Sanchez: Makin' Trouble

Scene: Bridge

Another shift on the bridge... great. If the people who were supposed to be sitting there during Alpha shift were actually on the ship, more might get done in Engineering, not to mention this crystalline storm thing might get figured out.

Thus thought Ario as he made his way to Deck One. Transferring from Security to Engineering was hard enough, now he was a part-time command officer. *Oh well, it could be worse,* he reminded himself as the turbolift opened to the bridge.

"Coffee, black," he ordered the replicator. As the mug materialized, he looked out into Poseidon's command center. The enthusiasm of each young officer was almost inspiring. Ario took his coffee and sipped himself back to reality.

The morning reports were all in; Ario scanned them for items needing immediate attention. Detailed problems would be dealt with by OB or Pritch when they returned. There were none of either. "What's the status of the away team?" he asked the Comm officer on duty.

Despite his dislike for Ethan Zaret, having anyone else at the comm station made Ario much less confident about how accurate the answer to his question would be.

"Still no contact, sir," came the response. Ario resisted the urge to go over and check for himself.

"Mr. Takaishi," Ario questioned the officer as he entered the bridge, "let's do another scan and see if we can penetrate that damn storm, I'm tired of waiting for this problem to solve itself." His extraordinary lack of patience was getting the better of him.

"Aye, sir," the Ensign replied, and began the scan.

"Lieutenant?" It was Ensign Leva Karr, the new science officer.

"Yes, Ensign?" Ario forced the politest response he could muster. Although he had no problems with the officer herself, and was more than accustomed to being addressed by title and speaking to subordinates, he loathed being up here. He made a visible effort to become more relaxed.

"I'm detecting a significant reduction in the magnitude of the storm. It appears that it is dissipating," Leva said.

*Now we're cooking with gas,* Ario thought. "How long before our scanners can penetrate it and locate the away team?"

"Approximately twenty minutes."

Ario looked on the viewscreen at the swirling grayish mass between himself and the away team. He checked the scan logs and calculated the problem in his head. Something wasn't right.

"Takeru, coordinate your scans with Ensign Leva. I want to know the minute you locate any of our people down there," Ario ordered.

"Aye, sir," they answered in unison.

Ario watched the storm for a long minute, wracking his brain. That this storm was unnatural had already been established by its suddenness, but there had to be more to it. Ario watched as lightning stretched for long miles in every direction, beginning white and changing visible color as it moved outward. Occasionally a branch of lightning would touch off a new center, and the process would repeat itself: hot white centers that changed to red, blue, indigo. Then Ario remembered the stuff of the clouds was of crystalline structure.

"Harris!" he almost shouted.

"Lieutenant?" the ops officer on duty was visibly shaken by Ario's tone.

"Bring the spectroscopic imagers online. Leva, next time lightning strikes, get an analysis of the medium those charges are moving through."

"I'm not sure we can do it from this distance, sir." She tapped on her display. Lightning struck. "No dice, sir. We're too far away."

"Helm, move us within 20,000 kilometers of the upper atmosphere. If I'm right about this storm, we might have ourselves a huge can of whupass at our disposal."

Sanchez: Damage, Inc.

Scene: Jeffries tube 1B2BE, USS Poseidon

Slowly Ario calculated the necessary adjustments to the plasma flow inducer. The PADD held loosely in his hand confirmed what his gut told him: a flux variance of 0.0613 microns. He made the necessary adjustment with a remote microspanner, and moved to the next junction.

As he read the flow rate and calculated the flux variance, the back of his mind wandered. He'd heard of men having 'down' cylcles before, every month, every lunar period, whatever... but of course it was all crap. After what he'd been through in his days, there was no way any stupid hormonal levels or moods could possibly bring him down. His resolve was rock solid...
wasn't it?

Again he moved on to the next flow junction and made calculations. His deputy had argued a technician should be in here doing these adjustments, but Ario had insisted. Most of his team knew by now when he'd made a decision, there was no arguing, and doing so would only make things worse. Of course what they didn't know was something that even Ario was trying to fight within himself.

Another mindless calculation, another simple adjustment. Moving on was a tedious chore in the confined spaces of the Jeffries tubes. But somehow it helped him concentrate, or rather... helped him avoid what was really bothering him. He knew not how to interpret the tension that flowed from his center when he thought of... remembered her. He knew not how deeply it ran. But it scared him, and he used the faceless fear to motivate himself toward other ends.

Right now, it was motivating him to climb down a ladder to another junction, and do another dozen mindless chores. His knees were getting sore. Hopefully, this would be enough to help him forget, until next time.

Sanchez: Destiny Revealed

Scene: Mars orbit

Being jarred from sleep by a platoon of exiting Marines is never a pleasant thing. This is especially true for someone who, during a long, cramped trip, made several jokes with the word "jarhead" and poked fun at their haircuts. Once they were all off the shuttle and safely out of earshot, Ario hollered several insults their way and brushed the remains of his comic book off his tunic. He shouldered his duffel and looked around.

So this was Utopia Planetia!

How many times he'd lain in his grandfather's coffee fields and gazed up at it on clear nights he could not remember. He once did a paper on the station and shipyards at the Academy, but the 100 credits he paid for the essay didn't help him any now. He glanced at the people and the docked shuttles, noting how everyone seemed to be moving with a purpose. He thought of his own two feet, stationary on the deck plate, and wondered where they'd take him. Finally his eye caught sight of the windows looking out at the staging carriage.

She was beautiful.

She lay in the carriage like a dark-skinned Cuban beauty upon his bed. The nacelles lay stretched out long and shapely behind her, like a woman's calves and feet, and the pylons like her thighs. Soft curves on the ship's dorsal and ventral sections were like a smooth, strong belly and muscular back. The saucer section rounded like a deep, full bosom and soft strong shoulders. Each intricacy and detail of her hull fascinated Ario like so many pores of the skin. But this beauty was no feeble creature. Even from such a distance, Ario could feel the menacing purr from her core. Her low profile was a testament to her hidden strength, like a jaguar ready to leap upon its prey. Each torpedo tube and phaser array spoke of a Purpose like Ario had never before experienced.

Without thinking, Ario began walking towards her.

He looked up at the ship, admiring her like a lover. The deflector shield looked like an electric blue eye, and the plasma vents along the outside of each nacelle glowed a fiery red. The hull was lit from below, enabling all to see the proud registry: USS Poseidon. Unconsciously, Ario dropped his duffle to the floor, and knew now his purpose was found. This was an untouched beauty, this marvelous ship, and as CEO, she was his to become intimately familiar with. Slowly, his fingertips touched the glass before him, and he smiled.