Episode Three: Trivial Matters

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Bridge]

Richard stepped onto the Bridge from his Ready Room, having just returned from a discussion with Commodore Riskin again. It had been a long morning, having the history of the two warring nations of a thousand years forced down your intellectual throat was not fun. Marks finally felt the weariness of his efforts throughout the night as he sat down into his command chair.

Watching the hustle and bustle around the ships command center just made the weariness settle into him that much more. Richard took a breath and sighed, taking a glance over at Lieutenant Palfrey, sitting adjacent to his command chair, in his own command chair, Palfrey shared a concerned look on his face as he looked back at Richard. "I'm fine, Lieutenant," Richard remarked, as he took another breath deeply and sighed again.

"What's the status now on the ship?" Richard asked his Vulcan counterpart,"How's the engine room running and what's that status of our ships systems?" Richard shifted furhter back in his seat, closing his eyes just for a second, and in that second felt himself briefly going into sleep, but shook it back off a second later. He needed to sleep but he had to get the Starfire up and going first.

<Tag: Palfrey>

Lt. James Palfrey
The Bridge, USS Starfire

ON:

The Commander stepped out of his Ready Room. There was a definite look of fatigue on his face.

Commander Marks sat down in the Captain's chair, slowly looked at Palfrey. "I'm fine, Lieutenant."

He wasn't fine, the Commander had been on duty for more then two shifts.

"What's the status now on the ship?" Richard asked, "How's the engine room running and what's the status of our ships systems?"

"The ship's systems are at optimal operating parameters. Lieutenant Bluehouse has reported that the engines are 'sweet'...So, I checked on them, and they are also at optimal operating parameters."

As he was reporting, Palfrey noticed that the Commander had dosed off for a second.

"Captain." Palfrey continued. "We do have one problem."

"Is it being handled?" Richard asked.

Palfrey ignored the question. "Sir, I'm afraid one of the Officers is on the edge of performing bellow standard, due to fatigue."

"Oh?" Richard looked concerned. "Then order that Officer off duty, If we run into anything out there, I want everyone at top performance."

"And, the Captain?" Plafrey inquired.

"What?"

"You're that Officer, Sir." Palfrey said. " Since you have been sitting in your chair, we have been communicating in Vulcan. The starfighter unit is still doing some final preparations, before flying their fighters to the ship. I believe you could use that time to sleep.

OFF: I figured that, in that time honored tradition, here in Bravo Fleet, the pilots would probably want to board the Starfire in their fighters. Also, if you noticed at one point, I called Commander Marks 'Captain', I was addressing him by title, not by rank. And traditionally, he is the only person while on ship that should be called 'Captain'. All other Officers at the rank of Captain whether Star Fleet or Marine, are refered to as 'Skipper'. There can be only one 'Captain', aboard ship.

*USS Starfire
*Engineering

Bluehouse was very satisfied with the warp drive diagnostic. Looking around his little kingdom, he was pleased with the way everything was going. The shakedown cruise had sorted out for him who could be trusted when given a job, who needed oversight, and who needed more training.

In the back of the Chief Engineer's mind was a talk with the Exec. about getting some cross training in for several of his men and women. If there were an emergency - a boarding party, an explosion- a disaster - it might be a good idea for engineers to know a little first aid and for doctors to know a little engineering, for instance.

That was a plan for another day, though. Right now, things were running smoothly, and he had paperwork to catch up. As he walked toward his office, he mused on the idea of 'paperwork.' Paper was mostly a thing of the past, but the term hung on.

He thought of others that were even older than that concept. Cooking, for instance. Almost no one cooked, just replicated things to eat. Even the mess hall didn't have 'home cooked meals' so why did people so often talk about 'cooking dinner?' He shook his head as he walked into the office. Humans weren't logical, but that was what separated them from Vulcans, he supposed.

With a sigh, he sat at his computer and began calling up report forms he'd need to fill out. At least, he thought, I don't really have to do it on paper.

ON:

[Raeyan Sector]
[Avalon Fleet Yards]
[USS Starfire]
[Bridge]


Richard looked up at the Lieutenant, and nodded. "Palfrey, you have the Bridge, inform me not a second after the fighters come aboard. We have to get this ship rolling, and soon," Richard stood shakenly up from his command chair.

It had been a couple days from hell, and Richard was ready for some much needed rest before the big mission ahead of them. He limped onto the turbolift and vaguely remembered himself telling the computer his deck before the doors came open on him and he stumbled out of the sliding doors.

Richard shrugged his uniform top off as he coasted into his quarters and made his way toward his bed. He usually took a shower before he went to sleep, it helped soothe his previous injuries and allowed for him to go fast asleep, but this time, it wasn't warranted. Richard never felt himself collapse onto his bed, his bed he almost missed landing onto as he literally fell to sleep.

OFF

OOC: Go ahead Palfrey and do a JP with our wing boy here and everyone else get your JPs done darn it! I am doing this IC to allow for a bit of time for yall to get those JPs in! lets get r done!

*USS Starfire
*Counselor's Office

Already, Dr. Kirsten McLeod had completed about 1/3 of the officers' psych evaluations. So far, no one stood out as particularly troubled or remarkably abnormal. She had to smile when she thought of that term, used by a favorite professor in her undergraduate program. He'd been fond of saying, "There is no such thing as normal. What's normal for me may not be normal for you. But there is definitely abnormal, and sometimes remarkably abnormal. That's what you look for, not little differences from what the world make call 'normal,' but what is so far outside the realm of logic and compassion that it can't be considered anything but abnormal."

She didn't know if she agreed with him entirely, even several years after the class, but she did understand what made abnormal, and Starfire didn't seem to be infested with it. As she looked down the list, she noted the one name that was absent from both the officers who had been in to see her and the one who had made appointments. That name was Richard Marks, leader into the great unknown. Well, okay, mostly unknown, she corrected herself.

Interesting that the man who had commanded his officers to see her and be evaluated had not yet made his appearance. She looked off into space for a minute and then decided that yes, it was about time to contact the ship's captain herself.

"Computer, contact Commander Marks."

=^=Working ... working ... Commander Marks is unavailable. He has a Do Not Disturb up. You may leave a message.=^=

Kirsten frowned. It was unusual for a captain to be unavailable. But the ship wasn't out of space dock yet. Her brow cleared. He probably needed a little down time from all that he's been doing since the ship's return, she thought.

"Yes, please leave a message asking him to contact Dr. Kirsten McLeod for his psych evaluation, as ordered by the captain." She said the last with a smile. She hoped the Commander would smile as well.

Posted by:

This is a Joint Post by:
1st Lieutenant Anthony Venchelli. Jr
and
Lieutenant James Palfrey

ON:

Things were coming to fruition in their preparations, all departs reported in to Operations, stating they were ready. It would soon be time to have Commander Marks awakened. The only thing left was the Marine Fighter Squadron, VMF-248, they were still on the Starbase. Palfrey looked to the Operations Chief. "Mister Wanstall, hail
1st Lieutenant Venchelli of VMF-248."

