Game session: ?/2007

Gamma Shift passes quietly, other then picking up some long-range power-emissions from neutral space that could be a Cardassian ship. The various senior officers awaken in the morning and find that Saval has scheduled a staff meeting at 0805, minutes after Alpha Shift is to begin. Fal wakes up with Cila still on top of him, and when he tries to tap her shoulder to wake her, the Bolian Marine "taps" his face – hard – before she opens an eye. Mel is up long before Daphne – as usual. The various officers grab showers and breakfast; Daphne, Mel, Fal, Cidhela, and She-Who-Swims end up sharing a table in the mess hall. Fal claims his shiner is the result of more training with the Marines, and She-Who-Swims uses a dermal regenerator to fix the bruising. The Arcadian has gagh for breakfast and invites Fal to join her for lunch when he mutters that Bajoran physiology makes gagh for breakfast unworkable.

The officers head up to the Bridge and find Alberic and Saval already present. As they get a run-down of Gamma Shift, the sensor readings are reported and Fal runs the readings through a home-made filter program and confirms it's a Cardassian ship. He requests that the Saber divert course to investigate, but Alberic decides against it.

The Gamma crew remains in place as Alpha shift heads into the conference room for their briefing. Saval chairs the meeting, and quickly outlines the fact that they'll be leaving Federation space in two hours, and that Mel will be conducting hand-to-hand, small weapons, and phaser drills for assessment purposes. She then turns the meeting over to Cidhela, who outlines her past experience with the Orion Syndicate and the plans she and Alberic discussed the night before. There is a lengthy discussion about ethics versus the mission as She-Who-Swims makes her displeasure at the idea of synthesizing red ice clear. They also debate who would be the Away Team and the like. Alberic and Saval debate about which one should go, and Saval grudgingly concedes the point. Alberic initially had Fal and Mel remain aboard, but Fal volunteers and explains his Bajoran heritage might make them seem more sympathetic to the Maquis, and Saval suggests Mel be included due to her skills with phasers.

Finally, they settle on an Away Team of Alberic or Saval, situation-dependant, Mel, Cidhela, Fal, Tuvonn, Biayoh, and Ganth, who will pose as ne'er-do-wells and thugs. Saval will alter Alberic's records to make him appear as though he was cashiered out of Starfleet and is now freelance. Alberic will man Sensors, Operations, and Tactical today while the others take care of their respective duties. Fal, Cidhela, and Mel will work on modifying a photon torpedo as a bribe while She-Who-Swims will reluctantly start synthesizing red ice in case the torpedo doesn't work. Saval will convert Cargo Bay 1 into the Bridge of the Infelix, a Terran DY-1300-class freighter. The trip through the Badlands will take two days, so they have three days total to get their deception ready.

With the meeting concluded, the senior officers head out to the Bridge. Fal and Cidhela immediately head for the torpedo bay while Saval heads for Cargo Bay 1 and Alberic relieves Atherton. Daphne settles into Conn and flies the Saber in a perfectly straight line towards the Badlands. Mel heads down to Security first to get the drills started before heading to the torpedo bay, but she does send Chilp to help.

Chilp and Fal immediately start tinkering, and Chilp suggests a dead-man's switch in the torpedo detonator itself, which wouldn't be picked up unless someone tore open the torpedo casing. They start planning and working on that. Alberic recalls Atherton before the second officer can leave, as he's just remembered the drills. Atherton resumes command while Alberic heads to Security.

Mel and Threy'shaan are planning the drills when Alberic walks in, and they start with him. Threy'shaan runs through basic hand-to-hand combat drills and then drills with a bo. Alberic does passably with hand-to-hand but has no idea how to use the bo, so Threy'shaan and Mel demonstrate. He mutters that such classes were never offered at the Academy, but the Security officers correct him. Then he runs through phaser drills with Mel, and does better.

