Asyle

Savros and Abe had been at it for hours. After cutting off the hull clamps from the Klingon boarding pod, Abe had tugged it over to the shuttle bay using WorkBee #3, and then moved it into Cargo Bay 4 for analysis. Savros had been busy during that time, studying the sensor data from when the Klingon's had attacked. He had come to the Cargo Bay to meet Abe, and had configured a console to display some data. He'd called out "Lt. Kas, can you see this?" Abe put down his tool kit, took his root beer, and went to the console. "Okay, Savros. Let me get a good look.....hmmm. You've got the shield harmonic wave pattern overlaid on the power demand chart. Yeah, so, what am I supposed to see? Every bridge officer knows those charts and how the waves decrease in amplitude everytime they are hit, building again as power re-energizes the generators." Abe takes a swig of his root beer, and looks at Savros with an inquisitive gaze. “Observe the frequency readings. Although it is decreasing in amplitude, the wavelength expands. This suggests that energy is not being properly dissipated. Savros pointed to the shield pattern display and tapped his finger on the relevant data field. “Here. There appears to be a resetting of the shields during the regeneration cycle.” Abe noticed that Savros blinked in what he thought was a moment of sleepiness. “Savros buddy, you know what this means? Our old shields never would have behaved this way. Some component is not working. I wonder if this has to do with one of the retrofit upgrades,” speculated Abe as he leaned over the console, exhausted, hands resting on either side of the display. Raising his eyebrows and looking at Abe he said, “A logical hypothesis. Whatever the cause, the result no doubt allowed the Klingons to slip past our shields. How will we determine the source?” Abe sat down, resting his tired head on his hands as he put his elbows on the console and stared at the shield and power patterns, his tired face reflecting his many hours of constant activity. “I just need a little nap. I’ll be better in a few minutes.” Savros looked at his companion’s uncomfortable position, “That’s fine. I’ll be back in a moment.” He walked down into the corner of the cargo bay, and pulled a rolling sled for working under equipment. Carrying it over to the console, he placed it near Lt Kas. “Lieutenant,” he lightly tapped Abe’s shoulder. “Just a few more minutes,” muttered Abe. “I’ll be better shortly.” “I believe you will find this more comfortable.” Abe looked up, then down at the rolling sled. “A man after my own heart,” he rolled himself off the console and climbed onto the sled. “Remember what I’ve taught you about diagnostics?” Savros nodded, “Divide the problem in half to find out which half has the problem. Then, continuing subdividing until you have iso…iso…lated it.” Abe fell asleep. Abe rubbed his eyes and opened them. How long had his nap taken, he was not certain. The lights had been dimmed and he heard the sounds of a tricorder working nearby. He sat up on the sled and noticed his back was sore. Working sleds were unquestionably not designed for sleep. “I see you are awake. I trust you recovered some of your strength.” Abe stood up, and stretched out his back. He saw that his root beer, while now warm, still had a little fiz left in it. That meant his nap was about half an hour. “Yep. Good to go for a little while longer now. I think what woke me up was being worried about not telling the command staff we found a big problem. That, and I think I now know what the problem was. You didn’t find anything, did you Savros?” “No, I have not. The Level 1 Diagnostic has not completed yet, either.” “I don’t think it will either. The upgrades were on individual subsystems which have always worked well with each other. However, the computer code to run them now has more commands to execute. When the power system doesn’t receive it’s messages from the shield generators in the time it expects, it assumes that the capacitors have sufficient power. It did that in the old systems to keep them from overloading. Then, when the shield subsystem does send it’s message, the power system has to reset to provide the requested power. It would all pass the Diagnostic checks of the subsystems, but I bet no one tested them all together, and against the Klingon torpedo blasts that hit us. ” Abe continued, “Computer, send the following report to Chief Cyiv, the Captain and First Officer. Mark it Immediate Action Required. Lt Savros and I have made progress on finding out how the boarding pod was able to penetrate past our shields. We have uncovered and I have verified a potentially fatal problem with the ship’s shields. I recommend an immediate change from Shield mod Vista to Tiger, and to notify Star Fleet immediately of Vista’s apparent failure to support legacy power systems. End message and send.” The console beeped back in response, sending the messages to the command officers. Abe looked at his root beer, and turned to Savros, “I’m about ready to drop dead, and from what I can tell, so are you. We’ve done our jobs, and it’s time someone else worked around here for a while. I’m sure Beta shift will be happy to have something to do besides fixing up the damage and painting.” Abe gets up, looks at the Klingon pod, and turns back to Savros. “Let’s get out of here before someone decides that these two Lieutenant ‘Junior Grades’ don’t need any sleep.” What do you say Savors?” “Indubitably” as the two officers walked out of the Cargo bay, headed for their quarters.

