USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202003.27 Bridge & Main Engineering: . The Penumbra had dropped out of warp in interstellar space having fled the battle scene back at the nebula and water world. They had enveloped a "friendly" Kyrathian Colony Ship within their shields and then towed it with a tractor beam at warp. The drain on their systems had overloaded many circuits and now they sat, steaming with exertion and trying to catch their breath. . Lt. Tabeshk Tibris, Chief of Operations, spun his chair and said, "Well, since this was kinda my idea to bring a friendly Kyrathian on the ship, should I go manage that, sir?" . But instead of responding to that question, the Captain barked out, "Status report!" Tabby turned back to his console to check the ship's systems. . But it was the Tactical Officer, LtJG Denovan Hawke, who answered first, "Shields are holding at 85%. All weapons systems were shut down before the warp jump." . The Chief Engineer, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry called up from Main Engineering, her strong Scottish Brogue nearly unintelligible, unless you knew her. "I'm daein tha baist I kin, sair, bit ainjains ur awflein aind gaineraturs air oonly aiboot 85%. Werkin an buistin ait fer ye." . The Chief Science Officer and Acting First Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Relok, checked long-range sensors and reported, "I don't think the Aslans bothered to pursue us. But, sir, we may have political repercussions." . Tabby grumbled, "Eh, they can suck it, Relok." The Vulcan lifted one eyebrow at Tabby's back but said nothing. As if he felt the recrimination, Tabby muttered, "Well, for now, anyway." . The Chief of Flight Operations, Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter reported, "Helm controls are sluggish at best. Warp drive is offline. Inertial dampers are hovering at 70%." He ran his fingers across the console for a few seconds and then continued, "Nacelles 2 and 3 are both showing overstress."

. Zak let out a sigh and then said, "OK, Carter, we'll park here for now." . Carter acknowledged, "Aye, sir. I'm venting excess. I'll try to keep us able to move in a pinch if we have to." . The Captain turned to his Tactical Officer, "Hawke keep an eye out for any other Kyrathians. We know they all talk to each other and the ones that got blasted back there probably told the rest of the Swarm all about it." . Hawke gave a curt nod, "I'm sure they did." . Zak tapped his commbadge, "Engineering, try to restore power and make any needed repairs. Prioritize shields and weaponry in case we need them soon." . Tabby asked, "Sir, what about warp drive?" . But before he could respond, they saw the Cerberus drop out of warp and decloak near the Penumbra. Hawke reported the arrival, "Cerberus is now here, Captain." . Zak tapped his commbadge, "Colonel, we need to talk. In my Ready Room." . Patterson responded as if he expected it, "Aye, sir. Inbound to dock now, two minutes." . Finally, the Captain responded to Tabby's original suggestion, "Oh, and Tabby, anybody going over to the Kyrathian ship has to be well protected in our reinforced biosuits AND needs to have a way to communicate." . Hawke gave a smirk and mumbled, "So ... no taking cookies over?" . Tabby suggested, "Sir, let's bring the eggs aboard first, to their mother. Then you guys can talk." . The Captain answered, "Tabby, we have her eggs in the Cerberus' cargo bay. They're still in their ... uh ... incubator. Mom can have her eggs once we've had our chat. Not before." . Tabby persisted, "I ... Can we at least make sure she knows they're safe, and here?"

