ORIGINS: USS Hood March 2010

ORIGINS: USS Hood Story Posts
Last Updated: 2262.059

Total Posts: 420+

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[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Deus ex Machina

by Scott Lusby

SD: 2261.059

MD: 1.1907

Setting: Main Engineering, O-Deck, TSS HOOD

Gar Th'elenth holstered his phaser without so much as an acknowledgement for the life he had just char-broiled.

"Anyone else want to tell me what we can't do?" he growled as he punched buttons on his status display.

No one said a word, and instead simply just scurried off to their duty stations.

"And take this carcass with you!" Gar shouted, nudging the blackened lump that had been one of his warp systems ratings.

A couple of his staff quickly ran over and carted the body away, not daring to make eye contact as they did, lest the temperamental Andorian shot someone else.

He adjusted his eyepatch, and began to study the readings in front of him.

Unfortunately, they were the same as they had been a minute ago...and unless the properties of physics were significantly different in this universe than his own, they **wouldn't** get any better on their own...

Exactly as he and Zade had planned.

<<snip- from Steve's "Another You Another Me" with a change in perspective>>

Suddenly, the comm panel chirped. [[[Gar,]]] came the Captain's icy voice. [[[Status report and none of your bullshit this time.]]]

Gar's lips pursed tightly as his antennae swept dangerously back. "The dilithium chamber took a hit when we activated that Tholian device. It sent a power spike through the antimatter chamber and fused four of our crystals. All that's left of them is a charred lump."

The captain's response was predictable- immediate, angry and stupid. [[[I don't think I need to tell you your job mister. Utilize the crystals we keep for backup.]]]

Gar fought back the urge to curse the idiot in command. "I would sir, but you traded them to the Cardassian slavers in exchange for information on that damn ship's whereabouts." The Andorian knew he was pushing the Captain's buttons by mentioning "that damn ship," but Gar didn't care; it was his glory-seeking that got them into this mess in the first place.

<<end snip>>

He awaited a response, but when nothing came, he closed the channel.

Gar touched a few buttons on his console again, sending out work orders to the damage control teams dispersed throughout the ship; there would be meters of fried conduit to replace, overloaded junctions to fix...

However, he knew it was, essentially, all for naught, a thought which made Gar very happy. It was only a matter of time before Steele did something monumentally dumb in an effort to either grab more power or take out one of his rivals...

...And they'd be ready for him. Everything was in place; next time they went to red alert, Steele, Merrick, DeSimms- all of them- would get a nice surprise...

Andoria, Trill, Tellar, Cait- all would shake off the noose of Terran sovereignty that had slowly strangled them for decades.

Turning his head, making sure no one was watching, he pressed another button, one which would let Cedria Quell and Hemux that all was ready on his end without anyone being the wiser.

<<TIMELINE>>

MD 1.1907: The anti-Gar muses over their current situation on the TSS-HOOD.

<<NRPG>>

I know Dave said he was going to re-post his "triad" posts because of their mentioning of Veld, but I thought the premise was solid and wanted to tie into it. This also tied into what Dave has Hemux doing. So...I guess we're all conspirators together.

Viva la Resistance!

I did have to stop here, as I'm still piecing things together in OUR universe.

Respectfully Submitted,

-- Scott Lusby

/\ LCDR Gar Th'elenth

Chief Engineer

TSS HOOD NCC-1703

STAR FLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part one

by David Kiel

SD 2261.060

Scene: TSS HOOD

Cedria stepped over the scorched debris. The charred remains of plasma conduit crunched to a powder beneath her boots as she walked along exterior corridor four on deck eleven. The damage to the Hood from transit had been profound but just about perfect. They were perhaps still a match for Constellation, should she try to follow, but most definitely not a match for the denizens of the new universe.

She passed one of DeSimms lackeys stationed near the turbolift. Hood always had goons patrolling the corridors, making everyone's job a little more difficult, especially hers. The redshirted human leered at her, his eyes tracing the pattern of spots between the skirt and the top of her duty gold. On Trill just that look would have cost him an eye, but here she had to watch her step. A woman's place shipboard was not usually outside the sleeping cabin. She was fortunate to get a pilots cert and even more fortunate to land on Hood.

Well the second part had taken no small amount of string pulling back on Terra Three. But still, a lot of people had stepped out on the plank to get her here and she wasn't about to risk that by eviscerating some mindless thug. She gave him a cold look, something less than a challenge but enough to let him know that she was far more trouble than she was worth. Cedria knew she was here because she was smart, not because of her skill with a blade.

Cedria kicked a burnt section of insulated tubing out of the way as she stepped into the turbolift. There were a few others on board just as smart. Jeri Merrick was one, one she had to watch out for. The Merrick name alone may have saved the woman when the Tholian device had devastated Hood's systems in transit. Fortunately the damage had obliterated all trace of the truth.

Jeri's work wiring the device into Hood's warp core had been perfect. It took a mathematical genius to manage the cross patching of such wildly different power systems. It had taken a second genius to tamper ever so slightly with those settings and shift the balance just far enough out of phase to cause the ships current predicament.

"Ensign Quell!" The order was barked in Zade's clear and sharply venomous voice. Cedria turned to face him. Hood's NAV was a tall, angular Trill with dark black hair and cold blue eyes. The Zade symbiont was legend on Trill, three times monarch and still alive to tell the tale. It amused her that he was on the ship as well, it made her mission that much more delicious.

"Yes, lieutenant Zade." Cedria Quell stood at attention, of all the people she had to be careful of this one was the easiest to fool. Zade was historically arrogant, he knew Cedria had failed out of the symbiosis commission and that made her nothing in his eyes. Nothing but a functionary, nothing of consequence, nothing to worry about, exactly the notion she prefer he kept.

"Make sure our fighter-transports are spaceworthy. If we need them I don't want any suprises."

"Already done sir, five has some denting on the port nacelle, I have engineering teams on it. The others are fine and ready to go."

"Good." Arctura Zade scowled and turned, his mind clearly on more important things than the lowly Ensign Cedria Quell. Cedria kicked a section of burnt conduit insulation from the lift entrance and stepped inside the turbolift. With a little luck her plan would work, the quiet ambition of it would bring her glory within the movement. Constitution class ships were the power of the Sovereignty, and for them to lose the Hood would weaken the Sovreignty. If the strike team in the other universe had succeeded then Constellation was burning in space as she walked. Two of the twelve missing might just give the resistance a chance, it would certainly give it momentum. Cedria smiled as the lift rose, whatever it took she would ensure that the Hood died here in this backwater universe.

Long live the resistance.

NRPG: Slight changes made to leave Connie in the alternate universe.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Ens Cedria Quell

Pilot, USS HOOD NCC-1703

Sovereignty Fleet

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part two

by David Kiel

SD 2261.060

Scene: TSS HOOD

Arctura Zade scowled as he left the simpering fool Quell in his wake. She was smart enough to fill the functionary role she served on the ship, and useless enough to not be a threat to his place on Hood.

He had just finished his bridge shift, it had been as pleasant as always. Zade walked towards the observation deck to try and clear his head, a short interval of medative rest always helped after any exposure to the Hood's unstable captain. The psychopathic Steele had ranted and screamed and raged his way through four hours of threats and insinuations. How the man had risen to his station was beyond Zade. But it would end in this place.

Arctura had not joined the Sovereign fleet to be a glorified chartkeeper. Zade had been Monarch of Trill when his homeworld had been conquered by the Sovereignty. And twice before he had managed to grasp the throne in hands still stained with the previous Monarchs blood. Now he had his sights set a little higher. Trill's oldest living symbiont had forgotten more about assassination than any living human could ever hope to accomplish in a single pathetic lifespan. Hood was a rung, the fleet was a means to power and once he had that he was in range of the Terran throne itself.

He had struck a deal with Veld, a man who looked stable only next to the Hoods sadistic taskmaster. Hood would suffer a tragic failure at the least opportune moment. Unfortunately Constellation had not been in any shape to fight following its re-transit. Nevertheless, small victories could still be had. There was no reason Steele had to survive this dangerous gamble, with some luck he would die in this strange universe and Arctura Zade would take one more rung.

Merrick was an obstacle of course. The mans senseless devotion to Steele was mystifying. He couldn't be removed until the last moment though, it was only Merricks steady hand that kept Hood from the abyss. It was critical that Merrick live so long as Steele did.

If only Merricks fool wife hadn't botched the transition, a fully powered Hood might have taken care of both birds with one photonic blast. There would have been no need for DeSimms subterfuge and the Connie would be breached and bleeding atmosphere back in the Sovereign universe.

One photonic blast.

Arctura Zade smiled and looked out at the starfield of this strange and timid universe. A new order would most certainly arise in the Sovereignty fleet in the next few days. Forty lifetimes of experience had taught him to recognize an opportunity when he saw one. Glorious and rarefied blood would soon flow.

Long live the Sovereignty

NRPG: Slight changes made to leave Connie in the alternate universe.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Arctura Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

Sovereignty Fleet

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part three

by David Kiel

SD 2261.060

Scene: TSS HOOD

Cedria Zade tapped a series of keycommands into her console and logged off station just as Hood slid into orbit around Celes II. She already missed having Steering to talk to, she was piloting a shuttle full of Nausicans to the local Federation outpost. The duty shift replacement was an officer Perkins who seemed to be tireless in his appreciation of his career arc thus far and describing his triumphant rise through the ranks, well at least the one so far, to anyone who would listen. And to anyone who sat next to him on the bridge for four hours and had no choice but to listen.

Krista Anderson took Cedrias chair, she was a bright young woman from some arctic part of Earth that Cedria had never heard of. A good officer and not at all crazy which put her in the top fifty percent of the officers she had met thus far.

She tapped a few keys on her hand comp and perused the daily reports. She walked to the side of the bridge as she perused, looking up at the emerald world on the viewscreen. Celes II was an odd combination. A tropical world lush with life and also a mineral rich world. Generally Starfleet found all the ore it needed in asteroids and dead worlds. Celes was an odd exception, the world had been dead eyed by Eta Carinae's magnetic pole in one of its episodes. A wave of gamma particles had scorched the world some 80 years before. Life had recovered quickly enough and the ferocity of the radiation bath had left the planet exceptionally rich with rare isotopes.

Mining here was essential and lucrative. The many unusual isotopes present in the rock layers on Celes II could be duplicated in labs when needed but often only with staggering effort and associated costs in energy and raw materials. Here you just had to dig them out and ship them off. There was a formidable population of miners and engineers on the world, and for each living person there were perhaps a hundred automated machines of various shapes and sizes actually doing the heavy lifting.

Cedria looked around the bridge realizing she was the highest grade present and technically in charge. She smirked at the thought of having a go in the Captians chair before deciding shed rather not. The Trill woman opened the ships com and announced their arrival and summoned senior officers to the bridge.

"All hands, we are in orbit of Celes II. Command staff report to stations, orbital protocols are in effect."

She walked over to the duty officer at the science console. "Full report on planetary operations, let me know if anything unusual shows on the scans. The Nausicans did something to earn their gemstones and we have a rogue ship still unaccounted for. Look for,… fires." She said tapping her chin with one long finger.

NRPG: So here we are, Celes II. I decided to leave any fires that might be happening up to others.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Everyone Has a Plan

by Brian V. Mansur

SD 2261.063

Scene: TSS HOOD

Commander Sean Merrick of the Terran Sovereignty Ship HOOD bellowed angrily at Gar's engineering team. The estimated repair time for the Tholian device had been 3 hours. That deadline had ended 20 minutes ago. Looking over the crew's work, it was plain that their haste had made them sloppy. On any other mission, it would not have mattered to him. He would have excoriated the guilty for being less than perfectly efficient and then he would have seen to it they got done the job right. Punishments would have been dealt out none too kindly afterward, but under Merrick, none too harshly either.

But there was much more at stake this time. For both he and his wife Jeri. Her attachment to the project made her a target of Steele's legendary wrath. It had been all Merrick could do to redirect the Captain's suspicions of sabotage or ineptitude to Gar's people. The thought of it all made Merrick huff in frustration. Merrick always marveled at what a complicated and convoluted man his Captain was. Warm and hearty when things went as expected. Vindictive and cruel when they did not. But unlike other superior officers that Merrick had known, Steele at least knew what realistic expectations were and what weren't. It was a quality that had endeared Merrick to Steele. It was possible to please him and that was good. And Steele did not forget his friends nor favors done him.

Were it not for the horrific temper the Captain commanded, Merrick would have truly enjoyed serving him. In the end, however, Steele's harshness was just one more reason that Sean and Jeri had conceived, among other things, their desperate plan of escape.

Jeri had sabotaged the Tholian device deliberately.

They had no intention of leaving this mirror universe. The plan, they both knew, had been a desperate gamble all around. They hadn't known if this mirror universe would be a better place than their own. But given the corrupt, psychotic hell that was their world there, it was a risk they had agreed to take together.

When the ship had jumped, Merrick's heart had lept at the blaring alarms and desperate reports coming up from engineering. But when he went down to survey it himself, he saw the misty eyes of his darling wife. The truth was there. The plan had failed. The device could be repaired and would be. They needed only a little time and those dilithium replacements. But Merrick had not become the first officer of a ship like the HOOD by giving up at every little setback. They would simply have to find a way to get off the HOOD *before* she left for the Sovereignty while making sure that the device really was destroyed after the second jump. Even if it took a miracle, he intended to find a way to make it happen. He would not see his unborn child raised in the Sovereignty. Not that place of end war, treachery, cruelty and murder.