"Aye, Sir." The Ops Chief complied, in seconds the CO of the Fighter Unit was on screen.

"1st Lieutenant, what is the status of your Squadron?" Palfrey asked.

Venchelli looked out of the side of the cockpit and saw the rest of his squadron climbing aboard their fighters. He opened up a comm link to his squad "Alright guys our new home is getting impatient for us, let's kick it into overdrive." They blipped their affirmatives and continued to load up. Venchelli's badge chirped and he tapped it.

"We are about ready to disembark the station be right there Lt." He stated with a smile, he was overly excited about finally getting out of the starbase and out to somewhere where he could finally get some action in.

As the Outlaws began warm up processes their fighters engines kicked on. "All Systems Green, Count off.."

"Joker Go"

"BlackJack Go"

"Merlin Go"

"Ravage Go"

As his squad counted in he smiled warmly and nodded his head, "Zeus is Go" He stated and punched the engines to full speed and they ripped out of the docking station and out into space. "Bank right!"He commanded and the squadron took a sharp right. Slowly they came around the Starbase until the USS Starfire came into view. He opened up a Comm channel and proceeded to request permission.

"USS Starfire, this is Lt Venchelli Commanding Officer of the Federation Squadron Outlaws. Request permission to dock and come aboard, over." Venchelli left the comm open for response as they moved into a docking formation.

Palfrey answered back for the Ops Officer. "You are cleared to land in the shuttle bay." He looked to the Ops Officer. "Mr. Frelj, Send Mr. Venchelli the deck lay out." This was the information that the Marine Starfighter CO needed to know to land. Remembering his old Marine CO, they didn't like using the shuttle deck tracker beam to bring them in, so they had to know where such things were, like...shuttles.

"Thank you Starfire Outlaws out." He stated and saw the layout of the ship appear on his display hud. He adjusted his squads trajectory and set new coordinates as they headed for the ShuttleBay. Venchelli and his Squadron touched down inside the Shuttle bay. As their engines powered down he waited to get the go ahead as the cabin re-pressurized, when given the go ahead he flipped the button which released the hatch of his cockpit and pushed it up. He grabbed ahold of the railing on the side of the fighter and hopped out.

Removing his helmet he tossed it back into the cockpit and closed it back down and looked around smirking softly. "Home sweet home fella's."He stated with a chuckle.

A Joint Post by
Lieutenant Kirsten McLeod
and
Lieutenant James Palfrey

ON:

There were many sayings and cliches when it came to the concept of time.
'Oh, how time flies',
'a stitch in time',
'short on time.'
In Palfrey's case the later seem to fit. Though the Captain made the decisions on where the ship went and what ship's goals were, it was the First Officer that had to find the way that the Captain's orders would be fulfilled. Though each department could operate their own, and they were good at it, the pieces still had to be coordinated into a whole. It was like an orchestra. Each section sounded good by itself, but, to have a symphony, you had to have a conductor. James was that conductor.

As it was, it had taken almost two days of near constant work getting things prepared for the Starfire's departure before Palfrey could find the time to visit the ship's Counselor. He tapped his badge. "Lt. Palfrey to Counselor McLeod."

"This is Dr. McLeod. How can I help you today, Lieutenant?" Kirsten answered, pausing in her dictation to answer the call.

"Would you have time in the next eighteen minutes to do my evaluation?' James asked. "Also, I could then get a report on you're progress so far, with the crew."

"You want all of that in eighteen minutes, Sir?" she asked. "I'm sure we can do it and have time left over."

Six minutes later, after she let him in, Palfrey stepped through the Doctor's door.

"I had meant," James said, "Would you be prepared in eighteen minutes? I had set aside that, and an hour to accomplish our goals. As it is, we now have one hour and sixteen point four minutes."

The doctor smiled slightly at the Executive Officer. "Ah, a man of precision. I should have known. You are, after all, Vulcan, and that species is well known for precision." Kirsten had spent some time examining the crew files, particularly the officers she was expected to evaluate, so she had expected a Vulcan to walk through the door. However, the Lieutenant was not completely what she'd imagined.

"Have a seat, Sir, and if Vulcans enjoy such things, help yourself to a cookie or two. There is sugar in them, and I'm afraid I don't know exactly how Vulcans feel about sugar," she said. The offer of cookies received a variety of responses from people, and it was usually predictive of other behaviors. "Shall I report first, or do your evaluation first?"

The First Officer took one of the one of the disks, took a bit. "Humm, interesting. Though, I have had Earth food in Marine field rations before, I don't believe they ever came with this type of cookie. An intriguing flavor."

Palfrey didn't take another bite of the cookie...he didn't give it up either. "I believe we should do the evaluation first."

Tag: McLeod

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Captain's Quarters]

Richard held his phaser tightly as he rounded the corridor, the red lights from the alert status where coming on and off, giving the only light there was to the long hallway that awaited him around that corner. He saw two of his fellow crewmen laying dead at his feet, Richard kneeled down beside both and used his fingers to check for a pulse on either, nothing. Marks let out a sigh of irritation, it seemed that no one was alive but him, but he somehow knew otherwise, it was almost as if he could sense the presence of the enemy somewhere aboard this ship, but where.

As Richard got closer to the turbolift at the end of the deck, he tried his best to stay as close to the wall beside him as possible, trying to remember all the training he had once had. The turbolift made a swoosh sound, Richard stopped abruptly recognizing that sound to be the sound of the turbolift doors coming open. Two very large and fearsome looking Gem'Hadar troopers stepped out of the turbolift, and centered their weapons at Richard. He didn't even feel it, but he watched himself as his world came tumbling down, he more saw than felt himself hit the floor of the corridor, the growling laughter of the two Gem'Hadar where the last things that he would ever hear.

Richard awoke with a gasp, "NO!!!," he exclaimed as he looked around his now dark quarters, drool drying up across his cheek and shoulder. It had only been a dream. But it felt so real. Richard thought to himself as he rolled over and almost fell out of his bed. He could already tell this was going to be a day from hell, as he pushed himself up from the edge of the bed and upright. As he stood, Richard noticed that his combadge was beeping, it was laying across the room on his desk. Richard walked across to his desk and tapped it and received the message from the ship's counselor.

Richard tapped the combadge a second time, "Marks to Mcleod, I am on my way." Richard threw off his clothes and hopped into the shower, only taking a few minutes to get awake fully, and then jumped back out, toweling off and snatching up his uniform. It took him a mere four minutes to be fully showered, groomed, dressed and he was already to the turbolift, there where things to do, and he needed to get done with this psych-eval as soon as possible. The turbolift came to an abrupt stop as he reached the next deck down, and half-ran to the counselor's office doors, slapping the door chime to the right of the sliding doors for entry to the room.

