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CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 06 | 1015 hrs. ] Square Peg, Round Hole

[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Doc M. @SummerDawn @Absinthe @alphawiz @Auctor Lucan
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Lorad hadn’t bothered to reply to the request for his presence in Main Engineering. In his mind it would have just delayed his arrival there. Instead, he had dressed himself in clean clothes, put his boots on and walked out the door, headed for the nearest turbolift. No one had mentioned clearances or anything unlike when Dewitt had earlier that morning.

“Perhaps I am still cleared even though it is a different place,” Lorad considered as he entered the turbolift. It was empty. “Main Engineering. Deck 25.”

The trip was the longest he had taken since coming aboard the ship less than 48 hours earlier. Not surprising though as Vector 01 only had 16 decks while the complete dreadnaught was listed as having 32. But at least he was alone for the entire trip.

When the doors opened, Lorad disembarked into a hive of activity. The room he was in was rectangular with a single large table/bench at its centre and beyond the moving mass of crew, Lorad could see what could only be the main warp core for the ship; judging by its size. No one seemed to notice his arrival which, given he was the only Reman on board and he had just been summoned, was odd.

“You called,” Lorad said loudly, his uniquely deep voice reverberating around the room.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #1 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Abinsthe , @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @FollowTomorrow , @@SummerDawn, @Triage.

“Why yes, Ah say, yes we did,” Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert ‘Billy Bob’ O’Connell drawled as he swaggered around the warp core to approach the bulky Reman.  “Mister Lorad, I presume?” he asked with a hint of amusement. 

Who the Hell else could he be?  It wasn’t like there were any other Remans aboard, or if there were, no one in Engineering had been notified.  Even so, Mister Lorad was no doubt fortunate that Petty Officer Sithick had paved the way for him, for truly his face was the stuff of nightmares.  The man was so ugly he probably had to sneak up on his diner to get a bite to eat.   His face was puckered like wet sheepskin before a hot fire.  He was a large fella, built like a brick outhouse.  Not even a Nauciscan would make a better bouncer for a club.  If he had horns on his head, someone would have taken a potshot at him just because.

But thankfully, folks in the United Federation of Planets didn’t judge one another by superficial appearances, despite the fact that thousands of years of evolution had conditioned them to do so.  And if you did, Starfleet Academy and to a lesser extent, Starfleet Recruit Training Command AKA Boot Camp booted that right out of you or you didn’t get to serve in Starfleet.  If Mother Nature crafted a person’s face to look like a piece of gold pressed latinum’s worth of dog meat then you acted like everyone had a face that looked like a piece of gold pressed latinum’s worth of dog meat, pure and simple.  That was just good manners.

“Step raight this way, Mister Lorad,” the master chief drawled as he led the Reman around the warp core to the master systems display table.   “We need yore assistance in uh minor matter, uh trifle that is,” he continued.  “Mister Xan is busy installin’ the cloakin’ device that yew so generously provided intuh our main deflector dish an wuz wonderin’ if you’d be so good as tuh help him streamline th’ process thet’s all.  Et seems thet th’ folks aboard this l’il ship are a mite rusty when it comes t’ their Reman terminology, they find it a bit unfamiliar that is.  Now Ah no thet our universal translators kin translate Reman both oral an’ written, but it doesn’t really help much with terminology, yew know what Ah’m sayin’?  Although yew an’ Ah could carry on a conversation without either one uh us bein’ able tuh speak a word uh th’ other’s guy’s language when it comes to technical terminology particularly software, we’re a bit in th’ dark.  Now Ah know thet yew ain’t no engineer or technician but yew kin use uh computer programmed back home tuh run basic programs an’ do inventory an’ th’ lahk.  Jest sit yoreself here an’ remain in communication with Mister Xan an if he asks yew any questions do yore best tuh answer ‘em, kin yuh dew that?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ] 

It’d been a weird, weird day so far. Well, technically all his days since he started on the Resolve were weird, but this one was taking top position so far. He was very, very tired, and he didn’t sleep at all for one. Two, all the people he thought were dead are actually alive, or most of them. He at least knew Ejek was alive, he saw she had looked for him with the computers earlier today. Three, he’s messing with a cloaking device, again.

Or more accurately, he was supposed to be messing with the cloaking device. Instead, he was in the head. He was sitting on a toilet, head leaning against the wall. He had just now opened his eyes, and had no idea how long he had been here, but he guessed maybe a few minutes. Clearly he was done with his business in the bathroom, or he hoped he was, because if he sat down again he might not wake up this time. He cleaned himself up and finished in there, and walked out the head, and then back into engineering.

