On Wed, 19 May 1999 17:52:17 GMT, smilodon@h2net.net (VanitySeven) writes to

USS Galileo <galileo@ucip.org>;:



~~~~Engineering~~~~



Tar'a was tired. Very tired, and her tolerance and very nature

suffered from the lack of rest and sleep. The doctor was still waiting

for her, but she never finished her duty for that day. Or was that

yesterday. Going for eighteen to twenty hours without sleep was now

common ground for her, and sometimes she would take a powernap of

three hours or less. If they would take a blood sample of her now, she

immediately would be confined to sickbay. The drugs soared through her

veins only to keep her going. She did not care about the side effects

nor efforts, only about results.



The warp drive system received her intimate attention for long hours

in a row, but somehow it seemed useless. The stuttering and shocking

of the drive was unhealthy, to say the least. When she would adjust

something here, align something there, something else would fail to

connect. Frustrated she sunk to the floor like a brick flopped in a

tempestuous ocean. Slowly her eyelids became heavy and the blinking

less forceful. Blackness slowly emerged, but she was fighting it with

all her might. Violently she slapped herself in the face, in a

desperate attempt to awaken herself.

"Wake up, you no good, bad excuse for an engineer," she screamed

to

herself. "C'mon you darn bag of bones, move ya lazy ass from the

floor!"



After some 'pep talk' she slowly rose again, unsteadily at her feet,

and tried to find some reserved energy from the little coffee that was

left. Carefully she sipped from the strong caffeinated liquid as if it

was the pure essence of the holy alkaloid. "Slowly roasted," she

mimed

half delirious. "and only the bravest of beans..." she stated

proudly

while holding up her mug high in the air. When she explored her

surroundings again the nightmare of reality came upon her.

"Hopeless," she sighed. "Hopeless."



She knew that she overlooked something, but failed to see what it was.

Shaking her head she walked around the warp core, closely inspecting

all the details. It was almost as if the warp core itself was here for

her to question, to humiliate and to endure whatever she wished to

dish out. Finally she was totally fed up with the core of her

frustration, and started cursing at it, as if it had feelings she

could hurt.

"I hope your darn dilithium crystal breaks in two, you piece of

crap,"

she shouted through engineering, and then it struck her. "The

crystal," she screamed. "I forgot about the darn crystal!"

Soon the

dilithium crystal was re-aligned and the Warp drive purred like a

happy kitten. Then her comm badge chirped.



<Ruckwood to Engineering>



"Uh," she started as she tried to remember her name. "Dach

here.

Whaddayawant." Silence.



<I've finished repairing the structural damage on the affected decks>



"Well done," Tar'a replied. "You've ah.. done a good job...

for a

ssscientitst uh-thing," she said trying to vocalize humor. It sounded

more like the gibberish of a drunk.=20



<I'll go and check where the party is Okay?>



"OK, Dach out."



She really had to go and see the doctor. It would not be wise to

receive guests in her current state, and thus was her next stop

sickbay.



~~~~Sickbay~~~~



"Oh my," the doctor gasped. "Look at you," he said.

"E-eye can't doc-tor. That's anatomythingy iiiimmposweble," she

stated

as a matter of fact with her swaying fingers pointed into the air.

The doctor mixed a few medications and filled up the hypospray. "This

will help with the symptoms, but your body desperately needs some

rest. Go to..." but the poor doctor was interrupted before he could

order her to bed.



<Bridge to Dach>



"Dach here. What can I do for you," she replied somewhat

refreshed.



<Ah sober again>, he joked. <It's good to hear that you're in a

better

shape. Come to the bridge. Our visitors have arrived>



"On my way, Ruckwood," she said as she rose from the biobed.

"Sorry

doctor, no hard feelings," and with that she disappeared into the

hallway.



~~~~Bridge~~~~



Atlanta was already onboard and drew herself back into her quarters.

Ruckwood and Dach would meet with the strangers outside the Galileo.

Dach was rather irrational and somewhat paranoid, but she did not

realize this herself. For her she was the same like she always had

been. If she only had taken the doctor's advice.



"Lets welcome them shall we," Tar'a said in a soft sarcastic

voice.

"We can meet at neutral ground, outside the Galileo and check them

out. If we feel secure we can beam them aboard, and if not... well

then they have to find a place to sleep elsewhere."



"Don't you think that's somewhat harsh," Ruckwood replied.

"After all,

if they stranded here they have had enough problems on their own."



"Maybe so," she shrugged and turned towards the big screen. "I

have

taken some security precautions. The commanding codes are on secured

audio files, and with those I can easily transfer the commands from

the bridge to main engineering. Just in case," she said. "Of course

I

had to hack into the system and jerry rig some sections, but I don't

want to loose this ship to someone who could be a potential danger."



"Sounds to me like you have a worse case of paranoia," Ruckwood

stated

calm. "With a little bad luck you'll be court marshaled."



"There is no mutiny. Our captain is dead! You hear me!? Dead!" she

screamed and slammed her fist against the control panel. "If we expect

the worse, that's when we think of this ship and our crew!"



Ruckwood sighed and shook his head disapproving Tar'a's attitude. "You

know... you could use some behavior therapy," he said quite seriously.



Her eyes shrunk to two small slits and her nose thrills trembled as

she violently inhaled large amounts of air. "Humph," she growled.



"Here, take this bracelet. It has an auto-activator for transporter

room one, which is the only transporter room working right now. As

soon as we feel that it is unsafe we press the button and are back to

safety," Ruckwood said to her, ignoring her childish temper tantrums.



"Fine," she snapped. "Lets go."



~~~~Outside Galileo~~~~



When they transported outside they only spotted two persons at first

glance. Ruckwood was armed with his tricorder and Dach had her phaser

ready to stun.



"Welcome," Ruckwood said. "I apologize for the distrust, but

the whole

situation makes me very uncomfortable."



"Welcome my ass," Dach sneered feeling annoyed. "Please state

your

name, rank and the nature of your business here. I warn you, I'm

currently quite trigger happy, so no excuses." she said with a strong

voice. "Whatever you have to tell, It better be good."



Strong emotions went through her mind. Confusion and insecurities

mixed with ripples of doubt. What she felt was close to paranoia, due

to the overdose of medication and the neglected but strongly needed

doctor's visits. The only one she really could trust was herself and

nobody else. They always wanted something, needed something. The only

thing they did was taking, but never giving back -- or so she thought.



"and who's wolfie over there," she remarked while nodding in the

direction of what seemed to be a gray or timber wolf.=20



<OOC: OK, so she is loosing it a bit. I thought it would be an

interesting twist to have her quite paranoid and see how everyone

interacts (or not) with her. If she feels reasons to, she might even

take over the bridge. Who knows. After all, she feels that _everyone_

is against her, it's all a conspiracy. Any objections?=20

Note: I'll sent out a draft if it gets pretty drastic, though>



Sincerely submitted,

=3D/\=3D Cdt. Tar'a Dach,

USS Galileo, CEO



Awards

Red ribbon of excellence