"Ah, welcome, Commander. Are you in a hurry, Sir?" Kirsten asked as the captain entered abruptly. "Sit, have a cookie, have two or three," she pushed the plate toward him. "I'll make this as fast as possible for you, Sir." She waited while he sat.

"As you know, the purpose of the evaluation is just to update your file before we embark on the next mission. So maybe we could start with your telling me if there are any particular things which are of great concern to you right now." The doctor sat back and prepared to listen to anything the Commander might choose to tell her.

Richard took a seat across from the counselor and decided to not take a cookie, he wasn't very hungry after his little dream a few minutes before. "No thank you for the cookies, Counselor. I don't really feel like eating at the moment. Right now the biggest concern on my mind is getting this ship up and operational so that we can get going on our new mission. I have had so much to do in the last couple of days, I couldn't get any rest in the last two days. That is why I was set to unavailable on the comms," Richard cleared his throat and looked around the office. "Do you happen to have anything to drink, Counselor, I am currently very parched."

"Of course, anything you'd like. A little Earl Gray tea, or perhaps lemonade?" Kirsten rose as she asked.

"Earl Gray, warm, no sugar, no creamer, plaase," Richard responded, barely, his mouth felt like there was a billion particles of sand within it.

"So," Dr. McLeod started again after Marks was settled with his warm cup of tea, "it sounds like your stress levels are pretty high. On a scale of one to ten, where would you rate your professional stress right now?"

"To be honest with ya, Counselor, probably off the charts. We are about to undergo a mission that is far from easily handled, the end of which will decide the fate of not only a small portion of the Federation's future but also the good portion of two warring nations' futures as well. I will help to decide the fate of billions on top of the day to day operations of the Starfire. Yes, I would say my professional stress levels are a bit high, wouldn't you?" Richard took the break to take a sip of his favorite beverage.

"And your personal stress level?" the doctor asked casually.

"Personal?" Richard let out a little bit of a chuckle. "For a Captain, and especially a loner like myself, I have no room for any personal life to begin with, and if I did entertain the thoughts of personal stress levels, I would say there would be no level at all." Richard sat down his tea, having drank it until it got too cold for his taste.

Kirsten frowned at the idea that the captain had no personal life. "Get a hobby, Sir. Something that relaxes you. I expect to hear what you've chosen and how it goes. You can't have a professional stress level off the scales and not do anything about it. You'll become unfit for duty."

She made a note on her PADD to check back with him. "One more question. Tell me about your dreams." Dreams were the door to a person's mental health. The doctor watched the eyes of the man across the desk from her. Eyes were informative.

Richard felt his heart pounding, How could she have known? Does she know? Richard couldn't lock eyes with the counselor at that moment. He took a deep breath and tried his best to relax. "I have been suffering from reoccuring dreams of myself being killed by the Gem'Hadar, it's almost as if they are flashbacks, but they aren't really. Well, I mean, just this morning I was awakened by a dream where I was here on the Starfire and we had been boarded by Gem'Hadar and then I was shot and killed by two of them walking off of a turbolift as I was trying to get to the Bridge." Richard's heart felt like it was right about to explode it was pounding so hard.

Kirsten could almost feel the increase in the captain's heartbeat, as if she had him on a med scanner. He'd said his professional stress was off the charts, and it seemed that he might be denying a personal stress level that matched it. She said soothingly, "Probably a reaction to all the recent events, and perhaps you haven't taken enough time to rest recently." Both were true, but not the whole story. She couldn't treat him during an eval, but she definitely wanted him back in the office soon.

"I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm giving you a pass on your eval. I don't see or hear anything that would indicate to me that you aren't able to do your job, and do it well. However, I'm not happy with the stress I hear in your voice and that you've admitted exists. So, I'm going to insist on a hobby of some kind, and on your taking better care of yourself.

"I'm sure you've been pulling double, maybe triple shifts. That stops now. No more than 10 hours straight, and then a minimum of 5 hours downtime, unless we are in an emergency situation where you simply can't be spared from the bridge. And," she said drily, "I don't consider reports and meetings to be an emergency.

"Come see me within 3 days after our new mission begins, and we'll chat some more. Sooner if you have more dreams like that. There's a cause and we'll find it. You can't get proper rest if you're having nightmares."

"Very well, Counselor," Richard looked down at the floor, trying his best not to hide the shame in his eyes for not taking better care of himself up and to this point.

Dr. McLeod stood and walked around her desk to offer her hand to her captain. "Thank you for coming in. Most of the crew have been very good about getting through this, and I appreciate your leadership in that regard."

Richard stood up and accepted the Starfire's Chief Counselor's hand and shook it. "It is my duty to ensure everyone's welfare on this ship, that includes my own and that of everyone in my Senior Staff as well. Thank you counselor." Richard turned and walked out of the Counselors office on his way to the Bridge.

OFF:

A Post by Commander Marks and Lieutenant McLeod.

Lt. James Palfrey
The Bridge, USS Starfire

"Captain on the bridge!" Palfrey yelled as Commander Marks stepped out of the turbolift.

The meeting with Lieutenant McLeod had been a short one. She had wanted to delve into the incident that had happen on the planet, Kaleb, back when he was in the Marine Corps. Everyone that had access to his records seemed interested in that. So, it was to be expected. At least she didn't ask him how he 'felt' about. The was no feeling. It happened.

"As you were." Richard replied as he took his seat.

Palfrey noticed that the Commander still looked a little stressed, his down time had been too short. There was nothing that could be done about it now. But, Commander Marks' stress levels were high. High enough that it could affect his performance. At some time soon, between the ship's Councilor and Palfrey, they were going to have to get to the bottom of it.

"All Systems are ready." James reported. "The crew are at their stations, Sir."

"Very good, Mr. Palfrey." Responded the Commander. "Take us out."

"Aye,Sir." Palfrey turned his attention toward Petty Officer 3rd Class Reed. "Helm, disengage the moorings."

Off: Tag- Cmdr. Marks.

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Bridge]

Richard watched as the Starfire drifted out of the fleet yards. It had been a week now since their 'shakedown'. The systems where now running even more smoother than they had been before. But this time, this was the real deal, this was it, this was a mission directly from Starfleet Command.

"Reed," Richard looked down toward the young enlisted conn officer.

"Aye, sir?" Reed responded, turning his head back to the Captain.

"Please put in a course for the Ordik system, it should be in your console," Richard said as he punched in a few corresponding buttons on his command chair's display and sent the information about that system to Reed's display.

"Aye sir, putting in coordinates now," Reed's fingers flew across the display. "Coordinates set, sir," Reed turned back to say to Richard.

