Subject: Grail: The Great Brightness - Arda

"Another Beam In", SD 47307.31

Lt Arda Kaje, Head Shuttle Pilot

Arda woke early the next morning. It was still another two hours

before they entered the Great Brightness. She took her time with

breakfast, enjoying the quiet moment with her daughter and letting

herself absorb the little girl's love. It was these precious moments

that helped her through.

Once they were both dressed and ready, Arda brought the little

girl down to the Nursery and left her with the Holonanny, who was

currently feeding a new little boy. Arda gave her a smile, which the

program automatically returned, and left Kaede with the small xylophone.

It had become her favorite nursery toy.

She entered the bay, the first of Red Shift to arrive. Lt Naomi

Stevens, the ranking officer on Yellow shift, acknowledged the Chief's

entrance with a nod.

"Morning, Lt," the unjoined Trill said. "Did you sleep well?"

Arda wondered if she knew of what had happened. Damned rumor mill.

"Yes, I did. Thank you." She looked out over the bay,

momentarily observing the Yellow Shift crew working. "Status?"

"Everything is in the green." Arda shook her head. Too many

damned colors.

"Great. I'll be in the office if anyone needs me. You're still

in charge for about....." she glanced at the clock in the office,

".....ten minutes. Report to me then."

"Right, Lt." Arda left the woman to her work and headed into the

office. She called up the information on the star cluster again, going

over it like a hawk. She had the other screen in the room searching for

the information they had managed to gather on Kerestia. She and her Red

Shift team would be shuttling down the officers that were assigned to the

away team.

Naomi checked in with Arda at the shift change. She smiled.

"Thanks, Lt. I'll see you tomorrow." Naomi nodded and left.

Arda stepped out and watched as the rest of the 'Graveyard Shift'

officers left the bay. Her co-pilot in the Orinoco walked up to her.

"Hey, Lt," he said with a smile. The usual morning coffee stain

ran down the front of his uniform. Arda had given up on trying to

prevent that. Ltjg Ted Striker had a 'drinking' problem. He couldn't

keep his drink in his cup.

"Morning."

"Are we ready for the trip?" He grinned.

"Yep." His grin widened even more and he walked off. She walked

over to Ltjg James Dietric. "Morning."

"Morning, Lt," he said with a quick salute.

"Gather up the officers. I want a morning meeting." She glanced

at the clock again. "We're headed for the Great Brightness in an hour.

Let's make sure we're ready." He gave a sharp nod and headed off. Arda

walked back over to the Orinoco and opened the door. She stood up in the

doorway so she could see everyone at the meeting. Being average height

didn't help when a bunch of tall people stood in the first row.

Soon, the ten pilots and five workers in the bay were gathered in

front of her. She looked them over as they massed at the door of the

runabout. She cleared her throat quickly.

"Morning, crew. We've got a big day ahead of us. As you know,

the Grail will be headed into the 'Great Brightness' in about an hour. I

want everything ready to go. I need all necessary diagnostics run on the

ships, I want power up proceedures run and tested. If there are any

problems, I want them fixed. We have to be ship shape and in top form in

case of an emergency. We have to be ready for possible evacuation,

possible attack, anything. Think worst case, here.

"I'll be needing reports on all diagnotics and tests run. Make

sure you're ready by the time we enter." She clapped her hands twice.

"Let's go!"

The group quickly dispersed and began working. Arda smiled at

their efficiency. Each pair of pilots had taken to their vessels and

began preflight checks. The workers began running diagnostics on all

systems in the bay. She allowed herself a small, satisfied sigh and

turned into the Orinoco, Ted entering behind her.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Go for it."

**Later**

The trip through the 'Great Brightness' was slightly eventful,

the Red Alert blaring a few times as the ship shook. Once on the other

side, something even more interesting happened.

Arda Kaje was not made aware of the new arrival until it

materialised in her hangar. At the same moment, Major Brinn entered with

Lt. Castle, En. Charr, and another pair of Security Officers that she did

not know.

A second later, a half dozen Marines entered and fell in around

the pod without a word. Arda recognized Jeb Kirby from their poker game.

They all looked to the young-seeming woman for approval. She nodded

minutely in acknowledgement. For a Marine, it was all the direction they

needed.

As they settled into position, the hatch of the pod opened with a

hiss of an atmospheric seal breaking. And stepping from the pod came a

Romulan woman of proud bearing, wearing the rank insignia of

SubCommander. She stood tall, almost regally, and looked at the woman

who seemed to be in charge.

"I am Subcommander Thalissa of the Warbird R'Larn. I am at your

mercy."

There was a long pause as the XO seemed to study the weaknesses

of the woman in front of her. Arda felt as if she could cut the tension

like frozen butter, not easily.

"Until you give us reason to believe other wise, you are honored

guests," she finally said. "Have you any wounded?"

"I am alone." This she said regaly and without emotion.

"I trust you do not require any medical assistance."

"That is none of your concern."

"Quite the contrary. It is my concern." Athalya Anne's eyes

narrowed slightly and set her jaw. "I am LMaj Athalya Anne Brinn, of the

USS Grail," she gestured to Fionn, "This is Lt Fionn, our Chief of

Tactical and this is Lt Logan Castle, Chief of Security." Athalya Anne

gestured in turn to Castle. "Walk this way." She lead the way out,

leaving security to file around the woman.

Once the procession left the room, everyone breathed a sigh of

relief. The pod was studied quickly, all readings loaded into the

computer for later reference. Arda noted that there was an abnormally

high baryon reading on the pod. She did *not* know that the bridge crew

of the Grail was also concerned about the same thing on the hull of the

ship in which she now resided. She noted this and marked it for any

problems that may come up later. She had the pod moved to one of the

auxilliary bays in case someone wanted to sweep it later. This way, it

wouldn't disrupt the normal operations of her bay.

********************

Jessi-Lynne ICQ: 6820043 AIM: Duches77 e-mail: jlsullivan@juno.com

-=+=- hukt on fonix werkt 4 mee!! -=+=-

aka: Adm Molly Dee Hall, CO, Olympus IV Colony

Lt Arda Kaje, Head Shuttle Pilot, USS Grail