NRPG: Everyone seems to have a conspiracy going on this ship, so I figured I'd throw in one more. Background: Corbett knows about Merrick's plan, was a little pissed about the unilateral nature of it, but understands Merrick and Jeri's reasons. He will support their escape attempt, but not go with them. Assuming any of them survive the other threads tightening around them ;-)

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian V. Mansur

LCDR Sean Merrick

FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGIN] USS HOOD: Join the Resistance!

by David Kiel

Let me tell you a story about Ensign Jimmy. Jimmy was a good boy growing up, helped his father with the farm work, helped his mother with her hovercycle repair business and pitched in with the chores all while retaining the 98th percentile rate that got him into the Sovereign academy. He married a nice Australian girl named Bekka while at the academy and graduated with a degree. They had a sun, Jimmy Jr who came down with an unfortunate case of space polio for which the treatments are very expensive.

Jimmy was assigned to the USS Bonhamme Richard as a conduit specialist in the engineering department. On his third duty shift he accidentally repolarized an aft biometric relay juncture in a redundant parallel capacity matrix of network junction 13. And who hasn't made this particular mistake, really? He realized his mistake right away and corrected it immediately. But shift duty manager Lt. Crux Deathsparkle found out and stabbed Jimmy in the spleen with a thin blade poisoned by an exotic toxin that caused Jimmys spleen to explode and for him to die an agonizing death on the floor of Jeffries tube four. He then had Jimmy's head hung from a pike in the mess hall and had poor Bekka gang-assasinated by Nausicans. Little Jimmy Jr now has to crawl on his hands to the tricobalt mining machine he operates in an Orion slave camp.

Life doesnt have to be like this. The resistance promises that no longer will you be assinated for one simple mistake. It will take three such errors before vaporization is even on the table. Isn't that a much nicer world?? So if you are tired of spending four years in the academy learning the finer points of power matrices maitenence only to have your foot phasered off for crossing a red junction cable with a reddish orange alert cable, why not join the resistance. Cedria Quall is currently skulking about the lower decks on USS Hood trying to gain control of the main shield array and would be happy to sign you up, administer the blood oath and talk to you about the Resistance dental plan.

So throw off the yoke of your oppressors and join the team working to bring about the slightly more tolerant new galactic order. We will make better worlds, all of them, better worlds.

signed;

The Resistance

[ORIGIN] USS HOOD: The Sovereignty's Response

by Steve Apple

SD: 2261.064

MD: N/A

Scene: Sovereignty PBS Station

"It's a beautiful day in the Sovereignty, a beautiful day today. Oh hello there I didn't see you come in. Well now that you're here why don't you sit down by the fire and get warm. It's too cold a day to be outside, so get comfortable while Mr. Roberts tells you a story." The middle aged man in a dark blue sweater smiled as he finished tying his sneakers.

"Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a sector you just might have heard about, there lived a boy named Jimmy. Jimmy was a good boy growing up, but a bit lazy. Now Jimmy lived on a Co-op that provided food for many citizens in the Sovereignty. Can you say Sovereignty? Sure you can.

[Sovranâ€¦ Sovranty,] the unseen audience of youngsters shouted.

"Nice try." Mr. Roberts smiled and continued with his story.

"Sometimes Jimmy was selfish and didn't want to help his father with the farm work, so he had to be motivated with a big stick and even then he was slow."

[booooo, boooo]

"Oh now don't be too harsh with Jimmy as he didn't really understand what a responsibility his family had to the Sovereignty. If anyone was to blame it was his mother. She was a bad influence from the start, always making poor Jimmy work like a slave for her hovercycle repair business, just so she could turn a profit."

[booooo, booooo, booooo, boooo] The cries of the unseen audience were coming to a fevered pitch

"Now now boy and girls." Mr. Roberts said while pushing his hands down to quiet them. "Let's be good citizens of the Sovereignty and see how this story plays out shall we."

"Life went on like that for some time until Jimmy was about to turn 18 and become a man. Remember Jimmy as I said was a bit lazy, which as you might well have imagined turned him into a rather poor student. He scored in the bottom 98th percentile of his class, which meant that only 2% of students were even lazier than he was. What was to happen to poor Jimmy now? With scores so low and a lazy disposition to match this meant Jimmy was going to be a burden to society."

[Oh no,] gasped a tiny young girl's voice from the unseen audience.

"Now don't you worry Molly," Mr. Roberts chuckled. "Because the Sovereignty has a place for everyone. As it turned out Jimmy could perform certain complex tasks very well when properly motivated. The Sovereignty felt he could serve society best in Star Fleet, a place where Jimmy could be nurtured and corrected as needed."

[Yea, yea, yea,] the unseen audience cheered.

"Settle down now boys and girls and let me finish my story." Mr. Roberts said taking a sip from his tea.

"Jimmy did very well in Star Fleet and graduated with a degree, finally his life was starting to turn a corner. He married a nice girl named Bekka from a place called Australia. Can you say Australia? Come on don't be shy, we'll say it together."

[Au-strale-ya] They said together.

"Wow you're all smart little Sovereigntists aren't you." Mr. Roberts praised. "Ok now let's get back to Jimmy. It didn't take long for Jimmy and Bekka to do what all good citizens of the Sovereignty do and have a child, a male child they called Jimmy Jr. Unfortunately Jimmy Sr.'s laziness never quite went away and he forgot to get his little boy protected against space polio. Poor little Jimmy Jr. got very sick and the treatment to make him well was very expensive and he became a burden to the state"Â

[Did they kill him?] A little boy's voice asked.

"Now Tommy don't you start with those rumors again." Mr. Roberts admonished. "The Sovereignty took care of everything, which you'll find out about in a moment when I finish the story."

"Jimmy was assigned to the USS Bonhamme Richard as a conduit specialist in the engineering department, a good assignment for someone as slow and lazy as Jimmy. Well it seems that on his third duty shift Jimmy repolarized an aft biometric relay juncture in a redundant parallel capacity matrix of network junction 13." (Lifted completely from Dave's Post "Join the Resistance)

[Gasp] Came from a horrified audience

"Yes children it was bad and could have cost many brave men and women of Star Fleet their lives. If that wasn't bad enough he tried to cover up his mistake and blame it on his superior, whom we'll call Lt. Crux Deathsparkle."

[The Lt. killed Jimmy right?] An overzealous boy asked.

"Now who's telling the story here Franky?" Mr. Roberts said with a gentle laugh. "Of course he did. Now remember Jimmy had been given every chance to prove he was a useful and productive member of the Sovereignty and he failed and what happens when we fail."

[The Sovereignty suffers.] The unseen audience of children said as one voice.

"That's right the Sovereignty suffers. Any way our hero Lt. Crux Deathsparkle had Jimmy's head hung from a pike in the mess hall as a lesson to the other crew members who might follow Jimmy's example and become lazy and slow."

[What happened to Bekka and little Jimmy Jr.?] A girl shouted out.

"That's a good question Susie." Mr. Roberts smiled. "Bekka was handed over to our good friends and allies the Nausicaans to help her adjust to life without Jimmy. Alas Jimmy had been too strong of a negative influence on her and she died screaming curses at everyone, very sad. Now for the good news, the Sovereignty didn't want poor little Jimmy Jr. to end up slow and lazy like his father. No they had special plans for him, so they took him to a reeducation camp on Orion where he is learning all kinds of new skills to better serve the Sovereignty."

[Wow] The audience shouted.

"Well it's late and you kids better get on home and do your chores. Remember you need to do your part for the Sovereignty too. When you give to the Sovereignty I promise it will give back. Why if you work hard you can be as famous as Captain Black Jack Steele from the TSS-Hood. Remember our forces have more soldiers, more ships, and a unity unmatched in all of human history, the Sovereignty marches on!

[The preceding public broadcast was underwritten in part by a grant from the Sovereignty Department of Information, The Sovereignty Star Fleet and The American branch of the "Sons of Tara" party]

<<NRPG>> Dave I couldn't help but give the Sovereignty's response. If it wasn't for your great post I wouldn't have been able to write this one. I hope you and everyone else enjoyed it in the spirit it was intended.

Respectfully Submitted

Steve Apple

Stile Corbett, MD

CMO, USS HOOD-1703

ASR Origins

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: First Command

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.067

MD: 1.2300

Scene: Bridge, Nausican Freighter RAPIER

The Nausican freighter lumbered along at a painfully slow warp 3.56 but Lieutenant Kim Steering found that not only did she not care she was having the time of her life. Which considering the ship was cramped, dark, smelled like a sewer and was on a direct course with no plans for adjustments, was quite a feat. She never had been in command of anything larger then a 5 member landing party and that was on a training mission on an ‘unknown world’ that had been part of Academy training for six decades.

But now she found herself Mistress under God of the late Nauscian ship RAPIER. She chuckled as she thought of Mark Compass and his days of command aboard HOOD. She could see how this could go to your head if you let it, and his command was a bit more prestigious then her current one. Of course she had a larger crew to contend with then he had. Security Chief DeSimms had seen fit to assigned almost 30 security ratings, 4 noncomms and a lieutenant (jg) to ride herd on the 23 Nauscian prisoners that were secured in the ship’s hold. Commander Gar had assigned an engineer team led by one of his best chiefs and the rest of the detail was topped out with the helmsman, navigator and a joint comm and sensor operator she had tapped to be her bridge crew. It was quite the merry little ship.

“Anything to report?” She asked the rating manning the sensor display.

“All clear.” He reported with just a little exasperation in his voice. It was the 4th time she had asked in the past hour.

She fought down the urge to apologize to him. She knew she was pestering her people needlessly but just as the giddiness from the power of command floated around in the back of her head so too did the responsibility. It was one thing to understand command responsibility when you are sitting in a classroom or even when you are watching your superiors wield it. It was quite another thing when you actually had to carry that weight. She was responsible for a megatonne freighter plowing through the frontier. But more importantly almost 100 lives depended on her to get them to their destination. A frown crossed her lips as she realized that was more melodrama then actually truth when she considered the ‘mission’ she commanded but still it had the foundation of truth. If anything happened, a malfunction, a chance encounter in space, they would look to her to lead them through. She knew she would be ready for the challenge but she knew even more that she hoped it would not come.

“I’m going to head down and check on the prisoners.”

The navigator and helmsman exchanged a look of relief as she stepped off the bridge.

<<<NRPG>>> Not looking to have any disasters befall the ship as it sails away from the system, just wanted to get something out…its been way too long.

Respectfully,

Andy

LT Kim Steering

Commanding Officer, RAPIER

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Ready to Beam Down

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.69

MD: 2.0800

Scene: Transporter Room one, TSS HOOD

Jack Steele of the Sovereignty ship HOOD looked down at his uniform with bemusement. “I feel like I should be climbing into bed not going on a mission.”

His three companions chuckled as they stepped up onto the transporter while he leaned over the transporter console and opened a channel to the facility below. “HOOD to Director Ambrams.”

[Abrams here.]

“As promised director we are ready to beam down.”

[Fine captain, that’s fine. I’m looking forward to meeting you.]

“And I you. See you shortly, HOOD out.” Jack looked up and smiled at his officers. “One big happy family.” He added as he joined them on the transporter pad. He had initially thought Merrick’s suggestion had been foolish but now he was seeing the wisdom in it. For the thousandth time he promised to remind himself just how valuable his friend was next time he considered killing him. Afterall as good as Merrick was he wasn’t the best first officer in the fleet by any means but he was undoubtedly better then whatever crap command would dump on him. And there was no way anyone would sign off on promoting Gar to first officer on a starship. He was lucky his Andorian ass was even aboard. It didn’t matter that he had the skills and experience to be here he was still from a barely tolerated planet. Feeling magnanimous he slapped Merrick on the back as he took his place. “This was a good idea exec.”

Sean bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement not exactly sure the best way to answer.

“By the way.” Jack continued taking the phaser from his hip. “How do these compare in terms of power to our own weapons?”

“These models are not nearly as powerful as our standard issue weapons. They also have many more settings based around the two base stun and kill.” Gar answered promptly. His answer was in fact the truth but he was certain that the real phaser weapons from this multiverse were likely more powerful and dependable then their own. But he wasn’t about to volunteer that information. The captain was in a good mood and there was no reason to jeopardize that over something that really didn’t matter.

“Stun?” Jack asked incredulously. “Why would you ever need to that?”

“Standard procedure over here. Killing is a last resort. They prefer diplomacy first and last.” Stile explained. “Even when they have to use force they tend to temper it.”

The grin on Jack’s face grew wider. “I’m really going to like it here. Energize.”

<<<NRPG>>>

Just moving things along a bit.

I the MD makes sense.

Respectfully

Captain Jack Steele

CO, TSS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD/LEXINGTON: Transfer

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.68

Scene: Port Aldeberean

It had been a long 4 days and as Lieutenant Kim Steering stepped off the transport pad her main thought was checking into a BOQ and having a very long sonic shower. The excitement of her first command had worn off somewhere around Day Two and then it hit her that she was stuck on a cramped, dank Nauscian freighter that was basically flying itself to its destination. There hadn’t even been a peep out of her prisoners to make things interesting. It was surprising how disappointed she was with the whole operation.