"Warp 8," Richard announced as he lifted his right hand with his first two fingers extended, "Engage," Richard announced, bringing his hand forward.

Reed fingered the buttons on his console and the Starfire went into warp with a lurch. "Estimated arrival to the system, Reed?"

"Four hours, sir," the conn officer responded, not taking his focus off of his console.

"Very well," Richard looked over at Palfrey beside him in the other command chair, "Palfrey, I want you and Lieutenant Knoxx in my ready room, we have some things to go over before we get to the Ordik system," Richard glanced over at Lieutenant Knoxx, their Chief of Security who was standing behind them, as Richard stood up from his command chair.

Richard entered his ready room with a sign, and sat down behind his desk, powering on his display. Instantly the display went to the history of the Ordik Confederated Systems and that of the Delvian Hegemony, the two warring entities that both wished to join the Federation at the same time. This diplomatic mission was not going to be easy, Richard knew this.

OFF:

[USS Starfire]
[Hanger Bay]

Venchelli shook his head softly as he looked at the circuits inside the panel he had just removed inside of his fighter. He cursed and scratched the side of his head with his tricorder as he took the readings. "Hey boss, what are you doing?" Joker popped his head into the opening of Venchelli's fighter. "Trying to clear the bugs out of the stabilizers, remember that scrimmage we were in a few weeks back?" Venchelli said taking hold of one of the diagnostic conduits out and jacked it directly into a engineering pad and began to process the information.

"Yeah I remember, what about it?" joker asked fingering a piece of wire that hung from near the hatch.

"Yeah well the stabilizers went out for some reason in mid battle, almost cost me my backside and I don't want that to happen again. So im taking the time to get it fix now that we are between systems." He strummed his fingers along the padd and smirked and nodded his head. "I think i might of found it...." He tapped the padd and all lights lit up showing green. "Great, alright now let it run it's course." He chuckled and placed the padd down and motioned with his hands to joker to clear a path.

Joker hopped down as Venchelli pulled himself out of his fighter and jumped down onto the ground below and rubbed his neck. "So Lt, think we are gonna get involved anything this round? I have been itching to try out the new systems the starbase fitted us with." Venchelli laughed softly and shook his head, "Dunno, would be nice to test them out since the Starfire picked us up right after the fitting. But we will get our time in the sun Joker don't you worry about that."

Joker seemed pleased with that, "Yeah...oh!"He clapped his hands together and blinked, "Almost forgot gotta head off to see the counselor for my psyche eval! Hope she's cute..." Venchelli rolled his eyes and looked at him, "Anyone that would pry into your psyche would run screaming for their lives especially a female. You don't have a chance and if this turns into another incident like on Alpha Centuri im flushing you out into space."

Joker held up hands waving them about, "Hey! she didn't say she had a boyfriend..." Venchelli smirked at the memory of him and the outlaws dog piling a group of Klingons. "What is with you and Klingon women anyway..." He asked as they walked out of the hanger bay. "What can I say I like it rough..."Joker jested. Venchelli shook his head and looked around. "Well i better get my eval done as well, lead the way joker."He stated and they began heading off to meet the counselor.

Off:

ON:

Malcolm North looked over the list of administrative work that had piled up on his LCARS in last day or so.

"I take ONE day out of the office to train in the 'field' with the troops and I spend the next THREE catching up. I should've stayed enlisted....." he muttered to himself as he started in.

He scanned through it first, weeding out the multitude of useless things like safety bulletins, OpSec reminders, and efficency surveys, sending them straight to the electronic afterlife. That reduced his message list by almost half, and allowed him to triage the remaining ones into things requiring his immediate attention and things that could wait. his men were on a down day, performing equipment maintainance; inspecting, cleaning, repairing and replacing anything that required it. One bulletin he couldn't ignore though; the ship had a new counselor, and she was trying to get psych evals on all the senior officers. That was not something he was looking forward too, but at the same time, something he couldn't avoid. He could only dodge it for so long before he was either ordered to attend by higher, or simply removed from duty status. There was another message, this one saying that the ship's fighter detachment had arrived the previous day. Great. That was the last thing he needed. A bunch of cocky hotshots running around the ship for whom he was completely responsible, but only nominally in change of. He knew that eventually he'd have to go and link-up with the flight leader, 1LT Venchelli, but he wasn't looking forward to it.

He sighed and looked out the window of office, gazing out onto staging area where all his marines were spread out, cleaning weapons or presenting equipment for their NCOs to inspect. He'd been pushing them hard ever since the first mission, but they were dealing with it. Malcolm knew that the old mantra of 'sweat more, bleed less' was true, and too many of his men were straight out of boot; no experience. He'd pushed them hard so that when it came time, they would perform. So that they could accomplish their mission with minimum casualties. Training could never take the place of experience, but with enough training, most of him men might live long enough to gain some.

On impulse, he pulled up the training schedule for the month, checking the next day's activities and smiled at what he saw. The morning's PT was combat cardio. The MarDet would arrive in full combat gear and spend the next hour and a half running through the ship, climbing ladderwells and crawling through J-tubes, just as they may very well have to do someday. A thought struck him as he concemplated the event, and he tapped his combadge.

"North to Greene. Add pro-masks to the uniform for tomorrow morning's PT." he told his 1SG.

The men had been growing increasingly better at the PT he was giving them, and he needed to continue to elevate the difficulty to get them to keep improving.

North looked at his gear, nested in a corner of his office. He'd cleaned it the night before, knowing that he'd have a virtual mountain of paperwork to complete. He'd had his first sergeant inspect it; just as he'd inspected his first sergeant's gear. Everyone marine's gear was to be inspected, that had been his order. North wasn't exempt just because it had been his order. He was looking forward to the next morning's PT. It was almost going to make all this 'paperwork' worth it.

OFF:

*USS Starfire
*Main Engineering

There seemed to be a lot of paperwork to the Chief Engineer's job. It was frustrating because he'd far rather be out twisting things and poking and sealing. Taking things apart and putting them back together. Far preferable to sitting at the computer and filling out reports. Idly, he wondered again why they still called it paperwork. "A rose by any other name ..." he muttered, wondering where that quote came from.

Surely there was something else I could be doing, he thought, as he tallied up the number of work-related injuries in his department since he'd taken over. After that one, he moved on to the next one - counting the stores used by Engineering during that same time period - and then the third one. That one was filling out the list of promotion requests for the department. Much more pleasurable task. Still, if there was a difficult and form-filling way to do any task, Starfleet would find it.

Bluehouse checked the time. Not enough had passed. It was still too early to break for lunch, and he childishly made a face at the computer and the list of forms waiting for his attention. His eye was caught by a report listed in the middle of the forms, and he clicked it open.

"Well, well," he said in satisfaction, after a moment. "Imagine that. New fighters on board. I'm sure they need to be checked out by engineering. Then maybe I can find a pilot or two to challenge to a game of pool in the crew lounge."