. But before the Captain could respond, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala called with his report from Sickbay. He had delayed reported so he could finish checking on the injured. "Captain, we have about a dozen or so here with seriously limiting injuries who'll be out of commission for several days. The rest of the injured should be able to return to duty by the next shift, or the shift after that." . Zak tapped his commbadge and responded, "A dozen serious? I guess that's to be expected with all 8 Flyers deployed in that mess back there. Keep me posted." . The Cerberus flew into the Hangar Bay and gently landed, but Patterson left the ship on minimal power, just to keep the shields up and prevent the eggs from being tampered with. He removed his helmet and tapped the commlink in his armPADD, "Bridge, Cerberus is down and on standby. I'm on my way." . Zak tapped his commbadge, "Acknowledged." Then he turned to his Vulcan Science Officer, "Relok, you have the Bridge." He stood and walked to the door of his Ready Room. . Relok looked over to Tabby, responding to the request that the Captain had not responded to. "Tabby, send her a Text Message: 'Eggs safe. We have. Talk soon.'" He paused and then added, "Well, assuming you can find the right glyphs for all that." . Tabby grunted, "Yeah, yeah, I just wish I could actually BE there." He started typing his message, picking through their limited vocabulary of symbols and trying to pick the right associations to convey the right message. . Carter let out a sigh, shook out his hands, then cracked his knuckles, "All right, a little reprieve is nice." . Tabby breathed a sigh and said, "Welp, written and sent. Let's see how that goes. In the meantime ...," he slumped in his chair, almost hitting his ridged forehead on the console as he nearly collapsed from stress-induced exhaustion.

. After a moment, Hawke mentioned, "You know, I could maybe help with those glyphs, come to think of it. Sort 'em out a little better." He pointed to his eye, the one that still bore a Borg optical implant. . Relok turned and looked over at Hawke. "Not a bad idea, Lt. Maybe that optical processor can make sense out of those things. They ... are not logical." . Hawke said, "Send them over to my console, if you will, Tabby. I'd say ... one of the back panels since I also need to keep an eye on the sensors." . Tabby sat up, "Yeah, I got you. Sending now." . Beyond the Ready Room door, they could hear raised voices as the Captain and Patterson were having their ... conversation. Everyone on the Bridge studiously ignored the sounds as the glyphs appeared on Hawke's panel. He began studying them, cross-referencing the ones Tabby and T'Lin had already figured out. . Relok said, "Hawke, T'Lin was beginning to put together associations. Seems like a lot of the glyphs change each other when connected. Wierdest language I remember trying to decipher." . Hawke continued studying them as he said, "Okay, I get it. It's like Japanese. You have one symbol for one word, but when using in a sentence it can change or be in a different spot than you think it should go." . Tabby groaned and then said, with playful sarcasm, "Hence why I figured it out so easy. Look at how I grew up. Genius!" . Hawke smirked at Tabby, "A'ight, smartass!" . Relok stood and walked over to Hawke, "No, it's even more complicated. One glyph next to another specific glyph means one thing, but if you put it with a different glyph it changes its meaning altogether." He paused then added, "Like T'Lin having trouble between 'eggs' and 'seeds' and 'shortage' or 'storage'." . Hawke watched the glyphs as he moved them around his screen, "So, that one ... there, this one ... here." After a pause he said, "Yeah, like Japanese, or Mandarin, or ... I guess a better example would be Egyptian."

. Tabby chuckled, "Or any Asian language." . Hawke had gone through quite a number of the glyphs, enough of them that they were beginning to crowd his Tactical panel, so he transferred the whole thing to the Master Systems Display behind him. . Carter stood and walked over to the MSD to study the glyphs on a larger screen, "Hell, looks like a pictograph to me." . Tabby grumbled, "They're all damned symbols, glyphs are no different." . Hawke nodded, "Right, like Egyptian, or a mix of like Kanji and hieroglyphs." . Meanwhile, down in Main Engineering, Bevin was coordinating teams to work on repairing overstressed systems, trying to get them back into the best possible working order. She was worried they might not get to use Aslan repair facilities again. . Tabby gestured towards the noises coming from the Captain's Ready Room, "How long do you think those two will continue having their hissy fits? Anyone wanna guess?" . Relok raised an eyebrow as he turned to Tabby, "Lt. Tibris, the Captain does not have 'hissy fits'!" . Hawke smirked, "I'll put two latinum chips on ten minutes." . Relok scowled at each of them, turning his attention back to Tabby. "And you shouldn't be listening in on conversations in the Captain's Ready Room! Do you have a bug in there?" . Tabby replied, "You know what I mean, Relok, have a sense of humor! And no, I don't have a bug in there. Don't tell me you can't hear those two!" . Relok cocked his head slightly and answered, "Vulcan hearing exceeds human. I suppose your Romulan ears are almost as good." . "No, really?" Tabby gave him a sarcastic startled look. . Hawke voiced his frustration, "This would take only a few minutes if I was allowed to just interface with the computer for that data block with my tubules." . Relok turned to Hawke, "You know how the ship reacts to your tubules, Lt. Maybe we could modify a specific console, like your alcove or something?"