But it was behind her now. An official atta-boy would likely be placed on her fitness report. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was a shower, a good meal and a long sleep. She could worry about getting her crew back to HOOD in the morning. They deserved 24 hours of what ever made them happy just as much as she did. And that, she realized was probably the best order she had given in the last four days.

“Excuse me, Lieutenant Steering?” A young rating who seemingly appeared out of nowhere asked breaking into her daydream of all things pleasurable.

“Yes, I’m Steering.”

The rating nodded with a look that said he was surprised she managed to get that question correct. “If you’ll come with me lieutenant you’re needed in BuPers right away.”

“Understood crewman. I’ll just pause long enough to get my self cleaned up and put on a new uniform and be there presently.”

The rating shook his head sadly. “Sorry Lieutenant. Captain Nixon said immediately. With the captain immediately means immediately. Presently is never involved.”

Kim smiled serenely as she pictured herself throttling the crewman. “Very well, lead on.”

Two minutes later Kim found herself at attention in front of Captain Nixon wondering if they way she looked or the way she smelled was worst. Probably the smell.

“I appreciate you coming so quickly lieutenant but I would have understood if you’d taken a few minutes to make yourself more…presentable.” Nixon looked like he had been about to offer Kim a seat but had thought better of it.

It was definitely the smell.

“My apologies sir but I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

“Yes, well,” He suddenly thrust out a red datachip. “Your new orders.”

“Orders?” She asked completely confused. Lack of sleep had that affect, but so did BuPer offers who believed in few words.

“You’ve been transferred to USS LEXINGTON as her Navigator. Effective immediately.”

“I’ve been transferred?” She asked. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“LEXINGTON just got herself a new commanding officer and he apparently requested you specifically.” Nixon shook his head surprised at the whole thing.

“Who did sir. Who is LEXINGTON’s new CO?”

“Couldn’t tell you.” Nixon answered, his frown deepening. “This whole thing seems to have been thrown together quickly. I have no other information. Now then, you’re transport leaves in 22 minutes. Commodore Stockwell is aboard and I don’t know which he would find more annoying being forced to wait for a junior officer or being cooped up in a courier ship with someone as, well as dishelved as you are. If you hurry you may be able to make sure you don’t find an answer to either choice. Dismissed.”

<<<NRPG>>>

Hello LEXINGTON crew. My rushed, on my way post. If it wasn’t tonight it likely wouldn’t have been til Sun/Mon.

I look forward to writing with all of you.

HOOD: Sadly Kim will be moving over to LEX. But don’t worry I will start up another HELM NPC with a name just as brilliant as Steering…maybe Driver. Yes I am a genius! ;-)

Respectfully

LT. Kim Steering

ex-HELM, USS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

And

LT. Kim Steering

NAV, USS LEXINGTON NCC

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Shadowcloak

by David Kiel

SD: 2261.069

Bridge: TSS Hood

Arctura Zade stood on the bridge and watched the slow turn of the planet below. Or rather the apparent spin caused by the ships orbit above. The Hood was staying calm and silent, just like some friendly denizen of a foolishly friendly Federation. The weakness of it all sickened him, but it did make it easy to liberate the dilithium they needed.

He crossed his arms, eyes taking in the movements of the crew. Vigilance was the assassins way, the Captain was in hostile territory and that was the opportune moment for a craftily arranged change in the order of things.

Arctura was aware of this moment, a chance for him to take all the steps he needed at once. But the opportunity was poor. A crippled ship in the wrong universe with minimal resources and power was a small window with a limited upside. So he waited and protected the Captains kingdom and bided time for a better opportunity to arise.

"Incoming warp signature, sir."

Arctura turned, his mind rifling through probabilities. Whatever was incoming would either be a match for Hood or it would get a distress call off before it died and summon something tougher. The glory of conquest was of limited value if it got you cornered or dead. "Take us up, into high orbit and cloak."

Hood shimmered and slid up to the high end of the gravity well and waited. A few minutes later a second ship warped in within three standards of Celes II. An arrogant flightpath but it had her below Hood already and that gave them a tactical advantage should it be necessary. Arctura hoped it wouldn't be as he watched the other ship, they were outgunned. By a strange joke of fate he looked down at his own ship. The Federation also had a Hood in orbit of Celes II.

Cedria Zade smiled at the viewscreen. The twinkling starry sweep greeting the green and blue of Celes II as they merged halfway down the main viewer. It was peaceful and beautiful.

Green eyes glittered as they traced the raw sensor readouts, her course had dropped them smoothly into the lap of the planet. There was nothing amiss with the surface, no catastrophes to interrupt their patrol with actual danger. The orbital paths were clear, a pair of freighters outbound, one inbound and no warp signatures. Four fresh ion trails and some plasma traces.

Cedria frowned as she waited for the Captain to arrive. Life was a strange mix of twisty paths. She had been a police detective, she had made many enemies of the folks shed sent to prison. But oddly enough the most danger shed ever been in was as a pilot. Thirty five minutes in the vaccum it had earned her the last time. She watched the sensor displays again, her eyes tracing the ion trails. The plasma drift intersecting with the spare trail.

Ion trails dissipated quickly, there should be a warp signature but there wasn't, and plasma leaks meant violence. You didn't run without those repairs unless you had a very great need.

Cedria looked out the viewscreen at the starry sweep of twinkling black as it met the green and blue of the planet below. "Raise shields." The helmsman looked back at her surprised, questions in his eyes and she simply said. "Now." There was something else in orbit of Celes II and it was cloaked.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Mr. Abrams

by Steve Apple

SD: 2261.069

MD: MD: 2.0800

Scene: Celes II, Mining Facility

Once the landing party had materialized and stepped off the pad, they were immediately met by the sweaty rotund figure of Director Abrams.

Steele tried to hide the revulsion he felt when he saw the man. The very fact that the man thought himself worthy to touch Steele made the Captain instinctively reach for his photon pistol. However, a look from Merrick stayed his hand.

“Nice to finally meet you in person.” Steele lied.

“The pleasure is all mine Captain.” The rotund little man gushed. “Are these your officers?”

Who else’s would they be, you ass, Steele thought to himself, but outwardly just smiled and said. “Yes sir my most trusted men. The one in the cowboy hat is my Chief Surgeon Dr. Corbett, the Andorian is my Chief Engineer Mr. Gar, and finally my First Officer and right hand Mr. Merrick.”

“This is indeed a pleasure for me to host such a prestigious group as yourselves. As the station is run by robotics I don’t get much of a chance to interact with people.”

Corbett pushed his hat to the back of his head and smiled. “So I take it you run this place all by yourself sar.”

“It’s not really that hard doctor; I’m mostly around to make sure the facility stays on line and to ship out any defective parts for repair.”

“So you don’t actually handle the delivery of crystals to your customers?” Merrick asked.

“I can that’s for sure, but mostly the robots take care of that task.” Abrams beamed.

“Your security looks to be top of the line.” Gar said looking around.

“Oh you do have an eye for that, eh Mr. Gar.” Abrams smirked.

“I am an Engineer.” The Andorian said trying to hide his revulsion at this decadent piece of flotsam.

“This is the finest system money can buy. The mine and refinery have motion detectors synched with phasers and we also have mobile robots with A.I. chips that patrol the facility. The owners have left nothing to chance.”

“That is gratifying.” Steele said nodding. “As I said earlier I was looking forward to talking with you as we’ve had a malfunction which you might be able to help us with.”

“I’ll do whatever I can.” Abrams assured them.

“That’s good to hear.” Steele smiled. “We’ve had a severe power fluctuation recently and well to make a long story short four of our crystals have been fused and are useless.”

“That is unfortunate, but I’m not sure how I can help you.” Abrams said wiping the sweat from his brow.

Corbett could see the anger and psychosis pass across Steele’s face. The Captain was at his breaking point, so he knew he needed to step in. “I don’t mean to be stating the obvious here Mr. Abrams, but this is a dilithium crystal mining facility and we are in need of dilithium crystals.”

“I understand that doctor, but as you should already know Star Fleet has already taken delivery of this quarter’s production. We are just now beginning the refinement process for the next load.”

“How very unfortunate for you.” Steele said with an evil grin as he pulled out his phaser and began adjusting the settings. “Because I have the feeling that a little weasel such as yourself has been stealing a few crystals here and there and has a couple stashed away nearby. Why don’t we all go into your office and discuss it.”

TBC

<<NRP>> I will try and have more out later tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

Respectfully Submitted

Stile Corbett, MD

CMO, TSS HOOD NCC 1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Finding Yourself

by Steve Apple

SD: 2261.071

MD: MD: 2.0800

Scene: USS HOOD, Briefing Room

Corbett sat in the briefing room wondering when Jack was going to say something. For ten minutes now he sat staring into the vidscreen. “If you stare into that vidscreen any longer I might have to diagnose you with an obsessive disorder; however, as luck would have it they are treatable.”

Sean stayed quiet, but shot the doctor a dark look. “What’s on your mind Jack?”

“Long range sensors show nothing.” Steele said turning the vidscreen so Sean could see. “No starship of any kind in orbit around this planet.”

“They could be cloaked.” DeSimms offered.

“Thanks John,” Steele said nodding his head. “But I already thought of that; however, without knowing the type of cloak technology they use we’d be looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Maybe not, we know the basic mechanics of different cloaks and might employ the standard counter measures for each of them to see if we can pick anything up.” Hemux said jotting down notes on her PAAD. “We can use a quantum beacon and set sensors to track motion, energy distortions, and even plasma exhaust.”

Steele nodded. “Do what you need to do, ARr’Rhiana.”

“There might be a way to see if they’ve at least been here.” Cedria said looking at her PAAD.

“Go on.” Merrick urged.

“The transporter signal. The hull arrays use a lot of power to boost the annular confinement beam. It leaves a quantum energy pattern, which as long as it hasn’t degraded can be tracked and cross referenced with the pattern buffer database. It’s a quick way to see if we come up with a match.”

“I think you’ll find it a bit trickier than you suspect.” Corbett said pushing his hat to the back of his head.

“How so?” Cedria asked annoyance tingeing her voice.

“If you lock onto a trace and run it through the data base as is, you won’t get a match. Their DNA sequencing is paired in reverse. I’ll need to send you over the program I used to isolate the blood sample which turned out to belong to John.” Corbett answered then looked over at DeSimms. “I mean the other John.”

“How soon can you get that done?” Steele asked.

“If the doctor has the program ready we could have it in five minutes. If anything was out there the sensor sweep would have caught it and all I need to do is enter the subroutine to isolate the quantum signal from background artifact and run it through the database.”

“Good.” Steele said then hit the comm. button. “Steele to Engineering.”

[Engineering, Gar here]

“How’s that little project coming?” Steele asked.

“It’s coming. I was able to isolate the warp signature from that other universe starship and as I suspected it’s based on the NX warp technology. It has some significant enhancements; however, since it’s similar I am almost positive I can rig a remote shut down.”

“Very good Mr. Gar let me know when you’re done, Steele out.” He said then turned his attention back to the room. “There you have it. If we find them we can keep them from running.”

“That’s not going to keep them from fighting though.” DeSimms’ murmured. “If her weapons are back online then she will be formidable.”

“Noted.” Steele said then turned toward Cedria. “Well Lieutenant any luck.”

“Yes sir, we found a transporter signal and are running it through the database now.”

A minute went by while the computer analyzed the data and finally spit out a print copy.

“The computer only gives a 47% accuracy rating as the signal was already degrading when we entered orbit, but with some certainty, Dr. Corbett, Mr. Gar, Mr. Merrick and yourself have beamed down to that planet.”

“How can that be, that ship we saw wasn’t designated the Hood.”

“Multiverse Jack.” Corbett said. “Maybe in that universe we were not assigned to the Hood, but to the…”

“Or maybe there are 2 ships out there.” DeSimms interrupted.

“That’s a possibility,” Merrick replied. “I think we should seriously consider that theory until proven otherwise.”

“John put a security escort together.” Steele said looking at the vidscreen again. “Sean you, Stile, Gar and I are going down to the mining facility.”

“My men and I will be waiting in the transporter room.” DeSimms said standing.

“Not this time John.” Steele said motioning for DeSimms to sit back down. “If there are indeed 2 cloaked ships out there then I need an experienced tactician onboard examining their offensive capabilities.”

“Sir,” DeSimms said immediately. “Star Fleet regulations specifically forbid a commanding officer from entering a known hostile situation.”

“I appreciate the sentiment; however, we don’t know that they are hostile and besides who better to negotiate with me than me.”

“I disagree sir,” DeSimms replied. “I think they have shown themselves to be hostile. They have raided a Star Fleet Intelligence outpost and fired upon a Nausicaan ship.”

“They were in need of supplies and went after an automated base. They shot back at Nausicaan pirates, which is exactly what I did. I’m not sure they’re hostile, but I’m not stupid either.” Steele said directing his stare at DeSimms. “I’ve been on a few missions in my time and know how to be cautious; however, I’m looking at this situation as something akin to first contact with an alien species.”

“Aye aye sir,” DeSimms said though his body language screamed I disagree.

“ARr’Rhiana your top priority is to find that ship or ships.” Steel said standing then looked over at Lieutenant Zade. “Cedria you have the conn. in my absence.”

“Yes sir.” The 2 female officers said in unison.

