Trenton sat in his quarters. He had arrived on board the new ship a few minutes ago, and pretty much went directly to his quarters. He'd spend a lot of time in there, just sitting. It felt goo to relax, and just listen to the environment. He had done it many times. One time he even sat in his room without moving for three hours. Of course the captain wasn't too thrilled about that, but what could he do?

Apparently the war wasn't in their favor. It was a shame. As much as Trent was a man of action, he was also a man for peace. And he would gladly take peace over war any day. He was willing to bet anyone would now these days. They had found peace with the Klingons, there was probably a way to find peace with the Romulans.

Trent sighed and closed his eyes. He wasn't sleeping, he was more in a meditative stance.

Ensign Virjok Ru was extremely confused as she sat on the Star Fleet transport to this new ship, not so much because of the secrecy and mystery that seemed to surround it but more as to why this human was acting so strangely. In her experience humans were always very strange but this was particularly interesting as his body language and tone of voice indicated that he was seeking to mate with the vessel. She understood that he was actually complaining to some unknown watcher about the general lack of information about this new assignment but this did not stop Virjok from letting out a small, suppressed giggle. It sounded more like a sound one of Earth's dolphin's made, however, and wasn't recognized for what it was. The one shouting, apparently the helmsman, may have been angry but the Ensign trying to calm him's heartbeat was abnormally fast to her sensitive ears, she could smell his sweat. There is no physical strain here for them... Hmm. The Doctor thought, she herself did not have sweat glands to gain more insight on this but had heard that mental strain may also have an effect, Must be anxious about this assignment. Dr. Ru was bursting with excitement as the ship docked, pratically running out the door and onto the U.S.S Pandora.

Virjok wanted to she what a real star ship's sick bay would look like and begin working even if it was to be under another doctor, a Vulcan female from what she had been told. However, it would be inappropriate to take her personal belongings, collected from her time on Earth and stuffed into the bag slung over her shoulder, to the sick bay and decided to stop by her quarters first, fortunately on the way. Her lower arms fidgeted uncontrollably as she speed down the halls, literally throwing the bag into her room before racing off to her work station. Soon it stood before her and with an excited 'Vrrr' sound she stepped through the doors into the currently deserted Medical Bay, obviously the CMO and her other subordinates had not arrived yet. Ensign Ru began to explore the facilities and examine its equipment with great enthusiasm.

La'Piri

The shuttle whizzed through space towards the planet, it's occupants patiently waiting. The Vulcan on board, Dr.La'Piri, sat calmly in her seat, watching the stars whirl by as they sped towards the destination. It had been some time since she'd been able to relax in a shuttle. Usually she was stuck in the sick bay, putting sutures on one of the Ensign Engineer's legs that had been severed when he forgot to pull the pressure valve down before running the simulations.

Young for a Vulcan, Piri had the privilege of working with Starfleet immediately after she graduated at the top of her class from the Vulcan Science Academy. She'd been an Ensign on the U.S.S Synergy until her commanding officer died in a training run from a freak warping accident. They had promoted her on the spot and she had taken over as commanding Medical officer. Although still only a Junior Rank Lt., she shows promise.

The shuttle slowed as it entered the dock on the planet. Piri had visited Utopia Planetia once when she had to pick up some medical supplies for the ship. Odd planet, by her observation. Their rituals, while not very different from humans, still seemed obsolete and flamboyant. Both she and her crew obtained their luggage from the back of the shuttle and exited. She had brought two other Vulcans with her in order to work, along with one human who seemed to have a fair knowledge of medicine and how to operate. She was also supposedly receiving a deputy Medical Officer when arriving; race of deputy, still unknown. In addition, she would be assigned two lackeys in order to compensate for the large number of crew members.

Quickly, they briefed both her crew and her when they arrived and sent them to the U.S.S. Pandora to prepare for departure. Piri could tell the human seemed excited about the mission. The other Vulcans held their composure throughout the debriefing. They understood excitement is illogical. They changed into the official Starfleet uniforms and headed to the ship.

Piri looked like a pixie (from human lore, of which she knows more than she cares to) as she walked to her quarters, the attire she wore hugging her skin. Her long hair flowed slightly when she walked; they always showed off her Vulcan ears. A black headband fit snugly on her head, its colors complimenting those within the uniform. She walked gracefully but forcefully, she had purpose and she knew it. Her crew departed after they arrived on the ship, each of them going to their own quarters; they proposed to meet in the Medical Bay in fifteen minutes.

