Star Trek - The Shadowdancer [IC | Semi-Open]

[Tiltjuice]

The boss was the boss, even if if he'd temporarily been hired by another boss. In the year or so that she'd been part of the crew, they'd gotten to know each other about as well as an island of a man and a tie-dyed shirt of a woman could. Which was to say, very well, within a limited extent. Layers upon layers...

Arelle, like Nathan, barely acknowledged Maras. It was the safest, in her mind. There were ways around what Maras had threatened, but the speed of the Orion's approach had taken her by surprise. Her family largely ignored her, with one exception who would shrug his shoulders and move on if he heard she'd crossed too many lines even for him. Anyway, musings were irrelevant when work called, and she approached the Trill called Azara.

"So, fellow misfit," she observed idly, "welcome to the 'Dancer, and may you keep her from deciding to space us all." (No guarantees!) "We passed through an ion storm about a month ago. Got lucky, sorta. We didn't get blown to more pieces than a frozen Tholian, but half the plasma conversion sensors blew out. I rewrote the sensor drivers from scratch, but I'm a coder, not an engineer, so I have no idea how we'll things actually mesh. Also, the replicators keep spitting out kelp and meshta gagh every now and then, but I'm not sure if that's an actual fault or Dancer trying to be funny. After that, I imagine the guys will have something for us to do."

The doors hissed open as she exited, waiting in the doorway for the more slightly built woman (or so it seemed to Arelle's handler from Azara's picture). "You have a favorite pastime when not engineering?"

[Maltropia]

"Pressing random buttons," Azara replied after a beat. "Always fun to see what makes an engine tick - or stop working. It's down to the warp core with us for now, I guess, see if we can't get main power back to its factory settings."

As they walked together towards engineering, she admired the cleanliness of the 'Dancer aloud. "This ship is absolutely spotless," she sighed appreciatively, "when you've spent the last seven months on a ship with a Gorn captain. Worst experience of my life, and I had to spend all the pay on food because Captain Zarlek is obsessed with feeding us all gagh." She shuddered reflexively. "Then a month ago we had a sudden hull breach; lost half our cargo and had to limp all the way to Rahm Izad with the ship slowly disintegrating. You probably saw its metal carcass sitting near the station; they quarantined it and had us beam off one by one. Long story short, Zarlek couldn't afford to pay me any time this year so I terminated my contract," her phaser had been involved there, but there was no need to get into the details, "and prayed another employer would turn up. And he did. So, here I am, and there's my recent history."

[Gibberan]

"Right, Cap, on it. This way, Mr. Socte...Secto...Sectator." =He started walking away from the group, not waiting to see if the alien was following him (it more an act of absent-mindedness than arrogance).

As they walked through the bowels of the ship, Will started wondering what kind of species this alien was anyway. He certainly wasn't anything listed within Federation databases (as he had nearly memorized the entire thing), and it wasn't a species that had been talked about in Klingon, Romulan, or even Dominion space (as strange as they were), so what was he? The hallways of the ship were almost eerily quiet, so Will decided to lighten the mood by asking a question. He turned around to face his partner and new shipmate.

"All right, uh, sorry, Mr. Sectator, if I hadn't properly introduced myself before...I'm William, William Parmenter, but you can call me Will...the Cap says we're all family on this ship, so might as well lose the formality...if you don't mind, of course." He waited for a response, but as nothing was said, he turned back around and continued walking, stopping at a doorway, which slid open to reveal the bridge. Taking a seat at his pilot station, he beckoned Sectator to watch his fingers as they moved across the panel, rapidly pressing buttons and flipping switches. "You can take a seat right over there and see what you can do...I'll try and fix up the shields, secondary systems, and deflector control, and will also be in contact with Arelle and Azara if needed, so you can just worry about getting our phasers to work. If you need anything, just tell me..." There was silence. Still looming over the panel, he said "So, er...where're you from? Not from around here, are you?"