“Dismissed,” Steele said then added “Sean, Stile with me.”

Respectfully Submitted

Stile Corbett, MD

CMO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Getting Down to Business

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.73

MD: 2.0805

Scene: Mining Facility. Celes II

"That is unfortunate, but I'm not sure how I can help you." Abrams said wiping the sweat from his brow.

Corbett could see the anger and psychosis pass across Steele's face. The Captain was at his breaking point, so he knew he needed to step in. "I don't mean to be stating the obvious here Mr. Abrams, but this is a dilithium crystal mining facility and we are in need of dilithium crystals."

"I understand that doctor, but as you should already know Star Fleet has already taken delivery of this quarter's production. We are just now beginning the refinement process for the next load."

"How very unfortunate for you." Steele said with an evil grin as he pulled out his phaser and began adjusting the settings. "Because I have the feeling that a little weasel such as yourself has been stealing a few crystals here and there and has a couple stashed away nearby. Why don't we all go into your office and discuss it."

</snip>

Abrams blinked rapidly as his brain tried to process the information his ears were trying to convey. At the same time a part of his brain was also trying to factor in the information his eyes had taken in as the demeanour of the other three HOOD officers suddenly changed from affable to menacing. How could this be? It didn’t make any sense. These were Starfleet officers, the best of the best not common thugs. Then the only answer dawned on him and he chuckled nervously. “You almost had me going there.”

“Had you going there?” Captain Steele questioned quietly.

“Yes that was quite funny.” Abrams continued clearly not meaning it. “Took me a moment to realize you were just pulling my leg.”

“Yes, well..” Suddenly Jack struck out and smashed an open palm into Abrams nose. The miner flew back and crumbled to the floor. Blood streamed down his face from the broken nose and he looked back at Steele in shock and fear. “We will leaving in 10 minutes. Either way it will be with those crystals. If you retrieve them quickly I’ll let you live. If not I’ll cut you down like the pathetic waste of flesh that you are. Gar! Corbett! Accompany Mr. Abrams.” He turned back to Sean, the fury gone replaced with a calm appearance. “Lets see if we can get any of that information you were looking for out of the station computers.”

As Gar and Corbett dragged the sobbing Abrams away Jack patted Sean and the back. “Shall we?”

<<<NRPG>>>

Steve: Hit the wall on the JP so went with this.

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT Black Jack Steele

TSS HOOD NCC 1703

Starfleet ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Mirror Motives

by Scott Lusby

SD: 2261.073

MD: 2.0800

Setting: Main Engineering, O-Deck, USS HOOD

Gar Th'elenth's face was barely a few centimeters from the exposed innards of the access panel, a small white whiff of smoke coming from the location his electrospanner's lead had made contact with the board.

Jefferies tubes, by their very nature, were somewhat cramped; really, they were nothing more than crawlspaces located at specific junction points. Underneath all their neat plating were meters upon meters of conduit, runs, junction boxes. Some conduits carried good old-fashioned electricity to various consoles, panels, buttons and switches all over the ship; other conduits- albeit of a much heavier and hardier gauge- carried electromagnetic plasma from the warp cores to the engines.

This particular Jeffries tube- F-27, to be precise- carried EM impulses to the navigational deflector emitters.

Gar didn't need to use anything near the full output of the nav deflector, which made the adjustments he was making somewhat less dangerous than, say, rerouting warp plasma. All he needed to do was send a signal, one that would be received by another starship and be obeyed.

The logical choice would be the command codes; with those, he could simply tell the other starship's computer what he wanted to do- like shut down the warp engines- and it would do it...

Problem was that, though that other ship out there may well be the HOOD, it was **not** the SAME HOOD; it's design, much more akin to the catamaran design of the old NX-classes, more than suggested that. Which meant, logically, that the command codes for their USS HOOD would probably not work on TSS HOOD.

So a more invasive type of remote access was necessary.

Gar was putting the finishing touches on the last of the relays when the comm panel outside the tube chirped.

[[[Steele to Engineering.]]]

Gar quickly finished his last connection, then slid down the tube.

A couple of steps later, he was at the panel, slapping its activation button. "Engineering, Gar here."

[[[How's that little project coming?]]]

Gar wiped his brow, his antennae twitching slightly. "It's coming. I was able to isolate the warp signature from that other universe starship and as I suspected it's based on the NX warp technology. It has some significant enhancements; however, since it's similar I am almost positive I can rig a remote shut down."

[[[Very good Mr. Gar let me know when you're done, Steele out.]]]

Gar closed down the channel. He was finished here; the programming necessary to carry out the shut-down had already been completed.

"All done, Captain," he said to himself as he headed back towards his office.

He could tell the Captain that in person in a few minutes, in the transporter room.

///

MD: 2.0805 Setting: Mr. Abrams' Office, Mining Facility, Celes II

<<snip- picking up from the end of Andy's post, entitled "Getting Down to Business">>

Gar and Corbett deposited the sobbing form of Abrams on the ground- roughly.

Gar's antennae twitched; he knew he had to be careful here, especially since Corbett was one of the Captain's cronies...

There was time still, he knew: even if the crystals got to HOOD, he would be the one installing them. All SORTS of things could happen to the crystals then to ruin them; in fact, it was a bit tricky installing them under normal circumstances.

It wouldn't take much on his part to surreptiously ruin them.

Which meant there was no need to tip his hand here.

As such, when Stile grabbed Abrams off the floor and shouted at him to tell him where the refined crystals were, Gar played his part to perfection.

The Andorian's antennae instantly swept back at the mining colony's head administrator's silence. "Answer him!" the blue-hued engineer sneered, and put an iron fist into his midsection. Abrams, being an administrator and not a military man, was soft in the middle, and he crumpled over easily, coughing.

"I...don't...have any," he said between gasps.

Gar glanced at Stile, who regarded the man in silence.

Gar knew this to be a bad sign for Abrams.

"We won't get anything this way," Gar said, pulling a hypospray from his belt. "However, this might do the trick," he added, waving the spray in front of the administrator. "This isn't just any truth serum- this one's my own special brew, designed to cause so much pain you'll be trying to tear your veins from your body within minutes. You'll beg me for an antidote- you'll tell me all about your stashed crystals, anything I want, if I'll only give you the antidote. Which, of course, I will...but only afterwards. You'll still remember that pain."

Without another word, before Gar could even say anything, the hypospray hissed as it pushed its venom into Abrams' shoulder.

It was only a matter of seconds before Abrams began to scream.

<<TIMELINE>>

MD 2.0800- Gar puts the finishing touches on his remote program.

MD 2.0805- The mirror Gar can do nothing as the mirror Corbett tortures Abrams for the location of his secret crystal stash.

<<NRPG>>

Just pushing this forward ever so slightly.

I imagine that Abrams won't be able to tell Stile much, since, as he's from this universe, he may not have a criminal ring set up; I am guessing that is an assumption the mirror baddies are making based on their own experiences from their own universe. But I don't know- that's just guesswork by me, not my characters. :)

Let's start pushing this forward, shall we?

Respectfully Submitted,

-- Scott Lusby

/\ LCDR Gar Th'elenth

Chief Engineer

USS HOOD NCC-1703/TSS HOOD NCC-173

STAR FLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Not Much Time Left

by Brian V. Mansur

SD: 2261.074

MD: 2.0810

Scene: Mining facility, Celes II

The mirror Sean Merrick betrayed nothing of the discomfort he felt at Abrams screams. He didn't want to think of the pain going through a man who could be heard through several bulkheads. Sean played the masochistic part well enough when he had to. He'd even grown mostly numb to it. Sometimes, however, he feared that he enjoyed it a little.

Steele, on the other hand, was a man who Stile could probably diagnose as a sociopath. He merely smiled when he heard the desperate cries of the innocent Abrams.

How had they come to this, Sean wondered. It was imperative that whatever happened, somehow he and Jeri had to destroy the Tholian device beyond hope of reconstruction or reverse engineering. And that was on Jeri to figure out. It did them no good to escape the HOOD's black universe of murder, rape, cruelty and betrayal only to have the Sovereignty come back and screw over this universe too.

"Found something," Steele practically purred. "The fraking refinery map shows the packaging facility. If there is anything new since their last shipment, it will be there." He suddenly frowned. "Their current production numbers are here. Fraking 50 milligrams!? The little fraker wasn't having us on. Someone really was just here for their quota."

Sean tried not to wince at the furry building in Steele. They didn't have much time left.

"If there is any here, Stile will pull it out of the director's own ass if needs be," Sean calmly assured his Captain. Steele humphed and started toward the door. It was time to go help with the interrogation.

Neither of them noticed the faint electric hum of a transporter beam several feet down the hall. Too bad for them that it took about five seconds more for them to round the corner of the door. Steele was the first to react.

"FRAKING GAW...." he began.

He was looking right at himself. And this universe's Steele evidently had completely expected to see someone there because he already had his weapon pointed right at them.

A stun bolt took Sean down instantly. Steele was fumbling for his own pistol when a second shot tagged his arm, crumpling him to the floor in a dazed heap. Moments later, a boot pressed harshly down on the mirror Steele's neck.

"You fraking bastard," Captain Jack Steele of the USS HOOD venomously spat at his doppelganger.

It took a minute, but off in the distance, the pitiful cries of Mr. Abrams slowly quieted to mere wimpering.

NRPG: The Cavalry has arrived. Time for the Good Guys to take over.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian V. Mansur

LCDR Sean Merrick

FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Orbital Chess

by David Kiel

SD 2261.73

MD 2.0809

TSS Hood -- Bridge

Arctura Zade stared out at the alternate Hood on the viewscreen. He had a plan, a guess really but if it didn't play out he would simply drift away, quietly cloaked; nothing ventured, nothing lost. He tapped the sequence into the communications panel and let the new Ensign do his work.

Steele no doubt would be livid to find out Zade had Hood's codes but there was no way really to hide them from a trained technician. Too many things in this universe were so perfectly similar. If this were one of them he might just strike a surgical blow. Glory or suffering awaited, or perhaps not.

It might just be the drifting away quietly thing.

"Well, what do we send." Yoshi said looking at Arctura.

`Have them lower their shields. And lock the shields out on a random code matrix."

Yoshi smiled and sent the command.

///

USS Hood -- Bridge

Cedria Zade stood next to the younger Denoblian science officer and looked over the readings. Cloaking technology had its idiosyncrasies and could be penetrated given time. In this case, however, they had no real notion of what the specific design of cloaking tech they were searching for. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Thermal, infrared, ultraviolet, tachyon and nuetronic. Zero indications." ARr'Rhiana rattled off looking at her display.

"Well we didn't expect it to be simple."

"Would have been nice though."

"Perhaps we could load a spread of photon torpedoes with flour,…" Cedria smiled and was interrupted by an angry chirping from Ensign Tamura's console.

Yoshi looked at the display and looked over to the Trill. "Command codes, direct transmission, they are trying to lower our shields. They have the wrong codes though."

Cedria turned to the helmsman, there was no time to lose. "Lower the shields, now. And be ready to raise them again immediately."

The officers watched as the TSS Hood shimmered and appeared on the port viewscreen. Hemux switched the view to main. It was a sight to behold, the hull layout looked eighty years old but the build was modern. Four forward torpedo bays winked in unison as they opened up on the USS Hood chambered, reloaded and opened up a second time. Cedria stood bewildered for a moment.

There were no torpedoes. It was as if they had forgotten to load the damn things.

"Shields up, sir." The helmsman reported and Cedria blinked back to reality.

"Open fire, full phasers. Load torpedoes."

///

TSS Hood – torpedo room

Cedria Quall pulled the last of the bodies into the Jeffries hatch and let him fall three floors to the junction. She smiled as the forward bays rotated through three empty chambers. Hood opened up with phasers but it was too late, their duplicate had raised shields and was returning fire. She ducked out through the access corridor and hurried away from the room before any more of security's goons came to investigate.

She had ordered them to switch out to the high yield torpedoes. When they had emptied the chambers she shot the three of them before they could reload. Her timing had been perfect, but Arctura for all his calculating treachery was at least predictable in one way. He never let an opportunity pass. She knew he would try to take out their counterpart once he was in charge.

She just regretted that she didn't have control of the shield matrix yet, she could have finished her job in one blow.

///

USS Hood -- Bridge

Hemux rotated through her arrays taking a full spectrum of scans, gaining all the detail she could from the other Hood as it turned away under blistering fire from the Federation ship. The alternate universes ship was clearly having power trouble. Her phasers were at seventy percent and her shields started at barely fifty and were now down to ten. There had been a reason they had tried to take the Federation ship out with torpedoes, their main power was strangely crippled.

TSS Hood's shields fell and she cloaked. Cedria Zade sprinted down to the Nav console and edging her own crewman to the side laid in a six shot array of sheer guesswork. She eyeballed their trajectory and path and sent six orange beams into the empty darkness in front of them, her best guess as to where she would have turned if she were at the helm of the enemy ship.

Eight kilometers out into the blackness the fourth shot struck true, the beam lanced into the aft end of the starboard nacelle, straight into it and up the length of the nacelle. Blossoms of explosions trailed up the sides of the nacelle as chamber after chamber of warp plasma shattered its casing and vented into space.

