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"Status"
(Previous Post was William's "A Gift")
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Conference Room
Stardate: 63073.1915

The young woman stood at the end of the long table, her emerald eyes scanning the members of the Senior Officers who had reported as ordered for the last mission briefing before they would venture into the YUDARA SECTOR… and hopefully onto the PARADOX.

"Alright people… lets make this one quick… Maya, care to start us off?" The redheaded woman began as she lowered herself onto her chair and waited for the Shillian to begin her report.

"I am not sure what happened, but something changed in the temporal signature of the anomalies. The first set we encountered and scanned seemed to be totally random and unpredictable, but the more recent ones seemed to be far more specific as to their temporal reach… the best part of this is that we have been able to narrow down the source area of these anomalies," the Chief Science Officer explained as she summoned a holographic three-dimensional map of the asteroid field which comprised the YUDARA SECTOR. "The PARADOX is somewhere in this quadrant. Unfortunately this has not changed out timeframe… we need to find the ship and restore the fabric of space-time before we witness a complete breakdown of the temporal structure that holds our reality together."

"That area covers more than a quarter of the sector," the COO pointed out with distinct disappointment. "It's still a search area that could take weeks to fully survey and I suspect that we don't have that much time at our disposal."

"That is why we are sticking to the original plan," the redheaded CO added. "Commander Enaii will be taking the VIPERs out and search that area while the rest of the senior staff will be heading down to the Trade Center. Hopefully one of us can catch a break before it is too late," Rikar explained as she shifted her attention to the ILO. "Is your squadron ready?"

The Intel Operative simply nodded and glanced at the Oltharian Engineer who immediately understood that the next part of the briefing had become his.

"All three VIPERs and the SPHYNX have been retrofitted with the same temporal shielding that we will be using while in the Trade Center," Elan announced as if the task he had accomplished had been nothing more than routine. "We will not have to worry about any temporal distortions during the survey of that quadrant the asteroid field and our approach of the Trade Center."

"So the personal temporal fields are ready?" the CO inquired, not because she had not known the answer but more so that the rest of the senior staff had been brought up to speed on that particular aspect of their mission.

"Thanks to the assistance of Lieutenant Fairborn and Lt. Commander Maya, the devices are ready for immediate usage," the Assistance CSciO stated with a hint of pride. "Doctor Summers has confirmed that they are safe to use."

"The field generated by these devices does not appear to have any biological effects," the Cardassian-born Counsellor stated as she jumped into the conversation. "I would like to warn everyone though that we did not have the time to see if prolonged exposure to such a close proximity field will have any neurological effects."

"Relax Eve," Lea sighed. "An average individual would have to be exposed to a field of that intensity for more than 10 hours straight before there would be any possible risks," the CMO stated. "Personally I hope to have this mission done and over with in four."

"According to Lt. Commander Maya's predictions," Ensign Lopez offered as she did some quick calculations on her PADD. "We likely have no more than nine hours to solve this problem. If we do manage to be exposed to that field for longer than that, I suspect that neurological problems may be the least of our troubles."

Although Adriana's words had been offered with a certain light-heartedness, the Kzinti Sec/Tac Officer seemed rather troubled by the fact that they had no more than nine hours to somehow find a clue as to the PARADOX's whereabouts, gain access to the ship, deal with whatever enemy force had claimed the vessel *and* fix the D-Drive before reality as they knew it came to an end. Hex silently lowered her head into her hands and allowed only the twitching of her ear to hint as to her misgivings towards their mission objective and timeframe.

"Alright…" the CO continued. "Everyone is to finishing preparing, get equipped and report to the SPHYNX in 25 minutes. We leave for the Trade Center as soon as the VIPERs have cleared the ship and entered the Asteroid field."

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Setting: USS PARADOX, Cargo Bay 6
Stardate: 63073.1915

For the last fifteen minutes the Arcadian woman had explained her situation to the inquisitive young boy, Anya Green having done her best to ignore the man pointing the pulse riffle at her. She had not wish them any harm but the woman knew that her nervousness would have overwhelmed her had she acknowledged the protective father's presence.

"Let me get this straight," Ensign Russell inquired. "You are part of a mercenary group hired by a Selay who is trying to go back in time to save the members of his religious order?"

Anya nodded her head and even smiled as she noted the pulse riffle being lowered ever so slightly.

"Something doesn't add up," the man said with a deep sigh. "Where would an exiled Selay priest find the kind of credits he has already dished out to you and your friends."

"They are not my friends," the Arcadian quickly corrected. "I was attracted by the prospect of wealth, nothing more… and now I wonder if it is all truly worth it."

"I wish I could believe you," Russell softly growled as he raised the weapon in his hands back to bear onto the still sitting Arcadian woman.

"I trust her, dad," Shaun stated as only a child could which immediately melted his father's suspicions.

"We are going to need your help to get this ship back to the people to whom it belongs," the Ensign explained. "I may not be able to promise you wealth and riches, but I can guarantee a clear conscience if we succeed."

"I'll do what I can to help," Anya nodded with a smile to both father and son.

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Setting: USS ANUBIS: Array Section, Deck 3, VIPER Launch Bay
Stardate: 63073.1930

=/\= Bridge to Commander Enaii… you are cleared for take-off, =/\= Ensign Thomas announced over the open communications channel.

=/\= Good luck, =/\= Rikar's voice followed up with causing the ILO to actually grinned for a brief moment, a reaction that had been witnessed by no one else.

The ILO began her pre-launch verifications and gave the signal to her two wingmen to do the same.

=/\= VIPER 3... Ready, =/\= the Native American announced after a few seconds, the distinct gladness in his voice not at all impressing the ILO who had accepted to not only have him join her squadron but also to permit his recommendation to take over the role of the pilot for VIPER 2.

=/\= VIPER 2... Ready, =/\= Drell announced, the Klingon FCO having been assigned to pilot the last VIPER despite his having been relieved of flight duty for the time being due to his altercation in the ANUBIS' Sickbay with Karg.

Enaii sighed to herself in response to what she perceived as a weakness of her part in having allowed the Klingon to join her squadron, yet his skill as a pilot had been impossible to overlook. At worst case, should Drell prove to be any sort of liability, the ILO had not issues about shooting him down herself if needs be.
 
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Sabrina Jones (sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com)
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
 

"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the Darkness and the Light"
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5