[The rhomaio]

"Right, Cap, on it. This way, Mr. Socte...Secto...Sectator." =He started walking away from the group, not waiting to see if the alien was following him (it more an act of absent-mindedness than arrogance).

As they walked through the bowels of the ship, Will started wondering what kind of species this alien was anyway. He certainly wasn't anything listed within Federation databases (as he had nearly memorized the entire thing), and it wasn't a species that had been talked about in Klingon, Romulan, or even Dominion space (as strange as they were), so what was he? The hallways of the ship were almost eerily quiet, so Will decided to lighten the mood by asking a question. He turned around to face his partner and new shipmate.

"All right, uh, sorry, Mr. Sectator, if I hadn't properly introduced myself before...I'm William, William Parmenter, but you can call me Will...the Cap says we're all family on this ship, so might as well lose the formality...if you don't mind, of course." He waited for a response, but as nothing was said, he turned back around and continued walking, stopping at a doorway, which slid open to reveal the bridge. Taking a seat at his pilot station, he beckoned Sectator to watch his fingers as they moved across the panel, rapidly pressing buttons and flipping switches. "You can take a seat right over there and see what you can do...I'll try and fix up the shields, secondary systems, and deflector control, and will also be in contact with Arelle and Azara if needed, so you can just worry about getting our phasers to work. If you need anything, just tell me..." There was silence. Still looming over the panel, he said "So, er...where're you from? Not from around here, are you?"

Sectator had been wondering what kind of effect was on the fidgety human, the way he was acting was unfamiliar to him. He thought this until he and the human called Will left the room where the green humanoid was. Now he recognized it as a hormonal response.

Sectator was intimidated by the consoles. Why couldn't they have good controls that you could get a hold of? Not these flat panels which left little margin for error. He tapped a screen lightly but retracted his hand at the beeping emanated from it.

"Space, few of my people are born elsewhere." he looked at Will for a moment, "Human, Parmenter... am I correct in assuming you wish to mate with the green female?"

[Ameriganastan]

"So this is what passes for a sickbay on this ship."

Sirco skulked around his impromptu sickbay, scratching his chin.

"It's missing...something. It needs that small personal touch...ah, I got it!"

Grabbing the phaser from his belt, he popped a few shots off at the walls and ceiling.

"Scorch marks! Reminds of that cave back in the Lonar province. Best cave I ever resided in."

He wasn't done yet. Taking his cane, he smashed a few unimportant looking consoles around the room.

"Perfection. Now, where is my special case? I made extra sure they beamed it aboard before I left the station."

He didn't have too much stuff brought onto the ship. Traveling light was an old habit. Which made finding the small box easy. Popping it open, he produced...

"Ah, 2317 vintage springwine. Finest vintage around...actually, 2334 is. But this is a pretty close second in my opinion. Anyway, bottoms up."

He popped the top off and took a nice sized swig from the bottle.

"I like this job already."

[Mincaldenteans]

Somewhere in its boredom, 'Dancer danced around in virtual space kicking rocks and tallying inventory whilst taking note of every nook and cranny that made her... her. Really, it was all rudimentary and she could have done it within seconds, but like everything that didn't match her computing prowess, she decided to take her time and check off everything on the list. Oh and the new and not so new folk. She really didn't mind them at all, well except Maras; if 'Dancer had a photon torpedo at her disposable she'd beam the Orion into it and launch it straight into a star. The universe would be a lot better place without her. The rest though, she propped a proverbial hand under her chin and studied them.

Nathan, well. Nathan. She knew him since her inception by Bella. Her creator, if she fancied such a term. Nathan wasn't so much complex as much as he was a stubborn jack ass. Now in a world of crap on his own the man was determined to keep his chin up in defiance more than anything else. Well, she supposed that he still cared about her, she was still flying, sort of. There was bunch of things that could be taken care of on her person but she understood enough that these were tougher times. She couldn't recall (okay, she knew to the exact nanosecond but that's not the point) the last time she had a full coolant flush and basic maintenance on her other systems. She'd have to remind to make good on his promise of a new antimatter storage unit some months back.

