Pher

Then there is the CNN article, "Finally, Captain Kirk has his cloaking device". Bath Ironworks recently launched a new stealth destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, first of the DDG-1000 class stealth ships. It is reported to have the radar cross section of a fishing boat. Scheduled to be its first commander? Captain James A Kirk. :)

Then there is CNN's article, "Shields up! Scientists work to produce 'Star Trek' deflector device." We're all aware, I suspect, that radiation problems make just a trip to Mars unhealthy, let alone staying there on a planet with no magnetic field to deflect radiation. They're working it. A magnetic field is one of the concepts under consideration. An alternative is to bulk up on material objects between space and the biological cargo, stuff like food... fuel... human waste. Another plausible approach, but less romantic. I don't know about saying "Activating deflector shields, captain!" just before flushing.

Joe was wrong, for the moment at least. Just now, Pher wanted nothing to do with taking over this crew. They were great at improvising, but what the improvised into was generally frontal assault with explosion. There was time for that. It had saved their bacon often enough. But Joe kept leading them into convoluted political messes. They just didn't have the discipline or patience to unravel the complex situations and come up with a plan to solve it. They were the wrong people for an ugly job. Almost. Pher thought she might have enough pieces of the puzzle to start playing the game if she could just stop the stampede long enough to remind people they had objectives and a need for stealth. "Audrey, dust safeties to 70 percent," she said softly. She looked at the lift driver. Not ugly. Not Adonis, either. Heck. She let her fear drive her glands rather than lust. Not too strong a dosage, but more than a hint. Not enough to addict. She looked into his eyes and smiled. "You want adventure? Romance? Latinum? Gular with a black eye? Convince your dispatcher all is well with the world." She decided not to bother with the stick that came with the carrot. He'd already encountered the sticks.

Next, it turns out we may not need warp drive to reach Vulcan. They discovered a few maybe not moons orbiting the not planet Pluto. A vote was called to name the moons. Shatner and Nimoy called on fans to vote one of them Vulcan. Vulcan won the vote. We'll see if it sticks. It's an awful cold place to call Vulcan. CNN called their article, "Live long and prosper: Vulcan wins vote to name Pluto moon."

Next, we have the beginnings of a tractor beam? Sky News has an article, Star Trek 'Tractor Beam' Created By Scientists.

Then, in the learning to walk before you can run department, we have [an article on technologist.com called "Channeling Star Trek: Researchers to Begin Fusion Impulse Engine Experiments"] The engineers working on the project are indeed calling it impulse drive. I think they are wrong, however, in trying to confuse deuterium with dilithium. <_<

Guys? Everybody? Listen up? I'm going to run at the mouth a bit here. First, attaboys all around. We're not an elite command team, and aren't likely to ever be one, but we got through this one pretty well. Thing is, it's just one job. At least six more on the queue. I've got some things I'd like to see planned or done. A good number of them require tech skill I haven't got. I'd like each of you to consider taking the lead on more jobs. Troy? Start of the fight you were feeding a cat. I stopped you, pulled you into the firefight. Would you believe I've had second thoughts? I'd been assuming that the Mad Doc was the boss guy of the robot bunch. I'm not so sure about that now. Is it worth chasing down the cat? Is there any way to figure out if there is anyone above the Mad Doc that the machines were reporting to? The Mad Doc was wearing Joe's ODRI. How much did he use it? Did he leave anything behind we could learn from? Anyone care to dig into the ODRI? One job on Gilmo's list is moving stuff from a Gular warehouse to one of Gilmo's. Work has started on that. How much more polishing do we need? Mind you, I know very few plans last longer than first contact with the other side, but I'd like enough of a plan to hope it might possibly work, with enough knowledge on the side to ad-lib? I've two alternate realities I might want to sell. Which should we push? Anyone have a third? The first says the reason we came to this rock was an invite from Gilmo. Gilmo thought Joe too old and drunk and Sal too much an idealistic former Fed dreamer to work under his organization. He thus sent them to get a fatal physical at the Mad Doc's. We were warned of this. If pressed real hard we might mention Argyle as the one who gave us the warning. Our first attack on the Mad Doc was purely to rescue two friends. Gilmo's fault. The second attack was to rescue Zaph. The Mad Doc's fault. The second option starts with three tasks Gilmo gave us… the warehouse job, killing a station security guy, and rehiring two Gilmo guys who've gone over to Gular. Given three real Gilmo jobs, we might forge two other Gilmo jobs, the attacks on the Mad Doc. Neither of the above sell jobs is entirely satisfactory. They both involve us as well as Gilmo. If somebody has a better cleaner idea to promote, speak up. I'll accept criticism of my two proposals in far better grace if accompanied with a scheme that will work better. I would like to talk to the Guardians. I'd like to run that solo. I'm inclined to tell em a good deal about the goo, but not that we have a sample, no mention of Ethan, no mention of possible lab work. I might want a brief talk to Argyle. If I'm going to mention his name on anything, I'll want to clear it first. He also knows a lot of locals. He might give me a warning if I haven't read people's motivations right. I might want to talk to the guy we're supposed to kill. He's after Gilmo. If we offer him Gilmo's head on a plate, I might want to ask him to vanish briefly, to pretend we took him out, to give us a few days of credibility. We're eventually going to have to talk to the two guys Glimo wants to retire from Gular. I'm idly wondering if they might want Gilmo's head on a plate too, or to take over Gilmo's op after Gilmo is gone. Ethan has been feeding us stuff on the long term job. It's too soon to start planning that one, but we can't forget that's our long term goal, either. Think about it. Comments? Conjectures about my ancestry? Propositions? Offers to work on some of the above projects?