For a moment TSS Hood was visible again, pitching to port and shuddering in agony. To their credit the crew of the TSS Hood knew what they were doing. They shut down the nacelle quickly, found a little bit of reserve power to feed the shields for the moments they needed to crawl back into the cloak. A pair of torpedoes just missed the main hull as she shimmered back out of view.

Hemux looked over the last data she had gotten when the nacelle blew and then turned to Cedria. "We can trace the debris trail but we wont be able to keep up with them. If we gather some of the debris and transport it aboard, we might learn something about their hull construction or their plasma signature that might help find them again."

Cedria watched as her third attempt to get lucky with a phaser shot burned off into the darkness. TSS Hood wouldn't be able turn back at them just at the moment. They had a ten minute or so window to get some of the nacelle remnants aboard. She nodded to Hemux and to the helm. "Do it. Ten minutes to transport debris to the hold, no more. After that the other Hood could be on either side of us and we wont be able to risk dropping one of our shields again."

NRPG: First engagement. We have some debris to gather and analyze and Arctura has to figure out a way to explain all of this to mirror Steele that doesn't get him vaporized.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: “Facing Yourself Is Never Easy - JP

by Brian V. Mansur and Steve Apple

SD: 2261.075

MD: MD: 2.0900

Scene: Celes II, Mining Facility

<Snip from Brian’s Post “Not Much Time Left”

Neither of them noticed the faint electric hum of a transporter beam several feet down the hall. Too bad for them that it took about five seconds more for them to round the corner of the door. Steele was the first to react.

"FRAKING GAW...." he began.

He was looking right at himself. And this universe's Steele evidently had completely expected to see someone there because he already had his weapon pointed right at them.

A stun bolt took Sean down instantly. Steele was fumbling for his own pistol when a second shot tagged his arm, crumpling him to the floor in a dazed heap. Moments later, a boot pressed harshly down on the mirror Steele's neck.

"You fraking bastard," Captain Jack Steele of the USS HOOD venomously spat at his doppelganger.

It took a minute, but off in the distance, the pitiful cries of Mr. Abrams slowly quieted to mere whimpering.

End snip>

Corbett immediately rushed forward and checked the two stunned officers from the Multiverse. “Merrick is unconscious and Steele is barely conscious, but otherwise neither is hurt.” He reported.

Steele lowered his weapon. “Mr. Sahel,” He said to the Vulcan in charge of their security escort. “Take Dr. Corbett and Commander Gar and find out where that whimpering is coming from. Don’t take any chances. Stun first and ask questions later, understood.”

“Aye sir,” The Vulcan said and motioned for the doctor and engineer to follow him.

The three officers quickly made their way to an office off a hallway to the left of the refineries entrance. They could hear shouts and whimpers coming through the door. Sahel held up three fingers and with sign language began the countdown. The officers had weapons extended and upon Sahel’s mark Gar kicked the door open.

Corbett immediately saw a fat humanoid whimpering in a chair, his doppelganger standing over him shouting. Without thinking he depressed the firing button on his phaser and rushed forward. He stopped short when he saw the Andorian lying face down on the floor.

“What the fu…”

“No no please wait.” A very lucid Mr. Abrams yelled putting his hands out and interrupting Stile. “He didn’t hurt me.”

“You’re bleeding sar, so excuse me if I’m a bit skeptical.” The doctor said running his scanner across the director’s face.

“Something isn’t making sense here.” Gar remarked checking on his own doppelganger. What happened?”

“The cowboy shot the Andorian when he tried to inject me with a hypo.” Abrams tried to get out in wheezy voice.

Corbett looked up from his scan at Gar. “Is he dead.”

“No merely stunned,” The Andorian replied.

“Sir,” Sahel said calmly to Abrams. “Perhaps you can enlighten us as to what exactly has happened here.”

“This man.” Abrams said pointing at Corbett then shook his head and pointed at the unconscious cowboy. “No I mean that man; he dragged me into this office for what I thought was going to be torture. They wanted me to give them crystals, but I told them that the Federation had already picked up their quarterly quota and that I didn’t have any more. Their Captain struck me and said if I didn’t hand over the crystals he wanted then they’d kill me.”

“His nose was broken, but it looks like Dr. Jekyll over there used an osteoregenerator on him.” Corbett said looking at Gar.

“Yes yes the doctor dragged me in here and phasered the other when he tried to give me a truth serum. He said that I needed to continue whimpering if I wanted to stay alive. He told me that they were not star fleet from this universe and that the Captain would kill me or worse if he didn’t get what he wanted.”

“And you did what?” Corbett asked checking on his double.

“I gave him four crystals, they’re in his bag.” Abrams sobbed.

“It’s alright now, you’re safe.” Corbett said injecting the fat little man.

Abrams immediately stopped sobbing and his face took on a euphoric smile.

“Mr. Abrams, can you hear me?” Corbett asked.

“Yes.” He said in a far away voice.

“Good, I want you to listen to me very closely. You had a very pleasant visit with the Star Fleet officers, but fell during a tour of the plant. You got a broken nose, but it was fixed for you and you are very grateful, do you understand.”

“Yes very grateful.” The director said in that same strange far away voice.

“Dr. may I inquire just what you did to him?” Sahel asked.

“I gave him a memory blocker.” Corbett said pushing his hat to the back of his head. “He’ll wake up in an hour or so and remember only what I told him.”

Gar nodded and then picked up his double and headed back toward the Captain and rest of the landing party. Corbett hoisted his doppelganger as well and followed.

Steele swung around, his weapon raised, but lowered it when he saw his men carrying their doppelgangers accompanied by Sahel. “Did you find the source of that whimpering?”

“Yes sir it was the plant’s director.” Sahel said rejoining his men.

“Well where is he? Is he alright?” Steele asked

“He’s fine, he sustained a broken nose, which is already fixed.”Corbett said as he and Gar dropped their doubles next to their crewmates. “I gave him a memory blocker; he’ll wake up in an hour and not remember any of this happened.”

Steele nodded. “Our security chief was right they are hostile. They tried to attack the ship, but Zade held her own.”

“Sir,” Gar said concerned.

“She’s intact Gar, no real damage done, though the transporter is temporarily off line.” Steele said smiling at his Engineer’s worry for his ship.”

“Any casualties?” Corbett immediately asked.

“None that I know of.” Steele said then stepping over to his still dazed double. “Stile with me, I want you to give him something to make him more alert? I want to know how many ships we’re facing and just what their mission is.”

Corbett opened his med kit and drew up a stimulant that he injected into the other Steele. Within seconds the other shook his head and leapt at Stile enraged. Sahel had already anticipated that move and roughly pushed the Captain back down.

“Don’t touch me you diseased ridden piece of shit.” The other Steele spat at the Vulcan, who merely lifted an eyebrow in fascination.

“I should have guessed that you weaklings would have embraced them.” Blackjack Steele sneered to his counterpart.

“I want to know what your mission is and how many ships you brought with you?” Jack asked the man calmly.

“You are pathetic.” Blackjack said with contempt. “You may look like me on the outside, but…”

“But what?” Steele answered menacingly. “That I won’t shoot you for the safety of my ship and this universe? I guarantee you it’s not a theory you’d want to test.”

Blackjack immediately calmed and even smiled. “I know when you’re bluffing.”

“Once again Captain,” Steele asked. “What is your mission and how many ships are with you.”

“Kiss my ass.” Blackjack said and leaned back closing his eyes.

“Stile,” Steel said turning to the doctor. “Inject him with a truth drug.”

Corbett shook his head. “I don’t think anything I have will work on his neurophysiology. A stimulant is one thing, but the complex formula of a truth drug is quite another.”

“Damn it I need answers.” Steele said through gritted teeth. “How long will it take for you to synthesize an agent suitable for him?

“A couple of hours at the very least.” Corbett answered.

“We don’t have that kind of time.” Steele sighed.

“Perhaps I might be able to help sir.” Sahel interrupted.

“How?” Steele asked.

There is an ancient Vulcan technique.” Sahel said then paused. “It is a deeply personal thing, part of our private life, and generally not shared with outsiders. It is called a mind meld.”

“A what?” Steele asked.

Corbett quickly stepped in. “It’s dangerous enough when done between 2 Vulcan’s, but when initiated with a human. I can’t let you…”

“What the hell is a mind meld?” Steele demanded.

“It’s a way of sharing consciousness.” Corbett said trying to save Sahel the embarrassment of explaining. “It allows the sharing of memories and experiences.”

“Will they in turn know our secrets as well? Steele asked directing his question to Sahel.

“Only if I leave my mind unguarded.” Sahel answered. “I can do this Captain and get the answers you seek.”

Steel looked over at Stile and saw the concern written on his face; however, he saw little choice. “I’m going to allow it. Your objections are duly noted doctor.”

Sahel nodded and crouched down to the sitting man and placed his fingers at different points on Blackjack Steele’s face. “Don’t touch me...” The Captain screamed and tried to fight.

“My mind to your mind.” Sahel whispered his free hand grabbing the back of Blackjack Steel’s head so he couldn’t escape. “Our minds are merging, our thoughts are joining.”

Both Corbett and Steele watched as Blackjack’s body relaxed. It seemed to be working. “Yes,” he whispered.

“Our minds are one, our thoughts are one.” Sahel intoned his body stiffening.” Show me.” He hissed.

After a few minutes both Blackjack Steele and Sahel screamed and came apart. Steele collapsed and Sahel staggered back into Corbett’s arms.

“What the hell just happened?” Steele demanded of his Chief Surgeon. “Stile?”

Corbett laid Sahel on the ground and passed his scanner over him. Satisfied he turned his attention to Blackjack. “He’s in shock Jack, but I can stabilize him. I told you the meld was dangerous.”

“I knew the risks doctor.” Sahel said standing. “Captain we need to find and destroy that ship.”

“I take it what you learned is worse than I imagined.” Steele offered.

“Yes sir. The universe is a vast place and holds many fascinations. This man’s universe is not so very different than ours.” Sahel said straightening himself, his emotionless demeanor returning.

“Mr. Merrick and Mr. Gar. I think you should hear this as well.” Steele said calling his men over.”

Corbett joined them as well and waited for Sahel to tell them what he learned.

“Their universe was identical with ours until approximately 2160 when Vulcan refused to join the Earth Alliance against the Romulans. My people felt the more logical course was to stay neutral and try and broker a peace between the parties.”

“I think I’m starting to understand why he treated you like a pariah.” Corbett interrupted.

“Indeed doctor. In his universe my people never took part in the coalition and were not present at the battle of Cheron.”

“So the Romulan’s won.” Merrick said.

“Yes they did and Earth paid heavy reparations in territory and precious resources. However, just like here a neutral zone was established and the parties remain embroiled in a cold war.”

“That doesn’t explain their bad manners.” Corbett replied sarcastically.

“This might.” Sahel continued. “A pro-human group called the Son’s of Terra rose to a position of power in Earth’s government. They used brutal tactics and fear to subdue the people of your planet and quietly began an arms buildup. When the time was right they launched a campaign against Andoria first then Tellarite. Once they had secured those peoples and planets they launched against Vulcan. One hundred star ships from all 3 star systems converged on my planet and destroyed our planetary defense forces and then the planet itself. They wiped my species from existence. Reckoning they called it for the traitorous act that led to their defeat at the hands of the Romulans.”

“That would explain their technology.” Gar added. “A lot of what we use today is built on a Vulcan foundation, while theirs is more human.”

“That still doesn’t explain the hostility and the psychoses.” Steele said shaking his head.

“I think it does Jack.” Corbett responded. “Western Europe went through a similar period in the mid twentieth century. A small band of hate mongers played on a desperate people using a climate of fear and intimidation to get into power. They were brutal and psychotic and brought about World War II as well as genocide on a scale never seen before. The people in those countries weren’t evil, but they were swayed by false promises.”

“Ok enough of the history lesson,” Steele said. “I want to know what they are doing here and if there is more than one ship out there.”

“History is the key here sir. The Son’s of Terra began all of this. They renamed the United Earth the Terran Sovereignty. They waged a lightning war against everyone around them, but they still have one enemy they haven’t yet defeated.”

“The Romulans.” Corbett added.

“Yes sir. They like us have a Star Fleet that is very powerful, but not yet ready to reengage the Romulans.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you here Sahel.” Merrick said unsure of where the Vulcan was taking them.

“The Sovereignty destroyed a race called the Tholians and recovered a transdementional drive. Their leader, the Sovereign Prime, tasked the HOOD with finding universes with weaker forces they could conquer in order to exploit the resources of the conquered universes to feed their war machine.”

“So the Sovereignty’s HOOD was sent as a scout ship, a prelude to an invasion.” Merrick mused.

“Yes sir. However, what I gather from the Captains counterpart is that there are rival factions within the Sovereignty’s fleet. Captains of Flagships are like mini chieftains vying for personal power. The device was stolen by a rival to their Captain Steele. He was hoping to bring news of new worlds to conquer to the Sovereign Prime instead of Steele. That Captain came here first; however, this Tholian device he used crippled his ship’s power supply. He made it back, but just barely.”

“The CONSTELLATION.” Gar remarked.

“Yes sir.” Sahel confirmed. “Upon her return to her universe Captain Steele and the HOOD reclaimed the device and took up their original mission. The device crippled his ship as well, which was why his landing party was here trying to get replacement crystals.”

“Let me make sure I understand you.” Steele said pacing. “That other HOOD came here with a stolen transdimensional drive looking for new worlds to conquer. There was another ship and it has returned to its universe so were only dealing with the Sovereignty’s HOOD.”