On her way to her quarters, she passed many but never talked, only looked forward, examining the ship, marveling at its engineering. She found her room to be of suitable size and acceptable cleanliness. Her things were easy to store, giving her little time to process. After what seemed like moments, she found herself with in the Medical Bay, face-to-face with her new deputy.

Taking a moment to compose herself, she spoke, extending her hand as she did so. "J.G. Lt. La'Piri of Vulcan. I presume you are the new Medical Deputy assigned to me, Chief Medical Officer?" She blinked at the deputy and waited.

"At ease Lieutenant, it looks like you're already running a shipshape department here. How long have you been aboard?" He surveyed the massive room, some of the crewmembers were casting a glance at him as they noticed him, but quickly returned to their tasks. No-one was slacking, a good sign.

"Well, make sure she's ready to fly out smoothly on launch day, I don't fancy any hiccups before we're in the field. Say, who's that Ensign over there? He seems to be having some trouble with his console." Carnis replied, having noticed that the young lad seemed to still be having trouble.

Piri blinked and looked at the outstretched hand, returning the Earth gesture; she had studied their culture for a lunar semester while at the Vulcan Science Academy - she found them fascinating yet primitive. "Well, Dr. Ru, we will be departing soon, and I would like you to meet my team." At that moment, the two Vulcans that had accompanied her stepped into the bay along with the human, who seemed fascinated with the ship itself.

La'Piri pointed to the first Vulcan, a tall, pale skinned male with short black hair who appeared to be in his thirties (Earth speculation). "This is Ensign Serith, he served with me on the U.S.S. Synergy." The Vulcan flashed the traditional Vulcan simple and nodded to the other Ensign.

The Vulcan next to him stepped up, extending his hand. He was the shorter of the two. His skin had a blue tint to it that showed in his black hair as well, giving him an otherworldly look. "Ensign Y'Tu*." He blinked and waited for her to shake his hand.

The human pipped up from the back, walking to the woman, "Jacob Williamson." He smiled and extended his hand.

[[*Pronounced [Ya-Too] ]]

Ensign Ru smiled when the Chief Medical Officer shook her hand, glad her assumption was correct in at least this case and hoping she would get to learn more about Vulcan culture and physiology. "Departing soon? Good, I can't wait to try this facility out..." The Jakyu said, more to herself than anyone else before turning to meet the rest of the medical team she would be working with. The tall Vulcan made an odd hand symbol, one she could not replicate fully with only 4 fingers and so opted to return a peaceful gesture used on her world, bringing her larger arms into a sideways 'T' shape with palms open and facing the man whilst the smaller pair outstretched themselves downward, "Serith." Virjok made another one of her stranger sounds, a greeting in her language before making the sign again to the other two Ensigns, bowing slightly. The way the shorter Vulcan blinked was similar to flipping someone off on Jakya 3, making an insulted face but decided that it must have been more out of surprise at her appearance and shook his his hand with the smaller hands, using her 4-fingered ones to shake that of the human Ensign, "Y'Tu and Jacob Williamson... An honor to meet you all." At least this human is not quite so... Stiff.

Trent felt the ship begin to hum to life. He opened his eyes. He reported to where he needed to be. No doubt his captain would soon introduce himself...and Trent would rather start on the captain's good hand.

(sorry for short post, I'm tired)

Dr. Ru raised a quill-like eyebrow as her Chief Medical Officer simply went straight onto examining the medical supplies, confused as to this behavior despite her knowledge of their apparent lack of emotions, feeling a little insulted. When La'Piri finally gave instruction to herself and the equally confused human ensign she was glad for an explanation, interested by this bond shared by Vulcans and would have asked about it had the Doctor not seemed so preoccupied. Virjok opted to simply get on with checking out the sick bay silently, wiggling her clawed toes on the floor a little before moving off to a bio-bed past the Vulcans to take a closer look. As she passed them the Jakyu placed the hypospray back on its tray, turning on the bed's scanner to see if it was functioning correctly. Everything was in order and, with a trilling sigh she walked to the door, "It was a pleasure meeting you all and I will see you when our first shift begins..." She fare welled her associates and walked down the hall. Vir did not feel like retiring to her room just this yet and so went off in search of the mess hall, unsure of its exact location. After some wandering the ensign somehow found herself on deck 8 nearby the broken replicator, she was obviously lost but all the officers were too busy to help her. Seeing another of her rank working on the replicator she decided to ask him, "Excuse me, Ensign... Uh, could you direct me to the mess hall? I'm somewhat... lost."