Suq had no time to brush his hair, so he had one of those goofy baseball caps on, and all his hair was stuffed into a ponytail and went every which way out the back of the cap. His uniform was at least clean, and he was wearing gloves that were a touch too big for him. The bags under his eyes were so huge that it made his tool belt look like an accessory, rather than his main mode of storage. He looked like shit and he knew it. He felt like shit too, he was starting to see and hear things.

As he walked in, he saw a rather gorgeous crewman walk out. She, like everyone else, was taller than him, but her legs were so fine, and that ass left nothing to complain about either. As he stepped in, he watched her leave, his mind drifting dreamily.

His eyes went up her legs, all soft and lovely the way human ladies were, up her back. Even her breasts were nice, probably just a handful for each one, and that was okay by him. She was turning around to look at him, to talk to him, and he saw her face, handsome, maybe a little bit scruffy with a five o’ clock shadow, charming blue eyes…
“...with Mister Xan an if he asks yew any questions do yore best tuh answer 'em, kin yuh dew that?”

She spoke to him, and he recognized the face as Billy Bob’s. Since when did BB have nice breasts and long, soft legs? He turned to see the actual visage of Billy Bob standing with a Reman he knew as Lorad, talking about him. In this version of BB, he did not have breasts and long, soft legs. He had his normal legs.

He should really get some sleep.

“Mister Xan, sounds like part of my name. ‘Less we got another Mister Xan running around.” He offered the duo a smile. “Good to see you again Lorad. You look good.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #3 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow
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It was hard to tell who was stranger, Suq or this new man, whomever he was. He had never introduced himself, had walked a full lap around the ship’s warp core just to come back to the table that Lorad had been standing beside since he had exited the turbolift. And he had done all of that without even realising that Lorad was not following him. Engineers in Starfleet seemed to be a very odd bunch.

And then came his speech. To Lorad’s hearing, it seemed like he was trying to speak Standard but even with Standard, Lorad had trouble understanding people. With whatever language this man was speaking, he was lucky if he understood words. He understood cloaking device, Reman, universal translators and Mister Xan, not that he knew who that was. And then he had been told to sit. 

“On what? The floor?” Lorad wondered as he couldn’t see any chairs. Starting to get frustrated, Lorad grumbled in his throat but his response was interrupted by a familiar face. It was Suq. At least now he could compare the two strange men fairly.

"Mister Xan, sounds like part of my name. 'Less we got another Mister Xan running around," the short man said, smiling up at them. "Good to see you again Lorad. You look good." 

“Suq,” Lorad intoned, keeping his voice even. “Him talk strange. “Speak of cloak. You break again?” Lorad asked before a different thought occurred to him. “You want cloak ship. But ship bigger. Need rebuild cloak.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #4 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]

Suq grinned. Lorad was having trouble understanding BB, which was fair. Suq remembered that Billy Bob’s way of speaking used to give him hell back at the Academy. It really challenged his understanding of Standard. Lorad would get over that learning curve on his own time. He tried to be mindful of his own speech in the meantime. He had to mumble less if he wanted anyone to understand him.
“I didn’t break the cloak at all. I just...changed it a little. And yeah, we need to get the cloak to work on the whole ship. To get that done, we need to rebuild it. I can do that, but I need you to help me. I think Chief had an idea where you could use a Reman computer to help me run tests to make sure the device is ready to run. Do you think you can help me do that?”

He was all smiles. Lorad might not look conventionally attractive, but neither did Suq, and in all honesty he was suppressing the urge to just reach out and touch Lorad’s face to see if it was really as wrinkly as it looked. A thought hit him, perhaps the Reman was also parasite-infected, so he refrained from doing so in case...well, maybe he’d bite his arm off or something.

Nah, he decided. If BB trusted Lorad, then chances are he’s squeaky clean. He felt far less terrified of potentially ‘bugged’ individuals if someone well versed in the art of being paranoid cleared them first.

He realized he was staring again. It was a sleepy stare, but it was also directed at BB’s legs, which were still not long and soft nor would they ever be. Probably. He knew staring was rude and corrected himself, rubbing his eyes and trying to refocus himself. He better make sure he actually knew what he was talking about before he did anything...
“Does that sound ‘bout right chief?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #5 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Abinsthe , @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @FollowTomorrow , @@SummerDawn, @Triage.

