Star Trek RPG - Mission #7: "The War-Brotherhood of Irkhuit"

[choie]

Her cupped palms accept the little device, reminding Kylah of an old rite she witnessed from one of her family's guests many, many years ago. The alien's culture required them to give a precious item to their hosts in gratitude, and the one Kylah watched did so to her mother: a gilded flower, something lovely and delicate and, according to the guest, part of a holy ceremony back on their planet. Mother had accepted it with all her usual grace.

A communications device seems just as sacred to Kylah, having been without one at nearly every terrible event since joining Starfleet. She cradles it protectively with her fingers and looks up at the Uwat officer. Her mind works fast to recall her paltry knowledge of basic Uwat until she recalls: "*Thank you, Pell. We are grateful.*" Glancing at Lt. Graham like a child exhibiting his first caught fish to a parent, Kylah smiles and then nods to Pell. "I hope the Chalnoth can be assured none of us harmed their men, and that they recover completely from whatever happened."

She steps close to her senior officer, still holding the device prayerfully, and will leave when he does.



Just adding the link to show that it is indeed canon that Kylah seems to know at least rudimentary Uwat.

[stolz]

Bizhi has a younger sister, but he is not at the moment inclined to field questions about his relatives, so he does not mention her.

He does ask with a smile, "Plank owner, eh?" He glances at Rangin and Onn to see if the tradition means something to them. "What privileges does that confer?"

[Elendil's Heir]

The Uwat looks as surprised as an Uwat is capable of looking, which isn't much, and replies in the same language, You are welcome. May it do you some good. Now go to your quarters, please. At least, that's what Kylah thinks it said.

Rawlings says, smiling, "Bragging rights and a fancy certificate, and when the ship is decommissioned, a piece of her actual deck plating you can hang on your bulkhead... or wall, if you're out of Starfleet yourself by then."

[general_urko]

Graham reminds himself to ask how the hell Kylah learned Uwat later...then also reminds himself she's a comms specialist, that's what they do...

"Let's double time," he says to her. "Back to base as it were."

[SidonianGal]

Nia nods enviously at Rawlings. "I don't blame you for being proud," she says, though he's not new to the sentiment. "Never had the pleasure, aside from my parents' ship and of course a couple of shuttles." Sensing the treacherous memories of the latter, she shrugs and, turning to lie on her stomach, props her head on her crossed arms to get a view of Mäkeläinen.

"I don't detect that different an accent in your Fed Standard. Just some unfamiliar, maybe untranslatable words here and there. But that's the fun of meeting so many races, isn't it? Infinite Diversity. We had one kind of people back home. Here..." She looks at her fellow guests. Add in Book and Kylah and it's not a bad mix even just in their party.

Thinking of the others triggers her to glance with a little unease at the door. They're likely okay. Hasn't even been very long since they left. Time's really hard to gauge. Nia's spent over a decade in fairly regular watches, with easy access to chronometers and the barely audible thrum of the engines to serve as a guide to how long and how fast the Yorktown and her past ships were traveling.

"Um Doc," she says with a little tap on his forearm. "How long have we been on board? I oughtta be taking more notice of our ETA, which admittedly is vague anyway. You mind keeping a sort of...record...of the time we've got left? Maybe a log too, if you haven't started one. Tracking how long those meds last before there's some deterioration."

Her words sound embarrassingly obvious even to her. Of course the doctor's doing this already. But she's tired and logey and she wants to contribute something. "Sorry. I'm not telling you how to do your job. It's just...if this compound can really take the place of Bilitrium, that means a lot for my people. It means everything. Offworld life before our time. I'd be proud of that. I could be the medical equivalent of a plankowner. Even if it's post-mortem." Nia offers a smile to take the morbidity out of her words.

[choie]

"Yes, sir." Walking by Lt. Graham's side, Kylah hastens her pace, moving her short legs faster to match his. As she does not have her duty belt, she keeps the device in her hand.

"I am grateful you asked me to come," she says with another smile. "It is... I cannot express how relieved I feel to have this communicator." Her smile ebbs somewhat. "Do you think their medical crew member will know what to do for... Nia and Velir? I think Doc was hoping to use their medical tech to give proper examinations. It does not seem that is possible."

Kylah sideeyes the rest of the corridor to see that they are, indeed, alone, then exhales. "I hope my uncle gets the message--and replies as soon as possible. If a shuttle flies out to meet us, it could cut our rendezvous time considerably. I do not feel comfortable with two party members so far away from decent medical care when they are so...ill."