Piri looked at the replicator, bent down, shifted one part to the left about three centimeters, and the pushed the on button, a cup of coffee appearing under it. She grabbed it and took a sip. "Acceptable. Now, Ensign, I'm La'Piri, Chief Medical Officer, and I've been ordered to administer the vaccines. I'm going to administer it to you now, don't be alarmed." She put the the coffee down, pulled a vaccine needle-less syringe out of the bag and quickly pushed it to the Ensign's neck, hearing the vaccine zap into his blood stream. "That will be all, Ensign. You may return to your duties." She grabbed the coffee and walked off. She randomly jabbed the vaccine into the worker's necks, startling them. She got yelled at but quickly silenced them with a glare.

Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. A medical officer entered the bridge, quickly going about injecting the bridge officers. Holmes, the CSO introduced herself before heading over to the science station. And on top of this, a call came in from Security. Carnis almost felt overwhelmed.

Standing up, he confronted the medical officer, noticing the rank on her uniform. "From your rank, I assume you are our CMO. According to protocol, shots are to be administered in the sickbay whilst members of the crew are off duty, during their medical. You do not administer them to active crew. Now get off my bridge and do it properly." His voice was forceful, but not angry, just stating his points.

Without waiting for an answer, he tapped his combadge. "Security, this is the Captain, go ahead."

OOC: If you want to stick around digi-kun, feel free, the Captain will be checking if you've gone after he's finished with security ;)

Raijn, after about 10 minutes you break the encryption on the transmission, I'll RP what you find when you RP breaking it :) The transmission will have ceased about 5 mins before you crack it. You manage to narrow the origin to the shipyard facilities, but no further, it isn't coming from the fleet, but it could be coming from any of the numerous buildings and ships under construction. You also do pick up the micro data burst at the start of the transmission.

"Captain you fail to understand, I was given direct orders to administer the vaccine as quickly as possible. If we get into space and one person has a problem, we could all die. Section 4ii of the Medical Release Manual states that aboard active missions, where the lead Medical officer has no scheduled medicals, due to the sudden start up of the mission and the secrecy of it, he or she has the obligation to administer the vaccines as quickly as possible. If you'd like, I can quote directly from the manual. I assure you none of the side affects are fatal, nor will they hinder anyone in anyway." She put the vaccine in the bag and waited for a reply, if she could feel shocked, she would; apparently the captain had not memorized the book as she had. How odd.

Trenton heard the voice of the captain. "We have contacted the shipyards as you ordered. A shuttlecraft should be here to get him in 5 minutes." It then occurred to Trenton. "Apologies, sir, I am Trenton Mustaine, Chief of Security."

(sorry for short post)

"Very good Lieutenant Mustaine, make sure he gets on that shuttle personally please. We may also have a security breach in this system, so please stand your men by in case we are needed to assist station personnel in this matter. Bridge out." Valdore responded. He looked up to see if his CMO had disappeared, only to be confronted with the Vulcan staring at him and starting in on her side of the argument.

"Captain you fail to understand, I was given direct orders to administer the vaccine as quickly as possible. If we get into space and one person has a problem, we could all die. Section 4ii of the Medical Release Manual states that aboard active missions, where the lead Medical officer has no scheduled medicals, due to the sudden start up of the mission and the secrecy of it, he or she has the obligation to administer the vaccines as quickly as possible. If you'd like, I can quote directly from the manual. I assure you none of the side affects are fatal, nor will they hinder anyone in anyway." She said, placing the hypo back in her kit for now.

"Lieutenant, as you may have noticed, we are still in spacedock, therefore we are not classed as an active vessel, no matter the level of activity on board. Furthermore, we are not scheduled to clear spacedock for just under a fortnight. Also, administering vaccines as quickly as possible does not entail waltzing onto an operational bridge and interfering with the operation of a crew, however slight, except in emergency situations. So please remove yourself from my bridge and schedule medicals for the crew, which, if I remember correctly, are required upon re-assignment to a new vessel." He waited for a retort, this woman seemed a little confrontational, although he couldn't argue that she wasn't doing her duty. She had produced a legitimate argument, though unfortunately for her, at the wrong time. He was, however, surprised that she hadn't seemed to have organised medicals for the crew yet . . .

He was just thinking on this when the CSO piped up, something about him having to see something. He stood up and made his way to the station. He wasn't a science boff, but he could make some sense of the scientific jargon on the screen. The computer was working on a translation of the message contents as he was studying it. The transmission began with a short burst of something, presumably identification codes and such, whatever it was, it was unlikely they would get into it without the correct decompression program. But he still asked, "Any chance of getting into that data burst? Probably just routine stuff, but routine can be useful."