“I believe I said that Captain.” Sahel answered.

“Can they do it?” Steele asked his pacing ceased. “Could they destroy our forces?”

“I believe so.” Sahel said. “From what I saw in your counterparts mind, their weaponry and shields are superior to ours. If they perfect transdimensional travel and duplicate it throughout their fleet then yes they could subjugate us.”

“Then I don’t see any alternative.” Steele said. “We need to sabotage that device in such a way that they abandon thoughts of using it again.”

“Any idea how you want to accomplish that Jack?” Corbett asked.

“We’ll have to board the ship to do it.” Steele answered.

“Why not try and hunt her down while her power is crippled.” Merrick offered. “In her current state I doubt she’s a match for the HOOD.”

“Destroying the ship might not deter them Commander.” Sahel said. “The Sovereignty’s HOOD has a scientist aboard who has been studying the transdsimensional drive working out a way to duplicate it. If that scientist is far enough along then they may have detailed schematics of the device and could build another. We must assume that the other ship, the CONSTELLATION has similar data. The logical course would be as the Captain said to sabotage it in such a way as to force them to abandon its further use.”

“You mean get them to think the technology is inherently incompatible with theirs?” Merrick asked. “I don’t see how that would work in the long run. More likely than not they would keep at it and eventually figure out how to perfect it.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not.” Sahel suggested. “Their culture does not allow for much trial and error before failures are met with decisive ... punishment. But in any case, a ruse to make them think the technology worthless is not what I meant.

Steele smirked. “That’s what I meant.”

“With respect sirs, the technology has the means of affecting the barrier between the universes. From what I deduced from that Captain Steele’s knowledge of the device, it could be made to permanently seal off this universe from theirs. At least it could in this region of the galaxy for thousands of light years around. Perhaps hundreds of thousands.”

“I’ll go Captain.” Corbett said, “Given my personality I’m sure I could blend in with their crew easily.”

“Thanks Stile.” Jack smiled. “But unless you have an MOS I don’t know about, the technical aspects would be beyond you.”

“I’ll go.” Gar said. “It’s an engineering issue anyway.”

“Then it should be me.” Merrick said. “As the former CEO and current XO I can move about the ship easier than you.”

“A nice sentiment all of you, but as Captain this falls to me. This may be a one way trip.”

“The odds of only one of you succeeding are 13,424.639 to 1. However the odds do increase significantly if more than one goes.”

“Walking computer.” Corbett muttered. “I’m going with you Jack and that’s that.”

“We are as well.” Both Merrick and Gar added.

“No this is a one way mission.” Jack said though he knew it wouldn’t matter.

“You said that already, my money’s on Gar to figure out how to transport us back aboard our own ship.”

“Thank you.” The Andorian said bowing his head.

“Alright.” Steele agreed then turned toward the Vulcan. “Mr. Sahel when the transporter is back online beam the prisoners aboard and brief the Security Chief and Lieutenant Zade. Tell her and Lt. Hemux to find a way to stay close to that ship.”

“Aye aye sir.” The Vulcan answered.

Steele gritted his teeth and said. “Here goes nothing. Good luck gentlemen.” Flipping open his communicator he took on the countenance of his counterpart. “Steele to HOOD.”

[Zade here sir.] Said a distinctly male voice.

“Mission complete, beam us up.” Steele answered though he was confused by the male voice. Perhaps things weren’t as identical as they assumed.

[So you obtained the crystals then sir?] Zade asked.

The crystals, he had forgotten about them. He would have to tell this man something.

Corbett grabbed his counterpart’s bag and opened it so the Captain could see the dilithium.

[Sir?] Zade asked after Steele hesitated in answering.

“I’m here Lieutenant,” Steele said recovering. He knew now was the time to see if he could pass as his doppelganger. “I was puzzling out whether or not to shoot you when I return for second guessing me.”

[Apologies sir, I merely inquired so I could let engineering know to expect the crystals.] Zade lied smoothly.

“We’ll discuss it later. Now energize.”

<NRPG> Just so we’ are clear. The USS HOOD team is beaming over to the TSS Ship to sabotage the transdimentional drive. The hope is for the device to explode and permanently seal any breach between universes rendering it useless and unusable to the Sovereignty. On the other hand the TSS crew will be beaming aboard the USS Hood as prisoners. Now let’s have some fun.

Respectfully Submitted Jointly,

Brian V. Mansur

LCDR Sean Merrick

FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

and

Steve Apple

Stile Corbett, MD

CMO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Trying to Deal

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.75

MD: 2.0845

Scene: Corridor, USS HOOD

“You’re Lowl right? Gene Lowl.” Steele said affably as he walked along the corridor surrounded by security. He paused until it was clear that Lowl wasn’t talking. “Listen to me kid half of my fleet is already in this universe so it’s a fait accompli. You heard that imposter, our weapons are better, are shields are tougher and we have a cloaking device. There’s not a chance in hell that your puny fleet of explorers can handle us. We have the strength and the numbers and we’re battle hardened. We’ve been doing this for 100 years. Its only a matter of weeks.” Another pause as he looked around at his escorts. There were 12 guards to their 4. It was unlikely they’d be able to fight their way out of this one. “I don’t know what the security chief is like on this ship but on the real HOOD he’s past it. I’ve been planning to replace him and I was going to do it with your counterpart. I need a real man to run my security. That could happen here. You’re senior officers are gone. All you need do is back me and my officers. This ship will be the first one to join the Sovereignty. Hell forget about security chief. My XO here will command this ship and he’ll need a good first officer. If you’re half the man your counterpart is I know you can be that first officer. Gene this is the time. Your time for greatness. The sovereignty is going to overrun your Federation. There is no question there. The only question is which side of history you want to be on.”

They paused as the group came to the brig. Gene looked over at the multiverse Steele. “No thanks.” He gestured to the room. “In.”

“Ok Gene. But we’re in no rush. Take your time and mull it over. You can continue through life as a security grunt or you can grasp the future and take the rewards you deserve. Jack turned around as he entered the brig and looked to all the security officers. “Any of you can have that life. All you need do is help me.”

Once the forcefield came to life Jack turned to Gar. “Alright engineer. Get me the frak out of here!”

Respectfully,

Captain Black Jack Steele

CO, TSS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Poker With Blackjack...

by David Kiel

SD: 2261.078

MD: MD: 2.0915

Scene: TSS HOOD, Science department

Hemux had not liked the ongoing events. Those stupid conquer-happy idiots had lead the TSS HOOD into this ridiculous universe, got into a fight and now precious equipment was destroyed and half of her pet collection was dead. Hemux had a mad, raged look in her eyes. She had always had her doubts against this mission, travelling to alternate universes was not convenient, they had not tested out the Tholian device properly and look where it got her.

Suddenly her spycams noted the Captain and his company beamed back on board. "What?..." She had not become one of the top scientists of the Sovereignty without being keen on every detail, she had not gained her place aboard one of the finest ships in the galaxy by being ignorant...

She tapped some keys and zoomed in on the group and studied them in detail, then a big smile grew on her face, this was her chance, the one opportunity she needed!

She hurried out her lab and went on to the Bridge where the Captain was going. "Captain Steele... I assume the mission was a success? Can I talk to you in private ? I have made some real important discoveries I want to discuss."

For a moment the captain hesitated "Is it important, we are in the midst of a battle here and e need to implement the crystals."

Hemux nodded "Very, Captain, I have some issues to discuss concerning the crystal and the Tholian device, I know why it malfunctioned."

"Very well then, " Steel nodded to his readyroom. As soon as they where in Hemux pulled out her phasor and aimed it to the Captain. "I suggest you sit down, Captain Steele. I do not know what type of person your science officer is, but I can assure you I have killed more then one officer to get this position and I wont hesitate to kill you."

Steele sat down careful "Put that away, it won't get you anywhere, Hemux."

Hemux barked a deep laughter "See, you're weak, your not half as tough as the real Captain Steele. Or should I say as my Captain Steele?"

Steele said nothing just looed at Hemux.

"You see, captain Steele of this universe. You look exactly as my captain Steele, for one thing: you don't have his scars, at least, not all of them. And although your imitation is good, there are minor mistakes, the way you wear your phasorbelt, how you walk. I have studied Captain Steele very well, you know, in every detail. And you are not him!"

Steele grunted "You're wrong and I will make you pay for this, but if you think so, why don't you shoot me or force em to bring your Captain back?"

ARr'Rhiana grinned "Good try, I don't want Steele back because he is a crazy, murdering lunatic. I warned him that getting here was a bad idea. He ruined years of study and work in my labs. He has set some of my experiments back to zero with this actions. And he has killed half of my favorite pets with taking on your ship!"

She sighed "Although I have to live in our universe, Captain, I still am a scientist. I liek research, I like to discover new things. If Steele succeeds in this mission, the Sovereignty will divert all our assets ad resources to the military. Research will be put to a minimum, only the science of war will grow, and I am not good in that. I will be set back to some worthless lab on Earth or a abandon colony. I am much to good for that!"

She stood up taller and looked down on Tseele with a mad look in her eyes "But if you can succeed in what you trying to do then I will be able to get back to the Sovereignty, with data from this universe, gathered with risk of my own life! They will reward me with new labs, new resources, I will be bale to do so much, Captain Steele!"

I can do what you want to do, I can help you in bringing this ship back to my universe, I can help you close the barriers between our worlds. What do you say about it ?"

Hemux narrowed her eyes and looked to Steele to see and hear his answer.

<<<NRPG>>>

You can't expect to have everything run smooth guys...

Respectfully,

David Martens

Lt ARr'Rhiana Hemux

CSciO , USS HOOD NCC 1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Scenes of Horror

by Brian V. Mansur

SD: 2261.080 MD: 2.0830

Scene: Transporter Room, TSS HOOD

Sean glanced at Gar in supressed alarm as the mirror Hemux led Steele away. But before he could say anything they were gone. Gar shrugged. They were on their own.

"Let's get to engineering see what we're dealing with," Sean said, taking the lead. They'd have to trust that Steele would be along with the crystals or their trip would be for naught.

As they walked through the corridors, Sean couldn't help but feel oppressed by the stark, utilitarian interior design. This was a warship: devoid of any warmth or pity. And the crew ... the crewmen looked on edge. A few seemed worn to the nub even.

"These people look like they are living in hell," Gar said, clearly disturbed.

"We should put them out of their misery," Sean muttered. Gar looked at him asconce. "I'm getting into character." Gar watched him for a moment.

"No. I think you're serious."

Sean didn't answer. He just winced as they passed a room that seemed to be reverberating with the excruciating screams of some poor woman. Gar looked at Sean, clearly wanting to do something.

They were five feet past the door when Sean decided he wasn't going to let it go. He put his hand on Gar to stop him. "Wait a minute," he sighed. He drew his pistol and turned back.

He opened the door to a greusome scene. A trio of crewmen, two male and one female were watching with glee as a bound woman writhed on the floor. They seemed not to notice him over the girl's cries of agony. He promptly shot the tortured woman into silence.

Shocked, the trio turned with weapons drawn. But the sight of him, their First Officer, immediately brought them to attention.

Sean glared at the lot of them and shouted, "I can't hear myself. THINK with that FRAKING NOISE!"

"Yes sir," they said in unison.

"She's stunned. Clean her up and go do something useful."

Sean was impressed at how quickly they jumped to carry out his orders. He was also dimly aware that no alarm had sounded when he had discharged his weapon. Unlike on a Federation ship, he supposed that meant people routinely shot each other on this ship. His guts twisted at the implications.

Satisfied that good had been done here, he turned around to a thoughtful looking Gar.

"I think I would have put a burn mark or two on the others," Gar said.

Sean shook his head in disgust of the whole situation. "A good idea. Next time. Come on."

NRPG: I'm back.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian V. Mansur

LCDR Sean Merrick

FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: First Things First

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.078

MD: MD: 2.0920

Scene: Ready-Room, TSS HOOD

She sighed "Although I have to live in our universe, Captain, I still am a scientist. I liek research, I like to discover new things. If Steele succeeds in this mission, the Sovereignty will divert all our assets ad resources to the military. Research will be put to a minimum, only the science of war will grow, and I am not good in that. I will be set back to some worthless lab on Earth or a abandon colony. I am much to good for that!"

She stood up taller and looked down on Tseele with a mad look in her eyes "But if you can succeed in what you trying to do then I will be able to get back to the Sovereignty, with data from this universe, gathered with risk of my own life! They will reward me with new labs, new resources, I will be bale to do so much, Captain Steele!"

I can do what you want to do, I can help you in bringing this ship back to my universe, I can help you close the barriers between our worlds. What do you say about it ?"

Hemux narrowed her eyes and looked to Steele to see and hear his answer.

</snip>

"Why not return to my ship, stay in this universe? I can guarantee you'll have more opportunity to conduct research then you ever could in yours."

"I doubt that." Hemux replied with a sneer. "I have seen some of the information of your universe. Your high minded morality does nothing but serve to hinder your scientists. You are worse then Vulcans and I am sure you are aware of the results their morality brought them. No I will help you and return the hero. Do not try to save me Steele. I have nothing to be saved from. I find the universe in which you live disgusting."

Steele nodded in acceptance. "Do I have an allies aboard? Besides yourself."

"Perhaps."

