Stardate: 70120:2115
Title: En Route
Author: Captain Deadilus
Time: After "Dry Cleaning of the Soul?"
Scene: USS Horizon


The Horizon cruised at a leisurely warp 4 through the fabric of space en route to its rendezvous with the USS Exeter. Having left Starbase 9 ahead of schedule to investigate the world of Tharan 3 several months earlier, the vessel still had some items in need of 'fine-tuning'. The Captain knew that the crew would be making the most of this upcoming quiet time to accomplish those little tasks.

As he sat on the bridge, late into the shift, the Captain let his thoughts wander. A pile of datapadds sat in the unoccupied XO's chair to his right and scattered across the small console between them; he picked another one up and began to read. Material requisitions, replicator matter status reports, crew transfers... Lieutenant Falls had been dealing excellently with running the Operations department and he had no doubt in her ability; he merely wanted to look over them for his own information, knowing that the Exeter was going to serve both as a crew transfer point and a supply vessel. Their first mission had consumed a surprising amount of replicator matter in fabricating treatments, portable isolation units, holding areas, mess and latrine facilities, but it had saved those people and was undoubtedly worth it.

After a while, as the numbers on the padd began to blur like the stars passing by outside the ship, the Captain stood from the chair.

"You have the bridge, Lieutenant. I'm going to stretch my legs," he informed Lt. Hill.

"Aye, Sir," Peter smiled, acknowledging the transition of power and moving to the command chair, moving aside a few padds on the centre console and reconfiguring it for basic helm control.

The rest of the bridge was quiet and primarily occupied with the B-crew, which was composed mainly of Ensigns and one or two junior officers, Lieutenant Hill covering part of the later shift to replace his ill counterpart. Ensign Drenden had also remained on the bridge, manning the Tactical station until such a time as the Captain decided to retire for the night.

~

The turbolift doors opened, granting the Captain passage to Main Engineering. Unlike on Deck 1, the Main Engineering level was a hive of activity as various engineers and scientists worked hard to diagnose and correct small glitches here and refine sensor arrays there. The Captain smiled, looking on as Ensign Farris and Ensign Ralari had a heated disagreement about the fundamentals of co-axial warp theory as they continued to work on interfacing the medium-range sensor arrays into the main sensor system - a minor flaw that had bugged them both for some time.

Walking back to the turbolift he decided he still needed to stretch his legs some more.

~

The turbolift doors opened once more, this time disgorging the Captain onto Deck 4. With the eighteen Ferengi survivors now medically cleared (barring minor injuries) Doctor Matthews had reprogrammed Holodecks 1 and 2 into temporary living quarters for them; it was still a squeeze but it beat the alternative. The Ferengi had come a long way in the last decade or so, being less about profit and more about exploration, although these Ferengi were still very much about the profit. But, with their command staff all gone, the few remaining survivors had embraced their rescuers openly.

The Captain sat with the assigned security detail, Ensigns Smith and Dumok, and one of the Ferengi, an elder named Gog, who regaled them with stories of when he had been exploring many years ago, before the Federation had first discovered the Ferengi.

~

Gog, having talked the Captain's, Cul's and Emma's all ears off, had finally fallen asleep with the help of a Stardrifter drink provided by Troy (luckily the barman had no 'Slug-o-cola' or snail juice onboard!). With almost all the other Ferengi also asleep the Captain once more stood to walk around the small ship, bidding the Security officers good night.

Walking out of the holodeck, past the crew quarters and towards the turbolift, the Captain decided to check on his Acting Chief Science Officer before he himself would retire for the night.

And so, as the turbolift whisked him once more on to his requested destination, the Captain pondered again over recent events; the Som-Nya and their dream chambers, the subsequent torture and forced 'dream sessions' of one of his crew, the Som-Nyan revolution. He wondered if anything they did they could have done differently, but he also knew that that sort of second-guessing could be self-destructive.

They could have refused to enter the dream chambers, but Dr. Matthews's own scans had deemed them safe, and to not do so could have been a diplomatic blunder; they could have dispensed with all the protocol, but that was not the Federation way; they could have forcibly removed their colleague earlier...

The Captain stumbled at this last one. Had he hesitated too long by exhausting every diplomatic avenue before deciding to rescue his colleague? No; he had been diplomatic, and Ambassador Rousseau had himself been involved in dealing with the Ferengi and dealing with the subsequent Som-Nyan installed governing council. David and he, having spoken earlier, saw no other way things could have played out.

As the doors to Sickbay opened the Captain looked across first to the three critically ill Ferengi, although a glimpse at their vitals showed a definite improvement in the last twenty-four hours, before looking across to Lt. Kehn. Doctor Matthews hovered nearby, himself staying late into the shift to keep an eye on the worst patients, whilst Ensign Doyle continued treatment on one of the more stable Ferengi.

Approaching Vaebn, he could see that the Romulan Starfleet officer was sleeping. Lt. Commander L'Cir sat beside the bed keeping an eye on his colleague, jumping when the Captain approached.

"Captain," the COS acknowledged.

"At ease, Dathan. How is he?" The Captain enquired.

"Doing better," he informed him. "The phsyical damage is pretty much healed but the Doctor has booked an appointment with him for Counsellor Thai or Counsellor Malloy in the next few days to help with his mental wellbeing."

The Captain smiled. Knowing how closed the Romulans could be that could be an interesting counselling session! Looking at the small but well-equipped sickbay the Captan noticed Ensign Colieon stood guard at the entrance he had passed through only moments before. He hadn't noticed the yound Ensign on duty, obviously a little more tired than he realised.

Nodding towards the other Security officer, Dathan explained that he had stationed him there for when the Ferengi woke up, to reassure them that they were safe and, when the time was right, escort them back to their friends or families in the holodecks, should they have some there.

~

The doors to the room closed gently behind the Captain and he sat at the desk to read the new messages.

Admiral Foster, having already been fully briefed on the situation earlier, had only wrote a short reply back, wishing the CSO a speedy recovery and detailing their next mission in brief, a formal copy of their orders to be delivered by Captain Nagama when the two met up once again...


==================
Captain Scott Deadilus
Commanding Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
==================