Fortunately Billy Bob didn’t seem to notice the Efrosian’s appraising glance at his legs.  Instead he was directing his attention at the Reman.  “Why yes, Suq I would say so,” O’Connell muttered as he gave Lorad a sideways glance before facing him directly.  “Jesus H. Sebastian Gawd, Lorad, don’t yer people got any expressions?” he asked indignantly.  “Turns of phrase?  Idioms, that is.  It’s an expression, son, an’ that’s exactly why I wanted yew nearby while Suq tries tuh plug yer l’il cloaking device intuh our big bad deflector grid.  That’s, Ah say, that’s mah point!  It’s thuh reason Ah asked yuh here that is.  These l’il words, the terms, an’ phrases an’ such, they’re real simple fur people from thet culture, but a foreigner prob’ly has tuh spend some time tuh figgur it out.  When th’ computer says ‘Run’ does it mean ‘Run program’ or does it mean ‘Run away, Ah recommend thet yew keep yer distance’?  If it says ‘Execute’, does it mean ‘Execute program’ or ‘Execute this peckerwood who ain’t authorized tuh be messin’ with this here doohickey’?  Yuh see yew hit th’ nail on th’ head… yuh demonstrated why we need yuh that is… when yew took whut Ah said literally.  With computers an’ machines, yew gotta use th’ terminology of th’ manufacturer.  Yuh cain’t depend on a machine tuh figure out whut yew mean by itself.” 

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #6 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Nolan
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“Is this man even speaking Federation Standard?” Lorad wondered to himself after listening to the Human male speak again. He had managed to catch a few more of the words he had said but it still made little sense to him. “It’s like he is speaking another language. Or at least a very distant dialect.” Lorad remembered when he had first started training as a shock trooper and the surprise he had had that Reman, the spoken language, actually had dialects to it as well. For someone that had never travelled further than 50km from where he was born, it was quite the eye-opener.

Turning his gaze to Suq, the short man didn’t seem inclined to speak. Rather instead he was staring at the tall man’s legs as if they were the most fascinating thing in the room. Shaking his head, he looked back at the tall man, whose name he still didn’t know, and began to speak to him, addressing him as chief as Suq had, while also switching to his natural Reman language and trusting in the Human’s translator to understand his language at least.

“I will help you to fix my cloaking device Chief. But we will need some things,” Lorad began, already feeling more comfortable speaking Reman instead of Standard. “I need a PADD with the device’s full schematics, the maximum size of the needed cloaking field and access to a replicator to fashion the needed parts. And lastly, there was a female Human who helped me to rebuild the device the first time. I do not know her name but she would be a big help.”

“But the person who would be best for this,” Lorad began. “Is my sister Samala. But she is in stasis. If she could be healed, the work would go much better.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #7 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Abinsthe , @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @FollowTomorrow , @SummerDawn, @Triage.

“Ah git it Mister Lorad; Yuh don’t do nothin’ fer free,” O’Connell retorted knowingly.  So there was another Reman onboard, a lady Reman to boot.  But since she was in stasis and given the lack of experts on Reman physiology aboard it was understandable why no one in the Stalllion had seen hide nor hair of her.  And if she was a civilian it was unlikely that she’d be moved to the front of the line when it came to putting her back together, assuming she was in stasis for a medical reason and not because she was a security risk.  Did she really have technical expertise that would aid in installing the cloaking device or did Lorad just want some assurance that someone was going to put her back together and not leave her as a collection of body parts?

“Ah’ll put in a request but Ah don’t promise nothin’,” the master chief drawled.  “Ah don’t expect we got any experts in Reman medicine aboard but Ah assume thet if yore sister needs any fluids or tissues yore available as a donor if they call for it.  Ah’ll tell ‘em we ‘er tuh help us with th’ cloaking device tuh help kick her tuh the front o’ the line but Ah cain’t rightly tell when she’ll be ambulatory again.  In the meantime Ah recommend thet yew do whut yuh can tuh help Suq out, don’t worry there’s plenty o’ time.”

As if on cue, a masculine voice was heard as if an invisible man was standing right next to them.

[ This is Lieutenant Junior Grade Salem Martin to main engineering, I need a status on the Reman cloaking device, we need it operational within the next hour, also we are about to be going up against people with really big guns so if you could get as many torpedo tubes operational as possible those of us up in tactical would really appreciate it. ]

“On second thought maybe it’s high time we got a move on,” Billy Bob muttered.  He cleared his throat and answered in a stage voice.  “O’Connell tuh Martin, we wuz jest getting thuh that now.  Mister Xan… or is it Efreya-Xan?” he looked over at Suq.  “Jesus Christ son, how many times are you gonna move the hyphens around in yore name anyways?”  He looked away, tilted his head slightly upwards and cleared his throat.  “Lieutenant junior grade Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan is doin' his best tuh install it intuh our main deflector array, but th' whole Theurgy is a damn sight bigger then th' jest the Helmet.  Mister Lorad is here to assist but even so at th' very best it Ah cain't really say when it's uh gonna be.  Hold on sir, let me consult with th' Lieutenant.  Ah'll git back tuh yuh as soon as Ah'm able.” he tapped his combage.  “Suq can you give us an estimate on how long yew reckon it’ll take?” he asked uncertainly.


