**note any similiarites to the Trek, the Wars, or any other space epic are probably intended, and for that were sorry your offended**


Space...really friggin huge. From the bridge of most ships, it doesnt seem to be too bad, mostly because the ships are also really friggin huge. But not this one. Well, lets retract that. It too is a friggin huge ship, but not REALLY friggin huge. The new Halcyon class starship of the UESK was one of those regular just friggin huge ships...... no, computer *beep* delete that last entry" the man said as he paced the waiting room, staring at his datapad. He was the Captain of a ship, one that was not yet authorized to set sail. He was bored, tired of waiting. See, he was the DESIGNATED (not yet full status) captain of a brand new type of starship, the Halcyon Class. It was supposed to have the latest technology, but the fact of the matter was that he had only seen pictures of it, holoimages, and taken virtual tours, but the UESK had put the damned thing under restricted access while work crews finished the final touches before launch day....today, like now!.
"Captain Andels! there you are you old salt! well come on" said an elderly man walking in from the opposite entrance of the waiting room. this man was Admiral Kazik.
"Much of the crew is already aboard, just finishing some of the last touches of course. BUt come! how are you" Kazik cried as they entered the door Andels wanted to go through for the last 4 hours. The fortunate thing about the "send off" docks was that the upper half of the loading ramps were glass, and you could view the ships before you were on it. Andel stared at the ship that was to soon be his, the UES Epsilon.
"Beautiful isnt it" Admiral Kazik said quietly at his side as the moving floors carried them closer.
"425 meters long, 16 decks, latest in sensory and weapons systems, and a new hull type too - Deurinium alloy" Kazik said as Alden whistled
"how old are you know I keep forgetting, I know i missed your last party" kazik said trying to stir conversation
"52 sir....OH admiral I almost forgot my Communications officer Lt. Freesia is out finding me a pilot, and should be back shortly. shees a good friend of the family" he added quickly as Kazik flinched
"You know we had a good selection list for you to choose from!" kazik sighed
"I want only the best for my ship, admiral" Andel winked. The motion stopped. They were at the entry hatch.
"After you" Kazik said with a smile and a nod



***note: UESK Uniforms - Airforce style jumpsuits - rank is shown as would a modern military officer (on the arm of the left or right. example : the Captain Has a Gold band of 5 circles to show his authority, a Lt just a gold band, and so on)****

Starbases weren't her favorite places to be. She would already be waiting to board the ship if it wasn't for the Captian's request that she find a pilot for it. Too many emotions. Too many thoughts flew around these places. It was almost too much for her to handle at times. "Just keep your shield up, Kandice...." the woman said quietly to herself.
Kandice stopped after a few minuets and let her mental shields lower so she could hear the thoughts of the pilots she had just encountered. Her telepathy was one of the reasons she was asked to find the pilot. That and she was a family friend of Captian Alden. "Let's see...." she said as she started to walk around again, making it look like she was just waiting for time to pass before the ship she was assigned to launched.

"This ship is certainly amazing" Alden said, impressed as he walked through the ship with Admiral Kazik. the Crew and dock engineers were finishing the final work before launch all around them, fitting in panels here, defying physics there.
"It is, but we havent even seen the best part" Kazik said as a door slid open in front of them. Alden looked at what kazik meant and his jaw dropped


"The bridge" Kazik said smiling at him. It was certainly an extraordinary room, with its consoles and panels (and general things starships are supposed to have). What drew his eyes was the chair. In the center of the room were two chairs, the first officers, and the Captains. they were remarkably the same, but the Captains always sat on the right, and so he knew his chair. A brand new chair and hed finally get to sit in it. He walked tentatively up to it.
"Go ahead captain, break her in" the admiral encouraged. Alden Slowly lowered himself onto the fine seating, and he gave a content sigh.
"Welcome home Captain" the admiral said, and Alden just nodded