[stolz]

It is a sensitive issue, but he is pleased she finds his accent passable, and tells her so, since he knows she is sincere. He consciously put much effort into perfecting his elocution, plus he had his time in Starfleet Academy on Earth. As a colony world and industrial base, Mars always had what, at least he felt at the time, was a diverse population, even if it was hardly that on a galactic scale, so growing up on an entire planet with one kind of people is still a foreign concept to him.

The Doctor does have a reasonably good, though by no means preternatural, sense of time even without technological aids. The lack of clockwork-regular Starfleet shift changes and watches is no help, but he remembers getting up, T'Pol informing them it was late morning, and what they have been up to since then. "It is not quite mid-afternoon [correct that if I botched it :-) Then again, who knows if he is always as on the ball as he tries to be...]. It only feels much longer."

"I have not yet thought of all the ultimate implications," he says, ignoring for the moment her attempt at graveyard humor, "but I agree. Barring a major breakthrough, Bilitrium is, let's face it, hard to get. Even if a ship on Ollos had some, we would never have been able to afford any. However, a substitute that anyone can whip up with a medium-tech chemical fab, that is a different story. And the principle behind it will surely be more widely applicable, to more species and further environments.

"The side effects you are feeling," he says with an abrupt earnestness, "the fatigue and tolerance, that is the first thing for for research to work out. But we know they can be alleviated with genuine Bilitrium. Just another couple of days. We are already on our way home; focus on that. Nothing to do but rest and learn some new card games."

[Elendil's Heir]

Dr. Mäkeläinen's time estimate is accurate.

Graham and Kylah leave the Uwat crewman and make it back to their quarters without further incident, although the sounds of Chalnoth shouting seem to be coming closer. They find all four of their Starfleet shipmates in one room, which is now a bit crowded.

"Welcome back," Rawlings says. "Any news?"

[general_urko]

"Agreed," Graham says after Kylah says she hopes her uncle responds soon. He'd like to know more details about what's up with that, but at the moment he'll simply take whatever they can get.

"And Mr. Kylah," he says before they enter their quarters "you earned your place. I'm pretty sure nobody else has picked up any Uwat."

Graham makes sure the door is locked before answering Rawlings. "Well, we have a communicator, but the medical facilities suck, and the Chalnoth are pissed."

Graham takes a deep breath and surveys the too-small room. "Mr. Rangin--" he glances at the doctor then back at him. "I don't know what kind of condition you're in. I don't know what the hell happened back there with the Chalnoth. But if Mr. Rawlings and I are incapacitated, and the crew is at risk, you do whatever you need to do to bring any and all Chanoth down. That is a direct order."

[stolz]

"Let's take it calmly," Mäkeläinen reacts. "Did you see any Chalnoth--- are they heading here for a go at us?"

He thinks for a second and asks, "Did you see any weapons, or anything they can use to get through a locked door?" Presumably they were scanned before coming on board, but there are ways to smuggle contraband. Or they may simply intend to settle things with knives, or bare-handed. Would they really escalate so quickly? All the shouting must have alerted the crew already.

[SidonianGal]

Nia, inclined to fall asleep, wakes herself up immediately when Booker barges in with Kylah in tow. She pushes herself up on one elbow again and listens to Book's report to the Doc, then gives a double-take when she digests his latest order.

"You're asking Rangin to act as backup? I mean, no offense," she says with a nod of brief apology to the xenobiologist. "But you're almost as bad off as I am, and right now I'd think even she--" Her hand waggles at Kylah--"could take you in a duel. No offense," she repeats, this time to the little ensign.

She shakes her head and leans back to stare at the underside of the top bunk. "It's not my call. I've got no options to offer even if it were. I just hope the door security's more sophisticated than the rest of this heap looks." After a pause she raises an eyebrow at the cabin and--to make it a trifecta--adds dryly to the quarters at large: "No offense."

[choie]

As ever grateful for Lt. Graham's support, Kylah nonetheless quickly exchanges her expression of pleasure to astonishment. Without prodding she steps close to Velir, as if preparing to defend him. "What--what can he do, sir? He is not feeling well."

She does notice the air feeling thick, somehow, and she turns to the door leading to the second cabin. "Maybe we should split up. They may not know we are in two cabins." Kylah starts to open the door (if it is not locked) and turns back. "But this is absurd. That they blame us for their problems. They are likely drunk. Maybe the food did not agree with them." Biting her lip, she faces Dr. Mäkeläinen. "They may have no weapons but their teeth and hands are enough to do damage, armed or not. And they are so very large."

With a quick check of the communicator, Kylah shrugs helplessly. "It may come to nothing. Mr. Jol said he could control things on his ship. Well, this is his opportunity." Kylah, finding no free space to sit in the crowded cabin, moves to the other quarters (again, if they're open) and will sit by herself, arms crossed in frustration.

