MD: 7.0800

LCDR Bal had been in Starfleet long enough to recognize a bad day when
he saw one. As he had anticipated, the customer had been less than
pleased about the missing D-warp shuttle, but Bal was able to convince
Mr. Simmons that it was not his fault. What Bal had not expected was
that Simmons would insist on inspecting the rest of the shipment aboard
his ship, the ARES.

Bal now found himself, along with 3 Ferengi deckhands, unloading crates
from a boxy cargo shuttle on to the deck of the shuttle bay of the
ARES. ARES crewmen were then taking the crates to the cargo bay where
they were supposed to convene to inspect the cargo. Bal expected that
the inspection would be much more than a cursory glance in a few crates.

It was time, Bal decided, to get the hell out of Dodge. He reached into
a pants pocket and pulled out his PADD. He pressed a sequence of keys
and activated the transponder hidden in one of the crates.

"Meson," one of the deckhands called out to him, a little short of
breath, "how many more crates do we have left."

Bal smiled slightly as he picked up a crate with an anti-grav gripper,
"We're about half way home."

*********
MD: 7.0800 - YAMATO - Bridge

> Jonathan got up and picked up his bag. "Thank you sir. I'll do her
> proud." He pivoted and followed the quartermaster out of the ready room.
>
> Ian watched the young man leave his ready room. "Adventuresome young
> man I see," he said with a smile then spun his chair twice and looked
> out his view window wondering what was going to happen next.
>

Ian did not have to wait long. The comm system beeped at him, "What
now," he muttered. He stabbed at a control with his finger and
activated the comm system, "McGregor, here."

*I'm picking up a signal from a Starfleet emergency transponder,
Captain.* Lieutenant Arlen, the Andorian relief OPS officer reported.

*Source?*

There was silence for a moment as Arlen worked to pinpoint the source of
the signal. *It appears to be coming from empty space near the edge of
our sensor coverage.*

Ian sighed, "I'll be right there."

**********
MD: 7.0800 - YAMATO - Chief Rebecca vanDelsie's Quarters

Rebecca was preparing to leave her quarters to head for engineering when
the PADD in her pocket started buzzing. She pulled it out and
acknowledged the alarm. She looked at the information on the display,
and her eyes widened. The alarm was triggered by the YAMATO picking up
a signal from an emergency transponder that could only be coming from
one person...

"Well, shit," Rebecca muttered. She paced around her quarters for a
moment, before stopping in front of the drawer unit. She pulled the top
drawer all the way forward, released it from the slides, and pulled it
all the way out of the unit. She set it on the floor and reached all
the way to the back of the unit. When she pulled her arm out, she held
an elongated black bag that she turned and set on the bed. She picked
the drawer up and put it back into place.

She unzipped the black bag and did a quick check of the contents. She
pulled out a small hand phaser and tucked it into a back pocket of her
pants. Satisfied, she closed the bag, and walked out of her quarters.

********
Moments later - YAMATO - Transporter Room 2

Rebecca walked through the doors of the transporter room and headed
directly for the control console. Unlike Transporter Room 1 the
secondary transporter was not normally manned, and she was alone. She
put the bag down next to the console, pulled out her PADD, and went to work.

It took her a few minutes to work out the math required for the
transport. It was tricky because all she had was a vector and a range
to follow. The long range sensors could give her only imprecise
information about the transport target. There were too many variables,
and while she was fairly certain that she had them all right, she didn't
want to start her rescue mission by missing the target and materializing
in space, because that would be very bad.

Rebecca thought for a moment, and then tapped her comm badge, "Chief
vanDelsie to Lieutenant Stephens."

There was a brief delay before Cassie replied, *Lieutenant Stephens
here. Go ahead Chief.*

"Can you meet me in Transporter Room 2? I need a hand with something."

*Sure. I'll be there in a few minutes.*

Rebecca set about getting ready for Cassie's arrival by unzipping the
bag and pulling out a Marine style web belt and putting it around her
waist. She attached a type-2 phaser to each side. She pulled a sheath
from the bag with a long knife in it and strapped it to her left thigh.

She checked the chronometer on the console and tapped her comm badge
again, "Chief vanDelsie to Lieutenant Seelee."

*Yes Chief?* Reon replied.

"I need you to bring a security detail to Transporter Room 2."

*A security detail? Is something the matter?*

"Not yet, but I might need you here."

There was a pause, as if Reon was considering what to do, *I'm on my
way. Seelee out.*

Rebecca let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding.
She reached back into the bag and pulled out a pair of photon grenades.
She attached them to the back of the belt.

Rebecca started slightly at the sound of the door opening and her left
hand went to the handle of the phaser at her side. She saw Cassie walk
through the door.

"Sorry that it took me so long to get here Chief," Cassie said, "What do
you need help with?"

If Cassie noticed Rebecca's odd equipment, she didn't say anything.
"Can you check my math?" Rebecca asked with a gesture toward the
transporter console. "The target coordinates are being fed in from the
communications system."

"Sure," Cassie replied as she took her place in front of the transporter
console.

Rebecca reached into the bag and pulled out a compression phaser rifle.
She put the strap across her shoulder and across her back, settling the
weapon across her chest. She took another look at the chrono. It was
almost show time.

*************************
NRPG:
Tag to either Kris (eventually Cassie has to wonder what's up) or
Federico (the arrival of Reon and the security detail). It's time to
rescue a Ferengi...

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. My daughter-critter was
telling me that heard a story on NPR (National Proletariat Radio)
yesterday that an original copy of the Declaration of Independence had
recently been found among old correspondence in the archives in
England. She said that the British blamed the "bloody awful post" for
it taking so long to be found. I'm fairly certain that she was kidding.

Respectfully submitted,
Alton
Rebecca vanDelsie - Secret Agent Woman - YAMATO

--
Alton J. Reich
ajreich100{at}gmail.com

"If there’s no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters …
then all that matters is what we do." -- Angel, "Epiphanies"