He continued reading on, whilst waiting for a response. The transmission consisted of what he might have expected, as well as a few extras. A layout of all the base facilities, estimated strength of the fleet, strategic locations, ships currently under construction. He noticed there weren't any complete plans of the Pandora, just parts here and there, nothing on the MVAM either. There were details of convoys, incoming transports, shuttle traffic, crew lists. "Good job we got to jamming that when we did. Do you know how much got through? Oh, and fire this off to the station, the Admiral will want to see it. Maybe they can compare it with work schedules and try to pin down some suspects."

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Elsewhere on the ship, an ensign fell to the floor, it was a few moments before someone came across him, but they quickly called it in. "Medical emergency, deck 5, corridor A." The ensign was one of the first that had received the vaccination. Inside his body, two normally mild viruses collided, normally they would have given severe symptoms, but only incapacitated a person. Together, they became much more deadly, the woman was soon unconscious, the effects starting to settle in.

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In the outer system, a convoy appeared on the sensors, sending the correct codes, the automated defences stayed inactive. The ship that was stationed there however, opened fire. They tried to send a transmission to the shipyards, but their communications had been crippled by internal sabotage. One of the convoy ships had connected an uplink to the sensor probe upon arrival, feeding their own data into it. The shipyards stayed in the dark, the plan was coming into action perfectly. A crippling blow would be dealt to the Federation today, but there were still obstacles to overcome, they couldn't relax yet. The probe was vaporised by the lead ship, although it was risky, they couldn't afford the uplink failing and the probe picking up the rest of the fleet. It going silent was the best option.

In the Utopia Planetia control room, the sensor's malfunction didn't even register with anyone, they were too concerned trying to track down the spy in their midst.

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Back on the Pandora, a shuttle docked with the ship, setting down away from the other shuttles, ready to receive the prisoner. The pilot and one of the security guards waited expectantly, surreptitiously powering their phasers up . . .

Trent nodded. "It will be done, sir."
He signaled every security officer. "Security, stay on stand-by until further notice. Mustaine out."
With that he got up. He walked to the holding area. There were four officers surrounding the civillian.
"I understand you had a little encounter on the bridge. If you'll just walk with us, we'll make sure you get off the ship safely."

Virjok placed her hands back at her side, somewhat disappointed that Ensign Masato had not shook either of her hands but contented herself by once again crossing her arms for one of her people's peace gestures, "A pleasure to meet you, Masato. Don't worry you've got more going for you than Forbes which is not saying very much since he looked like he was about to-" The Ensign stopped mid sentence as she heard the announcement, there was already some kind of medical emergency and the ship hadn't even left space dock yet. "Well, I guess I'm going to get to try out these new facilities sooner than I anticipated! Perhaps I will see you later when I get a chance to check if you were right about the mess hall..." With a smile the Jakyu ran to the nearest turbo lift and in a few minutes had made her may to the sickbay finding the patient had already been brought there and Piri was already busying herself.

"Dr. La'Piri, sorry for not arriving sooner!" Dr. Ru apologized, making her way to the patient's table and briefly examined her, the Ensign was obviously suffering from a virus or disease of some variety. She made a sound just barely audible to the Vulcans, as she pulled out her medical tricorter to confirm her suspicions, "These symptoms are obviously the result of a virus but... I have not seen one that works this fast before, do you know how she contracted it?" She asked the CMO, passing the tricorter to one of her lower hands.

Kouji felt even more unnerved when he heard that the vaccine he had received may have had a side effect to it. It didn't help that the other ensign said she might see him later in sick bay. She left, with a wave, leaving Kouji to simply stand there by himself, pondering what he should do next. "I guess I could take a break..." He muttered to himself. He turned to the replicator. "Green tea please." The replicator gave him a small cup of green tea. He picked up the hot cup and took a sip. This was one of the few things that actually helped his nerves.

Kouji suddenly felt weird. Like his fingers felt cold, even against the steaming cup. He was sweating, his breathing becoming more shallow. What...? His vision became blurred, and he had no time to think as he simply dropped to the ground unconscious. At the time, no other officers were there to report his collapse.

OOC: Apologies for not posting for a while again, had another busy stretch >_<

IC: As the security team escorted the journalist through the decks of the ship, the message came through from medical. A faint smile appeared on the journalists face, another plan had succeeded. Though he had no idea of the extent to which his actions had possibly doomed some of the crewmembers. The journey to the shuttle was otherwise uneventful.

