preservation programming wouldn’t have cut in and she would have denied everything. They wouldn’t know for sure and there would be some mistrust, which she would work hard to overcome. Instead, ever the button pusher, Lindsay shows Sito first…alone. Then I figure okay with the power out, she will head to the shuttle bay and get off the ship. My players, always one step ahead of me, head right for the shuttle bay, because it’s what they would have done if they were trying to escape. It is only after that I remembered that there was the Atmospheric Shuttle she could have gone for. Oh well.
Let me tell you, the day your players stop surprising you, get another group. What was supposed to be a 5 minute side thing turned into the whole adventure and we had a blast!
Peace…
------------------
Aslan Collas
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Visit Earth Alpha Online;
http://members.xoom.com/Aslan_Collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
Reply With Quote