OOC:  Remember that if you contact the bridge you’ve got to post your character’s transmission in CHAPTER 05 THE BATTLE OF THE APERTURES  DAY 06  1005 hrs. or send a PM to the player whose character you're contacting so they can add your characters call to their post.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #8 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]

Suq listened to BB and grinned. Jesus had a middle name, and a last name different from the one he knew. Peckerwood, too, he liked that one. He had no idea what it could possibly mean, but it was still cool. Oh, how he wished he could go back to the Academy days where all he wanted to do was sit around and talk to his old friend.

Not today though. Maybe another time. He could tell BB all about the thing with the legs that happened  some other time. Lorad spoke, he wanted a...Samala? Oh, Samala was a name, not a thing, and she was in stasis. Wait, there were two of them? Was it possible that they were both Bugged? Co-conspirators?

BB cut him off before he could speak, and it seems he thought like Suq now. Or maybe Suq like him. Is that a bad thing anymore? He didn’t know All he knew was, if the message was anything to go by, it was time to quit standing around and get working. He began rolling up his uniform sleeves, his arms all hairy like they usually are.

“Just use any part of my name. What’s a hyphen?” He mumbled, and then “Give us twenty minutes to get it done right, five if you want me to break it. And try not to get into a firefight in the meantime...” He let his voice trail off. He hoped they wouldn’t get into a battle. He’d probably die. Again? Wait, was he dead?

He rubbed his eyes.

“We better get moving then.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #9 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow
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It was hard to but Lorad managed to resist the urge to pin the man to the bulkhead wall behind him by his throat. It would have been easy; he couldn’t weigh that much as a Human. But the rational part of his mind, the calculating part that had gotten him promoted to Tesserarius quickly dismissed that urge as dangerously emotional reaction towards a man who clearly didn’t trust him. 

He assumed Lorad was using his extremely limited knowledge of the cloaking device as a bargaining chip to get his sister healed. What he either didn’t understand, didn’t believe or simply didn’t trust, was that Samala knew more about the Reman cloaking device they had than Lorad would ever know, much less understand. So instead, he grumbled in his throat before a voice sounded throughout the room.

“This Martin wants to know about the cloak,” Lorad noted to himself silently as he stared at Human. “They want it working in an hour before they get into another fight. One they are either starting or joining if they know when it is.” Lorad added mentally as the Human engineer, Oconell, began to reply. Understanding him was much harder for Lorad but he was able to glean that he didn’t understand Suq’s name; and not much else.

Suq’s response to Oconell’s apparent question was mumbled and disjointed to Lorad’s ears but he did make out 20, 5 and firefight; not that that cleared anything up for him. The last part he said though, that he understood. They had to get to work.

“You don’t trust me,” Lorad said in Reman. “I don’t care. But Samala knows more about the cloak than I do. She’ll get it working for you,” Lorad declared before turning to look down at Suq. “Lead the way and tell me what has been done already.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #10 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Abinsthe, @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @FollowTomorrow, @Juzzie, @Nolan, @SummerDawn, @Triage, & @TWikins.

“You ain’t that alien Suq, don’t tell me yuh don’t know whut uh hyphen is,” Billy Bob drawled.  He turned to Lorad and placed cupped his hand vertically up against the side of his mouth and muttered “Nice boy but he’s got more nerve than a bum tooth.”

But Lorad had other things on his mind than Suq’s flippancy.  He leaned forward and growled in his own language, but the universal translators installed in every combadge made his words crystal clear.  “You don't trust me. I don't care. But Samala knows more about the cloak than I do. She'll get it working for you," the Reman snarled before turning to glower at Suq. “Lead the way and tell me what has been done already," he grunted dismissively. 

“Whut, now hold on, Ah say hold on Mister Lorad,” Billy Bob drawled as he stepped in front of the Reman and raised his hands before him in a placating gesture.  “Ah wuz jest pullin’ yore leg, Ah didn’t mean nothin’ by it; no need tuh git yore britches in a knot; Ah wuz only funnin’.” O’Connell lowered his hands and took a step backwards when he realized that on Lorad’s planet, holding one’s hands before you with palms facing the one being addressed could be considered an aggressive gesture, mimicking the way a cat might display its claws.  “Sometimes Ah fergit jest how scarce trust kin be around here,” he explained in an ‘indoor voice’, “an’ how when it comes to newcomers on this ship we don’t got anywhere near enough of it.  It’s uh two-way street thet is.  Ah also fergot that nothin’s more important then kinfolk an’ knowin’ they’re okay, an’ fergittin’ that’s not havin’ enough manners enough tuh carry guts to a bear.  Ah wuz so wrapped up in mahself an’ th’ needs uh mah ship that Ah plumb fergot that yew need some sort of assurance that we ain’t th’ scallywags an’ buccaneers thet Starfleet hez made us out tuh be.  Tell yew whut, Ah’ll put in that request tuh have yer sister thawed out an’ rejuvenated toot sweet.  Ez uh matter uh fact, Ah’ll dew thet raight now.  Whut’s her name?  Samala?  Jest give me uh second now.  Won’t be two shakes of uh lamb’s tail.”