Well, It's kind of unfortunate that you've been away long enough to no longer recognize Joe Manning's voice.... :rolleyes:

Pher considered things deeply, then looked about at the others. “Culture here seems to emphasize initiation, paying one’s dues. I doubt anyone’s going to do much anything for us until we’ve done something for them. Judging how spectacularly we botched the ‘look around and stay out of trouble’ scout run, we aren’t going to get our primary mission done without a native guide, and Argyle is likely it. So, the two obvious options are to play to Argyle’s script or cut and run. Given our money situation, we’ve got to take a long hard look at Argyle’s script. “He obviously intends us to work in with Gilmo. He’s likely right. If we’re going to clobber Gilmo, we want to get close to him first. I figure we ought to do at least two of Gilmo’s three projects before turning on him. Doing all there might even get us paid. “Now, some of you ought to be better at hijacking warehouse contents or taking people out than I am. I’d like everyone to pick a project or two they think they’d be good at, get the information available from Troy, and work out a plan. “I’ll contribute one idea to start things going. I just got a call from Joe. Now, Joe is here, so it wasn’t Joe. I figure it was Joe’s ODRI. That says someone is digging through the rubble at the Mad Doc’s, and found Joe’s ODRI. “One of our jobs for Argyle is to blame the Mad Doc disaster on Bossman. Now, ODRIs run in open share mode and secure mode. If Joe’s ODRI isn’t on Joe’s wrist, it’s going to be hard for them to break into secured files. On the other hand, using Audrey and, assuming we can wake up Joe, using certain passwords, we might be able to securely access Joe’s ODRI and load it up with incriminating files. This might incriminate Gilmo, but us as well. “There’s also the problem of timing. If we’re working with Gilmo when he hears about the incriminating files, things are apt to get confusing. Thus, we’ll want to be in position to take out Gilmo before or just as security gets a hold of any incriminating files. “Not a perfect plan. Tricky. Anyone come up with a better? I’d be pleased if you can. Troy, do you think you’re up to the ODRI work? “Byblos? Seems to me that moving stuff from one warehouse to another isn’t all that dissimilar to what you used to do on Tranquility? Would you consider planning that one out? “Anyone else like to claim a job?”