With a lighter heart, he filled out one more report, then shut the computer down, under thumb lock, and exited his office. He paused to tell his assistant where he was going and then he was off to the flight deck to find 1st Lieutenant Anthony Venchelli, Jr., the wing commander.

A Joint Post by
Marine Captain Malcolm North, MCO
and
Lieutenant James Palfrey, XO

On:

They were on their way. All systems and personnel were functioning well and there were no anticipated complications, at least for now.

"Captain?"

"Yes Mr. Palfrey." Commander Marks replied.

"Request permission to leave the bridge." Palfrey said.

"Some unfinished business?" Richard smiled.

"Yes, Sir."

"Hum, a First Officer's job is never done." Said Marks. "Go ahead."

"Aye, Sir." Palfrey left the bridge.

Minutes later, he stepped through the hatch to the Marine Barracks area. In the small common area, he saw Marines cleaning their gear. It brought back memories of his time on the USS Laffey. Back then, he was the MXO of 'grunts' much like these.

"Officer on deck!" Came a shout!

"Carry on, Marines." Palfrey answered back. "I just came down here to meet your CO and XO."

North rose up from where he had squatted down, working on one of the detachment's support phasers. He had stripped off his uniform top, leaving him in his undershirt.

"Well sir, if you've come to meet with me, I'd prefer to do it in my office." he asked as he bent over to grab his uniform top and put it back on, putting him in a 'proper' uniform to deal with the XO.

North led the way into his small office, the unspoken reason being that command business wasn't conducted in front of soldiers. North took a seat behind his desk and turned to the XO.

"So, what can I do for ya sir?"

Why was he here? Any reports, could have been sent to him. Even then, Palfrey was no micro manager. He knew that when the chips were down, Marine Captain North and his troops would handle things well. No, it was to just be with his own kind. Even for a moment.

Marines were a special breed. Yes other military branches and units were just as well trained, but, the Corps had something special. A sort of 'can do' attitude. And a history to live up to.

Of all the units in the Federation, the one that was the true ancestor of the Star Fleet Marines, was the American Marines from Earth's past. When the recruits and Officer Candidates took their training from the Drill Instructors, the names and deeds of past Marines were drilled into them...endlessly. Presley O'Bannon, Smedley Butler, Chesty Puller, Carlos Hathcock...They were all Earth Marines. All to be emulated, all to be lived up to.

"Nothing, Skipper." Palfrey said. "I was right, and it was logical, I knew you would be a fine Officer, Semper Fi."

Eric had recognized Palfrey as one of his old OCS instructors during the change of command ceremony, although he hadn't had time to communicate with him, other than a few short, all-business LCARS messages. Despite the fact that the man was the ship's XO and had every right to inspect his ship's MarDet, he couldn't shake the feeling in the back of his mind that his instructor had come by to check up on him. He'd spent a good deal of time standing at attention in front of Palfrey's desk for.....altercations involving other cadets. He'd been a bit of a hot-head back then, but he'd grown out of most of that. But still, it was odd to be on the other side of the desk, even if Palfrey was still his superior.

"Well sir, I've been pushing the men hard; most of them are green as grass, I guess since we just got stood up, they sent us a much higher proportion of boot marines than they should've. I'm doing what I can; I can make them strong and teach them the skills, but until they have experience to temper it and hold it all together..."

"We all had to start at some point." Palfrey knew what North was going to say, had heard it before, especially when MCapt. Gentry talked about the fighter squadron aboard the USS Laffey. "Until they're blooded, their training will keep them functioning. And the attitude that has been ingrained into them, will help them succeed in their duty."

Palfrey's comm-badge beeped. "Number One to the bridge." It was the Captain.

"Aye, Sir. On my way."

James checked the old Twenty First Century crono the he wore on his wrist, he had been down here, five minutes and twenty seven seconds. Wearing the watch was illogical, but, he did it anyway. It had been a birthday present from his old Marine CO. There was an eagle, globe and anchor on it's face.

"I'm afraid I must return to the bridge. Semper Fi, Marine." with that the First Officer turned and exited Malcom's office.

Malcolm nodded as the XO got the call and left. He pulled up a few files on his LCARS, then dove fully into the admin work.

Joint Post:
1st Lt. Anthony Venchelli
&
Lt. Kirsten McLeod

*USS Starfire
*Crew Lounge (Deck ?)
*1630

It had been a long day in the counselor's office, psych eval after psych eval. Dr. McLeod was finally relaxing in the crew lounge, which was still mostly empty, sipping a replicated drink from 20th century Earth, a Coke, she thought it was called. Her back was to most of the room while she gazed out the view window, mesmerized by the star field. A movement at the edge of her peripheral vision caught her attention and she turned to see the uniform of a very tall Marine officer who had not yet crossed her threshold.

"Ah, Lieutenant," she said, looking up as he passed her table with a drink. "Lt. McLeod, Chief Counselor. Would you care to sit and chat for a while? Get that psych eval out of the way?"

Venchelli looked out of the corner of his eye in passing the table a drink similar in nature as the counselor's but it was called a Pepsi. He smiled softly, "Funny chance, I was just on my way up to your office. I heard about the ship you were taking evals," he stated softly and back tracked a bit and pulled out a chair and sat down a cross from the counselor. "A pleasure to meet you Lieutenant McLeod. I am Lt. Anthony Venchelli, Commanding Officer of the Fighter Squadron Outlaws," he stated softly and smiled. "So how do these thing's typically go... I can't really say I have ever partaken in one." He smiled and sipped his drink, taking in the view of the space as he gazed out of the viewport for a moment before looking back at the Counselor.

"Oh, it's pretty simple, really. You tell me all your secrets, and I keep them locked away unless you start to do really weird things," Kirsten smiled back at him. She was mostly kidding, but a lot of counseling came down to exactly that.

"For instance, if you were to rate your professional stress level on a scale of one to ten, where would you put yours?" she asked.

Venchelli looked to the side a bit and nodded his head and chuckled softly, "I kind of figured that's what this would involve." He smiled softly and took a sip of his drink and placed the glass on the table in front of him and chuckled. "Well, let's see. I don't have any deep hard hidden secrets in my past, I am a pretty much a open book for everyone to read. I tell it like it is and no room for bullshit. " He looked at her, startled a bit, and waved a hand at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, my mouth sometimes runs away with me, Marine and all. It's not appropriate to curse in front of women, and I apologize," he stated softly.

"How would I rate my professional stress level...." He stroked his chin softly and took another drink and nodded his head. "I would rate it at a 3 maybe. I mean, I'm not overly stressed about life or my job. I mean, I am nervous to perform my tasks in front of a new crew and Captain. But I enjoy my job more than probably most people do. The feeling you get when you pilot a craft single handed into a combat situation and prevail, there is no greater feeling or accomplishment in the world," he stated with a warm smile. "Also the view from the cockpit of a fighter is almost like you're out in space without a suit on - that you're just walking out there like you would be walking the plains on earth," he said softly and smiled.

