Kestra

Happy Birthday to one of the best employers around. He doesn't pay us anything, but we keep coming back to work anyway. :rolleyes: Happy Birthday Joe Manning!

The medicine Doctor Ty—no, Avery—had given her had kicked in fairly quickly. She had gone back to her quarters and curled up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a PADD, only to find herself starting to doze off. Her sleep was filled with dreams, however. Restless waking thoughts merged with unconscious ones. They were in a shuttle. But she didn’t know who “they” was. She looked around but wasn’t able to focus on anything. There were shouts and flashes of light. They were going down, being pulled in by an unknown force. She stood there uselessly, feet frozen in place. The planet’s surface came closer and closer. She wasn’t frightened. It wasn’t scary at all, it was quite pretty, actually. It looked familiar, kind of like those summers she had spent when… She was on Betazed. Jason was with her, meeting her grandmother for the first time. She looked over at him anxiously, worried he would say something wrong. Everything seemed to be going okay. He was calm, but her cheeks were flushed with nervousness. She nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Why wasn’t she able to speak? Was someone talking to her? “Kessa, do you think you could take a look at this for me?” Her brother Karthik handed her a medical instrument of some sort, looking at her hopefully. Exhausted, she wanted to say “no” but saw a greater weariness in his face. Jack must have kept him and Steph up again. “I think so. What’s the problem exactly?” She turned it over in her hands, looking for access to its interior. It was cold to the touch, and the metal gleamed in her hands as the light above played off of its surface. She looked up towards him, waiting for the answer ... And snowflakes fell onto her eyelashes. Thick delightful snow that was covering the trees around her. Hadn’t someone been here a minute ago? It didn’t matter anymore, she just wanted to get inside to some place warm. Kestra stirred slightly and pulled the covers around her a bit. The PADD fell to the floor but did not wake her. She shifted to her side and fell back into another dream.

Oh, it's just that he always goes on about how old he is.