Pher observed everyone settling into the safe area, made sure the docs had what the docs needed, then turned to Argyle, also calling over any who might wish to hear. “Sorry, Argyle. This did not go well. The cover up is much appreciated. By my reckoning, we owe you big, and I wouldn’t blame you if what you asked was to leave your turf without causing further ruckus. We’ll see. “On what happened… This bunch is not short on skills or courage. Thing is, we’re a mixed group. All of us come from different turfs, play different games under different rules. One major similarity is that none of us come from this turf. Four pairs went out with intent to get the lay of the land without getting into trouble. Three of em ended up in some type of trouble. “You gave us a fair briefing on the situation, and left us in a public lobby. Shane took off heading right in the front door. I figured in some respects he was right. We didn’t have time for a committee meeting. We can plan a job, even with our differing backgrounds making the process slow, time we didn’t have with Joe maybe being cut up. “When I started in, I had no idea what I was going to do. By the time I was through the door, I had a line. I assumed we had more firepower than they’d really want to deal with, which turned out to be correct. I’d sell them if they didn’t murder our people all would be cool, but if they insisted on murdering our people, the result would be very uncool. I tried to threaten more with exposure than force, but didn’t let them ignore force. Simple choice, all cool or utter destruction. Doctor Z ended up choosing utter destruction. “He wanted the name of someone with connections. You told us not to give your name. Shane dropped the name ‘Bossman,’ which resulted in a call where Bossman didn’t back us up. This seemed to lock the Doc into the need for a name that would back us up. “You were talking to Byblos? I asked “Tourguide” for permission to break the confidentiality clause. What I was asking for was permission to use your name, but I didn’t feel I could say that clearly when we were being heard. Was I too cryptic? I could likely have avoided explosions if I could have dropped your name, but you had said not to. Didn’t know the situation well enough to go against your one limiting command. Didn’t think the Doc would be as paranoid as he turned out to be. I kept the pressure on. The Doc set the fuses and ran. Boom. “With 20 20 hindsight, there are a bunch of things I’d like to have done different. During the early talking phase we had three scams going rather than one. As things started to get ugly the Doc was still willing to talk, but one of us stunned him. We all ran around looking for Joe and Sal, leaving the Doc unattended. Should have left a watch on him, or stunned him again heavy enough that he couldn’t get up and resume making trouble before we were gone. We also had the door to the control room open. With two clinic people unaccounted for, we should have left a guard on the room. Somebody with an ODRI should have been doing nothing but tracking the location of clinic personnel. We didn’t go in prepared. Simple stuff like having extra power cells, light and some rope would have been nice. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We’re not well polished team. We’re still learning simple stuff. “My people are at their best and worst in chaos and making chaos. Once things were gone to pot, when I ran out of ideas, I let em run wild with their own ideas. It worked well enough that we got out, but I’ve got to learn to delegate better, and everyone has to learn to cover the field rather than each reaching for the biggest possible boom.” Pher shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t know whether you have a job for us, are trying to buy in on our own scheme, or if you have come to your senses after seeing us in action. I’d advise you not drop us off the deep end no warning again, though I appreciate that you let us pull Joe and Sal out. You know as well as I our need for a local guide. “Anything else?”

Byblos stepped forward, in a comfortable discussion position between Pher and Argyle. "Argyle, I personally owe you for preventing my unwarranted arrest by this station's pig security. I may of been able to compensate you for that in someway." Byblos looked down then to Pher and then back to Argyle. "Your help on extracting our crew from that meatshop,... however I personally don't see why you did it. We F*cked up. If I were in your boots I would of just shook my head and walked away from that bench when you and I were talking." "Yeah, I'll say it." Byblos turned to Pher "sorry to say this Lifeguard, but this crew currently does not have the ability to pull of the job offered us." The Nausicaan returned his view to Argyle. "I owe you that bit of honesty Argyle. Frankly I do not understand what your interest in this crew is. It seems to me ...a bad investment." Byblos finished with a glance to Pher with a shake of the head as he took a seat nearby to listen if the discussion developed further.

Shane had taken off straight to the front door without waiting on a plan. Byblos was missing. Troy was bouncing around making glib comments in a way that Pher at least couldn’t predict. They had a scam going. Three of them, actually. Mutually incompatible. After Arygle had requested his name not be dropped, one of his underling’s names had been dropped anyway. Business as usual? Yet, somehow, things felt a lot better than prior fiascos. Was she getting used to this? Perhaps it was that no shots had been fired yet. She hoped none would. She fully expected a visit from station security shortly after the first energy weapons discharge. It might yet work. She had more of her people than their people at the point of contention. The Redhead should be able to see a bigger disaster upcoming if she didn’t cave than the hope of profit could justify. Pher had counted on the New Risa culture being reflected here. You don’t want the bosses to hear bad news. If little people bumped head to head, it was a lot better to back off and pretend nothing had happened than to push. Of course, it was easier to quietly make issues go away when on is playing Beach Queen, and this was a jungle rather than a beach. Little Red also seemed to be a boss’s girl, needing permission for everything. They would have to play it out. Pher just had to quietly innerly resolve that if The Redhead made a bad choice, she’d regret it. That way she didn’t much have to do any play acting.