He walked away from the master system display table and tapped his combadge.   “Engineerin’ tuh Sickbay.  This is Actin’ Chief Engineer William Robert O’Connell, formally requestin’ thet th’ civilian Reman known ez Samala be taken out uh cryo an’ returned to an ambulatory state ez soon as possible.  We need her ez uh technical expert on how tuh git th’ most out of this here Reman cloakin’ device.  Mister Lorad claims she’s some kinda prodigy when it comes tuh cloakin’ devices an’ signal an’ electronic warfare an' such.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #11 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow  
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When Oconell began speaking again, Lorad stopped and turned back to face the man, his curiosity at what the engineer had to say getting the better of him. And instantly regretted it. He may not understand much of Federation Standard but his time in the holonovels Pakena had translated had left their mark on him. And he understood what certain phrases meant. Like pulling your leg and only funnin.

Lorad found it hard to believe that someone in such a position as the man seemed to be, could be so flippant in his words as to insult one of the only two beings on board that could fix the cloaking device and those same beings had allowed them to use in the first place. Was he that arrogant in his own abilities?

But Lorad’s urge to hit the man disappeared as Oconell contacted the sickbay and requested that they awaken Samala. He may not have understood everything the Human said but he knew enough to know that he had done as he said he would.

“Thank you Oconell,” Lorad said in gratitude, bowing his head slightly. “If you could find the female from before, the work will go quicker,” Lorad said once more before again turning to Suq. “Where is the cloak? And what has been done to it?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #12 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]

Suq grinned wide. No, he wasn’t so alien he didn’t know what a hyphen was. BB called him on that, he even whispered to Lorad about it. He delighted in causing trouble. It felt like he was just getting comfortable again.

Then, BB talked about trust, and accepting Lorad, and not being buccaneers, and his hair started standing on end. He felt like his spirit straight up left his body. Is that all it took these days to get cozy with the Theurgy? A little bit of upset? How was he to know that neither Lorad or Samala were parasite infested? What if they were saboteurs?

Suddenly he wasn’t comfortable at all. He felt like he wanted to hide from this situation. He couldn’t though. Lorad was there, and it was time to work. He met the Reman’s eyes. He looked pale, and so, so tired.

“It’s uh, this way.” He started. For a moment he didn’t walk, like his mind was too busy processing everything else to remember what movement was. Then he lurched and started towards the turbolifts. He was quiet on the way there, only speaking to the turbolift with a wavering sort of voice as he tried to control his emotions.
“Deck 27, Main Deflector Control.”
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ]

They arrived without so much as a peep from Suq. He did however emit a hissing sound with his inhaler as he took a puff. Ahead of them was a console, the cover removed and all the glorious wirey bits and ends exposed. Near it was the cloaking device—greatly altered by someone else in engineering who had more expertise than Suq did. It was larger, it had a much better power source, and it was connected in a way that Suq thought was graceful, elegant. He loved cable organization like that.
“Isn’t that a beauty.” He mumbled, and then took another puff of his inhaler. Puff, hiss, wheeze.

“Well, here it is. The hard part’s done. There’s probably some Reman computer around here somewhere—don’t ask me where it came from.”

He wandered towards the newly made cloaking array, shuffling things around and looking for the computer in question. He didn’t look at Lorad when he spoke, and he mumbled a lot too.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #13 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Stegro88
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Since she had activated the jump the job was done on that end and thus F'Rell had gone to the deflector control to take direct control of the warp bubble and ensure it held. The ship was in no fit state to do much. She had only just configured an effective deflector control scheme when she'd been presented with the new cloak system. She had since then begun interfacing it with the ship. She did this in a more T'Fanrell style than was Federation standard. Wires were braided together into tight bundles of cord to ensure durability and strength, individual wires entered the strand and exited in perfect woven harmony. The system had been wired in more crudely than usually allowed, but from her perspective, this was a trial build and further modifications and repairs would be made to fully integrate the cloak into the deflector. Now that the warp jump had ended she was ready to program in the cloak specifications and test its power output, but she needed to create a secure link between the new controls there and main engineering, from there it could be routed to the bridge.