"Ensigns and Hyposprays" SD 20511.14 Starring: Ensign Kestra Miral and Ensign Avery Tynte Kestra stepped into sickbay and glanced around, automatically feeling uncomfortable. She recognized several of the doctors, including the one who had first given her a physical when she came on board. The one with the sense of humor that she didn’t understand. Unsure for a moment, she moved to speak to her when she saw a Bajoran doctor coming over. Avery walked up to Kestra, smiling lightly as doctors are trained to in order to put people at ease. "Greetings Ensign," he said, "Can I help you?" She smiled hesitantly in return. "Possibly. It's sort of silly, but ..." She hesitated again. "Well, I'm still in some pain from before. The station, and then the shuttle." "You were put through a rough ride, Ensign. It is no surprise your body is still in a bit of pain." Avery motioned towards a biobed, picking up a medical tricorder and moving some equipment towards the bed as he did so. "Please, have a seat." Eyeing the equipment, Kestra moved over to the bed and took a seat where he had indicated. "Call me Kestra. After all, you did save me back there." She looked up at him, blushing slightly as she spoke. "You know, I didn't have the chance to say this before. Thank you." Avery's lips turned in another smile, this time a real one. "Anytime, Kestra." He opened the tricorder and began scaning her. "You can call me Avery, by the way." He looked at the display on the tricorder. "Geez, what in the world happened over there? You’re showing severe muscle strain, fatigue and more bruises and contusions then I can count. And that is not even including the damage that Commander Dacotah did to you." At that Avery glanced over at the Commander, lying on her own biobed, still out cold. "Let's just say that our Chief of Science isn't the lightest person on board. Neither is Commander Trichon, for that matter," Kestra added under her breath. She glanced warily over at the Commander. "Is she going to be okay?" "She is making a full, however slow, recovery. She should be fine though." Avery picked up one of the instruments, running its blue glow along Kes' face. The contusions begin to clear off the ensign's face a bit. "Kind of scary is it not?" Kestra eyes swept up towards him quickly. "Scary?" Memories of the station flooded through her. "We were lucky to all make it out of there. I can't imagine what the Captain and the Commander have been through." She tried to focus on sitting still as he continued to treat her. Avery looked over at Dacotah again. "Yeah, one has to feel for them. Having to watch it all and not be able to do anything about it." Avery turned his attention back to Kes running the tricorder along her neck and back. "I believe you have a slight concussion from where Dacotah threw you against the shuttle's bulkhead. Please lie down." He moitioned downward along the biobed. She nodded and stretched out on the biobed. Feel for them? It was all she could do not to feel, right now. She had put up an empathic block right after she had first escaped from the command center. It was wearing on her, becoming harder to control. She suddenly felt very tired. Avery selected another tool, running it along the ensign's back, this time a red glow eveloping her body. He felt his mind falling deeper and deeper into subjects he had already overthought. He decided to turn the subject to lighter conversation "So, your file shows you have not had a decent physical since arriving." Avery smiled a bit. "You can sit up now." "Decent physical? Well I did have one when I first came on board. They told me I wouldn't have to be back for awhile." Kestra sat up, confused. "Do not panic Kestra," Avery smirked, "I will not corner you into a physical." Avery winked. "I do not prefer entrapment...unlike some in my field." He ran the tricorder along the length of her entire body one last time. "Well, I cannot say good as new. But how about back to normal...what passes for normal in Starfleet anyway." That came with a smile of it's own. She found herself relaxing slightly. "Thanks Avery." She whispered to him conspiratorially. "Actually, I wasn't even going to come in. I only did because the Chief kicked me out of Engineering and I suppose it was just as well, I couldn't focus anymore." "Well, Commander Light did the right thing by sending you out. You need rest Kestra." Avery replaced the tools and tricorder back on the tray and moved it away. Then in a voice as low as Kestra's he spoke again. "What do you mean by not being able to focus?" He seemed so easy to talk to. "I sometimes block out other people." She paused, watching his reaction, then kept going. "Emotions mostly. I haven't been able to do that as well lately, and with tensions running high on the ship ..." Avery leaned against the nearby wall. "Your file shows that you are only half Betazoid. But then again, I guess being only half does not damper much." Avery gave her an understanding look. "How bad is it? Can you feel the whole ship, or just those near you?" "Oh, it's not that bad." Kestra spoke quickly, trying not to trip over her own words. She wanted to assure him that she was fine. "Just those near me, unless they are particularly familiar. I'm sure it will pass once I get some sleep." Standing up, she offered Avery a faint smile. Avery regarded Kes with a questioning look, but decided against saying something. "Well, I am going to give you 10 cc's of Nepervaline. It is a mild sedative, it will help you sleep." Avery loaded the hypo, and injected Kes with it. "I want you to go rest, and come back for a check-up soon, ok?" She looked at him accusingly. All doctors were alike. "You could've warned me you were going to do that." "Tsk tsk, what would the fun in that be?" Avery winked and gave Kes one of those "child-like innocent Bajoran smiles". Kestra couldn't help but laugh. "Well that's not the way to get your patients to come back for check-ups. I'm not scheduled for another shift for quite awhile, so I might just take your advice on that part about resting." As eager as she was to leave sickbay, she simultaneously found herself enjoying Avery's company. Avery turned his head to one side. "Glad to hear that you will get some rest. But do not make me send NDak to get you for your check-up." He found himself trying to come up with something to say. Something to keep the ensign in front of him from leaving. She mocked an expression of fear on her face. "No, anything but that!" They both broke out in laughter together. Kestra grinned at him before she turned to leave. "Thanks again Avery, I appreciate it." "Anytime Kestra." He watched as the sickbay doors whooshed shut behind her. Walking back over to the front desk, he picked up his coffee and began sipping, his mind falling into thought. Ensign Kestra Miral ... a pleasure to meet you, he thought.

If you haven't dropped by Red Star yet--you don't know what you're missing! The best drinks and food in the whole quadrant! Just steer clear of the Orion ... We hope to see you all next week :rolleyes:

Before I go ahead and make some fighter avatars, how does this look?

Great log and excellent writing! I can totally picture everything you described. And coincedentally, we were just joking about programming all the replicators on the Arc to make gagh no matter what people ordered. Laarell should come on over. :P

It's not the best screen capture. Alright, it doesn't even look like the Falcon. But it will give you an idea of where to look.

:P It's nice to see you stuck around, Member 1000. Now the question is, how many of those posts were in "Word Association"? B)

I like the black, but I feel like the red green and yellow are just too many colors that don't go together, personally.

As a lover of fast food I thought I'd bring this topic over here. What's your favorite and where do you refuse to eat? Best: Portillos Worst: I really will eat any fast food. I'm not kidding. I guess I like Wendy's the least, not because of quality but just because I'm not a fan of most of the choices there. Then again, give me a cheeseburger from any place and I'm perfectly content. :)

What sort of hobbies do the rest of you have? I enjoy writing, sketching, cooking ... and many more things! I thought it would be fun if we shared some of our works. Or maybe it'll just be me. I hope not. If you post pictures, it might be helpful to use ImageShack to be considerate of those with slower connections. If you click on the thumbnail it will take you to another site with a full-size version of the picture. First off, I'm an LOTR nerd and collect figures with my brother and sister. In this picture we bought the three Wraiths, and Frodo and Sam are missing (I didn't have time to go looking for them), but I made the set myself. Yes, I'm a nerd like that. I enjoy making things out of clay and they are most often useless. Anyway I was still proud of the way it turned out and thought I'd show it off. Alright, I'm done spamming the board with new topics for today. Please post pictures or descriptions of hobbies!

