Subject: Grail: "The Great Brightness"- Paranoid Assistance (Brinn/ Firespray)

<<OOC: For those of you who don't like wordiness, the title says it all.>>

Athalya Anne was sprawled out in the command chair, like a half interested

school girl. And like a half interested school girl, she was scrolling

through a PADD entirely too fast to actually read what was written there.

Stifling a yawn, she slumped down some more. Not for the first time, she

wondered about the meaning of life. *Cripes! If sitting in your quarters

or sitting on the bridge is all there is, I just may kill myself and several

people, too.* A small smile twitched at Athalya Anne's lips. She then

remembered what the meaning of life was: the experience of as many emotions

at the maximum possible intensity. *Oh, yeah.* How easy it was to lose

sight of the things that were important.

"Major," the Tactical officer addressed her, "we're picking up a distress

signal. Audio only."

Athalya Anne sat straight up. "Play transmission, by all means." Her

curiosity was more than piqued.

"This is Ambassador T'Nek Destazio of the mighty Torillion Empire." the

transmission began, "I require immediate assistance. I am not hostile. I

repeat, I am not hostile. I need your help now...."

Athalya Anne didn't really think about the orders she issued. Oddly, for

someone who hated command, they came as naturally as breathing. "Helm, plot

an intercept course. Tactical, power up shields, weapons and the tractor

beam. Ops, how many life forms are on that ship?" Two, 'Aye, sir's' and

a 'One, sir.' came back at her. She acknowledged them with a nod. "Brinn to

Terrakian."

"Go ahead."

"Listen to this, sir." Athalya Anne stated, trying hard to keep the

excitement out of her voice and tapping the necessary buttons that would play

the message. She waited patiently as Terrakian listened to the message and

then thought about what to do. "Handle it, Major. Consult Ambassador

Firespray on his knowledge of the Torrilion Empire. I will be in my Ready

Room should anything warrant my consideration. Terrakian out."

"Aye, sir." Athalya Anne said out of habit, more than anything else.

"Ambassador Firespray to the bridge." She winced, hoping that Kyp had

recovered from that nasty phaser wound by now. *Well, of course he has.*

Athalya Anne told herself. It had been a little over a week since the

accident. Hypothetically, he would be up and about before this. *Well, he's

just a kid...* Another part of her psyche countered. *Aw, sheddup.* The

first part said back. *He's just a kid. Not even one you know that well.*

The softer side of her won this debate though, *Case in point.*

Kyp was resting in his quarters when he was summoned to the bridge.

"Probably, wondering about some sort of weird Delta Quadrant

phenomenon, like a comet or something." he muttered to himself before

getting out of bed. He reached over to his commbadge on the table. He held

it in his hand a squeezed it.

"Firespray to mo...er Brinn, Acknowledged."

He got out of bed and got dressed. He had to cover the wound he had

on his side. That PHASER really did a number on him. Of course their

medical facility wasn't equipped to treat Alterians but he didn't mind the

natural healing process, it attuned him back to nature. He dressed himself

in a black kimono with matching pants. He also put on a black glove to

cover the scare on his right hand. He looked at himself in the mirror.

*Still missing something. What would a leader where? Ah-ha* he thought to

himself as he put on a black cape. He fixed his hair and then left for the

bridge.

<<Bridge>>

The Turbolift doors opened and the bridge sprawled out in front of

him. He walked over to Brinn.

"What's up?" he asked.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Fine, I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm sure you didn't call me all

the way up here to ask how I was, so like I just said, what's up?"

"You're right. We just got a distress from an ambassador from the

Torrilion Empire. I was hoping you could inform me of what to expect from

him."

"The Torrilion Empire, huh? Haven't heard from them in a while.

Well, let's see. The Torillions are quite aggressive to unknown ships, and

even more so to their enemies. I feel it is crucial to get off to a good

start with the with this guy. If we can prove that we can be powerful

allies he can help us once we reach the Delta Quadrant. The Torrilion

Empire is *very* powerful in it's substantial region of space, and is not a

force to ignore. I suggest we treat this guy like gold.

"The Alterian Hierarchy had trade relations with them, although we

were more like competitors. Nevertheless, if this guy knows anything of the

Delta Quadrant he'll remember the hospitality the Alterians offered to all,

and as the only present Alterian on board I'm sure I can convince him that

we can be allies."

Athalya Anne nodded appreciatively when Kyp came to the end of his speech.

"Thank you, dear." She absently said. Later, Athalya Anne would remember

what she had said. But now, there was more on her mind.

"Sir, we're approaching the ship at...." DeMontigny rattled off a bunch of

numbers she didn't quite catch.

"Acknowledged. Tactical, lock weapons on ships engines and put a tractor

beam lock on the ship as well."

"Aye, sir." The tac officer behind her chimed. Athalya Anne stood. "Open

hailing frequencies."

There was a chime. "Hailing frequencies open."

"This is LMaj Athalya Anne Brinn, Executive Officer of the USS Grail, of the

United Federation of Planets." She paused. Saying that felt weird. "How

may we be of assistance?"

LMaj Athalya Anne Brinn and Ambassador Kyp Firespray