Then there was Arelle. Less than a year and she had tinkered around with her over all being. Like Bella's work and poking wasn't enough, she had to be under the scrutiny of another computer whiz. It unnerved her but Arelle proved to be a lot friendlier about working with 'Dancer than just going "dammit, do as I say!" like Bella did many times.

Will. What could she say about the man. Not much truth be told. She once did a precursory search on Will's background and came up blank. Of course, she couldn't outright tap into the Federation's network to find out, not unless she was prepared to trip every security alarm and half a fleet down on her for attempting it. Still, he was nice, a bit of a mystery, but a nice guy. A bit dull in her opinion, she hadn't hear him crack a joke once. But then working for Nathan...

The newbies. Oh the newbies. There was the funky looking Hirogen, 'Dancer's scans still hadn't quite figured out exactly what he was but he seemed real enough. He had a pulse, blood, walked, talked, so he wasn't Borg. Good to know. And he wasn't those scaly looking things from the other side of the wormhole. He looked a bit... not quite belonging here, in the universal grand scheme of things. She laughed (silently, so not to embarrass Will) when Sectator asked him about mating. 'Dancer moved on to the next crew member.

Oh yes, Azara!

'Dancer almost sniffed at the sight of the engineer with Arelle in tow. Finally, someone to take care of the systems the way it was meant to be instead of hollering at 'Dancer like it was her fault to begin with. No one asked her if she wanted an ion storm up her nacelles, did they? No! Did they ask her if it was okay to go running play hide and seek with a Nausicaan cruiser through a nebula that almost blew out every power relay in her body? No! Oh, Azara was going to have a time fixing her up and 'Dancer couldn't wait to fill her in on their illustrious history (though, to be fair, only if asked).

There was a whine... her internal systems were tripping at weapons fire. 'Dancer did a quick scan externally, but then switched when a second whine told her in was internal. A third... a fucking forth!

A few sparks, a console or two.

Who the... oh hell no!

"Who the fuck do you think you are blowing my shit up!?" 'Dancer screamed through the intercom. "Oh hell no, I know you did not just break a bottle open for what you just did!"

Raging, she erected a quarantine forcefield around the gnarly looking Bajoran. The field was barely big enough for the man to move and 'Dancer made sure it was going to burn him at every touch. She beamed the bottle away and into the dining room. "Stupid old geezer, those are MY walls you fucktard! This isn't one of your little holes you came out from!"

[Ameriganastan]

"Well, this takes me back. Haven't been stuck in a quarantine field since that incident with the Andorians back on Rahm Izad."

He poked at the field with his cane out of boredom. He wasn't really bothered until he took a drink from his wine...which he found gone.

"What in the..."

Then some voice like a bunch of nails on a chalkboard started squawking at him.

"By the Prophets, turn the volume down! If I wanted to hear a voice that bad violate my eardrums, I'd visit that Vic Fountain program back on Deep Space 9. And that wine better still be in one piece, Ms. Circuit Pants! I had to call in a few favors to snag a bottle of 2317! Now let me out of this thing!"

[Mincaldenteans]

"Well, this takes me back. Haven't been stuck in a quarantine field since that incident with the Andorians back on Rahm Izad."

He poked at the field with his cane out of boredom. He wasn't really bothered until he took a drink from his wine...which he found gone.

"What in the..."

Then some voice like a bunch of nails on a chalkboard started squawking at him.

"By the Prophets, turn the volume down! If I wanted to hear a voice that bad violate my eardrums, I'd visit that Vic Fountain program back on Deep Space 9. And that wine better still be in one piece, Ms. Circuit Pants! I had to call in a few favors to snag a bottle of 2317! Now let me out of this thing!"