Seconded. Terrific surprise, Fred. B)

Oh my, so many hobbies! Sorry for my crazy condensed responses but everyone is posting too fast for me. I love finding out things I have in common with all you people on the forums. B) Let's see ... Miranda: I enjoy taking in a good show now and again although it's sometimes hard to find people to go with me. I saw Mamma Mia a few years back and enjoyed it even though I didn't know any of the songs beforehand. Pretty good show! Nick: Being lazy is a good hobby. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's just not a good lifestyle :D And let's see some of that poetry! We can't make fun of you, we're just a bunch of faceless names on a message board. John Anderson: You know, I stopped reading comics awhile ago and I tried to recently get back into it. It's really intimidating going into a comic bookstore now. I feel like they're all looking at me like I don't belong! But I had to get the Serenity comics at any rate. :) Kansas: I've recently discovered the world of fan fiction myself! I haven't written any yet but I've gotten involved with a lot of the series and writers out there. Who knew there was this whole other world on the internet? I have your link bookmarked now too! Eagle: What sort of scientific publications? Are we talking Scientific American or something that's probably way beyond my comprehension? Captain Huff: Pottery ... that's something I've always wanted to try and have never gotten around to. I'm jealous. I suppose I really don't even know where to start with that sort of thing though. T'Linna: Write, read, cook ... that sounds like me. :D Knitting though, that's something I've never considered. Did you just pick it up randomly one day or did someone you know teach you? Cmdr Dacotah: I can definitely identify with you on the Food Network thing. I end up just sitting and watching instead of cooking though. I also recently discovered the joy of running. Unfortunately it's not always enjoyable in the city, but I try to make time anyway. Vatric: I'm with you on all these things except French Literature. Latin is by far the hardest language I've ever tried to learn though. I think I'll stick with Spanish and my native tongues. Precip: I've definitely got a couple of message boards I frequent now. Mine are limited to focusing on Trek though, as I'm not into much other sci-fi. What Trek reference books do you like? I keep hoping they'll come out with more, but I don't think they really sell that well so it's probably not going to happen.

No no, use Trillian!

It's kind of sad, I don't think I've heard a single fast food restaurant that I dislike here. I don't know if they exist. But I think Dumbass might have a winner with: I'm not sure I want to know what that is ... :)

Yeah ... I can't help you with that. But welcome to STSF! :)

Awesome log Murray. You're making me miss engineering already! :)

Name: Kestra Miral Gender: Female Age: 22 Species: Betazoid/Human Height: 5’2 Weight: 105 lbs Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Black YOB: 2360 POB: Toulon, France, Earth Family Information Father: Andrus Miral, NFA Operative Mother: Simrin Resh, Starfleet Medical Step-Brother: Karthik Resh, Physician Step-Sister: Kavita Resh, Starfleet Officer, USS Proteus Service Information Rank: First Lieutenant Position: Chief of Operations Assignment: N.F.S. Reaent NCC-3345-C Starfleet Service Record 2377: Entered NFA Academy on Betazed 2380: Graduated NFA Academy with rank of 2nd Lieutenant 2380: Posted to the N.F.S Requin as an Operations Officer 2382: Reassigned to the N.F.S Reaent and promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Personal History Early Childhood and Family History: CLASSIFIED Kestra was raised on Betazed by her father. As a child, Kestra's empathic powers developed early and were difficult for her to manage. She began to withdraw socially but was enrolled in a program which helped her to manage her developing empathic sense to its full potential. She spent the latter part of her childhood in various schools, cultivating an appreciation for the fine arts. Although Andrus had hoped to keep her away from his life, Kestra eventually realized the need for more NFA officers and was motivated to enroll in an academy on Betazed. Despite her young age she was accepted because of the shortage of officers the NFA was experiencing. During her years there she was notorious for being able to seamlessly balance her time between classes and the many other portions of her life, including a steady stream of relationships. Upon graduating she took the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the N.F.S. Requin as an operations officer. After the Requin was nearly destroyed in battle, the ship was pulled from the front lines and its officers largely transferred to other postings. Kestra received a promotion to 1st Lieutenant along with her current posting to the N.F.S. Reaent. Psychological Profile Kestra is a calm and easygoing individual. Secure in her physical appearance, she is prone to falling into relationships, if not love. She is very observant, taking in everything around her without often losing focus. She enjoys the power of manipulation, managing what surrounds her efficiently and seamlessly when possible. Often tempted, Kestra has to restrain herself from using her empathic powers and encroaching on the privacy of others' emotions.