Pher walked aside Argyle, thinking. A bad habit, perhaps, but maybe someone ought to give it a try? As far as she could read from Troy, he seemed to accept that he had gotten into trouble legitimately. She’d have to ask, eventually, but it didn’t seem the time with Argyle listening. Oh, she didn’t doubt that Troy could get into trouble, or Shane, or Byblos, or anyone else on the crew up to and including Joe. That was the crew’s specialty, getting into trouble. But if this Argyle was so good at getting them out of trouble, had he helped get them into trouble in the first place? Part of this charade was an attempt to create a debt and some trust. The whole thing was proceeding nicely to that end. Pher just wasn’t sure how much of the charade was a charade. She also wasn’t sure how much it mattered. If he was good enough to set up the double level charade, he was perhaps worthy of working with anyway. He might not be worthy of trust, and perhaps the apparent debt wasn’t real, but whatever was coming down this Argyle had obviously played games and survived at Gular’s level. He knew what he was doing, and was playing on his home turf. Which the Qob crew didn’t, and rather obviously didn’t. So far, he seemed to be taking the Qob crew seriously. Pher wasn’t quite sure if he was more obtuse than he seemed, or whether her own perceptions of the crew were overly pessimistic. Likely some of both. Point one. If he was with Gular first and primary, the mission was over. His eyes were that good, and his attention was on them. Point two. They needed inside contacts. Samus had a few people on the inside, but nothing at all like the full organization Argyle was showing them. Point three, they weren’t going to be able to work with another inside group. Argyle was going to be looking for a cut. If he didn’t get it, if the only way to get a piece of the action was to play informant to Gular, he was apt to play informant with Gular. Besides, even given there were other groups like Argyle’s, each one they contacted would increase the risk. Point four, if he was as smart as he was going out of his way to show he was, he already likely knew precisely what was going down, and he wanted in. The Qob group wasn’t likely to be the only one fishing around for what they were after, just the group that Argyle was able to catch at it going in. This all led to the conclusion that Pher was going to have to deal him in. The question was how far in. Pher was accustomed to playing for high stakes, risking the lives and freedom of her friends to win the lives and freedom of her friends. She was almost inclined to introduce Argyle to Samus, accept a small agent’s commission, and deal the Qob out entirely. Argyle apparently had a better organization and was better placed to get the job done. Thing is, Joe tended to play for lower stakes, for latinum. He’d want to keep the lion’s share of the cut, which meant his people had to do the lion’s share of the work, take the lion’s share of the risks. Males. So, how to play it? How to get Argyle involved, but not too involved? How does one use him to cut the risk without too much cutting into the profit? And how to delay that call a bit? Argyle had to have a reputation, and Samus would know something of it. She was going to have to play the game blind, but would prefer not all the way blind. She’d also like to touch bases with Joe on the percentages. And just how deep in had Shane and Byblos got themselves?

The space shuttle Enterprise is taking her last flight, to New York City where she will take up residence at the Intrepid museum. CNet has a brief blurb on it, Shuttle Enterprise makes its last flight On the other side of the world, the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, CVN 65, is on her last cruise. While other recently retired carriers have been retired as museum ships, as we all know, the Enterprise is a nuclear wessel. To get the reactors out, she will be left in too ugly a condition for display. There is a movement floating around Washington that the next unnamed carrier ought to be called Enterprise. Star Trek aside, just from the tradition of World War II's CV 6, I'd like to see this happen.