"Sorry...kinda rambled a bit," he smiled, lightly embarrassed.

"Very poetic, Lieutenant," Kirsten smiled back. "I haven't been in a fighter, but it sounds great, as if it's the place you most like to be. Was pilot your first choice of career?"

He cupped his chin in quiet thought and looked at his drink a moment and smiled, "No, I always figured I was going to work in my father's restaurant back home, just like his father before him. Don't get me wrong. I am a mean cook when I want to put in the effort." He chuckled softly and looked up at Kirsten and smiled. "But I was sent to the States when I was young, and we toured the Fleet Shipyard and, instantly, I knew what I wanted to do for my career." He leaned back in his chair looking off a little in recollection.

"I got off the transport shuttle and, just as I did, there was a squadron of fly boys taking off in an Alpha wing pattern. They were getting ready to run maneuvers, and I watched them closely - how they stayed in perfect sync and harmony as they moved together as a single unit, almost a single entity." He nodded his head and smiled, and looked back to her "Since then, I wanted to be a Pilot. The fact I made Squadron Commander was a fluke ... there were others out there better qualified then me, in my opinion." He shrugged softly and smiled. "The second career path I was considering was Counselor, like yourself. I enjoy helping people and listening to problems that can be solved, sometimes, with a smile and a good ear to talk into." He smiled softly.

"How about you? Counselor your first choice?" He asked softly, knowing he was being asked the questions but always nice to know a bit about the person he was confiding in.

"Oh, yes, absolutely. Mom said I was counseling the dolls when I was 4," she laughed, "but I don't remember that, of course. I do know that it seemed my friends were always coming to me for advice. Why they thought I knew any secrets of the universe, I'll never know, but it got to be a habit."

She looked at him a moment. "It sounds as if you are doing what you want, and enjoying the doing. You don't seem particularly stressed about anything, and you've been very open. I'd say you are in good shape for the next mission." She switched off the recording PADD.

"Now, next time you are in the mood to cook, I expect to be invited to share the results," she grinned.

Venchelli smiled at Kirsten softly and stood up slowly, "I thank you for making this a painless as possible. I look forward to working together with you in the coming missions." He stated softly, he took a drink of his Pepsi and started to walk away but before getting to far he smiled at her and nodded his head, "It's a date then.."he spoke in reference to the food and smiled at her softly before continuing on his way heading for the Flight deck.

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Captain's Ready Room]

Richard had just fired up his console, when he heard the chime to his ready room doors. He knew instantly that it was Palfrey and Knoxx, "Enter," Richard exclaimed as he found the file on the Ordik system and brought it up to the top screen of his display.

The two most senior officers, aside from himself, onboard the Starfire entered his ready room.

Palfrey and Knoxx walked into the ready room, stood infront of the Captain's desk. They both came to attention and saluted the CO. "You requested to see us Captain?" Lucian asked.

Richard gave a slight salute back in return and adjusted in his seat before responding, taking that time to glance at the display and look back at the two Lieutenants, "Yes, of course. As you two know, we are currently traveling to a new system, well new to us anyways. These systems that we will be entering in a few hours are war torn, to say the least.

"The two factions at war have been at war for centuries now. At least a half dozen worlds are now barren because of this war between the two. We are now being sent there as diplomatic emmisaries of the Federation, apparently both of these warring factions, the Delvian Hegemony and the Ordik Confederated Systems, want to become members of the Federation and have both have requested to be joined to the Federation.

"This in itself lies the problem we are facing, currently. We are to go to these systems and try and make peace between the two before all hell destroys any fabric of either one becoming members of the Federation," Richard's stern face was a calm reflection of the stress level that was about to boil over. "Now that I have brought you two up to speed, suggestions or questions?"

"First of all, we're going to have to bring them to a conclusion of arms." Palfrey said dryly. "Only then, can we evaluate their qualifications."

"Well, it is not our duty to evaluate them, necessarily. It would be good to evaluate them as we go through-out this process just for reporting purposes when we get back to the Fleet Yards. However, our mission is actually a diplomatic one where we are to try our best to gain the trust of both warring sides, temporarily stop the conflict, and try our best to moderate between the two so that we can come to a peaceful resolution. All this has to happen before their factions can even be evaluated at all. Any ideas on how we could gain either sides trust and bring them to terms?" Richard eyed both Lieutenants.

"Do we have any idea, what the cause, or causes of the conflict are?" Asked the First Officer.

Richard looked over the report on his screen, thumbing through the report he noticed that not once did it clarify exactly why the two nations were at war. "No, it doesn't say it in any of the reports from Starfleet. That could be a possible interest that we could exploit on this mission. Your thoughts?" Richard glanced back at the two officers.

"It would be illogical, as you say, to leap with out looking, Sir." Was Palfrey's response. "We will need more information before conducting this mission. With out it, we would be blind, and could cause even more damage to the existing situation. With your permission, Sir, I could see what we presently have on our computer, and our Intelligence Officer, Ensign Bunting, may be able to find more data, through his sources."

Richard nodded, "I thought you would so such a thing, very well. Palfrey go ahead and get with Ensign Bunting and get all the intel you can get on the two nations. Knoxx, I want you to liason with Captain North and get situated with the various defensive aspects to this mission. I don't want to go into this without guns," Richard looked back at his console and then back at the two Lieutenants.

"I want this mission to go our way, no matter what. I could care less about the other factions and their desires, we want this situation ended peacefully, end of discussion, you have your orders, I want you both to report back to me within an hour before we reach our destination with everything you have. Dismissed." Richard nodded at both officers as they began to leave his ready room.

Lucian turned around, "Permission to speak freely sir?" he asked when Palfrey left the room.

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Richard responded, his eyebrows creasing, wondering what this could be about.

"What are these other factions you mentioned? I've also gone over some of the old reports. Why didn't you tell us we were ordered to Not chase the pirates? Are you with holding information from us again? It's not my place to judge, but it would make the mission smoother if you told us everything you can." Lucian looked at Marks with a blank militant face.

"Lieutenant, you are not to speak to anyone about the chase we took after those pirates. I am sure that what has come to pass before will come back to bite us in the tail later," Richard cleared his throat, trying to change the subject.

"For the answer to your second question, intel on those two factions can be found at your tactical console on the Bridge, as there is nothing else to discuss, Lieutenant, you are dismissed," Richard saluted back to the Lieutenant and watched as he left the ready room.

Richard was about to start reviewing the latest reports on the two nations again when his combadge beeped.

Richard tapped it, "Go ahead."