"You shot up my sickbay you barbarian!" 'Dancer hollered back, "Oh, I am so telling the 'Capt about this!" She clicked off and began badgering Nathan while the man was in mid conversation with Maras. She kept an open ear though, she was a computer after all. Clicking back after giving Nathan an ear full, she was sure Sirco could picture the evil smile with her response, Oh good, something to... soothe your wary bones. I'm sure you'll just love a verse or two from him," 'Dancer said sweetly and began playing it a few decibels higher than when she began screaming at him earlier.

[Ameriganastan]

"You shot up my sickbay you barbarian!" 'Dancer hollered back, "Oh, I am so telling the 'Capt about this!" She clicked off and began badgering Nathan while the man was in mid conversation with Maras. She kept an open ear though, she was a computer after all. Clicking back after giving Nathan an ear full, she was sure Sirco could picture the evil smile with her response, Oh good, something to... soothe your wary bones. I'm sure you'll just love a verse or two from him," 'Dancer said sweetly and began playing it a few decibels higher than when she began screaming at him earlier.

"Hey, you should be thanking me you snippy assortment of circuit boards! This whole room was one big power drain before I came down here!"

Technology wasn't exactly his forte, but he'd picked up a minor bit of technical knowledge over the years.

"See that console over there? It was defective anyway! A routine medical scanner shouldn't be draining 2% power from the life support system! Or how about the log console that was causing minor fluctuations in your shields!? Huh!? Now if you'll let me out of this thing, I'll plug in my non-defective equipment!"

[Mincaldenteans]

"You shot up my sickbay you barbarian!" 'Dancer hollered back, "Oh, I am so telling the 'Capt about this!" She clicked off and began badgering Nathan while the man was in mid conversation with Maras. She kept an open ear though, she was a computer after all. Clicking back after giving Nathan an ear full, she was sure Sirco could picture the evil smile with her response, Oh good, something to... soothe your wary bones. I'm sure you'll just love a verse or two from him," 'Dancer said sweetly and began playing it a few decibels higher than when she began screaming at him earlier.

"Hey, you should be thanking me you snippy assortment of circuit boards! This whole room was one big power drain before I came down here!"

Technology wasn't exactly his forte, but he'd picked up a minor bit of technical knowledge over the years.

"See that console over there? It was defective anyway! A routine medical scanner shouldn't be draining 2% power from the life support system! Or how about the log console that was causing minor fluctuations in your shields!? Huh!? Now if you'll let me out of this thing, I'll plug in my non-defective equipment!"

"Or, I keep you in there until Nathan or Arelle comes around and find you've peed all over yourself because I damn well will not let you out. What's stopping you from going all Resistance on the rest of the stuff in sickbay, huh?" 'Dancer reason with huff.

She didn't even give him time to respond and continued on right after, "Nope, I think I like you just where you are cause I sure as hell ain't having you shooting- speaking of!"

A tingling sensation and Sirco's weapon disappeared. Most of the remaining consoles went black - its power cut off - in a hopeful attempt to make him think twice what consoles he was going to break after releasing him. She also cut power to the rest of the equipment (if you could call it that) and the power relays were set to less than half what was usually diverted, "Well... I suppose that will do it," she said with a sigh, "And Nathan's not gonna take too kindly about his only quack doctor being held indefinitely. But so help me, doc, you break one more thing, one more thing that's of me and I'll divide your body through the bulkheads."

The threat wouldn't hold true; it wasn't the first time a console was hammered to smithereens and it certainly wouldn't be the last. "No weapons firing on 'Dancer unless its intruders. Regulation, take it up with Nathan." 'Dancer added at the last point before cutting the music and lowering the quarantine field. She would have beamed the bottle back but it was now sitting in engineering now in front of the girls.