. Tabby agreed, "Yeah, Hawke, let's not go 'zappy zappy' again." . Hawke responded, "I know, and I know how Patterson feels about that, but it really would make things go faster. Maybe something to bring up to the Captain later." . Carter shook his head at the glyphs on the MSD and then asked, "Anything on sensors, Hawke?" . Hawke answered, "Wasn't last I checked before I came over here." He tilted his head and pressed a few buttons to transfer the data back. "Okay, for the moment. I think without more time that's all I'm gonna get, 63% figured. If I'm right." . Tabby smirked and asked, "Movie, anyone, while we wait for them to quit it?" But just as he said that Patterson stepped out of the Ready Room onto the Bridge. Tabby quickly straightened and asked, "Oh, hello, Patty Boy, eggs safe?" . "Define safe," Patterson said with a smirk as he stepped towards the XO seat. . "Safe as in here on the ship, untouched, and all accounted for, smartass," Tabby snapped back. . Relok turned to Patterson, "Welcome back, Colonel. I hope your chair still fits you." . Tabby snorted with laughter, "Pfft! The Vulcan does have a sense of humor! That's hilarious!" . Patterson sat himself in the XO seat and wriggled his backside, making a big show of it. "Been gaining a few pounds, haven't you Relok? Damn thing feels hollowed out!" . Carter burst out laughing at that as he made his way back to the Helm. Tabby also laughed and even Hawke snickered a bit. Relok merely raised an eyebrow and moved over to the Science Station. . Hawke moved back to the Tactical station and said, "Wanna check that over, Tabby, that I just sent you?" . Tabby wiped tears from his eyes and said, "Ah, yeah, I can. Checking them over now." . Hawke said, "I think that should have a little over half of the translations and the syntax for sentence structure ... mostly right." . Tabby was still chuckling as he said, "Okay, what am I looking for, Hawke?"

. He answered, "Double checking what I worked up for the glyphs. Pretty sure I got 63% figured out." . Relok said, "Mr. Hawke, I think we can trust your optical processor to correlate symbols ... I'm just not 100% confident you'll get the grammar and syntax. But, you admit you only have about 63% figured out, so ... best we got." . Hawke replied, "Right, which is why I suggested the other way to go about it but, I can't right now. So, yeah, best we've got." . About that time the Captain emerged from the Ready Room. Without preamble he said, "Colonel, get some biosuits together and assemble a small team of psychic members to be our Diplomatic Party to the Kyrathians. It's time we engaged our new friend." . Tabby opened a commlink to Sickbay, "Shadow, can you tell our Kyrathian friend that her eggs are here and safe, but we need to talk? Thank you. Telepathically would be preferred. Friend or not she's still a risk with the spores." . Shadow responded, "I'll do my best." . Patterson stood and nodded at the Captain, "Carter, you're in my stead." He waved at the XO seat and then continued, "T'Lin, Relok," he gestured towards the Turbolift. He tapped his commbadge and called Sickbay, "Doc, need your psychic mind for a diplomatic mission, TR1, 20 minutes?" . Carter nodded at Patterson and moved to the XO seat but stood in front of it muttering, "Not about to weight-shame ME." . The Captain gave Patterson a slight nod and sat himself in his own seat. Ready Room: . As the Captain stepped from the Bridge into his Ready Room, he stepped over to his desk and leaned on it, letting out a heavy sigh. . A few moments later, Patterson stepped through the door from the corridor and stood silently at parade rest just inside as the door slid shut. . The Captain turned to his First Officer, a scowl on his face. "Colonel, what the hell were you thinking? Who do you think you are, anyway?" . Patterson answered, "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