"Sir, you need to come to the Bridge, you have to see this," Richard nodded to himself as he listened to Ensign Wanstall, the Chief Ops Officer.

"Very well, on my way," Richard walked his way from the ready room and onto the Bridge, and turned to see the view screen was on with the view of a planet in the background with a half dozen war vessels in between the Starfire and the planet. Richard hadn't even felt them going out of warp, this was about to get interesting.

OFF:

Lt. James Palfrey
First Officer
USS Starfire
The Bridge.

On:

"Interesting." Palfrey thought out loud. "Between the two opposing powers, it appears the Ordik's should have ended this conflict at least two Centuries ago, the Delvian's have a clear technological advantage, but, the Ordik's numerical advantage, should have overwhelmed them."

"Sir?" Ensign Bunting questioned. Palfrey had chosen a console next to the Intelligence Officer's station, so that they could exchange information easily. Bunting's console was blacked out and the single viewer he was using, had a square funnel shaped viewer scope on it. Everything about Intelligence was classified. They used to put up screens around the Intelligence console, but eventually, it was found that it was easier to use a view scope and train the operatives to be able to operate their consoles 'blind folded'.

Palfrey had to put it in human terms. "It's like if you had two protagonists. One side is made up of ten thousand Neanderthals, welding rocks, all attacking at the same time. And the other side, consisting of a single machine gun crew, with an unlimited supply of ammunition."

"Yes?"

Palfrey continued. "Even though the machine gun crew had a definite technological advantage, they would only be able to defend themselves for a while, before the inevitable conclusion. Though, the Delvian's have a technological advantage, they should have only been able to hold off the Ordikan offensive actions for only up to one point zero two Centuries. Also, in the way they have chosen to defend themselves, there are almost no options concerning offensive actions. The Delvian space navy is too small to be anything, but a defensive force. They don't have the assets to commit to a..."

"Sir? I think I may have found their offensive assets." The Intelligence Chief pulled his face away from the scope for a second, then looked into it, with more intensity. "They may have a small space force on the surface, but they are increadably strong in one special area, and that explains everything."

Palfrey lifted an eye brow.

"Espionage."

ON:

Lucian walked out of the captain's ready room thinking about his order of silence. He walked over to his console to look up information about this war they where about to become the middle of. As he sat at his console, he felt the Starfire come out of warp. Lucian overheard Ensign Wanstall hail the captain and that he needed to get onto the bridge, while reading about the war machines each side of the war used.

Lucian looked up and saw the six war ships in front of them on the viewscreen and frowned. Looking down at his tactical console, he went over the war ships arsenals. They weren't locking weapons, so he presumed them to be non-hostile. Marks walked onto the bridge and saw the war vessels, and smirked slightly.

-----,"Sir they're hailing us."

Marks nodded to the Ops officer, "Patch them through on screen," Richard announced as he sat down in his command chair and took a second look at the his own tactical display on his chairs arm.

A little bit of white fuzz was heard from the comm system and then a voice came over it as the view screen at the same time flicked from the war vessels to the Bridge of one of those ships and what appeared to be a male fleet officer of the foreign fleet.

His eyes where dark pits and his facial features where mildly contorted to a smug scowl that seemed to be constantly set to his face which had several ridges to it, very similar to some Klingons Richard had seen, but they also appeared to have fairly pointed ears, similar to some Vulcans or Romulans. The male fleet officer wore a dark brown uniform with some sort of rank pip on his left collar and was a bit paler in color in comparison to most humans.

The fleet officer started to address the crew then, "This is Brigadier Ver'tuk of the Ordik Confederated Fleets, please state your business as you have entered Ordik space without first declaring yourselves and your intent here in Ordik controlled space," Ver'tuk announced in a gruff voice that hinted at long years of commanding soldiers over many a battlefield.

Richard shifted in his command chair, just a little bit nervous at this first contact for his crew with this species, "I am Commander Richard Marks, Captain of the Starship Starfire. We are under the direct command of Starfleet to come here to negotiate with your leaders your application to the United Federation of Planets," Richard announced, trying his best to give off the harshes voice of command he could give to the Brigadier across the screen from him.

Richard took the few seconds to observe Ver'tuk's expressions to try and gauge what would happen next, but with this being his first time with this species, it was hard to even comprehend what could possibly come next. The Brigadier seemed to be thinking things through in his head as a few seconds went by before he responded, his scowl seemed to only deepen during this time.

"Very well, Commander, you will be allowed to send forth a small shuttlecraft to the surface to meet with our officials on Ordik Prime, you have one hour to assemble your representatives and begin planetary descent, this is all," and with that, the face and voice of Brigadier Ver'tuk expired from the viewscreen.

Richard turned to his Bridge crew,"Well, anybody want to go have afternoon tea?"

North nodded.

"Aye aye sir. In addition to our.....delegation, I'd like permission to assemble a QRF and put them on stand-by sir. I don't like the feel of this."

North contemplated asking permission to bring a longarm as well, but was relatively sure of the answer. Malcolm couldn't put his finger on it, but he had a bad feeling about this mission. And Malcolm had learned long ago to trust his gut.

Lt. James Palfrey
First Officer
USS Starfire
The Bridge.

ON:

"Very well, Commander, you will be allowed to send forth a small shuttlecraft to the surface to meet with our officials on Ordik Prime, you have one hour to assemble your representatives and begin planetary descent, this is all," and with that, the face and voice of Brigadier Ver'tuk expired from the viewscreen.

Richard turned to his Bridge crew,"Well, anybody want to go have afternoon tea?"

Palfrey wondered why Commander Marks was thinking of tea. Humans could be strange sometimes. Of course, this was probably one of those times that Humans say something humorous to calm the nerves. He wasn't sure.

"Captain." Palfrey spoke out. "I would suggest that, Lieutenant Knoxx, Lieutenant McLeod and Lieutenant JG Darkwing, accompany you on the away team."

"And where does that leave you, Number One?"

"On the bridge, Sir." Palfrey answered. "Since, According to regulations, while you are on the planet, Lieutenant Knoxx is required to be at your side. That leaves me on the bridge."

OFF: Don't worry I will find things to do.

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Bridge]

Richard nodded to Palfrey and then thought the whole situation over. "Actually, I think I want Lieutenant Knoxx to stay behind, and perhaps bring Marine Captain North with me, I believe him and his team of Marines would probably do better on the surface. Seeing as how they are more tactically inclined to deal with the sort of difficulties we may suffer there, in the middle of a hot warzone."

Richard looked back over to Knoxx, "I also would like you to take full precautions when it comes to the ship, Lieutenant, I want this ship tactically sound, no one comes in or out of this ship without your eyes watching over it," Richard turned around in his seat and looked passed Palfrey.