Kandice had her brow furrowed as she continued her search. Most of the men were just rookies out of the academy, still wet behind the ears and were only looking forward to going out on their first flight as an official pilot.
"You aren't going to find one that way." a man said as he watched the dark haired, pale green eyed woman. "Your body would be able to find ya a man better than just walking around."
Kandice set her jaw and closed her eyes before she spun on her heel to yell at the guy. She started to but then stopped. "You, dear Irvine Jasle, are still a pig." She said as she looked at the older man.
Sitting at the table was an Earth man in his late 30's with greying brown hair and brown eyes. "And you dear, Kandy, need to lighten up." Irvine said as he stood. "What's got you stuck in one of these places? Last I heard, you were already serving under a captian."
"I am." Kandice said as Irvine finished his drink and followed her out of the area.
"Well that doesn't tell me why you are here." Irvine said as he fell in step with the woman.
"Why should I even tell you? Last I heard, you were in trouble with your captian because you didn't follow orders...which in fact saved the crew you were with." she said as she headed back to the dock.
"That was an isolated incident and the captian was not himself." the pilot protested. "Hell it wasn't my fault that he gave us orders into a blasted mine field because he was suicidal. Still never learned the story behind it though..." Irvine sighed shaking his head.
"How about another shot then?" Kandice said looking at him through the corner of her eye. "We could use you and I think you've been grounded way too long."
Irvine stopped as he looked at her still walking towards the dock. He thought about it and shook his head. "Blasted woman did it again....she's got me figured out too well. Damn...and to think she's not even a bit ashamed of it..." he sighed and followed her.
~Well, that's one way to get a pilot.~ Kandice thought to herself. ~And Alden did say he wanted the best. Well Lt. Commander Irvine Jasle is the best I know. Personaly and by reputation.~

"I want a full systems check, level 4, completed before take off. We dont have much time to lose so get a move on it" barked the Chief Engineer at an ensign
"right away sir!" the ensign said and went of to be gin carrying out his orders. The C.E didnt have time to worry about if the ensign would do it, he was very very very busy. the 30 year old man's brain was operating at full capacity, and he just didnt want to be bothered. He heard the woosh of a door, a door he didnt say could be opened (the entrance to Engineering). He looked up.
"Admiral on deck!" he called, the crew in the room rapidly standing to attention, himself included
"At ease at ease. Alden Id like you to introduce you to your Chief Engineer, Karl Raslty, though i think you two have met" the admiral said.
"Karl, its been awhile" Alden said as he shook Rastly's hand
"Sure has, still sporting the blaster wound?" Karl said with a congenial smile
"Heh, you know me, love the scars" Alden said.

The bar at the Lunar Docks was filled with most of the ships crew, all 192 of them (the ship could support 400, but 200 crew was maximum). First Officer Kani was surveying the excited crew. A lot of them were fresh, some were veterans, and some were transferees from the free agent list.

HE downed another drink. He had been on other ships, but this was his first as a Lt. Jonus falx, 23, was nervous. He didnt have anything special on the ship, Head of Astrometrics, which in itself was a pointless title because there were 2 other lieutenants with him. still, it was a job, and he intended to take it.
"Nervous kid?" said another, not much older (25) man sliding onto a bar stool next to him.
"Yea, just uh, want to get started thats all" Jonus said finishing his drink.
"I thought it was inappropriate for Kore members to drink" the man said with a devilish wink
"ONly on duty" Jonus replied defensively. HE stared at the man hard.
"I know you. Your....your...Steve Kazik. Fojin sympathizer, attacked a Kore ship I thought you were in prison...!" Jonus said slowly getting louder.
"easy easy kid. Relax, they let me out....well on the condition i go on this mission. As an "observer" " he said with bitterness "Id rather be the pilot, but dad wouldnt let me..."
"Your dad...kazik...the admiral?" Jonus asked with surprise
"Yea. We dont get a long too well. Thats enough of my life history, come one were gonna be late" Steve said getting up.
They walked together towards the exit
"Well maybe youll get your chance during the mission" Jonus said hopefully. Steve laughed as they left the bar.
"Your all right Jonus" he said patting him on the shoulder
"But not a shot in hell"