[Ameriganastan]

"Yeah, whatever. It's things like this that made those Federation types ban Artificial Intelligence programs. If you had a face to go with that voice, I'd smack it!"

He flopped down on the sickbay bed, producing a flask from his pocket.

"Never hurts to have a backup handy...and it's empty. Perfect."

He tossed it over his shoulder, scratching one of his scars.

"Whatever. I promised Alenis I'd cut back anyway. Damn kid. Thinks she can lecture me..."

[Gibberan]

Will's eyes widened, and the rapid typing on the glowing panel abruptly stopped. He turned his head around slowly, half in incredulity that the...Spaceman had the nerve to ask such a question, and half in embarrassment, as he realized it was all too true, and he stared at the alien, flabbergasted.

"Do I want to mate?! Well...I guess...well, no...well, I mean...she's attractive and all...but I'm not really sure...you know...I mean, I guess...but I don't, uh...I never really, uh..."

He stopped talking, as he realized Sectator clearly hadn't comprehended the gravity of the question, and how personal it was. At least that was how it was in Human culture, he couldn't be sure if it was taboo or not in...Spaceman culture? Where was he from? Space wasn't a very specific answer. He made a mental note of it, however, to question the alien about it later.

"Anyway...you get back to work on that...I'll get in touch with Arelle to see what systems she and Azara would be working on.[/b]" He said, as he called them by his communicator, waiting for them to respond. "[i]And Computer..." He looked up, addressing the spirit of the Shadowdancer. "Materialize me a glass of brandy, will you?" Then he added, under his breath. "I'm sure going to need it."

[Tiltjuice]

"At least you didn't get eaten," Arelle said, with something suspiciously like a twinkle in her eyes. "The wreck is yours, huh?" The beginning threads of a plot came to life.

The doors to main engineering whisked open, to reveal the swirling blue of the warp core. "All,the comforts of home, with no gagh in sight. Nathan's cooking is a bit off, though. You'll see, I'm sure. Try to come halfway to drunk. Everything goes down better with alcohol. Kind of like salt and pepper, in Earth's history."

"...and there we are," the crooked cyberneticist observed, as a bottle of spring wine materialized on the console in front of them. "I believe that's our dear doctor's. Care to share one among the three of us ladies? Computer, three shotglasses...hold that thought. Yes, Will?"

[Mincaldenteans]

"That stupid ridge-nosed gnarled face no good piece of why-the-fuck-you-hired him Bajoran just shot up my sickbay!" Nathan winced, speaking to Maras was bad enough, it was like every word had some slippery slide to get back to how this was her gig and how she was going to be part of his crew. The last thing he wanted was 'Dancer hollering through the intercom. Screeching was more like.

"Care to tone it down, girl, I can hear just fine!" He snapped back, looking awfully odd for talking back to the ship. "Just... just handle it, obviously he's not getting out is he?"

"You bet your ass he - he just called me a circuit board, oh to hell with-" 'Dancer clicked off and Nathan turned his back on the Orion. Dinner needed to get cooked.

----

"Materialize me a glass of brandy, will you? I'm sure going to need it."

'Dancer snorted. "I'm not your maid, Will. There's a replicator in the dining room, though the Capt's talking to Maras... oh hey, I couldn't hlep but overhear: Is it true? You got a thing for that no good Orion? Cause seriously? That's gross... cause you know, she's green."

----

"Don't tell Nate or Will I did this though, Arelle... oh yeah, Will's calling. Don't say nothin'!"

'Dancer quietly materialized three shotglasses in front of the duo, the three small glasses settled safely on the auxiliary console. Though the computer wondered why a third, 'Dancer herself couldn't drink the think, Arelle knew that... maybe she was going to have a drink on 'Dancer's behalf. Who knows, girl power and all that, why not.