. The Captain continued to glare at him. "Why?" His voice shot up a bit in intensity. "Why should I allow you to say whatever you want? Again, who the hell do you think you are? You're a damn Command Officer!" . Patterson couldn't stop the smirk that creeped onto his face. "Because you asked me a question to which I cannot appropriately answer without the authority to speak without restrictions." . "Well ... Colonel ...," the Captain began, "maybe you need to learn how to behave within restrictions!" . Patterson regained his bearing and said, "An asset was needed with more capability to provide recon whilst the Penumbra withdrew. One that wouldn't be detected, and had the firepower to defend itself in single contact. We have that asset. Starfleet consistently reminds us all, especially Command Officers, to always weigh the crew against the well-being of an individual, sir. Besides, had it not been for me and the Cerberus, we wouldn't have a bargaining chip with our new friend." . The Captain continued to glare at him. "You need to learn Chain of Command, Colonel, and delegation of duties." He turned around to collect his thoughts. . Patterson took a step forward, "With respect, sir ... there's nobody else in this quadrant, much less on this ship, who can pilot that vessel. I know what I signed up for, and I know there's a damn good crew backing me. Command officer or not, there's others who can cover that post."

. Zak whirled on him, nearly shouting, "Don't give me that 'I'm the only one for the job' BS! Train somebody if you need to." He took a breath trying to calm himself, "Travis, I need you on the Bridge, not playing hero. You're not a grunt anymore." . With the first-name address instead of rank, Patterson relaxed slightly. "I've heard this a dozen times from you alone, Zak. I don't take any unnecessary risks, in my book. Training someone to fly the Cerberus isn't just as simple as giving them a document and flight hours. It doesn't work that way for SFI." . Zak sighed. "That ship of yours is special, I get that, and highly useful, and it only works for you, because of all its 'super secret' stuff from SFI, I get it, but ... we need to let others do what they do. Command, Travis, and let others do their thing." . Patterson stared ahead for a moment, and then tried to change the subject. "Are we gonna have Shadow make contact again?" . Zak heaved another weary sigh. "I don't know of any other way, unless there's another telepath. T'Lin's got some talent, Relok if he touches somebody. I think Bevin's got some empathic abilities too, not sure." . "What about Carter, Captain?" Patterson asked. "He seems to be showing symptoms of telepathic ability." . "Carter? I don't remember seeing anything in his dossier ...," he trailed off and then straightened, "So, let's pick somebody, or some few, and get them ready." He paused and then added, "Oh, by the way, Travis, good job out there." He smirked, "Don't do it again." . "If I do," Patterson smirked back, "I'll probably not tell you anyways, Zak." He turned to leave. . The Captain stood there, letting Patterson exit onto the Bridge alone first. Once the doors closed, he turned back and leaned his head against the glass window. He muttered to himself, "I hope we get info from this Kyrathian that counters pissing off the Aslans!"

. He stayed there a moment before straightening himself and saying, "Ah, well, time to find out." Giving a tug on his uniform he turned to exit the Ready Room back to the Bridge. Sickbay: . In Sickbay, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala was continuing to treat the injured that had come in after the harrowing fight at the nebula. With him was Nine of Twelve, the recently de-assimilated Borg medical drone, recently granted a provisional Starfleet rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and assigned as the Head Nurse. . Nine was checking on Sandoval, the Marine pilot of Delta 5 who had likely seen the worst of the fighting. Sandoval groaned, "Urggh ... I feel like my insides have been rearranged." . When the Captain ordered for a status report, Shadow finished what he was doing and finally called it in, "Captain, we have about a dozen or so here with seriously limiting injuries who'll be out of commission for several days. The rest of the injured should be able to return to duty by the next shift, or the shift after that." . The Captain's voice came back over the comm, "A dozen serious? I guess that's to be expected with all 8 Flyers deployed in that mess back there. Keep me posted." . "Aye, sir," Shadow responded and returned to his patients. . Nine spoke to Sandoval, "Considering your issues, I have no doubt about how you feel. You have a concussion, and whiplash to your neck and spinal area. Thankfully those are the more serious injuries, Sandoval, mostly just scrapes and bruises." She gave him a soft smile. . Sandoval gave her a weak smile back, "Yeah, that would be from tumbling and falling out of the chair a couple times." . Shadow caught up with them then. He said, "Well, Sandy, you just need to rest and let those injuries heal up and we'll discuss balance therapy later on." . Nine smiled at Shadow and nodded, "I agree ... Sandy." . Sandoval looked over at Hines on the next bed, "She's catching onto Marine mentality fast, eh?"