They were gathered in one of the hotel rooms, if the dive counted as meeting the high standard of the descriptor ‘hotel’. Pher started things rolling. “The way I figure it, we’re supposed to be looking for jobs, so we’d best look like we’re looking for jobs. Not sure we want to get em. That would pin us down. Still, if they keep an eye on newcomers, and they will, we’d best be looking for a while. You might also watch for jobs that grant access to interesting places. Anyway, we might find bars, visit job consoles, ask questions about pay scale, working conditions and such like. “Troy? You might want to do the initial technical scouting. How many sensors and where? Where is the control room? Airlocks? Escape pods? You might want to take William with you to check six and provide second opinions. As we agreed earlier, low risk to start, but if you see something too good to pass by and William agrees, maybe some risk. “Joe? Byblos? Shane? Me too, I guess. For various reasons, we might stick out or be recognized. Byblos and Shane might draw extra attention just being what they are. That’s fine. Early on at least, be what you look like you ought to be, big, not overly willing to back down. Gular attracts not a few of that type. You might draw less attention showing a bit of attitude than if you wander around as meek as mice. Not too much attitude, though. No hull breeches if you could? Drawing a little attention away from the rest of us might be OK, but too much trouble means too much attention. "I figure to work the bars some, but not in all out flamboyant mode. Working girl in a working bar, that's it. Joe? I figure you ought to stay low key too? Chris? I've nothing specific in mind. General rumor gathering I guess? “Any other ideas, suggestions, or intentions?” Chris Looks at Pher. "Well I said medical when I came aboard. It would make sense that I be looking in a hospital or medical facility. You would be amazed at the info you can gather from medical folders. Who knows might find something or even someone interesting." "Sounds good," Pher said after brief consideration. Thinking of nothing to add she looked about the rest of the group. "I can do low key easy enough," Joe said with a smirk at Pher. "Assuming I don't get into any fights. My version of low key also happens to involve bars, only I won't be shakin' my hips quite as much as you will. Only question is whether or not you want me in the same bar you'll be workin'. Might be safest if you got someone watchin' over you. "Might be safest if I got someone watchin' me for that matter. I will try to limit my intake, though, I promise." Joe glanced around at the rest of the group. "I do have a few observations to offer as I did sit through that whole show in the waiting area. Pher's cover story -- that we were all working together for a port-based outfit on Tranquility -- fell apart within one or two sets of questions. It put our charming processor on his guard a bit. There were more red flags raised later, though I suppose they could be chalked up to folks who were just irritated havin' to wait then be interrogated. But by the time I stepped up to the plate, he was clearly convinced that we were all hiding something. That means we're probably already targets of a light level of surveillance, and someone's story will have to change some if we don't want to bumped up to the next level." Joe shifted his focus back to Pher. "I'm afraid it's gonna have to be yours, gal. You provided a story for all of us and not everyone played along. So if anyone asks, it'll have to turn out that you misspoke. Most of us worked together on Tranquility, but a few of us met up with the rest not long before we left for Andus. "I have a cover story to suggest, one that would bring all our accounts together -- maybe a few minor holes notwithstanding -- and even give us a convenient path to the corporate center when the time comes. I suggest that we worked for Systems Enterprises. Remember them? Folks what got their skyscraper blown up by Minos when we were on Tranquility? Building where Jerald LaHaye worked? The same LaHaye who compiled a cache of data on the Rainmakers that I now possess? "There are a few advantages to this story. One, the company's Tranquility base getting blown up gives us a good reason for why we lost our jobs or couldn't get one that we were lined up for. The violence in general is a good reason we decided to leave the city; I believe I recall one of you giving it, in fact. Systems Enterprises is probably in a bit of disarray at the moment, so if anyone decides to give them a call to check employee records, it might be easy to see how our names would be lost. It may be understandable that we'd not want to broadcast our association with a company that was targeted by terrorists, hence our evasion of the questioning. And if and when the time comes that we decide to introduce some of the data on LaHaye's cache, our work for SE is the perfect cover. "Systems Enterprises builds and codes computers. But it's a safe bet that they install and repair computers on starships. The group of us that followed Pher's story could have comprised the spaceport branch of SE's operations. The group of us that chose separate career paths will have to fill in the gaps. "Ultimately it's your call, Pher. Don't worry -- our interrogator didn't bother askin' me for more than my name, so my story ain't been written yet." Byblos spoke up. "Since I followed Pher's story, the SE Spaceport angle might work for me. I told the guy I was a new hire of Pher's. That would fit in with those who got wasted in the bomb blast. I also declared my profession as an exterminator. Voles are everywhere in the galaxy, and they love chewing on data cable systems at ports and ships." From what I have seen this place fits the description of a port. I think that will work." Pher responded, "Well, if Joe wants to keep an eye on me, this leaves Chris, Shane and Byblos unpaired? You're all three looking for different job angles, but you might start poking around together, or start with a night at the bars together. Chris might look to belong better with Joe and me. I've no strong commitment to any particular pairing, but not being on one's own seems prudent." She turned to Byblos. "I like the vole hunting job. That could give you a low key way to poke about a lot of places. Are you actually good at it?" "Am I good at it? No. Have I done it yes. Nausicaa was infested with them, basically shot them on sight if I saw one. My father's ship as designated mop boy, I learned some baiting methods. They go for the bait, they get fried by a piece of stolen Federation tech. Tranquility was a jykin' pain. We tended to leave cycle parts around the yard for those who might want what others don't. Well the Voles went for them too. Again, a disruptor did them in. But they kept coming. Little Pet`aQs are tenacious. It was once said we should hire the Klingons to obliterate Cardassia Prime and eradicate the species..Hah! Beneath them apparently. "The lower spectra of society usually on Tranquility did the Vole hunting. A Nausicaan doing it would fit. I'd need to pick up a few things to make me fit the role, as for a partner? Well depends if one wants to get one's hands dirty," he added with a chuckle and a glance at Pher Will piped in. “How can he not be good at it? These are voles we’re talking about. I one-eyed, one-armed person could do it. The trick is setting up in the right area.” "OK," Pher replied with a small laugh of her own. "Then all we have to do is come up with a endgame that depends on our passing as expert vole hunters." The big cyborg looked at the surrounding area with a furrowed brow as the others spoke, his low voice still griping and mumbling to himself over the whole processing incident. "He turned back to the group, his bionic giving off a whine as he glared about. Shane had a pretty good idea who Joe was referring to on the whole red flags thing and he was still fuming from it. But he decided to keep his mouth shut on the whole ordeal, not wanting lose his temper to the point of snapping someone's head off.. "Aye, the cap'ns got the idea. I'll say I was workin' security SE spaceport branch, so with their buildin' gettin' blown to the next nebula, I wouldn't want to broadcast my previous position. I can baby-sit any of that think ya need it, seein' how I'm not much good for infiltratin' anywhere at this point." Pher nodded. “I’d like to see everyone working with someone. If anyone isn’t sure where they fit, I’ll give an opinion, but I suspect you can handle it. Anything else?”