I recently picked up some of the DS9 relaunch books (which I like a lot so far, btw) and I've been thinking about this. It's nice to have continuity between novels in some respects. I think it allows for deeper plots, better characters, and just a sense of familiarity that can be highly enjoyable. On the other hand there are many negatives. No matter how they are written, sometimes you might feel like you've missed out if you haven't read some of the others. Ones in a series are the worst because it's hard to read only part of it, and books can be expensive. Plus what if you don't like a character? It might be a little harder to escape them. Anyone else have thoughts on this (semi-) recent trend?

Here's something to think about. We obviously enjoy interacting in the world of Star Trek. If we were to really indulge our Trek obsessions for a moment, let's pretend that we really are in the world Gene Roddenberry created for us. Say ... TNG era to simplify things. Where would you be? Would you really be in Starfleet? Let's pretend you couldn't be. What else could you picture yourself doing? Be creative! There's so much beyond Starfleet! I know I wouldn't be in Starfleet. I would probably be on Earth or some colony world, running a restaurant. Or maybe I'd be one of those crazy vendors somewhere selling weird antiques and artifacts. Or I would be studying on Betazed. What about the rest of you?

It's that time again ... Halloween! This whole time of the year is one of my favorites and I was just wondering if anyone has plans and such. We're having a small party here where I am creatively going to be a witch, and just going to have some normal crazy Halloween fun. For those of you not dressing up, what are some interesting costumes you've used in the past? Anything funny or crazy that you've seen? And who has been brave enough to ever have a Trek costume? Share stories!

She wasn’t sure what was making more noise, the sound of her heavy breathing or the scraping of boots along the Jeffries Tube floor. She paused for a moment, not to listen but to see if she could sense anyone nearby. Unused to honing her empathic powers in such a way, she was quickly overwhelmed by the presences on the station. With a deep breath she took hold of the unconscious Chief of Science and moved forward to the next section. Everything ached. She had lost feeling with her right arm at the last junction. Her legs constantly refused to move forward, her knees wearing against the bulkheads with each movement. But she was close. She didn’t need to pull out her tricorder to know that; she had been blessed with an inherent sense of direction that had always aided her inside a ship. It didn’t hurt that she had spend a long time looking at the schematics of the station prior to beaming over. That seemed so long ago. It felt like she had been crawling around the station for ages, on the run from the Vulcans. Not just Vulcans, but Starfleet officers. She was tired of being on the defensive side. It was time to do something. She found the access hatch that she had been looking for and pulled LoAmi inside, being as careful as she could possibly manage. He seemed to stir, but did not wake up. She reached over again, trying to ascertain if he was okay. Where were all the doctors when you needed them? It wasn't just medical officers. She would be happy just to see the Chief again, or Commander NDak. Or anyone who wasn't trying to fire at her. Pulling out her tricorder, she scanned the nearby sections quickly. There was no one in the immediate area but right next to the shuttlebay, a section away, there were two lifesigns … This time when she reached out she knew one of them was Commander Trichon. She had become used to his presence without really being aware of it. Preparing to continue on with LoAmi she suddenly heard phaser fire and flattened herself back against the access hatch instinctively. With only a couple seconds to act she closed the hatch, trying to secure it with a quick encryption for anyone who tried to open it from the outside. Hopefully that would hold off the Vulcans until she got back. If she got back. Kestra rushed towards the sounds of weapons fire, pulling out her phaser as she went. Despite her increasing proximity she was starting to lose her sense of Trichon. She picked up her pace, knowing that if she lost both Trichon and NDak she was as good as alone. And there was no way she was dragging all three of them around the Jeffries Tubes. That just wasn't going to happen.

Those are all helpful ideas, thanks guys. I could definitely try the "writing a letter" to someone idea. And Miranda, if I can get off that horrible Vulcan infested station we should definitely do a joint log. No really, I mean it! ::chases after Miranda::

Awesome! I love hockey too. It's really the only sport I enjoy. Going to the Blackhawks v Redwings game this weekend. :)