Asyle entered her quarters, which had been assigned to her. Fresh from having her tracking pellet implanted, she rubbed the back of her neck where the feeling was returning from the nerve block used before the minor surgery to place the device. "Remember your orders, Ensign," the security officer's sarcasm obvious in her using Asyle's provisional rank, "you must wait for a security officer to get here before you leave your quarters." And without waiting for any questions or comments, turned and left her standing, alone and by herself. She had been issued from the quartermaster some basic personal supplies, uniforms, shoes, a communication badge, and a Star Fleet manual "Customs and Courtesies for New Officers." She turned away from looking at the closed door as the security officer leave her room, and slowly looked around it, stopping to look at herself in a mirror over her sink. She walked up to place her personal items away, and picked up her brush for her hair. She looked at it, as if she had never seen one before. Indeed, her use of a brush for her hair had never been needed before since male Pakleds didn't have much need for them. She had always kept her hair short, the males never grew their hair long and she had impersonated them for so long. She began to brush her hair, slowly, imagining what it would look like long. Her dark brown hair had a hint of a curl to it, and in her mind's eye she envisioned herself with shoulder length hair. She put the brush down, and went to pick up the manual to see what the regulations were for female hair styles. After reading the manual for a few minutes, seeing the various pictures of human styles approved while in uniform, she stood up and began to get ready for sleep. She had spent so much time in the brig, without blankets or sheets, she quickly stripped off her uniform. And just as she was ready to through it over a chair casually, she stopped and looked at the single pip on the collar. She rubbed it a few times, as if it were not real. A slow smile crossed her face, and she placed the uniform carefully away. Asyle pulled the sheet and covers back, stiff from being new as they were, they were luxurious to her. She thought of the Captain, the XO, and the curious Lt. Victra. Soon, she would be at work in engineering, and would have a second chance at making a first impression on the Trill chief. She had no desires for anything else except learning about the systems in use on the Excaliber, and proving herself to be at least a competent engineer. With a sigh of relief, she laid down. "Computer, Lights out."

....what you get when you buy a bed from someone who "guarantees" their price won't be beat, and you try to collect.

Man in foreground "Okay. You guys can't play that 'hide under the helmet' trick and skip out on the bill! Get in the back and start washing dishes!!"

DS9 Security Report – Post Departure of Pakled Service School Destroyer Escort Class Training Vessel "Chametz" and Captain Mashgiach. The following description shall be entered into the station's computer for identification and background purposes. Should Captain Mashgiach or an apparently female Pakled by the name of Asyle return, they should be held for questioning. The questioning shall be to determine if any Federation or Bajorian crime was committed, in consideration of the Prime Directive, of using false identity papers, kidnapping, and rape. From information obtained through sources on Kalla III: Name: Asyle Height: 6 foot even, or 182.9 cm Weight: 170 lbs, or 77.3 kilos, normal Earth Gravity, female. Note, subject impersonates male by cosmetic applications of facial hair, padding, and weights of approximately 60 lbs. Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Skin: Brown Age: 23 years. Recently attached to Pakled Service School, Kalla III. Principal of school identified Asyle went by the name of Vishneva and appeared as a male, using costume and make-up. Principal refuses to inform parents of the disappearance of their daughter, since 'she got caught' and 'He is a She now. Ha, Ha, Ha!' which is all the Principal would say. School records indicate Vishneva, or as now known as the female Asyle, has completed engineering courses relevant to technology in possession of Pakled society, and was to be assigned as an engineering apprentice on the Pakled ship 'Plezak'. Caution, subject can be considered armed, and dangerous. Security tapes showing 'Vishneva' entering holosuite with four fellow classmates, dressed in Service School uniforms. When they exited Quark's Holosuites, Asyle was dressed in 'Dabo girl' like clothing. Two of them were carrying her, as she was only partially responsive to questions, smelled of alcohol, and did not indicate she was in trouble. All of them were obviously in a fight, given the numerous bandages, splints, ice bags, and one of them was observed spitting out a tooth. Their Captain Mashgiach took them to their ship, and departed, refusing to say anything but "They had fun. We go now."

Corrected various errors, and ship name.