OK. Joe. You want me playing Tacboss? I’ll give it a shot. I’ll note that most every idea I’ve thrown up has been shot down by either you or Ethan. Your reasons are good. Objections valid. Cause I’m boss, I’m not going to put them back in. Still, if Ethan goes into indignant objector mode, or you go into back seat driver mode, I not going to play at being Tacboss when I’m not. If you two are going to fight me, I’m throwing the hot potato right back at you, Joe. This isn’t my style. I’d like better planning. I don’t at all like being declared Tacboss with no notice moments before contact. This is mad lib. We’re landing and making it up as we go along. I don’t think there’s anyone on this crew that likes working that way was less than me. If Joe really wants me trying to impose order and restraint on a mission that might genuinely call for independence and flexibility, I’ll try, but I’m dubious. Everybody. Think for a minute or two. How would you use this opportunity and your particular talents to pick up a little information at minimum risk? Note, this isn’t endgame. This is the preliminary round. We’ll never get to end game if we start taking big risks and blowing cover this early. Lay out roughly where you’d like to go, what you’d like to do, what you’d like to learn, and who you’d like with you in support. Everybody is going to want to fine tune everybody else’s proposals. I’d like everyone to take such criticism and tuning in good grace. I might even be able to force myself to listen to Ethan. After everyone gets a chance to make proposals, we’ll put the best options in action. Me? I’d like to wrangle an invitation to that party. Thing is, Evenstar Bay is Gular, and for a short while a few years back I was the face of Evenstar Bay. I was a celebrity of sorts. There’s a significant chance I’ll be recognized if I mingle with the big shots. In fact, I’m half counting on it. My best chance of getting an invite is latching onto somebody I know. Thing is, if my real name comes up while I’m running on Samus’s bogus ID, things are apt to fall apart. If I go into that party It will need to be on my true ID. Good arguments have been made that this should not happen early on. I’ll accept these arguments if anyone else thinks they can get in. I’ll add that if you do want me crashing the party, wrangling an invite on the fly is not a sure thing, and it will require time. If Ethan and Joe continue to object for any length of time, it’s a no go. On the other hand, if we decide to try it, I’ll be flying solo or maybe with Byblos as a wingman. I won’t want to contact the rest of you. The risks will be too high. You’ll need a new Tacboss. That’s was how I’d approach it if there were no other options. It’s already been shot down. I need more options. Anyone else care to say what they’d like to do? I need ideas. Give me some small fairly safe first steps.

“Anyone else think making a dramatic exit at this point is the mature proper thing to do right now? If so, this is your moment. Go ahead. Walk out. Just a warning. If it turns out there are no positive ideas or folk volunteering to do this job or that, I am going to start issuing orders. Not sure I'm going to call back the prima donnas. If anyone hasn't got the discipline to sit though a meeting, they haven't got the discipline for a covert ops job. This first pass doesn't require a lot of smarts, or a lot of skill, but it does require discipline. So, anyone else want to walk out?"

“Do whatever you need me to do,” Ethan said, subtly smirking and glancing at his watch. “That’s just what I figure will happen,” Pher replied. “I’ll end up doing what I need you to do myself.” She shook her head. “What I needed from you was positive ideas and less smirking obstructionism." She looked at the rest. “Anyone else? Positive ideas? Tasks which you think you’d be good at? I'm getting the notion that Joe has it right. The way to go is to issue orders without seeking input, consensus or giving explanation.”

The question right now", Ethan asked, "isn't how you're gonna make the final throw or even the halftime goal, but how you're going to begin the game." "I think that's really obvious," Pher responded. "We're going to start out chatting with the shopkeepers, customers, etcetera in public areas. Anyone seriously thinking of anything else? I just think we can chat smarter if we what know the options in front of us might be, and what sort of problems might have to be solved further downstream. Anyone have any positive suggestions? If not, we might be done here. We're starting to go in circles. Might as well forge swords, or whatever. The only other thing is seeing that the minor bases are each touched, and only touched once. Who is looking for airlocks, who command centers, who big shots, who security sensors, whatever. First pass, everything is low key, low risk, but does anyone think they'd be good at one thing or another?"