Meanwhile, the analysis of the vaccines finished in sickbay, isolating a second contamination in them, it was a bio-engineered compound of unknown purpose and origin. However, the computer cross-referenced the scans of the patient with the scans of the vaccine. When studied, it would show that together, the two contaminants became a volatile cocktail that would be more potent that the identified part. Furthermore, the analysis was flagged up in the security mainframe, the timestamps on the hypo being accessed showed that it hadn't been touched before it was brought on board the ship, unlike the on board computer's readout showed.

Kouji's body, whilst paralysed, was fighting off the infection remarkably well, perhaps it was a fluke of nature, or something more intriguing at work, but the contaminants in the vaccine were being slowed down in their progress by his immune system.

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On the bridge, an urgent communique came in from the station, "Captain, we have reason to believe that our outer defences may have been compromised. One of the patrol ships hasn't checked in on schedule, and a sensor probe in the same area has registered a malfunction. We're sending a vessel out to review the area now, but I am ordering your vessel out of space dock. It's early I know, but you'll be a sitting duck in there. The worker shuttles are being recalled as we speak, please ready your vessel for departure. Remain in the system until the situation has been analysed further however. Perhaps I am just being paranoid."

"Understood Admiral, we'll standby for further orders with the fleet. Pandora out." The screen shut down, "You heard the man, get this ship up and running. Tactical, run through every system, make sure we aren't going to have any surprises just yet, and run a diagnostic on the MVAM. Helm, take us out and give her a quick spin, impulse only. Science, get on the long range sensors, see if you can pick up anything out of the ordinary."

He took a breather before continuing with the orders over the comm. "Security, what's the situation with the prisoner? Medical, what's the situation on the emergency. Engineering, we're getting underway, please make the ship ready and keep all hands available in case we have any issues." He tapped the shipwide button afterwards, to broadcast to the entire crew. "Men and Women of the Pandora, we have just been ordered out of spacedock early, the Admiral has reason to believe that the security of this system has been compromised, and therefore we are to stand ready with the fleet for further orders. Whatever happens, the Romulans must not learn of this vessel and her technologies. There will be surprises, there will likely be some systems that haven't been finished off just yet, but we are a Starfleet crew, and we will face whatever comes our way professionally. May God speed us on our way." He shut the comm channel down and relaxed into his chair. "Number one, you have the conn, I'll be in my ready room."

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In the hangar bay, the team from the shuttle heard the Captain's message, and the two who had readied their phasers proceeded to stun the other two. They dumped them into the shuttle, locked it and made their way to the nearest exit as if they belonged there. With the immediate flurry of activity after the announcement, and their distance from anyone else, no-one noticed a thing.

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Elsewhere, the Romulan fleet snuck past the ship that had been sent to investigate the outer defences. It wouldn't matter now, their goal was almost in range. Soon the blow would land, and Starfleet would be in disarray . . .

Although Vera was resisting the effects of the contaminants, and to a greater degree than Kouji had been, she still succumbed to them eventually, passing out on the bed. The sickbay was rapidly filling up with the few crewmembers that she had managed to innoculate. On the bridge, Lt. Forbes began to feel the effects of the contaminants kick in.

Meanwhile, Serith was struggling to keep an emotion buried. Guilt. He had put a part of the problem in place, it had only been intended to improve the standing of Piri in the eyes of their Captain. He didn't even realise why he had done it in the first place. But the situation had grown rapidly out of control, he hadn't formulated a cure for his part of the hypo. He hadn't seen the need to, Piri would have had ample time to cure it, without the patients being in any danger. But he couldn't work as quickly as he knew he could, he still wanted Piri to be the hero, and he couldn't give away his part in it. It would be a disaster if he did . . . however . . . the first patient was close to death now . . .

La'Piri paced slightly as she shuffled through the medical equipment, looking for a syringe. She felt Y'Tu's hand on her shouler, his blank face looking down at her, "Syringe, Doctor?" He held out a syringe to her and nodded, slightly understanding the anxiety she could feel seeping from the patients.

"Y'Tu, I'll need you to go to Engineering and do a second sweep of the area to check and see if anyone else has begun exhibiting symptoms. She turned and filled the syringe with Kil'Rigionate and a mixture of Urin Sulfate and Carbon Mangait. Heading to each of the patients, she jabbed them gently in the neck, the affects of the counter agents hopefully slowing down the affects of the virus.

Serith stared at the screen, not wanting to plunge the next slide in. He knew that a mixture of Surigate and I'Lis would cure the patients, but he didn't want to find it just yet. His emotions, becoming unraveled within his mind, were pressing against him like a brick wall - pushing him forward. He needed to meditate, to put these flimsy emotions out of his brain. He sighed and went back to work, skipping the two essential chemicals.