She was working in a jefferies tube attached to the room when she heard the doors open and heard the voice of Suq. Though she was not capable of smiling, her alien physiology did not have the facial muscles for such a task, her long tendrils gave a buzz of happiness. She was worried about him. She was worried about all of them, but she was especially concerned for him. The day had proven draining, and it was not done yet. She did not even have time to assess herself, only managing to check herself for wounds after she had left engineering and patching the scrape on one of her appendages, leaving it a deflated and useless bag hanging from her long elegant body. She would heal, given time, but it did bother her to be damaged at all. Her body was not quite as durable as the humanoids.

She moved quickly from the jefferies tube and down to the just above the floor. <"I have configured much of the field, but without exact parameters for the cloak, it will not properly interface with our systems, it is using Romulan coding still and it needs a layer of translation if it is to work with our systems. I am unwilling to experiment with such a delicate procedure, so we will need someone familiar with the coding to do it. I can assist with configuring our deflector array to compensate and use the cloak, but I will need help with the hard wiring inside the console as I am not 100% familiar with the systems of the Theurgy and I cannot ask our Noble Ancillary for the specifications as she has been taken from us and what remains is not as helpful."> She elected to get right down to business, but her silvery eyes studied Suq in great detail. Compared to other humanoids he was smaller, but he seemed to be different in pallor, his eyes showing signs of wear in deep-seated bags. He was weary and she could easily diagnose that, even with no medical knowledge in his species. They were being pushed past their breaking point and soon they would be able to give no more. She only hoped they would find some place to rest and seal their wounds before they passed the point in which the damage became too great. The ship needed to be repaired. The crew needed to be repaired.

But there was no time.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #14 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Abinsthe , @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @FollowTomorrow , @Juzzie,@Nolan,@@SummerDawn, @Triage, @TWikins.

“Thank you Oconell,” Lorad said in gratitude, bowing his head slightly. “If you could find the female from before, the work will go quicker,” Lorad said once more before again turning to Suq. “Where is the cloak? And what has been done to it?”

“It’s uh, this way,” Suq stammered, apparently intimidated by the Reman’s resentment, even if Lorad’s rancor had been mollified.  Despite his words, he made no movement towards the turbolift.  He just seemed to freeze like a Cervidae blinded by a bright light.

O’Connell sighed sadly.  While the master chief had been enduring his fugitive status for over six months, Suq had been cut off from Starfleet and Federation space for three years, and his homecoming had been abruptly canceled when his ship was shot out from under him and he found himself aboard the Theurgy.  Billy Bob cleared his throat and placed a gentle hand on the young Efrosian’s shoulder.  “Um, Ah hate tuh interrupt yer ruminations there Lieutenant, but when Lorad asked yuh tuh show him to th’ cloakin’ device Ah reckon he meant ‘today’.”

Suq blinked and slowly turned and wandered over to the turbolift without saying a word.  From the way Suq was acting, only the good Lord knew where the turbolift car was going to take him.

“And don’t worry ‘bout thet female who helped yuh before Mister Lorad, we’ll have her meet yuh at th’ main deflector grid toot sweet,” O’Connell announced in order to cover for him.

It was only after Suq and Lorad had left that he turned away and went to tap his combage before snapping his fingers in frustration.  “Dagnabbit!  Ah plum fergot tuh ask who th’ female who helped before wuz!”

“I was under the impression that you plum forgot that the bridge was waiting for an update on the estimate of how long it will take to get the cloaking device installed,” Petty Officer First Class Eetak Zol commented from her wall mounted workstation.

“None uh yer lip Petty Officer,” Billy Bob snarled as he turned on his heel to address her.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, Ah’ll be in mah office,” he sniffed as he turned and strolled back into the large chamber and ambled around the warp core. 

When he got back to his office he hit his combage.  “O’Connell to bridge, Ah have an update on thet cloakin’ device.  Lieutenant Efreya-Xan reckons he can get it installed within th’ hour but so far only Gawd almighty knows if it kin handle hidin’ th’ whole ship.”


OOC:  Alas, I got my post in too late to avoid the time skip in CHAPTER 05:  THE BATTLE OF THE APERTURES.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #15 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow @Absinthe
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Lorad had followed after Suq silently, both of the men travelling in silence that neither seemed willing to break. At least that is what Lorad thought. He couldn’t speak for the short man but it seemed like he had a lot on his mind. Lorad certainly did. His sister might be being revived soon. He hadn’t had much time to consider how he was going to tell her that he was the reason she had been hurt. So much had been happening. And now he wouldn’t get the chance before he had to convince her to help get their cloaking device working for this ship. And he wasn’t even sure how he was going to do that.