“I’d agree with Shane that command centers and communications are good things to keep an eye out for. I’d agree with Byblos that crew or low ranked nobodies on break is a good cover, whichever fits Samus’s IDs better. I’d agree with Ethan that the first pass should be a low risk look see in public areas, though Shane is right too. The shop keepers in the market won’t know enough. I’d also agree with Byblos that The Duke’s head on a stick isn’t going to be our first priority. “I do have a few more suggestions that might in time lead to ‘higher risk’ ideas. I was hoping someone else would have suggested them, so I could have been the one arguing against them. No, it’s too soon put em in place. Lots more information to gather first. “I’d like a copy of the abandon station drill, notably the locations of airlocks and escape pod positions. We might get similar information snooping on the outside. Anyway, where could we park an invisible spaceship where people could quickly jump from station to ship? How hard would it be to block the network so the airlock or escape pod doesn’t report a hull opening back to station ops? There isn’t a lot we can throw at Gular that they haven’t had lots of time to plan against. This might be our biggest unexpected twist, an ability to escape after doing something really outrageous. What do we have to learn so we can make it work reliably once, preferably leaving behind no hints as to how it was done? “Are there any Gular or affiliated cowards afraid of pain, tycoons open to blackmail or other individuals that might be made to talk? They’d have to be too important not to be in the know and apt to get party invites? How many of them have easier security back at home than they’ll have here, or will be traveling home on slow lightly armed ships? If they live on the station, how many have jobs that bring them out of the tightly secure areas, near airlocks or life pod stations? “I’ve a general query. How many of us can work with non-energy weapons, preferably concealable, stuff that won’t set of alarms if used? Knives? Clubs? Slug throwing chemical weapons? “These guys aren’t Starfleet, but do the big shots have any fancy security toys? How many security sensors, and where? How many big shots are followed around by tall muscular types that’ll make Byblos look pretty? Might they have comm badges with medical sensors that sound silent alarms should the wearer suddenly fall unconscious? We saw some of this stuff on New Risa, but I was on my home ground, knew what was there, and how to get around it. Some early looking around to blunt the home field advantage might be good. “We aren’t ready to execute any of the above. In fact, asking questions about a lot of the above will be hazardous enough. If we do start information gathering towards any of the above, we do it on tiptoe. Got it? I’ll open the floor to discussions on which of the above shouldn’t be done until we finish not doing the other thing. “But I’d also like other slightly higher risk options that might suggest possible paths towards an endgame. Tis far too soon to execute an endgame, but what information do we need that might get us ready to talk about one? You guys are supposed to be good. What are we working towards?”

All of us have various skills, which might lead to very different plans. I’d like to hear suggestions from everyone, think through the best of them, but only go to execute if a plan looks solid. I’ll start with my own approach. Gular has fingers in a whole bunch of operations. One project, located on New Risa, is developing next generation high tech sex slaves. Some of these girls have cyborg enhancements, some are genetically modified, and some are both. It just so happens that I could pass quite well, thank you, as the product of said Gular project, with that cover able to withstand any degree of scrutiny. Without benefit of any other sort of cover, I could walk into Gular’s front door, say I have a biological problem and need to talk to someone highly trusted to keep corporate secrets, and with a medical background. I could then spin a tale about an unusual alien race infiltrating the Rainmakers. I could get quite elaborate about this. I could make a convincing argument that Gular is one of the few best organizations capable of countering the threat. I might offer a sample of the aliens, and might fish a bit to get paid for it. I might try to get direct contact with the highest levels of their organization. I might also wear a flower in my hair, which is a sign on New Risa of a girl on the clock. If they wish to evaluate a product of their New Risan endeavor, I’d give them the chance. Many alpha males like to talk about themselves. I might pick up something. I would not want to push this too obviously, though. I might want to bring Byblos with me, as some cross of bodyguard and pimp. There might be a real need for escort between parts of the station. If I’m dressing to pass as a New Risan lifeguard, having someone big, strong and possessive lurking nearby might be wise. While he couldn’t take on the whole of Gular security and wouldn’t be expected to, he might deter advances unless proper gifts are offered and enforce a few New Risan traditions. What I’d expect is that he gets excluded from a lot of meetings, and ends up hanging out with Gular security. He might just keep his eyes open and conversation flowing, getting the lay of the land without intent to do anything forward, at least initially. This would be an initial penetration, likely best made under our own identities. If Troy comes up with some cute devices for us to deploy, maybe. If information we gather helps someone else’s more direct approach, fine. It does potentially draw some attention to the Qob. It’s not a free lunch, a certain answer to all. It still seems the best I can initially offer using my own approach to things. I might argue that establishing the cover might be done for its own sake, and might be more important than any follow up. Comments and alternatives welcome.