[Maltropia]

"Half drunk's no problem. Keeping myself there's where it gets hard," she grinned at Arelle. She was surprised at the arrival of the springwine, as she was still surprised at the computer's personality - not so much that it had one, she'd programmed a couple herself - but that this was the captain's choice of persona for his ship. Well, hers not to wonder why; as Will called them from up on the bridge she took her elbow to a greasy surface in front of her which, if no one had tampered with engineering too much, was meant to be the ship's power consumption display. She spat on the screen, wiping vigourously, and was rewarded by the sight of light under the grime. She peered in closer to try to read it. She blinked.

"Computer," she asked quietly, why is this display in -" she squinted, "- Xindi?"

She could make out rising and falling bars which she knew were what she wanted, but she couldn't identify the words underneath and her two words of Xindi were not going to get her anywhere here. She wiped it again. Oh. "Not Xindi," she whispered, "Trill. Thanks." The triangles had eluded her. She pressed a few buttons on the console. Wait, that wasn't right.

"Uh, Will," she called out, interrupting him and Arelle, "are you running something big up there? Like a full systems diagnostic or a 360° phaser sweep?"

[Gibberan]

Will glared at the walls of the ship (as if he computer could see him). "Fine, fine, no need to be rude; I'll pick it up later." He then realized that the call to Arelle had gone through, and he pressing a button on the panel, his two shipmates appeared on the viewscreen. There were a few shot glasses visible and a springwine. Will scoffed, mainly in frustration with the Dancer, but the shoved it to the back of his mind.

Arelle was the first to speak. In reply, Will said, "Just checking up on what systems you'd be doing, so we don't run into each other." Then, the new Trill engineer...what was her name? Azara? She asked something about what they were doing, with just a hint of worry in her voice. "We haven't really done anything down here yet, we decided to check what systems you're working on before we start. Other than that, though, we're still only connecting...why? Is something wrong?"

[Maltropia]

"We're not doing anything," she told him, still peering intently at her display. "I wanted to get a look at power use before I started and there's no way this is normal. You're losing twenty two percent of bridge power somewhere between here and there." She flicked through several more charts. "And life support's only at eight seven. Same with deflector control."

Suddenly she blanched. "Oh no," she said to herself. "Not again. I need to tell to the captain. Uh, how do I tell him?" she asked.

[Tiltjuice]

And that was one of the reasons Arelle preferred being aboard 'Dancer to being in respectable society. If people wanted to know something here, they'd ask. If not, they didn't. Simple. It came in handy sometimes. Like the time Will had been pacing up and down the hallway thinking about something or other for hours. Unfortunately, toward the end he'd wandered down to the area outside the holodeck she was using at the time. Enter Bemused Pilot with Rapidly-Filling PADD, stage left; exit 1900s Heroine with Still-Smoking M1911 stage right.

Without missing a beat, she headed over to the auxiliary console, turning her back to the others, and poured the three glasses. A few taps on the console had one of her "special" macros activating, and the transporter converted the glass and spring wine to data...just as it usually did. Data, of course, that still flowed as electrical signals, even now.

Just not to a transporter buffer, but to the main EPS relay.

One more tap and a channel opened to the dining room. "Hey, Nate. You around?"

[Mincaldenteans]

And that was one of the reasons Arelle preferred being aboard 'Dancer to being in respectable society. If people wanted to know something here, they'd ask. If not, they didn't. Simple. It came in handy sometimes. Like the time Will had been pacing up and down the hallway thinking about something or other for hours. Unfortunately, toward the end he'd wandered down to the area outside the holodeck she was using at the time. Enter Bemused Pilot with Rapidly-Filling PADD, stage left; exit 1900s Heroine with Still-Smoking M1911 stage right.

Without missing a beat, she headed over to the auxiliary console, turning her back to the others, and poured the three glasses. A few taps on the console had one of her "special" macros activating, and the transporter converted the glass and spring wine to data...just as it usually did. Data, of course, that still flowed as electrical signals, even now.

Just not to a transporter buffer, but to the main EPS relay.