"Thats not an answer." Jack replied clamping down on his emotions. The frustration of the situation was beginning to catch up with and he wanted to reach out and strangle the Denobulan. Maybe the inhabitants of this universe were not that removed from his own.

"Its all the answer you're going to get. So get used to it. And get to used to this. You are not my captain and I do not take orders from you."

"Thats not a good start to our mission if I can't trust you."

Hemux laughed. "You are stupider then I thought. You can't trust me captain anymore then I can trust you or anyone else on this vessel. We are all out for ourselves, that is the most important fact you need to remember. When we all have the same reward ahead of us things progress efficiently, but when outside factors come into play." She grinned evilly, "That is when things get interesting."

"Alright what is the plan?"

Hemux drew her knife. "First we have to do something about your missing scars."

<<<NRPG>>>

Just a quick one...

Respectfully,

Andy

Capt Jack Steele

CO, USS HOOD, NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Lower Decks

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.079

MD: 2.0915

Scene: Rec deck, TSS HOOD

"Hey! Gene. Over here." Gene Lowl looked up from the food replicator where he just ordered a juice and nodded at Cory Campbell. Once Lowl had sat down he leaned forward. "What have you heard?" He asked quietly.

Gene sipped his juice and looked around the room. If there were listening devices here he would have talked himself into punishment and death a dozen times over. "We were in a battle."

"No kidding." Campbell said rolling his eyes and keeping a clamp on his nervousness. "The whole frakkin ship knows we were in a battle. What with all the bouncing around, the smell of burning flesh and the sections that are being held together with forcefields and gum. What happened?" What he really wanted to ask but couldn't bring himself to was 'who attacked us?' and 'Did we win?'

Campbell had served with Steele for a long time. In all that time they had never lost a battle. There had been times when things had been dicey but BlackJack Steele had always pulled them through. Maybe he had this time once again but if he had where was the triumphant speech? Steele always addressed the crew and regaled them with the details of the battle. On special occasions he marched enemy officers through the ship. He would leave them chained on the rec deck or allow a crewman who had distinguished himself to control the agonizer on the enemy captain. It was one of the reasons why the rank and file of the lower decks were so loyal to their captain. But this time the battle was only met with silence. He leaned even closer to Lowl. "C'mon Gene, you're security you guys always know the score. They never tell us anything."

"Captain wasn't on the ship when we were attacked.."

"Attacked! Who the frak would attack a Starfleet ship, especially this one?"

"Are you going to let me finish?" Gene asked tersely. He waited for Campbell to nod before he continued. "Most of the senior officers were down below. The NAV was in command."

"The Trill! What the frak was he doing in command?"

"Cause thats who Steele left in command." Gene answered in exasperation.

"Who attacked us?"

It took Gene several seconds before he was able to answer. "Another starship, according to the chief it was another HOOD."

"Another HOOD, how can that be true?"

"You remember how everyone got all dizzy and the ship seemed to go upside down for a few seconds?" Campbell nodded. "It was cause of that device. It was able to but us through some sort of interdimensional jump."

"Jump to where?"

"Another universe, a parallel universe. I guess its mostly the same but different too. Captain Steele's mission is to perfect the transit and establish a beachhead in this universe."

"We have to fight ourselves?"

Gene nodded. "Ourselves from another universe. But here's the good part, they're weak. They live in a Federation based around peaceful coexistence and cooperation." He chuckled at the thought. "Its going to be a cake walk."

It hasn't been so far. Campbell thought to himself.

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT Jack Steele

CO, USS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Lower Decks Part II

by David Kiel

SD: 2261.079

MD: 2.0915

Cedria slid her chair over to where the others were talking. "The nacelle is a total loss, its full out vacuum breach and even so they can't stop some of the plasma fires."

The two humans looked at her suspiciously, she was a Trill after all, just like the NAV they had just been discussing. Lowl considered her for a moment, and then smirked, the Trill NAV was a dead man walking. It didn't matter what she said to anybody. "Steele will have the NAVs head for that."

Cedria looked around. "It should have happened by now. It should be right here in the commissary as a lesson of what failure gets you."

Campbell looked around too. "She's right. It should have been done by now."

"Perhaps the Captain is too worried to take care of things. Perhaps the ships of this universe are stronger than we thought?"

Lowl spat at the notion and scowled. "These gutless cretins are no match for Hood. If the Captains letting Zade spin in the breeze he has his reasons."

The three were silent for a few moments. Campbell nodding at the other mans words. Cedria let them think a moment and then spoke. "Maybe the Captain wants to see who will step up? An ambitious man would step in and create his own opportunity out of Zade's failure."

Their eyes lit up at the notion, Lowl actually grinned as he contemplated the possibilities. Everyone on the bridge would have to be extra vigilant, it made for a sharp duty team. Nothing like the fear of savage violence to prepare yourself for battle.

Cedria stood, saying loud enough for some of the other tables to hear as well. "Yep. I'd say the Captain would definitely notice the person who took care of this little problem for him." She walked out of the commissary as the murmuring began in earnest. She had more junctions to compromise on her way to control of the shield matrices. Setting the ball rolling downhill towards Zade was just a little icing on the cake.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: On the Verge...

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.080

MD: 2.0945

Scene: Bridge, TSS HOOD

Captain Jack Steele sat in the command chair of TSS HOOD projecting an appearance of utter distain for his bridge crew. He had spent the past ten minutes sipping at his coffee, which was much better on this HOOD, and reviewing the damage reports of the recent battle. It was not as extensive as he would have hoped but it was still enough that his HOOD should have little problem dealing with its twin. But if he and the rest of the landing party couldn't deal with TSS HOOD on their own then that battle would have to be soon. Fully repaired TSS HOOD would be more than a match for his ship. She was a warship, a predator pure and simple. With only token science and exploration based departments and systems this ship's massive power was channelled to offensive and defensive systems. Half of them he could make educated guesses as to their function and power and he hoped Merrick and Gar would be able to get a good look at them. He had no doubt that they could be developed for his own Starfleet.

Turning his attention back to the bridge crew he decided he could no longer sit here idle any longer. The tension had been ramping up as each minute passed and it was getting close to the point of explosion. Not knowing how this universe's bridge crew would react he reasoned it was best to make his move before someone else decided they would move first. The fact that this was such a serious consideration was horrifying. The problem was he had no real idea as to what his move was going to be. Initially when he entered the bridge it had been first for appearances sake. Next he had wanted to get a solid grasp of ship damage and systems and finally the longer he sat here the longer he bought time for the other three. He hoped.

Deciding it was now or never he took the PADD and tossed uncaringly to the floor and watched as everyone jumped at the sudden noise. Rising from his seat he clasped his hands behind his back and took a slow stroll around the bridge's upper deck. When he had completed one full revolution he stepped down to the command deck and Lieutenant Zade. He leaned in close and spoke to the Trill quietly. "Is there is any reason I shouldn't kill you here and now for your incompetence?"

Zade blinked. He had been ready for one of Steele's harangue, the captain like the drama almost as much as he liked an audience. "Because you need me." Zade finally answered quietly.

"I see." Jack said more loudly. "As I had thought. Just who is this traitor to the Sovereignty."

There were gasps around the bridge as Zade spoke the TSS HOOD officer's name.

Jack nodded as if he had already knew the answer. He felt like vomiting as he issued the next order. "Deal with it."

Zade smiled evilly "Yes sir!"

"Very well. I will be in my quarters." He looked pointedly at the Comm Officer. "I am not to be disturbed. Is that understood?"

The young ensign nodded.

<<<NRPG>>>

Just a quick one...

I wonder who Zade will be taking care of? ;-)

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT jack Steele

CO, USS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Murder Most Made to Order

by David Kiel

SD 2261.083

All the luck in the universe had piled itself in a vortex of fortune that shone for a few moments on the navigators station on the TSS Hood. There was no way he should have had a chance, the Captain should have shot him on sight. But he hadn't, to everyone's surprise he had purposely given Zade an out.

The choice had been easy. Jake LeTamm, the security officer. The only officer other than the four who had gone planetside with any claim to the con of the Hood. LeTamm was a bit of a puffed up opportunist who had a somewhat inflated image of himself. He was good with weapons, but not great; and he had little in the way of subtlety. He was formidable in a heads up fight but it wasn't going to come to that.

Zade was part of the Tenaran Order, the order of the Ice Cliffs, the oldest order of assassins on Trill. Add that to the Zade symbionts knowledge of poisons gleaned from his lifetimes in Parliament, and he was more than prepared with how to deal with a better physical combatant. He was almost smiling as he walked down to where LeTamm's command center.

The Security chief had been the only real choice. He had been negligent with security of the torpedo tubes at the very moment that had cost them half their warp capacity. As for the others, the SCI was entirely obsessed with science of all things, and her little zoo. She was almost an ideal officer to have on board, she wasn't a threat. The COMM officer was new, he hadn't had time to find his place in the hierarchy yet. And the other three, the three that went to the planet with Steele. Zade wouldn't have gotten a chance at them, the Captain wouldn't have permitted it. It was only a suspicion, but Arctura could read body language as well as anyone in the order. Captain Steele was different, he was restrained and tense.

Blackjack Steele was incapable of either.

Something had happened planetside, for Arctura it was the golden opportunity. Kill the SEC, discredit the others and return triumphant. He strode through deck eight and into Security Control.

* * * *

Cedria Quall closed the access panel and smirked as LeTamm staggered out of his command center. She had saved the panel next to security central for one of the last and she was glad she had. Arctura had swept passed just a few moments before with his normal glare of self-involved treachery.

Normally she would give the SEC the antidote, she carried a pair of vials at all times. She had uses for people who owed her their lives. But the power vacuum Zade was creating in security would turn the ship into a powder keg as 215 security officers divided into armed camps vying for succession. The Captain had clearly gone insane if he had given Zade the permission for this.

Cedria repressed a gleeful smile as the SEC's spleen exploded rupturing his abdomen from inside—it was a quick and deliriously painful Trill poison. Jellied intestines dripped to the floor as the man toppled and died.

Cedria locked the panel and headed for the last of the junctions. She probably had enough of them already but there were always time for more. The next time Hood took on her double its shield matrix would suffer a catastrophic and fiery failure. All she had to do was figure out a way back to her own universe when it was done.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: On the Verge...

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.081

MD: 2.0945

Scene: RecDeck, TSS HOOD

Corey Campbell stared at the bulkhead in silence as he went over his options. He was a marked man and he had to get off the ship. It was in no way a new thought to him. His next punishment would likely spell his death, or worse, a dishonourable discharge. He sighed at the knowledge that of the two choices he vastly preferred death over discharge but death would be so much quicker. Painful and sadistic he was sure, but it would be over. Discharge meant he would be dropped off at the first habitable planet they came across. He would be left with no possessions, no credits, no way to contact a family who out of both necessity and desire would wish no knowledge of him. He would be left to scrounge for whatever he needed to survive on a world that would have no use for him and a society who saw him as a parasite trying to steal its meagre resources. Eventually he would be swept up in the local criminal organization and be tasked with the most vile things imaginable until he died from the lifestyle or was killed out of hand.

It had all gone wrong his first shift aboard. He had believed the recruitment posters, believed that he had chosen a better life. He would serve the Sovereignty not be a burden on it. He would vanquish enemies and discover new worlds. His problem stemmed from the fact that unlike most recruits he had a brain. But as smart as he was he wasn't smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut. So when he noticed a power system could be easily made more efficient and mentioned it to the officer on duty he had made Chief Barrows, the NCO who was his direct superior look incompetent for having not noticed it. From then on Barrows nailed him for every infraction, real or imagined, that he could find. Campbell had become his whipping boy both figuratively and literally. The scut work, the agonizer sessions, the beatings had become more and more frequent and Barrows had documented it all in his personnel file. Campbell had been marked as a screw up who, with judicious use of punishment had not sought to change his ways. He was a detriment to the service and should he not mend his ways it was, in Chief Barrows considered opinion, best to discharge him immediately.

He would rather die.

From what little he had heard from Gene this parallel universe sounded like Utopia. To be an explorer, to be part of a team. That is how the universe should be. He decided then and there that either way he would not be returning to his own universe. He would escape and seek asylum or die trying. With nothing to lose and everything to gain he found that for the first time in years he was highly motivated. But how could he do it? He'd never get past the security checkpoints to reach the shuttle bay or the transporter room and even if he did it was likely there would be a variety of security lock outs he did not have passwords for. That left one of the escape pods or even an escape suit. Chances were he'd fall victim to the ship's main phasers but it was a risk he'd have to take. That other HOOD was out there somewhere. They would pick him up wouldn't they?

Suddenly Gene came racing back into the room and made his way over to Cory. The excitement and tension of the man was obvious. "Can I trust you Campbell?" He blurted out.

"Of course you can." Campbell replied confused.

"I mean really trust you?" He leaned forward. "Life and death stuff." Campbell nodded."Zade is going to make a move on my boss."

"What! Why?" He leaned forward concerned for his friend. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. With him dead I move up to section chief, but the new SEC hates my guts." To Lowl it seemed a foregone conclusion that the assassination would be successful. "So she might take me out as well. I think that I might make a move on her first."

"You want to be security chief?" Campbell asked shocked at his friends naked ambition.

"Hell no, but I could make XO." He grinned at the idea.

"Why are you telling me?" Campbell asked.