The Pakled had been entering the Worm hole searching for more technology they could 'trade' their services for, namely, waste-product removal. Asyle was a female Pakled, and physically as much of an opposite of the males as could be. Yet the males were in charge, and like on their home world, only took females on board to satisfy themselves, since, well, maybe they could buy a drink at Quark's, but even Quark couldn't find a female willing at any price to entertain a Pakled male. The Pakled males treated their females in much the same way as some backward fundamental religious zealots did, and Asyle had rebelled. She had first run away from her home when she was only 6 years old. While other little girls were happy playing with their dolls, the males were just so ugly to her it made her sick to look at them. She was always getting on her costume and played with the boys in their games of search-and-steal for technology. Ugly though they were, she could use her intelligence, creativity, and cunning in these games. Heck, she invented most of the technology they would come up with, like phaser bombs and bio-cloaking agents. Even when they found out about her while she was a child, she was just too cute for her parents to get too mad. After all, she would grow out of it they kept telling themselves. Yet she remained aggravating and despising her female nature, she would run away over and over again, making herself look like a male by padding her cloths, putting fur between her eyes, and speaking in simple sentences. She did have the male characteristic, amplified by her female wiles; she was extremely deceptive, intelligent, and creative. She could even speak like them, having learned it from the games she played with the boys. Her parents couldn't keep her at home without 26 hour a day monitoring. They couldn't get her to go to a school for females; she would run away, and show up at a school for males presenting herself in a male Pakled costume over and over again. Finally, her parents took her and visited a Pakled psychologist. After many meetings and tests, it was reported to Asyle's parents that she was biologically and genetically a female, with no perversions or sexual motivations for dressing as a male. Pakled society is reluctant to accept deviations from a 'normal' relationship between males and females, and males ruled over females. Yet some solution had to be found. She couldn't go to school with the other girl Pakled children. She would just run away. As she got older, her parents conceded to her desires to go to an all-male school. After all, she was doing very well in Math, Science, Biology, Chemistry, at the 6 year old male levels. Girls took much simpler classes, since they didn't 'need' them. Well, Asyle's mother finally found a school with a principle she could deceive into accepting Aysle. She would go to school with the boys, as long as she continued to maintain her male visage. As the years went by, Asyle got closer to graduating the advanced schools she went to. Now entering her adulthood, she had become adept at looking like a male. Not easy, because even though she had worked out to have the strength of a male, and was just as tall as the males, she was significantly lighter. Her padding, and the weights she carried around as part of her disguise, kept many of the males convinced she was male. Eventually, on her school field trips she had been hearing about the Federation and their lofty society. DS9 was a wonderful place, until disaster happened. She was in Quarks drinking a root beer with her classmates, all male. Like the emotionally immature people the Pakled are, the males paid many strips of Latnum to get Quark to program a holosuite for a Pakled male right-of-passage, mating with females. Aysle had avoided these despicable events while at school, where she had been living as a male Pakled to get into space, even if it was to just haul garbage. When the group of them entered the holosuite, and issued the commands for sex partners, a male was created for Aysle. The male Pakleds turned in surprise at Aysle, fell upon her, and soon figured out what was her deepest secret. And realized then that they didn't need Quark's holosuite for their right of passage either. It was the worst night of her life. Asyle had always dreaded being discovered. Males were not known for their romantic natures, and their proclivity to rape, well, it was not considered a major crime on her home world. She had no one to turn to. The males took her back to their ship, and announced that they had a female for their entertainment for their return home. The captain, having contemplated the other right-of-passage for Pakleds, realized that all of the pieces he needed, he had. His responsibility as a Pakled captain was to find someone or some race, and open negotiations with them for removal of their waste products. He had heard of a group on the other side of the wormhole, the Boganary people. He had a female he could trade to them, in addition to whatever else he could get for hauling away their trash. Besides, they had cloaking technology, if the rumors in Quarks could be believed.

::in high falseto voice:: "Oh NOOO, Mister Bill....Please stop! I don't need any more hair-spray "

Okay, so I'm an oldie. I watched TOS in black & white, 'cause in the late 60's, color TV set were too expensive. Plus, my dad was bringing home designs from the Apollo program, for stuff he was helping put up there. When Star Trek came on, he watched it. He read SciFi books, and he was as upset as I've ever seen him when TOS was cancelled, after 3 seasons!!! Since he designed cameras, he was always thinking about the scanners and sensors on TOS. He new good science fiction when he saw it, he read all he could. Now, he didn't really think TOS was that good when it came to SciFi, but, heck, it was better than nothing. So whatever comes out, let's just hope the writers have read more Asimov, Hubbard, and more of their era. Not the super-duper-not-scientifically-based stuff with great big hooters on the star-cover....