"Lt. Fresha...." another woman called after Kandice as she and Irvine passed by the bar on the Lunar docks. Irvine noticed the flinch as the comunications officer turned to look at the older woman.
~Early 40's would be my guess....~ was Kandice's first impression of the woman. "Freesia...not Fresha." she corrected as politely as she could. "Is there something I can do for you, Ma'am?"
The woman kind of faulted as Kandice corrected her. "I'm sorry. I was under the impression your name was prounounced Fresha." The woman said a little uneasy. Before Kandice could wave off the worry. "I'm Lt. Beatrice Andoro, Chief Medical officer." She said offering her hand to Kandice. "Call me, Bea."
"Lt. Kandice Fressia." She replied taking the offered hand. "May I ask why you called out to me?"
Bea chuckled as she fell in step with Kandice and Irvine. "Just wanted to meet our Communications Officer. Most Betazoids I've met end up becoming Ship's Councilers."
Kandice looked a little...amused at that. "Well let's just say, I wouldn't be surprised if that did happen as well." She said causing Irvine to laugh. "Let's go. I have to report to the captian." She said hurring up to find Alden.

Kani entered the bridge with Security chief Fate. Kani watched as Alden came on board the bridge. The pilot had not arrived.
"All right Ill catch you later" came a voice as another door to the bridge opened. In came Steve Kazik. He didnt give any of the crew he saw any smile or anything. He knew he was not welcome here.

"when are the the comms officer and pilot getting here" the middle aged First officer asked fate.

Kandice and Irvine arrivied just as the words left the First officer's mouth. Kandice kind of flinched as she felt the emotions in the room. Placing her shields up compleatly, she looked at each of the crew in turn. Her eyes fell on Steve and stopped there a moment before she approached the captian.
Irvine placed his hands at his sides as he looked around the bridge. When he woke that morning, this was the last place he thought he would be. "Captian Alden," Kandice's voice said cutting into Irvine's thoughts, "Lt. Commander Irvine Jasle." She said in short introduction.
"Captian." Irvine said as he said in repsect as his eyes feel on the man that Kandice was talking to.

"At ease Lt. To your stations then" he said as he and Kani both sat down in their command chairs.
"Are we cleared for launch Ms. Fate?" Alden asked.

Kandice and Irvine both took their respective seats as Fate checked the clearance. "We are cleared for launch, Captian." Fate replied.
Kandice could still feel the mix of emotions as she sat there, watching. Irvine was ready for the signal to engage from the Captian. He figured he should have asked more questions to Kandice about him before this but oh well.

"Well miss kani, lets get under way" Aldent said signaling the First officer. Kani nodded and stood up
"Lt. Irvine detach from spacedock and set a course for Io warp 6" she ordered in a crisp manner.

Irvine detached the ship from the spacedock with skill that came from years of piloting. "Detachment from spacedock is compleat. Course is set and ready to engage." Irvine replied feeling as if he had never taken a leave from flying. It came to him so easily, like riding a bicyle. But he had kept his skills up during his down time.

"Proceed mister Irvine" Captain Alden said standing up and staring at the view screen.

"Yes Captian." Irvine said as he engaged the warp drive.

Kandice watched in wonder as she did everytime she was on board the bridge of a ship when it took off on a voyage. Fate remained neutral about the launch as she checked the panel infront of her making sure everything was in order.

The engines hummed as the warp drive activated and the ship careened into subspace.
"well then, thats it. Were off. We will be receiving instructions from the Admiral when we reach Io" Capt. alden said as he paced the bridge. A new ship, and he commanded it. Jonus came in at that time and took up his position at the Sensor station.
"Hows things ahead of us Lt. Falx" Alden said.
"A-all clear ahead sir, nothing of interest to report" Jonus said nervously.
"Very good, carry on. Mr. Irvine, forgive me for not mentioning it earlier, but welcome aboard" Captain Alden said with a tilt of his head.