One more tap and a channel opened to the dining room. "Hey, Nate. You around?"

"Ermahgawd, Arelle, I totally did not know Springwine could taste like that," 'Dancer said smacking its virtual lips. "Oh this is nom noms... I want more but later though, when we're docked I need a case. I should check back in on the doc maybe he can buy..." She clicked off, but not before transferring the channel Arelle had opened up to Nathan. Well, she didn't need to make sure it was open but it felt like every EPS relay was fuzzy at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm here. Ow! God dammit!" Nathan yelped with loud clanking of pots on the automatic stove. "Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm here.. what's going on?"

[Ameriganastan]

"Doctor's Log: Stardate...today. Preliminary medical analysis of crew. Seeing as I'm the only medical professional on board, and thanks to a two week counseling course I took on Rahm Izad..."

He'd flunked out of that course after assaulting the head counselor with a broken bottle of bloodwine. 5 days in a holding cell.

"I've taken it upon myself to look after both the mental and physical health of these morons. What idiot can't be a counselor anyway? You've just gotta be able to state the obvious all the time. Subject 1: Captain Whatever-His-Name. Mike or something. I wouldn't turn my back on him. The Ferengi put it nicely in those rules they have: The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife."

He rested his hand on his 'Spoonhead Slasher'

"Not as sharp as mine I bet. Subject two: The lizard guy. Dime-a-dozen kind of alien. Big, stoic, could probably snap your neck with his toes. Need to analyze his blood sample. No clue if his species has any allergies or adverse reactions to my medicine. In the event of a mutiny, I want him on my side. If he's not on my side, I'd have to kill him first."

He spun his knife around in boredom.

"Subject three: The Orion whore...she's an Orion whore. Subject four: Human pilot guy. Utterly harmless. Probably easily infatuated. Need to give him the pheromone neutralizers injections first from now on. He'd be easy pickings for that green man eater."

He nearly stabbed his knife into the console before he remembered how touchy the computer was about that.

"Subject five: Trill woman. Unjoined. Which means she's either a moron or a bitch...hope it's just bitch. We'd be in trouble if we had a moron fixing stuff. And subject six...I'll tackle her later. My initial assessment: This mission is gonna be a disaster."

[Maltropia]

Azara took her cue quickly. "Captain, it's Azara. There's a slight problem." No, that's misrepresenting the facts. Rephrase. "Big problem. Actually, if we don't deal with this immediately we're all going to die." She took a deep breath to help herself calm down. She hadn't panicked when she found the problem on the Karaboudjan so she had no idea why the 'Dancer was giving her these nerves. She breathed out.

"Could you maybe get down here, captain?" Azara said absently, running a few more scans to make sure she wasn't overreacting. Just then she felt the ship rock violently and had her fears confirmed.

[The rhomaio]

Will's eyes widened, and the rapid typing on the glowing panel abruptly stopped. He turned his head around slowly, half in incredulity that the...Spaceman had the nerve to ask such a question, and half in embarrassment, as he realized it was all too true, and he stared at the alien, flabbergasted.

"Do I want to mate?! Well...I guess...well, no...well, I mean...she's attractive and all...but I'm not really sure...you know...I mean, I guess...but I don't, uh...I never really, uh..."

He stopped talking, as he realized Sectator clearly hadn't comprehended the gravity of the question, and how personal it was. At least that was how it was in Human culture, he couldn't be sure if it was taboo or not in...Spaceman culture? Where was he from? Space wasn't a very specific answer. He made a mental note of it, however, to question the alien about it later.

"Anyway...you get back to work on that...I'll get in touch with Arelle to see what systems she and Azara would be working on.[/b]" He said, as he called them by his communicator, waiting for them to respond. "[i]And Computer..." He looked up, addressing the spirit of the Shadowdancer. "Materialize me a glass of brandy, will you?" Then he added, under his breath. "I'm sure going to need it."