As they entered what he assumed was the Main Deflector Control, Suq present him with what looked like the modified cloaking device he had managed to assemble; except now it looked like it had been modified even further. As Suq began to root about for something...Lorad hadn’t caught what he had said, the flying, snake alien appeared out of one of the ship’s access tubes and addressed the stubby engineer. Lorad himself understood very little that was said but one word did catch his ear and he focused on that.

“No Romulan code,” Lorad declared adamantly as he stepped forward. “This is Reman device. Nothing Romulan. What wrong with cloak?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #16 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ]

“Oh, uh..” Suq had been bending over, searching through a cabinet for something. He was holding a PADD in his hand when he met Lorad’s gaze, then immediately looked away. He was thankful for F’rell’s presence, so he wasn’t alone, but...he was still anxious.
“That’s, uh F’rell. She’s a warp core theorist, one of the best...and I think she meant Reman. Her translator doesn’t work quite right sometimes. Needs fine-tuning. F’rell, this is Lorad. He’s a Reman. He...well, speaks Reman. That’s...I mean, he’s going to help us go over the cloaking device, get rid of that translation layer real quick. But he doesn’t really code, so I guess that’s what I’ll be doing.” He offered the PADD to Lorad, and moved over towards the console the cloak was plugged into. It had just one little screen for him to navigate with.

“That PADD got wiped clean, we installed a pretty basic Reman operating system on it, and a bare bones program to look at our code. If you could just start going over it, uh, F’rell, could you come over here and help?” He glanced up, and--

Oh no. Oh no! One of F’rell’s tendrils, it was limp and deflated. If she came close, he would reach out and cradle it with his hands.
“You’re hurt...shouldn’t you get medical help?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #17 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Stegro88
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F'Rell made a mental note that the code was not Romulan, she had assumed it was, though it made little difference at that point. "<If we can narrow the translation layer it would allow for an easy of connectivity, but I doubt the ship's systems can directly interface without a major overhaul, or at least without the more creative functionality of the AI brain the ship's computer is meant to house,>" she said as she moved her long body toward Suq and to the array of control panels that allowed for manual configuration of the deflector array. Usually one would need to move their body to move from console to console, but with her long body, she was able to access multiple consoles at once. "<I can begin the process from the end of the deflector control, but we will need the translation layer in place before direct control of the cloak can be achieved and the device can be brought online. Only then can I begin to configure the cloak to run through our deflector array and cloak the ship.>"

She turned to look down at Suq and inclined her head slightly. "<I am not so wounded I require aid. I have only lost about .76 liters of nitrogen, my body cavity is intact. You forget I can sustain a complete loss of nitrogen and recover given time,>" she said in a kind tone. "<It only restricts my movement 0.15625 percent, I am still quite capable.>"

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #18 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow @Absinthe
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“Shit!” Lorad cursed within the confines of his mind. As he understood it, they wanted him to assist in getting the cloak, with its Reman coding, to interface better with the Theurgy’s systems, and its Federation Standard coding. “I cannot do that. I could stare at the coding for longer than we were aboard the Apache and not know what I was looking at. Samala would know but I don’t.”

“Suq, I cannot, my skillset, is not in understanding the coding of the cloaking device,” Lorad revealed in Reman, not wanting anything to be misunderstood due to language barriers. “I was barely able to change the device before to make it bigger. Selena had to alter the code to make it work. You need to get her, or my sister, to make the coding work. I’m sorry.”

“A fully trained Reman Shock Trooper and you are defeated by symbols on a screen,” Lorad mused silently. “Such is the way of things now. Personal skill and honour can only take you so far in the universe now. Then Romulans, technology and nature take their place and an individual is rendered unto dust. Unless, of course, that individual controls the technology, nature or the Romulans.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #19 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ]

He didn’t like this. Any of this. The ship needs patching, his lovely floaty friend needs patching, he needs patching. What’s more is that Lorad can’t help them. He felt his heart sink, but he couldn’t give up. Not now, anyway.

“...Maybe you should go get your sister?” He suggested, in a softer voice. Sister, that must be who Samala was. And Lorad missed her. He felt bad being so suspicious of him, especially given that...parasite or no, they were dropping out of warp right into their deaths.

“...and a weapon. Weapons. If anyone gives you shit about it, just come back here and I’ll give you something.” He turned back to the console and the cloak, running over the code in Federation standard, which made only a little sense to him. “Borg like to board."