"Thank you Sir." Irvine said as he continued his duties. He heard the voices behind him but concentrated on the ships course.
Kandice looked at the Lt. Falx for a few moments as she kept her headset on listening for any incoming hails or distress signals. She was curious as to why Steve Kazik was on board this vessle though. It was something she'd look into later.

"Receiving incoming transmission. Its the Admiral sir" Jonus said suddenly as they came out of warp over Io.
"On screen" the Captain said. Admiral Kaziks face appeared from his office on earth.
"Well to start of congratulations on your first warp jump in your new ship everyone. BUt ill be more to the point as there isnt much time. an RIA vessel disappeared in an Ion storm near Io, and we want you to investigate, and if at all possible, arrest them" the Admiral said.

Questions popped into Irvine's mind but he kept quiet as he listened to the admiral's orders. Basicaly how many RIA crew were they dealing with and just how armed is their ship?
~Why would a RIA ship be near Io?~ Kandice wondered keeping it to herself for a moment. She didn't like to ask questions of her superiors as it felt ackward to her unless it was a council session.

"We know they were here because their "friends" the Bith reported it to us" the admiral sighed "you all know the outerfringe colonies opposed the peace treaty with the Bith. They formed the RIA to continue the war we had stopped. From what we gathered it was only a bith trade vessel and an RIA attack ship, probably no more then 20 some odd crew members on the ship. Theyve since disappeared, and your going to find them. Make us proud Epsilon" The admiral told them

"Understood Admiral. Epsilon out" Alden said, and with a final wave from the admiral the video cut out.

"anything on sensors?" Alden asked.
"Im picking up two ion trails heading in the direction of the Ion Storms" Jonus said from his console
"Ms. Fate, will our shields and hull integretity survive getting near the storm?" Alden asked directing attention to the security cheif.

"With all the new shields and latest technology they put into this ship," Fate said as she looked at the captian, "this ship could handle getting critical Ion storm without any serious damage. The shields and hull will hold."

"Very good. Take us into orbit and maintain it. Ms. Freesia keep scans running for life signs and the ship, though I dont expect to find any" alden said.

"So anyway, After taking the shuttle and crashing it and destroying the Bith fighter Dad congratulated me and hauled me off to Prison in Berlin" Steve said to a wide eyed Jonus.
"But but that bith had stolen tech from the shipyards" jonus said with some confusion
"Yea, well, thats 'Kore' protocol violations. Doesnt matter if the bith wouldve easily escaped with the plans to the new ship" steve said light heartedly.
"well you cant really blame them...." Jonus said trying to be neutral. The mess hall was fairly busy. Nobody sat with them, and as far as steve was concerned Jonus was his only friend (and vice versa in fact).
"So what brings you here" steve asked.
"Oh, first assignment you know" Jonus said

"Still no sign of life signs or ships, Captian." Kandice reported as Irvine maintained the course around the orbit.

"Shields still holding at 100 %." Fate added as she looked at her own panel.


Beatrice was in the mess hall looking over the medical records of the crew. She had just recived the records of the ones that were added near last minuet. "Intersting crew. Very intersting." She said to herself quietly before sipping her coffee.

Kani was looking at the data screen which showed all info that the bridge was collecting.
"Captain, we may have something. Can the comms station confirm?" she asked looking over at Kandice

Kandice looked at the information she was gathering. "Confirmed." she said trying to get an excat location on the object. "It's the Bith trade vessle."

"Or what remains of it" KAni said as she looked at the data. Andel looked at the info as well.
"Lt. Irvine can we get in a little closer, withing 400 meters of the this...ship debris whatever it is?"