"Captain North, assemble a squad of your best and meet me in shuttlebay one," Richard tapped his combadge, "Marks to sickbay," he waited a second and then heard a female voice come back.

"Aye, Captain, this is Darkwing, go ahead," came the response.

"Doc, I want you to get your things together, we have an away mission on the surface, meet me and the rest of the away team in shuttlebay one," Richard didn't wait for a response and tapped his combadge a second time.

"Marks to Mcleod," Richard waited for a response.

The counselor responded back, "Go ahead, sir," Richard smirked, for a moment remembering their recent meeting together.

"Counselor, I will be needing you to come with us to the surface, go ahead and meet me and the rest of the away team in shuttlebay one. Remember to bring anything you would need that would be pertinent to the mission, Mark out."

Richard sat back in his command chair and thought about what was about to take place, this was going to be interesting, to say the least. Richard stood up out of his seat after a second of diliberations, but before he turned to Palfrey he remembered something.

"Marks to Wing Commander Venchelli," Richard announced after tapping his combadge, yet again.

"Aye, sir," came the short response.

"Prepare your birds for launch, I need you, your wingman, and two others to fly escort for our shuttlecraft, just as a precaution, to the surface, we leave in fifteen," Richard tapped his badge again, not even waiting for a response, and turned to Palfrey.

"The Bridge is yours, Lieutenant, we will be in communications with you, keep her steady," Richard said to his Vulcan first officer.

ON:

[Orbiting Ordik Prime]
[Ordik Confederated Battleship Karug'na]
[Bridge]

Mer'dak smirked, as well as an Ordik death commando commander could smirk, as he watched the Federation vessel enter Ordik space. He knew what this would bring, he had heard the Grand Brigadier talking about the Ordik application to join the Federation. Mer'dak and many other members of his elite commandos didn't like the idea.

Grim'tag (the Ordik word for death warriors, and the actual name for his elite group of special operational soldiers) where trained from a very young age as Ordik soldiers to become the best of the best. The Grim'tag where trained and cultured into their respective positions within the group by dozens of combat tours all along the Delvian front. They where swift, cold, death.

And the Grim'tag definitely didn't like the thought of peace, it wasn't in their carnal nature to accept the thought of it. And that is why, at that moment, Mer'dak was smirking.

Death will come, Federation, death will come. Mer'dak looked over to his helmsman, "Bring us off orbit, I want to take a better look at our prey," he announced as he sat back down in the command chair of what had been just a few minutes earlier, the seat of a not so familiar Brigadier.

It was coming close now, to that time that the Grim'tag will taste blood, lots of blood and the all too familiar taste of victory. Mer'dak eyed again through the viewscreen the Federation ship, Starfire, he had heard before he silenced the Brigadier, there would soon be a fire, he thought as he squeezed his fist into a ball.

OFF

OOC: Just a little bit of the bad guy in me :-D just a little glimpse of things to come. Our 2XO will soon be posting up some stuff after we have a little get together and get our mission down planet-side.


ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Bridge]

Richard eyed the Marine CO and the Counselor as they moved through the corridor toward the shuttlebay. "North, do you have your men assembled in the shuttlebay? And counselor, do you have any thoughts on this new species we have just come into contact with, feelings, anything?" Richard asked, looking at both officers, as they soon reached the shuttlebay doors.

Lt. James Palfrey
First Officer
USS Starfire
The Bridge.

ON:

"Lieutenant." It was the OPs Officer. "I am reading an approaching ship, Sir. Should we go to red alert?"

"No Mr. Klotreag, but keep her monitored." Palfrey answered back, then tapped his comm-badge. "Captain, our sensors have detected a ship."

OFF: Sorry for the micro post.

ON:

1st Lt Anthony Venchelli
**USS Starfire
**Flight Deck

Venchelli got the comm from the Captain and nodded silently to himself, "You got it Cap." He moved out from his office which was offshoot from the flight deck. He placed his fingers too his mouth and whistled over the mechanical sounds and commotion.

"Marine's Listen up!" He commanded and all those present stopped what they were doing and turned to Venchelli giving him their undivided attention.

"Alright boys, we got an escort mission. We are escorting the Captains shuttle to the Planet. Joker your my Wingman, the Captain requested you personally."

Joker shot off a quick witted comment, "Really, I'm honored!"He said laughing softly. Venchelli smirked lightly and shook his head and continued to rein in the troops. "Zeus your my third, and Hammer your my fourth. Everyone else keep your birds warm and your weapons coiled, if this escort goes south we have to defend this ship and everyone on it. Your Marine's, but more importantly you are Starfire's Marine's. Dismissed!"

Venchelli spun his hand around and the four walked over to their lockers and pulled on their flight suits and equipment.

"So does this mean I can't go to the Holodeck...I mean I had a date and everything Lt..."Joker complained as he pulled on his suit. Anthony shrugged his suit on and zipped it up looked over at Joker and smirked. "Outlaw's don't have dates..."He said slamming his locker closed as he walked to his fighter.

Joker sighed heavily, "Says the person that hasn't been laid in years..."He mutters and smiles shrugging following suit with his CO and heading to his fighter.

Venchelli climbed into the cockpit of his fighter and pulled on his helmet as his view port closed down over him. He brought his Fighter to life with a few strokes on the control panel. He opened up a comlink to his squad, "Alright boy's you know the rules same as always. Do not engage unless you are fired upon or until you are commanded too. We will hold position outside of Starfire until the shuttle launches." He pulled his gloves on and sealed them into the cuplings.

"Once the shuttle is place, Hammer you bring up their rear, Zeus my left, Joker my right and Ill take the head. Keep your eyes open and your sensors going. We have the better sensory equipment then the shuttle we are their first line of defense. I don't want anything to sneak up on us..understood?!"

They clicked their comms in confirmation. In doing so their fighters lifted up off the ground and one by one shot out into the dark void called space to await their package that they would be delivering. Venchelli opened up a Comm to the Captain.

"Captain, Venchelli. Outlaw's in place awaiting package sir" he stated.


[OFF]

ON:

[USS Starfire]
[Shuttlebay 1]

Richard had everything prepped inside the shuttle for their trip, they where just waiting on their pilot, Ensign Weathers to report to their shuttle, when Richard recieved Palfrey's communication via his combadge.

Richard tapped his combadge in response, "Palfrey, you have the Bridge, but I would advise against any course of action, I am sure the ship is just interested in getting a second look at our ship and to scan us for anything hostile. Remember, Lieutenant that this is a very war-torn nation and they are probably very cautious of new arrivals."

Richard turned back around inside the shuttlecraft and started going through the pre-flight checks, getting them out of the way so that as soon as the conn officer arrived they would be able to just get going. Richard looked over at the Marines that had been selected for the mission and the counselor.

"You all are very quiet, nervous?" Richard asked, looking at each of them sitting inside the now cramped shuttlecraft.

OFF