The letters of the code swum in his face. He hated reading, even if it was code. Especially code. It was like a mystery to him that he had to...decode. But he wanted to involve himself with it so Lorad wouldn't see the guilt on his face, and the fear.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #20 –
[ Lt. Kala Marika | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Abinsthe, @alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Juzzie, @Nolan, @Stegro88, @Triage, @TWikins @FollowTomorrow
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Having been reassigned for the duration of the crisis to the Theurgy, and without much to do other then make herself useful, Kala had made her way down to engineering where she hoped that somebody could find her something to do. She was the acting Asst Chief Engineer of a starshiop, even if her ship was now in shambles after two major firefights, but she was a senior officer and could be useful on this ship. She'd aslo had some experience in her shipyard stint with work on the MVAM design, even if it wan't one of these vessels.

Stepping into main engineering, she was somewhat overwhelemed with the scale of the place, it dwarfed her own ship's main engineering, but she also expected that given the Theurgy was a larger vessel then her own. What did draw her attention in the sea of awe was an animated conversation coming from a group of engineers that included a rather ugly looking Romulan (she'd never seen a Reman before) and a strange creature that seemed to floating effortlessly in mid air. As she got closer, it seemed like she'd fit in with the oddballs, she overheard discussions about a cloaking device, made sense given a Romulan was aboard, and her curiosity was piqued.

Stepping up to the group, she waited for a pause in conversation. "Excuse me. Lt Kala Marika. I was asked to lend a hand as I'm unable to return to my ship, the Cayuga. I overheard something about a cloaking device? This class isn't designed to carry one is it?"

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #21 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Stegro88 @SummerDawn
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At the insight that he knew nothing of the problem, F'Rell's thoughts drifted from anything related to the Reman. If his sibling could help with the problem, then that was one thing, but she did not have the time or energy to care about the other strays that the ship picked up, not when she needed to keep her own, those close to her, safe. And he was of no use in that. And then another humanoid approached and spoke.

"<This ship exceeds much of what it was originally built to do,>" she intoned, her long whisker-like tendrils vibrating softly. "<It having a cloak is only a single step further into this process.>"

She kept her silvery eyes focused on the data feed as she manually put in the new code to process the warp field matrix so it could function while the deflector array was using cloak settings, allowing them to jump to warp while cloaked if the need arose. Until she had exact specifications and the translation layer was in place, it was all busy work though. She needed someone who knew this Reman code, or she knew she was likely going to have to completely reprogram the cloak and there was no knowing how long that would take.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #22 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
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Lorad felt as if he had been dismissed. He couldn’t help with the coding and programming that they needed to make the cloaking device interact with the ship’s systems and he didn’t have enough knowledge on the inner workings on of the device to be able to check that it was capable of generating a field big enough to conceal the entire ship.

The Human female’s arrival was a curious thing. He hadn’t thought that Oconel would send them help, even after he had asked for the engineer that had assisted him earlier that morning. But then this Kala Marika had arrived and stated something that even Lorad knew was obvious; that the Theurgy, being a Federation starship, was not designed to operate with a cloaking device. The Treaty of Algeron had forbidden the Federation from developing or utilising cloaking technology. 

Stupid of the Federation, in Lorad’s opinion, to handicap yourself in a fight. Oh, it had kept the peace but it had also allowed the Romulans complete freedom to do as they willed it, just so long as no one could see them do it. And no one did. 

Now, now it was time for the Theurgy to vanish as well. He didn’t know the details regarding their plight. But in his gut, somehow, he knew that their mission, their cause was just. Now he would just have to convince his sister of that fact.
 

Re: CH05: S [D06|1015] Square Peg, Round Hole

Reply #23 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Deflector Control | Deck 27 | USS Theurgy ] @Stegro88 @Absinthe @SummerDawn

He lifted his face from the code to Kala. He didn’t recognize her, but she was assigned here by O’Connell. That meant she was good to go. Right? Right…?

“Hey, welcome to the hotbox. I’m Suq. Lieutenant Junior-grade Suq Reylin Efreya Xan. Use any of those names and I’ll answer. You’ve got really wonderful eyes.” He offered the usual greeting, walking over to offer his hand to shake, and then he jumped right into the situation.

“We’ve almost got the code done for the cloak, but nobody here can read Reman coding. Lorad’s going to be bringing back someone who can. There’s not much time for bug checking after that, but we’ll have to do that. And finally, we’ll need people to defend this position once the borg board us. I’m hoping,” He continued, offering Lorad a side-glance, “...I hope that we’ll have Lorad’s support with us. Do you have a weapon with you?” His eyes returned back to Kala. He was trying to be smiley, friendly, but he didn’t look like it. He was nervous, and rightfully so. It’s the fucking borg, after all, and out of everyone here, F’rell was not an offensive player on the battlefield and he was panicky. Lorad seemed to be their best hope, and Kala too, maybe.

- FIN

OOC: Scene continued in Cloaks, Daggers & Deflectors.
 
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