. "What?" she asked, a slight blush coming over her face, "I thought the nickname was cute." Her human side was starting to show through the Borg façade. . Hines raised an eyebrow. "I know you're not wearing makeup, Nine. Is that ... a blush?" . Nine's eyes went wide. "N-no," she stammered, turning away, her hands reflexively coming to her cheeks. She thought to herself that this couldn't be possible. She was Borg! Borgs didn't blush ... right? . Shadow was grinning at them even as he said, "Hinies, that's enough, let the lass alone." . Hines shook his head, a smirk on his face, "No, no, I think it looks adorable, Doc." . Shadow answered, "So do I, Hinies, but ... let her deal with things at her own pace, please." . Nine peeked at Hines out of the corner of her eye, unconsciously biting her lower lip. "Huh?" she asked, blinking. "I'm not cute at all," she said, still blushing furiously. She was Borg, how could they possibly think her "cute". They should be despising her for what she was! . Shadow was speaking to Nine, "Nine, I think you are adorable, smart, and have a great head on your shoulders, and I like being around you. You make me feel at ease like an old friend that I haven't seen for a long time." . Nine looked from one to the other, wishing someone would explain. She said, "Ok ... thank you." . Hines rolled his eyes and then chuckled, "I think you need to brush up on human analogies and terminology a bit more, Nine." . Nine asked, "What do you mean?" . Then Hines turned to look at Shadow, "I think we're about finished here, Doc? Keep Sandoval for a day or so?" . Shadow answered, "Yes, Hinies, at least another day, and we'll see after that." . Hines turned back to Nine, "I might not be the best to ask, Nine." . Nine balled up her hands into fists and pouted at Hines. "You're the one who brought it up, so why not be the one to explain it?" . Shadow smirked, "If Hines doesn't, I will explain later."

. Hines sighed, shaking his head. He looked up at Shadow, "I'm a horrible influence, and yet I generally have to offer guidance to a bunch of other Devildogs." He stepped off the bed and turned to Nine, towering over her, "I like when you blush. It looks good on you." . Nine had to look up at the giant man. "Okay," she said. Her blush deepened even further at the thought that he thought it looked good on her. . Shadow said, "He's right, Nine. The slight flushing of your cheeks is most becoming." . Nine suddenly felt shy and covered her cheeks with her hands to hide her blush. . Hines chuckled gently, and gave Nine's shoulder a rub. "Your human is showing. I like the change." . Nine couldn't help but smile, tapping her cheeks to try to calm her blush. She gave Sandy a soft smile and then turned to check supplies, trying to keep busy. . Hines turned to Shadow and gave a nod, then faced Sandoval. "Take 48 hours, Sandy. Flight deck, 1800 hours, day 3." He turned to leave, giving Nine a wink as he did so. He turned back to Shadow at the door, "Keep me updated on my Chief, Doc?" . Shadow smiled back at him, "Sure thing, Hinies." . Then a call came from Lt. Tabeshk Tibris on the Bridge, "Shadow, can you tell our Kyrathian friend that her eggs are here and safe, but we need to talk? Thank you. Telepathically would be preferred. Friend or not she's still a risk with the spores." . Shadow responded, "I'll do my best." . A few moments later, another call came from the Bridge, this time from Lt. Col. Travis Patterson, "Doc, need your psychic mind for a diplomatic mission, TR1, 20 minutes?" . Shadow acknowledged and then entered his office and sat down at his desk. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind for the Kyrathian Mother and let her know her eggs were safe and that a meeting was requested.

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