"Yes Sir." Irvine replied as he manuvered the ship closer. He was careful of the debris that was floating further away from the main wreckage.
Kandice was looking out the screen as they approached the debris. She carefuly lowered her shields a little to see what emotions were left in the area.

there was a beep on the console
"Astrometrics report" Alden said. The ship suddenly jerked.
"ASTROMETRICS!" Alden said louder.

Jonus was picking himself up and tapping away at the console.
"Im picking up Spatial distortions!" Jonus roared back

"Is there anything specific you can tell us" Alden said quickly.

"No captain Ive never seen anything like this. Its like...a wave or...or something" Jonus said looking around as if to find something to alleviate his confusion.

"Kandice is it moving?!" barked Alden but before she could answer
"Jonus to the bridge" came jonus's voice
"Go ahead Lt." alden said with confusion
"Its the ion storm, I didnt recognize it at first, but its causing massive interference with the sensors" jonus's voice said.
"Affirmative Jonus" Alden said "Kandice, I ask again, is it moving?" he said a little worried.

"I'm afraid it is, Captian." Kandice replied. "And in our general direction. It's path seems to be inconstant."

Fate was keeping an eye on the shields after that jolt to the ship while Irvine was cussing mentaly about it.

"What the hell was that?" Bea asked herself as she stopped a tray with medicen from knocking over. "It's ok, deary." she told her pacient as she went back to making sure they recieved the proper medicens for their condition.

"Captain whatever is in that Ion Storm is really causing hell in there, If these readings are anywhere close to accurate im reading rifts in the spacial grid with tachyon signatures...I-I really dont know what im seeing!" Jonus said on the comm.

"Lt. Irving, is there any chance we might be able to...avoid this oncoming storm" Alden said quietly.

"We can avoid it but I can't say that we still won't get hit by waves like that last one or not." Irvine replied as he started to change the course to hopefully avoid the storm.

"Captain if im reading this right its gaining velocity" Jonus came over the comm system. 2 minutes later he appeared on the bridge

"Captain I really dont know what this is" He said in person, He looked seriously pissed.
"Its gaining speed but we cant identify any discernable reason why it would"
Alden turned to watch the view screen with worry.

Kandice had gotten her shields back up as she concentrated on the movement of the storm. She was getting a headache from the emotions and thoughts going on around the room. Especialy off of Jonus and Irvine.
"We're going to get caught in it Sir." Irvine said as he still tried to manuver around it. "I've flown around Ion storms before and this one is just....." He shook his head. Hell he wasn't sure what to say about it. "Just not the same."
"Shields are still holding. That jolt from it earlier didn't effect them." Fate said as she looked at her panel.

And suddenly it was upon them
"Brace for impact" the captain announced to the ship, and suddenly everything was turned into chaos. The ship shook and rumbled violently, overturned. People were thrown from their places, ruptures in the floor and ceiling just exploded, and an electrical discharge exploded and set off nearly every console on the bridge and ship. Jonus and steve, like everyone else, were thrown to their feet, and Jonus immediatlely lost conciousness.

Jonus slowly began to open his eyes. His vision was very blurry, and his body ached, and his left eye was covered in some sticky substance...blood. He slowly dragged himself to his feet. THe bridge was in chaos. Several of the support beams on the bridge had collapsed, things were sparking and the red alert siren was going off. There were a few bodies strewn about on the bridge.
"Is anyone alive?" he asked croakily aloud as he held onto the support rail in front of the comms station for support.

"Some of them are....right now I can't tell you which though." Kandice's voice said weakly as she coughed, the wind knocked out of her. Her leg was pinned under one of the support beams. She was sore all over with some flash burns on her arm and face from when the comm panel exploded.

Bea groaned as she pushed some of the medical carts off of her. She didn't move yet as she made sure she was actualy alive. "What the hell was that???" she said trying to get up now. After a few tries, she found a rail to hold onto and looked around at the damage. "Damn..." Several of the medical staff were lost. "If it's like this in here, I can just imagion the rest of the ship...."