"I need your help." He said plainly.

"My help? I'm just a low level tech. With no connections, and no power."

"Look Cory I know the hole you're in and I know it's not your fault. But you are a smart guy, you've got an education and I know you can help me. Will you? I have to move fast."

"Ok but I need two things. First Chief Barrows needs to get caught in the cross fire."

Gene grinned. "I figured that one out. Consider it done. What else."

"I'll need your security codes to access the computer and override some lockouts."

To Campbell's surprise Gene didn't even have to think about it. "Done."

He might just make it out alive after all.

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT Jack Steele

Commanding, USS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Respectability Has A Price

by Steve Apple

SD: 2261.087

MD: 2.1100

Scene: TSS HOOD, Corridor G-Deck

Corbett knew the plan well. The Captain would go to the bridge and both Merrick and Gar would head to Engineering. His job was to recon the ship and let them know exactly who they were up against. As Chief Surgeon he would have access to the entire crew’s medical and psychological files. He would have to find weaknesses they could exploit if they were to succeed with their mission and escape.

The turbolift let him out at an almost deserted corridor. Adjusting his hat he affected his best swagger and leisurely strolled toward sickbay. The layout of the ship might be the same he thought, but the amenities were certainly stark, the lighting dim and the coloring grey.

“Stop where you are.” A female voice he almost recognized whispered in his ear as a phaser barrel was shoved into the small of his back.

“If you could move that thing up just a bit I’d be much obliged, I’ve got a hell of an itch I can’t seem to reach.” He answered.

“All you have to do is get rid of that green wench and I’ll scratch any itch you want.”

Turning he was kissed very deeply. “I do like the way you detain a man.” He said after they broke. He recognized her as Ensign Flores. “Natalie you know I only have eyes for you.”

“Uh huh right,” she said smiling. “You’re lucky I’ve been trailing you since the transporter room. If the security chief’s men had caught you unprotected, well you know the results.”

“I take it I’m not his favorite person?” Corbett asked coyly.

“If he could, he’d burn you down as soon as look at you, but then again you know that.”

“Yes well how about telling me something I don’t know?”

“I’ve got to hurry, but I think it important you know that the trill, the junior one, that is on the opposite schedule as me has been seen around areas of the ship that suddenly stop working.”

“A saboteur,” Corbett said pushing his hat to the back of his head. “As Navigator does she have that kind of access?”

He knew that was the wrong question to ask as soon as it was out of his mouth and he saw her face.

“Did you get hit in the head when you were down at the planet? Of course she doesn’t, which is why I’ve had people quietly keeping tabs on her.”

Thinking quickly he said. “That’s why I love you Natalie, because even when I’m brain damaged you watch my back.”

“And how many more of your operatives are keeping tabs on me.” She asked then kissed him again and said. “Never mind, I’ll have people watch you until you get to sickbay, but mijo you best not wander without protection.”

“How do you know I am without protection?” He said looking beyond her and motioning with his chin. “There could be three weapons trained on you right now and the only reason you’re not a pile of ashes is because they know you are loyal to me.”

Ensign Flores took an instinctual look around. “I should have known you wouldn’t leave yourself vulnerable.”

“At least I know you care.” He said kissing her one last time and heading back to sickbay whistling a Texas Rose.

~Sickbay~

“Well it’s about damn time Cowboy.”

“Ah Mother, how soothing it is to once again hear your melodic voice.”

“Save it for one of your younger operatives.” She said, but added a smile to let him know she was relieved he was safe. “I have requisition forms for you to sign. Unfortunately it’s going to cost you about 40,000 credits.”

“Excuse me did you say 40,000?”

“I know it’s steep, but when we get back we’ll need to replenish the supplies we used to treat the injured from that explosion in engineering earlier. I don’t know of anyone else that would put out of pocket like you do.”

Pushing his Cowboy hat to the back of his head he approved the requisition and funds transfer. What the hell kind of a place was this that didn’t have enough supplies to care for its injured. The fact that his other self was willing to part with personal income to treat the sick and injured made him go up a notch in Corbett’s estimation.

“I’ll be in my office if I’m needed.” He said as he strolled out.

~CMO’s Office~

The door to his office had a dual scan lock. Placing his hand on the plate he waited while it analyzed his digits and the retinal device scanned his eye. After a moment he heard an audible click and the door slid open.

The office his counterpart had was a bit different than his aboard the USS Hood. It was larger, almost twice the size in fact and had a sleeping area. At least it had the trappings of Texas within. It seemed they weren’t all that dissimilar in tastes, well so far as women and décor were concerned.

“Please be here, please, please…” He said to himself as he opened the trunk that sat in the corner of the room. “Thank the lord. You are like me.” He said out loud as he grabbed the neck of a tequila bottle and popped open the lid of the humidor to retrieve a candela.

A minute later he sat with his feet propped up on the corner of the desk taking a sip of tequila while smoke from his cigar curled toward the ceiling.

It took him at least two hours to go through the medical and associated files of personnel that manned key areas of this ship. He noted that about 90% of the crew was the same with the exception that there weren’t any Vulcan crew and there was the addition of a few Nausicaan ones.

The chime to his office door went off bringing him back to the reality of where he was. Pulling his colt out of his boot he pointed it at the door and said. “Enter.”

The door slid aside and a beautiful green skinned Orion glided in. Her two piece gold skirted uniform accentuated her curves in a way that his Starfleet’s uniforms never could.

“Alia,” He said taken aback.

“You seem surprised to see me.” She said sliding into his lap.

He kissed her deeply; he had thought she died on Arcturus when the slave ship had crashed. But here she was sitting in his lap warm and willing. “It’s a new pleasure each time.”

Lifting her he brought her over to the bed on the other side of the room and not for the first time that day had to give his counterpart credit for forward thinking.

~Captains Quarters~

Corbett entered the cabin and immediately sat down in front of the desk in the Captain’s work area and put the Tequila bottle on the desktop.

“Stile you look pale as ghost. What the hell did you learn?” Steele asked concern evident on his face.

“That I’m married.” He said taking a small swig from the bottle.

<NRPG> Just having some fun and moving the mission forward, I hope. Dave I brought you out as being the saboteur so we may somehow contact you as an ally.

Respectfully Submitted

Steve Apple

Stile Corbett, MD

CMO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Discovery in the Shuttlebay

by David Kiel

SD 2161.088

scene: Engineering, TSS Hood

The ship was a coiled and tense little monster.

Security had brought everything to a head, the repairs that were needed were significant. They had a useless nacelle clinging together by burnt out power conduits and would most likely have to figure out how to jury rig a warp field with just one. Technical teams were working overtime scurrying to all corners of the ship, and security teams were too busy eyeing each other to keep watch over anyone else.

Cedria had finished hew work with the shield matrixes. She could now short out or overload the entire system from any console on the ship. Her work would be discovered by the next level 3 or higher maintenance sweep but since those were done in dock she wasn't terribly worried.

All she had to do was find a way out. Her ideal plan was to have Hood die against the Constellation but that opportunity didn't materialize. Still one capitol ship's death was one closer to victory, and if she had to skulk about this universe until she could remake the Tholian device she could do that.

But she did not intend to wait around shipboard when the shields suddenly and conduit-shatteringly went all sparkly on the sadistic Captain Blackweasel. She was rewiring the pilots console on one of the reserve shuttles, bypassing things like remote shutdown and security protocols. She would steal the shuttle and hopefully be at warp before the other Hood had time to pound the Sovereignty's second biggest ship into the afterlife.

She extricated herself and looked over the controls, powering up the display to check her work. A few taps and a cycle of the command parameters and she was—c-click—

Cedria's eyes narrowed and she got very still as the phaser at the back of her head whined to life.

"And what might you be up to?" She recognized the voice. The engineer, named after a terran fish. Pike, was it? Salmon?

The voice of the XO sounded from the shuttle entrance in a sharp but hushed whisper. "Find her, Gar?"

"Yeah, she's been tampering with the shuttle controls."

She heard the sound of a communicator from the XO. "We found Zade, Captain. I mean Quall."

She moved suddenly, lithe body twisting, the base of her hand hitting the butt of the phaser making it clatter to the deck. One of her knives flipping to her other palm, her blade lashing at fish-man's throat,-- and stopping just short of his skin. The metallic purple sheen of the poison on her blade reflecting the shuttles overhead lights in an oily rainbow of colors.

She looked up at Lieutenant Gar and over at the XO who was now pointing a weapon at her from the hatchway. "What did you mean, Zade?"

NRPG: Tag for either Brian or Scott, whoever gets to it first; or technically Andrew if he wants to play a voice on a communicator. Marching me through the ship to see the Captain might blow my cover after all. Then Cedria will have to fight her way back to the shuttlebay and kill everyone in her path. That would take me a couple posts, way too much work.

Respectfully submitted;

David Kiel

Lt Cedria Zade,

NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703

ASR: ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Dark Diversion...

by David Martens

SD: 2161.089

Scene: TSS HOOD, Science department

"How stupid and ignorant" Hemux thought as she leaned back in her chair looking at a console showing one of her spycams. ARr'Rhiana sighed as she sat up straight and reached out with her hand to grab a handful of bugs from a jar and stuff them in her mouth, chewing on one of her favourite snacks.

She checked her chronometer and smiled, by this time everything should be about ready, at least she hoped that Captain, not so black, Jack Steel had his goonies drilled as good as her Captain Blackjack had his. By now things should be ready.

She looked one last time to the viewscreen where Zade was facing a phasor. For a moment she hesitated, maybe better to wait until Gar had killed her? But Hemux shrugged her shoulders, if she was smart then Cedria Zade would grab the opportunity and then Hemux could use the footage from her cams to get her loyalty, if Zade wasn't that smart, well then she would be dead and everyone would blame the dead Trill for the events to come. In both ways, it would be good for Hemux.

With a big smile she flipped a switch, turning all lights down in the ship... This would be the diversion Zade and Steel needed, she hoped they both where ready to take their chances.

<<<NRPG>>>

A short one, but take it or leave it, guys...

Respectfully,

David Martens

Lt ARr'Rhiana Hemux CSciO , USS HOOD NCC 1703

ASR ORIGINS

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: What Does Comprimised Actually Mean?

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2261.090

MD: 2.1100

Scene: Captain’s Quarters, TSS HOOD

<old>

~Captains Quarters~

Corbett entered the cabin and immediately sat down in front of the desk in the Captain’s work area and put the Tequila bottle on the desktop.

“Stile you look pale as ghost. What the hell did you learn?” Steele asked concern evident on his face.

“That I’m married.” He said taking a small swig from the bottle

<new>

“Too who?” Jack asked knowing that given their situation the information could wait. But wanting to know just the same. Stile took another swig before filling Jack in on what he had found out. “We we certainly seem to indulge our desires over here.”

“Do we now?” Stile said, perking up at the implication. “And just what desires did our stalwart captain indulge in?” He passed the bottle over, but Jack shook his head, now really wasn’t the time. “And more importantly,” the doctor continued, “with whom?’

Jack looked decidedly embarrassed at the question and was thankful the computer beeped giving him a few seconds of reprieve while he changed chips. “When I walked in my cabin I found, uh, well Lieutenant Steering was in, um. Well lets say she was in a compromising position.”

“Really?” The doctor drawled. “And did you help compromise her further?”

“No! Of course not! I mean, I’m not stupid I have to play the part but c’mon, she’s my HELM officer.”

“Not in this universe. Well you know what I mean.” Stile clarified.

The computer beeped again and Jack pulled out the last chip. “I’ve recorded as much information from the computer banks as I dared. I’ve tried to cover all the major topics. The historians and sociologists will have a field day, not to mention the engineers.” Jack explained happy to get the topic back to the mission at hand. “But I think we’ve hid here as long as is reasonably safe. I’ve set a few things in motion to help provide a distraction for us but I think I might actually have lit the fuse to a powder keg. Either way we need to move.”

As if on cue his communicator beeped.

<<<NRPG>>>

Just a short one to get me caught up.

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT Jack Steele

CO, USS HOOD NCC 1703

STARFLEET: ORIGINS

Anonymous

Search

ORIGINS: USS Hood March 2010

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Deus ex Machina

by Scott Lusby

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part one

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part two

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Triad part three

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Everyone Has a Plan

by Brian V. Mansur

[ORIGIN] USS HOOD: Join the Resistance!

by David Kiel

[ORIGIN] USS HOOD: The Sovereignty's Response

by Steve Apple

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: First Command

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Ready to Beam Down

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD/LEXINGTON: Transfer

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Shadowcloak

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Mr. Abrams

by Steve Apple

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Finding Yourself

by Steve Apple

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Getting Down to Business

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Mirror Motives

by Scott Lusby

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Not Much Time Left

by Brian V. Mansur

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Orbital Chess

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: “Facing Yourself Is Never Easy - JP

by Brian V. Mansur and Steve Apple

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Trying to Deal

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Poker With Blackjack...

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Scenes of Horror

by Brian V. Mansur

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: First Things First

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Lower Decks

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Lower Decks Part II

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: On the Verge...

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Murder Most Made to Order

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: On the Verge...

by Andy Catterick

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Respectability Has A Price

by Steve Apple

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Discovery in the Shuttlebay

by David Kiel

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Dark Diversion...

by David Martens

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: What Does Comprimised Actually Mean?

by Andy Catterick

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