USS NEBULA: Liberated from the Jail...

[Christine M. Fontaine]

MD 10.1100

Scene: USS NEBULA: Captain's Ready Room
---------------------------------------

Captain Caylynn Donne sank into her chair, relieved that her
officers were back aboard the NEBULA. Well, two of them were.
Commander Mountbatten was dead and Doctor Trinkanto was still
missing. At least her Exec and Counsellor were back aboard, although
she would soon have to deal with the repercussions of their
'rescue'.

Now that she had had a few minutes to calm down, Caylynn was
beginning to regret her brusque ordering of Commander Hartigan to
the Ready Room. At the very least she should have given Alex some
time to refresh herself; the past several days would have surely
taken
their toll. Ah well, the order had been given and her Exec was on
her way.

Caylynn also needed some answers, and she needed them yesterday.
Fariiaan governmental officials had already been bombarding the
NEBULA with questions. The mission had become nothing so much as a
diplomatic mess, and the Captain needed to know just what exactly
had happened so that she could answer some of the Fariiaa questions.
Hopefully, Commander Hartigan would be able to provide her with some
answers.

The ringing of her door chime cut short Caylynn's train of thought.

"Come," she stated clearly.

Commander Hartigan walked in, an uncertain expression on her face.
If she had been a different person (namely, her former shipmate,
Melissa Fielding), she would have regarded her superior officer with
an expression of crossed-eyed Puzzlement. As it was, her curly hair
(only now beginning to grow longer again) stood out in six different
directions, which no amount of hurried application of Candy's hair
spray could coax down; and she looked at her Captain quizzically.

Maybe, she mused, the Captain was going to chew her out for singing
a silly children's tune on her way to execution...

"Please, have a seat Commander," Caylynn gestured towards one of the
more comfortable seats, the easy chair or the couch, while rising
from her desk. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Iced raspberry juice, please," ventured Vivvie. She was having
personnel problems. Her own.

Nodding, Caylynn crossed to the replicator and ordered their drinks.
After they materialized, she crossed to the sitting area of the
Ready Room and handed Alex her beverage. Then Cay took a seat
across
from her Exec.

"Forgive my rapid summons," Caylynn began, "but we have a planet
full of governmental officials wanting to know just what is going
on."
She smiled, trying to put Alex at ease.

Vivvie relaxed, relieved that the lashing over "Kitty-Kitty Come
Home, Kitty Come Home" was not in the making just yet. But she
wasn't
sure that she very much enjoyed the thought of a planet full of
angry
Fariiaans, either.

"I was exposed to only a limited population of the planet, of
course," began Vivvie uncertainly. Cay nodded her understanding.
"And, on top of that, being incarcerated is not the best way to find
out what the top officials are doing, politically or otherwise."

Again, the calm nod.

"As far as the Fariiaans themselves are concerned," said Vivvie
slowly, "if our -- the four of us captives -- touching the Holy
Temple near Madrepolis can be taken as an example of what
constitutes
unacceptable behavior, one can only surmise that the indignation
experienced by the people when the Probe was launched would be quite
excessive.

"As for the science team, I haven't heard much from them. Of
course, we didn't hear much from anyone except Ensign Yeva; and she
was in no condition to speak with us about strategies and progress
when we met."

She described briefly the occurrences of that morning, then plunged
ahead determinedly.

"I don't know how I can be of much help, to be honest," she said
rather resignedly. "All I do know is that they are a very
close-minded people, these Fariiaans. Oh, I don't think they
realize that. I think that they regard themselves as sort of...
well,
traditional-values people. Those of good moral standing in a
degenerate age. But that doesn't help us much, does it?"

"I'm afraid not," Caylynn sighed, then took a sip of her tea. "I
guess what I'd like to know - right now - is just how you managed to
get yourselves thrown in jail. I've only heard the Fariiaa's side
of
the story, after all. I'd also appreciate any suggestions you might
have on how to deal with the diplomatic mess that we now find
ourselves in the midst of."

Vivvie had to tell herself not to start twiddling her curls and
looking Innocent. She reminded herself that, whatever the strange
and
peculiar customs and laws of Fariiaa might be, they were not under
her
control. Not any more than the earthquakes.

"Dr. Crane and I had gone out for a breather in the midst of some
long
negotiations," Vivvie said now. "We noticed that the ground was
beginning to shake dangerously, and we went to a nearby cave for
some
shelter. If nothing else, it contained large rocks on which we
could
lean for support.

"The quakes weren't all that bad, really. The problem was that,
while
we were sitting there, minding our own business, we realized that we
weren't alone..."

Vivvie described the rest of the happenings, telling the Captain of
their meeting with the Ferengi and his doubtful "cargo." She then
told
of the Fariiaan priests' arrival, the scuffles that took place as a
result of some discussion, and the
falling-flat-on-the-face-on-the-floor routine that had gotten them
sentenced to prison.

"These people," said Vivvie knowingly (since she operated from that
mode herself at times, especially when she was at home), "seem to
react to everything at a purely 'gut' level. The rules and
regulations such as they have are probably conditioned into their
children early so that their responses to them become unconscious,
almost automatic. They don't believe in extenuating circumstances.
They don't believe in exceptions. And they certainly," she added
rather ruefully, "don't believe in making allowances for
foreigners."

"Your suggestion, then?" asked Cay.

"I'm not quite sure," admitted Vivvie. She didn't dare tell her
captain that her mental capacities had probably all atrophied over
the

past four days, since most of her brain cells had been engaged in
the
contemplation of how to beat that Eikoow at the dice rolling game
every single time. "I would suggest something that is highly
symbolic, something that feeds into their conditioned responses.
Something that seems, at least, to mean a great deal. Something
showy
and flashy."

Unbidden, the thought of Dr. Crane sprang into her mind.

"I wonder," she said softly now, "if there is anything Dr. C. can do
for us..."

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Fontaine Masako Goto
CAPT Caylynn Donne, MD CMDR Alex Hartigan
Commanding Officer Executive Officer
USS NEBULA, NCC-2001 USS NEBULA, NCC-2001
Silver Fleet Silver Fleet
cfon...@nac.net mfie...@earthlink.net

<< NRPG >>

Joint post from Masako and myself. :) Obviously, most of the latter
part of this post is Masako's. :)

NRPGs from before still apply. :)

RT is still moving along... Slowly. Lots and lots of mail, as Sean,
Margaret and Mike can attest to.

Take care all!

Chrys - working on a couple of things :)

---------------------------------------------------------
Christine Fontaine cfon...@nac.net
http://www.geocities.com/~cccats/RPG/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RADM FireSong to-Vensre, MD ALBXO Armstrong Lunar Base
CAPT Caylynn Mary Donne, MD CO USS NEBULA
CAPT StarFire to-Ennien, MD MSpec USS ENDEAVOUR
LCDR Catherine Ledoux, DVM CMO USS CHESAPEAKE
CMDR DarkWind to-Vensre Instr ALB Holodeck 20
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If I waited for perfection... I would never write a word
- Margaret Atwood -