Jonus hobbled over to the beam and heaved. It slowly heaved off.
"Anyone home?" came a voice just below them. steve stood up slowly, he didnt seem to harmed.
"steve who else is hurt" Jonus asked.
"Well im all right....oh no" Steves voice groaned. Jonus went over to the rail after helping kandice stand up. He groaned too. Captain alden and First officer Kani were charred and burned. Dead.

Kandice didn't go to the rail. She didn't want to see the captian's body. Not yet anyway...it was too much of a shock for her. "Irvine is gone as well." She said as she looked over to where another charred body lay. She had to kill herself so to say as to not get too emotional over the death of three people that were almost family to her.
Fate pushed the panel that fell over on her away. She had a cut across her cheek and one across the front of her uniform's shoulder. "We need to find away to get some message to the Admiral." she said as she stood up. "Also find away to get to the other levels to check for survivors."

Jonus groaned as he checked the nearest console
"Powers out on almost all critical systems except life support. The damage im reading is rediculous. Almost nothing seems to be working. Fate, can you and your security teams, whoevers left get about checking for survivors? we need engineering as well to help out, get these systems online" he asked as he was putting out a fire. Steve was helping up some of the majorly injured sit up.
"we need medical staff, Ill run down to see whos alive" he said.

"We will get right on it." Fate said as she helped up a couple of her security staff that was on the bridge. "Are the lifts working or will we need to use the emergancy ladders?"
"To be on the safe side," Kandice said as she headed over to check on a few unconsious bodies, "take the ladders. The lifts could give out at any time. We don't need to take the chance. Jonus, can you tell what level the lifts are on?" she asked turning to look at the other Lt.
Fate and one of the team opened the door with some force and went ahead down the ladder. The third waited for an answer.

Bea was helping some survivors on her level. She had some recruited help with the more injured. The dead number of dead were recorded by an ensing that was with her. "Ok, I'm going to try to make it to the bridge. You guys continue on with gathering the survivors on this level and you four come with me. You two go one level up and you two one level down. Find any survivors and help them." She said as they headed to the lifts.

"No internal sensors are down we have no way of knowing anything at the moment" Jonus said as he grabbed an emergency med kit to treat his bleeding (he was pale and feeling very unwell due to blood loss, and he couldnt see very well because of it).
"We need to get the warpcore online so we can have mainpower....gah......" he said banging the console wall.

Steve forced open the door to engineering. He saw a sign of Chaos.
"Whats going on here" he said catching a rushing bleeding engineer as he passed.
"Cheifs dead, were trying to stabalize the ship" he said with a stammer.
"well dammit all is the core going to breach?" steve panicked.
"No weve managed to keep that from happening, but weve got teams all over the ship trying to fix damage and put out fires. its a real mess we mustve lost 5 people" the ensign said.

Kandice winced at the sound of the banging. Her head was pounding by now. "We just need to keep a cool head. Especially right now." she said as she tried her best to not go crazy. Too many emotions. Too many thoughts. Fear and anger abound. It was taking all she could to keep her own fears in check to help out the injured on the bridge.

Fate pulled one of the security team into the passage just as the lift came crashing down. "You take this deck." she said as she headed down the ladder again. She had the other one take a diffrent deck while she continued down.

"Well seems we had the same idea." Bea said as she pulled herself out of one of the ducts as Fate blinked confused...which was saying something. "It looks like a war zone on this ship right now. Not many surviovors have been found. Most have been burnt beyond recongnition. At least that's how it is on the decks I've checked and got aids going on so far." She said as she started up.

"The captian and first are dead. So is the pilot." Fate said. "There are several injured up there."

"I'm heading there now then." Bea said as she continued her climb up. "If you see anyothers that can aid me, send them on up." She called down. "God I'm too old for this kind of thing...."