[Elendil's Heir]

Rangin's eyes widen at Graham's order, and he says, "Aye, aye, sir," without the slightest hint of irony or sarcasm. He replies to Onn, with a wry smile, "None taken."

Rawlings rubs his chin. "We haven't seen the Chalnoth armed, but yes, it's possible they've smuggled weapons aboard. I wouldn't put it past them, if they could. Something Uwat sensors wouldn't pick up... or even recognize as weapons. It's been done before, on other ships with even more advanced tech."

Kylah goes and sits alone in her quarters; her five Yorktown crewmates - Onn, Graham, Dr. Mäkeläinen, Rangin and Rawlings - remain in the other assigned quarters, at least for the moment. The sounds of angry Chalnoth shouts and pounding boots grow louder still.

[stolz]

[Not sure if Kylah mentioned her mystery passenger or not... I am assuming not.]

With the arrival of the Chalnoth imminent, judging by the sound (plus no accompanying sound of Uwat security officers), Dr. Mäkeläinen goes over to the control panel and prepares to lock the door. If there is no time to ask Ens. Kylah how she feels about safety in numbers, he cries at her, "They're here! Keep your door locked until we sort this out."

[choie]

No Kylah decided to wind back time and not mention the patient because it didn't make sense in context.

Kylah--who frankly expected at least one person to join her when she suggested splitting up--has risen to her feet, awkwardly looking back and forth from her colleagues to the door to her left. She nods to the doctor's logical suggestion and moves to check that the door to the corridor is locked. She also tilts her head against the metal, trying to hear anything she might recognize--and also to sense... well, anything she can sense. Although the Chalnoth are chaotic and she doubts she will discern anything but the rawest emotion.

[Elendil's Heir]

"I'd better go with her," Rawlings says, slipping out the door and joining Kylah in the adjoining cabin. He locks its door just seconds after he spots two Chalnoth, clearly angry, rounding the corner and heading towards them.

Dr. Mäkeläinen likewise locks the door to the cabin containing him, Rangin, Onn and Graham.

[SidonianGal]

The abrupt escalation of noise shifts Nia's mode from semi-relaxed to fully alert, not through any mental strategy but purely on animal instinct. She shoves herself up--any higher and her forehead would knock into the bottom bunk--and immediately regrets the quick movement. But dizzy or not, she slinks farther back beneath the cot until she's positioned like something feral against a cave wall, staying out of the way of anyone who can actually perform some defensive maneuver.

[stolz]

Satisfied that everyone in the group is behind a locked door, Dr. Mäkeläinen braces himself for the Chalnoth's next move. Arguing through a locked door is not very polite, but, until things calm down, they are going to stay locked and any Chalnoth itching for a fight are not going to be obliged.

He looks over at Rangin--- the last barney the guy was in, somebody got killed. Over nothing. He silently prays to ineffable gods Rangin does not again go catatonic (or, worse, go off preternaturally like Kylah thinks may be happening) due to the shouting and the stress. If it comes to hand-to-hand combat in this room, that leaves himself, and Graham. The latter looks capable and dangerous, the type to not take chances and therefore "bring them down", so again he has to pray nothing like that come to pass. As for himself, he knows incapacitating someone without doing major damage is not necessarily so easy, but he will use his knowledge of anatomy (and previous scuffle experience) to plan some blows that will not do anything that cannot be healed. Just in case. But he hopes that the more murderously enraged a Chalnoth gets, the less likely he is to think clearly enough to get through a locked electronic door before security arrives. (Kylah apparently has that working communicator, if the shouting was not enough...)

[choie]

Kylah steps back farther into the cabin, eyeing the space. Is there anything to pick up and hold as a weapon? Probably just the chair. And that would do very poorly, she suspects.

"They cannot barge in through a locked door," she says to Rawlings--an assumption rather than a certainty. Even Klingons would be hard-pressed to beat their way through a relatively strong door. Not that she knows the relative strength between Klingons and Chalnoth.

She backs up another step and looks anxiously at the communicator. Pell knew the Chalnoth were headed their way. Perhaps he was going to get reinforcements? It does not seem that she would gain much from contacting him unless things grew dire. For no reason other than to feel connected to the others, she lifts her palm and touches the wall that is shared with the second cabin. I should have stayed with Velir. What was I thinking?

[general_urko]

"Doc, if worse comes to worst, your priority is Lt. Onn's safety," Graham says, eyes on the door. "Though I'm hoping based on your medical chops and suave you have enough of the gift of gab to convince the Chalnoth that further exposure to the potential cross-species allergic reaction might cause their manly parts to shrink and wither...or whatever gets them to go away."