I'd been hoping not to assign a team, but for people to say what they want to do and suggest who they would want to team with. Wandering public areas eyes open is a good if conservative start, and, yes, starting conservative is a plus. Anyone want to suggest anything just a bit less conservative?

“Joe? I think we’re going to have to brief Samus on the goo soon or we’ll get more babes down here wanting to talk to Ethan. Samus, a bit of patience please, and try to keep the number of your people in the know small until you’re briefed. I’ll be up soon. “Ethan? I think you are still thinking in terms of good guys and bad guys. Round here, if you can’t work with people you don’t like, you can’t work. I’ve got lots of good reasons to dislike Gular, but I know them well and you won’t let us know you. You’re trying to tell me about how a group that owned me for most of my life will behave, and you don’t know what you’re talking about. Hey, I’m Pheromone the Green of Evenstar Bay, former beach queen and former arena champ. For a while I was quite a celebrity on New Risa, a bit player who kept a small part of their empire upright and profitable while defending the interests of my friends. If they don’t have my full dossier here, they can get it quickly enough. Meanwhile, if I give them information they can check out, they’ll take it seriously. You loose style points telling obvious lies. They’d know that if I walked back into their front door, I’d do it in style. “And you’re not being logical. The fact that Samus is fingering big latinum reflects that Gular can keep a secret. Making a profit out of the goo? What are you thinking? Can we get a piece of that action? “Anyway, I wasn’t intending to brief in worthy opposition to the goo until the lab work is done and the results distributed enough that the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. If briefing in Gular now isn’t considered a good idea, my whole infiltration jaunt should be junked. I’d have to have something valuable to give Gular, something big, or I wouldn’t get anywhere near them, and they know it. Getting off that beach wasn’t easy. If I don’t have something truly worthy of notice by the real alphas, it isn’t worth sticking my face in. “Also, if Byblos’s face is too well known, so is mine. Ethan is also wanted on Tranquility. If they have computers looking up faces of everyone walking through the front door, which is a reasonable assumption, I don’t know how much good our new identities will do. Still, Samus generally knows what he is doing. He’s got someone far enough inside their security setup to plant new IDs. We might want to ask how much that will cover. “There might be another angle on the game. If we can locate the building yards we might well be able to get close enough to the new construction for some real intelligence. That might be done by tracing beams and watching couriers. Not my specialty, but someone might try to think it through.”

When the Vulcans first made contact with the Orion, when they first heard the phrase ‘Infinite diversity in infinite positions,” they translated it wrong. Messed them up big time. Look. We tried to explain. You know how they are. Everyone knows how they are. Six years out of seven, they just don’t get it. Can’t get any. It’s not our fault! (And yes, one senses Pher's tongue firmly in cheek...)

I do miss the Roddenberry ideals, the notion that humans can learn and will behave better and build a better society than the future. I'm an old Baby Boomer, got to know the brand spanking new Spock for the first time when I was in high school, and associate Trek with Roddenberry's vision of a future that was truly different culturally. Other SF franchises might feature militaristic societies and might makes right ethics, but Trek was supposed to be different. Hey, I designed Joy for that, loaded her Asimov Processor with Roddenberry compatible behaviors. I used to be able to casually run three copies of Joy all over STSF. She'd fit in fine. Now? She's retired. She doesn't fit anywhere anymore. I too am on the Qob, playing an Orion character in a Firefly inspired culture. If you can't play a good girl, the heck with it, I went naughty. I'm having a good time, but I've had to divorce myself from what I used to like about Star Trek. In any future Trek movies, on line, in any upcoming TV show I might expect to see produced, Trek is dead. What we'll see is space opera using Star Trek like props and special effects. I'm not all that fond of the props and special effects. Transporters require excessive suspension of disbelief. If one has transporters, why are you still having fire fights using phasers? Star Trek as Space Opera is just problematic. It's the role playing environment I miss, where one expects one's character to be treated with respect, where if the captain is doing something illegal or immoral there is a role playing opportunity rather than a presumption of being above law, morality and in some cases basic human decency. What would a new Star Trek series bring to the table? Would it be easier to get an initial financial investment in the series? You don't have to spend extra time in the early episodes demonstrating how the props work? Less need to imagine new uniforms, alien species and politics? OK, call me the token idealist here, but if one is going to dishonor the props by perverting the culture and ideals, (expletive deleted), design your own (expletive deleted) props.