Yellow Alert is sounded and Atherton recalls all senior officers to the Bridge; Daphne detected a Cardassian Galor-class warship coming from neutral space and heading their way – and they've identified the ship as the Prakesh, the one that skirmished with the Saber already! Saval briefs them quickly about Gul Drucel, the female commander of the Prakesh – she's arrogant and condescending, but also very shrewd and dangerous. Alberic shares Starfleet's records of Gul Drucel to the appropriate personnel; Daphne learns nothing of use while Mel learns Drucel likes to close to point-blank range before making the kill and Fal learns that Drucel is a careful opponent – she only attacks when she has the upper hand.

The Prakesh hails the Saber, looking for "Captain Saval." Alberic answers and speaks to Drucel in her native Cardassian tongue; she apologizes for her mistaken assumption that Saval would have been given the Saber after Captain Harrington's "misadventure." Alberic and Drucel verbally spar as the Cardassians offer to "help" the Saber in her hunt for the Maquis; Alberic manages to deflect Drucel's inquiries but inadvertently allows Drucel to suss him out directly. She provides him with a frequency to contact if he finds more Maquis then he can handle, and the communication ends. The Prakesh alters course so it's parallel to the Saber, but stays at the edge of their sensors.

Fal starts pouring over sensor data from previous ships' entering the Badlands while Alberic pulls Saval into a private meeting and leaves Mel briefly in command of the Saber; Atherton is ordered to report to Security for the drills and then get some rest. Alberic asks Saval how much he gave away to Drucel; she answers him frankly. They return to the Bridge, and Alberic gives Daphne free reign to "jiggle" to annoy the Cardassians. She does so with aplomb, and soon is mimicking the Prakesh's every minute course corrections. Fal finishes his sensor collation and returns to the torpedo bay with Mel. The Prakesh changes course to cross the Saber's projected flight-plan, and Daphne decides to play a little more and passes over the Prakesh's dorsal hull with a kilometer between them. The occasional warning from Engineering about red-lining SIF's and IDF's prompts Alberic to rein Daphne in a bit, and they chat for a bit, until Alberic sends her off to participate in the drills.

Mel reminds Cidhela and Fal about the drills, despite Cidhela's argument that discussions with the engineer should wait until she's not got her arm in a photon torpedo and is grasping the detonator. They all head to Security and Fal quickly demonstrates his total lack of combat skills, although he's passable with a phaser. Saval enters just as Fal finishes, and she and Threy'shaan spar – and proceed to spar for almost ten minutes before the Security man can get in a blow to the Vulcan's throat. Although she was defeated, Mel praises Saval, as she's gotten the highest score for hand-to-hand combat yet. Both Cidhela and Daphne are defeated quickly, after Threy'shaan takes a break to rest. For weapons combat, Saval flatly admits that she held a lirpa as a child, but otherwise has no real idea how to handle a weapon. Daphne similarly flunks, but Cidhela surprises all but dropping a secreted blade into her palms and holding her own against Threy'shaan and his bo.

Daphne and Cidhela do passably well with phasers, while Saval again gets one of the highest scores. The assessments complete, they drift back to their respective duties, and the rest of the day passes. Fal forgets his lunch date with She-Who-Swims, much to his chagrin when he later realizes. After Alpha Shift ends, Alberic checks with Sickbay, the Arcadian tells the captain that the red ice will be ready, over her official objections, if the torpedo project doesn't work. He notes her objections in his log, and pages Cidhela about the torpedo. Cidhela explains the dead-man's switch idea, and says they're working on ways to set an anti-tamper device to prevent the torpedo from being recovered and used. He asks for a report by 0500, and then heads to Cargo Bay 1. He walks into a stinking, squalid mess – which resembles a threadbare bridge of a freighter. Saval shows him her work and advises him not to shave for the next two days to add to his scruffy look. He grumbles, but agrees, and passes orders to everyone in the Away Team not to bathe or shave for the next two days so they resemble thugs. He heads out, and Saval assumes command for Beta Shift. The rest of the day passes quietly; the Cardassians remain a thousand kilometers behind them but offer no other provocation.

Recap originally published on Livejournal.