Humans and their mannerisms, if Will truly wished to have the green female as a mate then he should present to her a mighty trophy. He considered suggesting this to him, but decided against it, for many humans he had met had an aversion to the bloody rituals of the Hirogen.

Though, should he warn him about the female? She seemed, wrong. She had the instincts of prey, but was a hunter. True she did not seek out the same game as a Hirogen, but she was on a hunt, but for what? This female would be a challenging prey, Sectator doubted the Alpha would miss her, in fact it would seem that he would welcome that.

But that would... interfere with his plans.

Sectator made a mental note to not anger the computer, it was one thing to have your Betas against you, but it was another entirely to have your own ship eager for your demise. Why did these people have to over complicate things? Was it not enough to have a computer? No, they had to give it sentience, they had to make it annoying.
This quadrant seemed to be abundant with madness.

[Mincaldenteans]

"Well, its better than whatever it is you're doing on that stove, 'Capt. Go on ahead and I'll replicate us actual food your crew can eat," 'Dancer snickered as Nate grumbled against the pots and the pans. This was never his forte no matter how much he actually liked it.

"No rations with spices, you little turd, I still have nightmares about that," he griped, tossing the apron and headed for engineering.

"Pff, you wish you could cook as good as me. Anyway, the gals are in engineering in case you weren't aware."

The captain didn't bother to respond, entering and exiting the lift in mere moments. One of the best things about this vessel was just how small it was and how quickly one could get around. His last ship was a Son'a cruiser and that thing had less amenities than this one. Of course, that one had more weapons (even if there wasn't any power spare for them), it was intimidating, and one could easily get lost with its half working lights and less than reliable internal sensors.

Yep, 'Dancer was a keeper, plain and simple. It wasn't long at all before he entered the engine room finding it exactly as he had left it last. Hopefully Azara wasn't spitting curses at him. There was a console in the back that he took apart and never got around to putting back together again. 'Dancer threw a fit (what else was new with a personality of a teenager), but it was long forgotten. Who needs an auxiliary propulsion station read out anyway?

He spared the greeting, giving merely nods to Azara and Arelle and went straight for the issue with narrowing eyes on the new engineer, "What'cha do to my ship?"

[Maltropia]

Azara was taken aback by the accusation of - well, sabotage, since that's what it was. "Excuse me?" she asked, incredulous. "What did I do? I've not even been in here five minutes and already I'm responsible for your nacelles buckling?" Just to get her point across, she glared right back at Nathan. "Maybe you want to ask your pilot why he disobeyed the distance limits on Karaboudjan's quarantine. It's not my fault your power systems are ridden with nitrium parasites." Azara's subconscious reminded her of the urgency of their situation and she coughed to try and break the staring contest.

"Though maybe Kara's beacon was broken by then. I dunno," she said, shrugging, and motioned for Nathan to come over. "Like, look at this display. Power levels are dropping quickly and the EPS manifolds are being eaten alive. I'm sure a diffraction polarimetery scan would show them up but we don't have time for that. We studied an instance where the same thing happened to the last Enterprise, but their ship was bigger so it wasn't having half the problems you are." Oh yes, she was in her element now. "We need to find a source of nitrium or the warp core reaction will stall and they'll start on batteries. There's the Pelloris Field the Enterprise used but that's lightyears and lightyears away." Azara waved her arms helplessly. "I'm trying to come up with something, captain, but I don't have time."

[Ameriganastan]

"Nitrium, huh? No idea what that is or what it looks like, but I'm sure I can get you some."

Sirco limped into the engine room, medkit in hand.

"When there's a rocking in the engine room, someone usually winds up with a face-full of exploding console...that doesn't appear to be the case here. Anyway, you're in luck, Spots. In addition to being the guy who can sew your leg back on when it gets blown off, I happen to be an old hand at stealing things. If one of you morons has a decent criminal connection, I can have you some nitrium within the week."