<<<Transporter Room Five to the T'Saloset's Engineering>>>

Kestra Prynne carried a little case which was handy storage for a variety of tools she had chosen that might prove useful in safely removing the cloaking device from the Romulan ship. She walked into the transporter room, feeling the effects of adrenaline rushing through her body.

Federation ships had been her home, her haven. Kestra had never been on-board a Romulan ship before, nor any other alien ship for that matter, despite the fact that she had studied ships like these to the point of knowing them inside and out. She could picture the Warbird's Engineering in her mind; picturing at the same time where the cloaking device would be, so that upon arrival she could make that destination her first priority.

It was an exciting prospect to have the chance to experience the Warbird's engineering first hand. Even though there would be little time to discover everything of interest there, it would be enough just to get the glimpse of it all in real life.

Chief Kirby regarded her with a cursory look, then asked her, again, "...do you have all the equipment you'll be needing?"

Lt. Prynne gave him an exasperated look and said with mock docility, "Yes, Chief. We have everything." *For the third time,* she continued her thoughts.

The Chief did tend to be a bit overbearing. Prynne was tempted to put him on the spot by accusing him of having insufficient confidence in her abilities as an engineer, but practicality said that such an action served no useful purpose. Losing the chance to say anything else, Kestra Prynne watched Chief Kirby step up onto the pad and turn around to face the Ensign at the control console. The Ensign slid his two fingers up the consoles, initiating the transport sequence.

Once the transport was completed, Ensign Blake quickly glanced at her equipment and the tricorder she held, then stepped up onto the transporter pad, indicating that everyone else should follow her lead. Lt. Prynne, staring impudently at Ensign Blake, stepped up, maintaining an unwavering focus on the shorter woman. If anyone was going to lead, it would be Lt. Prynne leading Miss Blake, not the other way around. Prynne wanted to make sure that Ensign Blake got that message loud and clear, even if she was not empathic.

Kestra Prynne's attention was brought back to the Marines as they filed onto the transporter and with their height, obstructed all sight of the Ensign at the control console. She couldn't see when the transport would begin until it had already done so, as was apparent by the flickering cerulean buffer particles which muted out her vision partially. But the transition between the Federation transporter room to the Romulans' Engineering was still obvious.

Kestra had little time to look in awe at the massive size of this Engineering section before the sound of a phaser discharge had reached her ears. Kestra did her best to stay behind one of the Marines and out of firing range, as much as possible. The confrontation, in itself, was totally shocking to Kestra because, in her mind, she had pictured an empty Engineering, not one filled with a dozen or so hostile Romulans. Kestra ignored her shock and placed her faith in that the Marines would provide for her safety.

So, Kestra, taking the chance, immediately made her way towards the Romulans' quantum singularity drive. Ensign Blake hurried behind her, not willing to stay out in the open too long. They got to the back-end of the drive, and waited quietly for a little bit more of an opening. The sound of rapid phaser fire, or something of the sort, could be heard for several moments.

The instant Kestra did not hear it any longer, she said to Ensign Blake, "Stay here. I'll see if the coast is clear."

She stepped out and the only ones she could see were the Marines. Ensign Blake, not waiting for approval, walked over to the front-side of the drive, and to the warp plasma conduits. The cloaking device, which was already powered down, stared dauntingly at her. To be honest, she was afraid of performing this procedure. Too many problems could come from it. To Kestra's relief, Blake allowed her the time to remove the cloaking device herself. It was for the better that Blake did this, since Kestra was the only one who would know how to uncouple the EPS taps. Ensign Blake ran a tricorder over the cloaking device, recording initial readings on the status of it, since such information would be useful, as a means of comparison, when later attempting to convert the device for use on the Grail.

Chief Kirby with another Marine approached Blake and Prynne. A look of worry washed over Kirby's face as he watched Kestra Prynne delicately handle the connection of the device to the drive. A lot of shouting and firing was going on, but there must've been at least 8 Romulan engineers on the ground, no longer living. All the confusion was distracting but she tuned it all out as best she could. She focused on disconnecting the warp plasma conduits on the cloaking device.

It was a very tricky procedure and Kestra began to have doubts that she had the skills enough to accomplish such a feat. It also didn't help any that Chief Kirby constantly gave her glances that said with his eyes : *hurry up! hurry up, please!* Kestra would've found this anxiousness in such a man of experience to be amusing, if she had had the chance . But she refused to allow the diversion to interfere with the careful disconnection of the power conduits.

As she disconnected it, she noticed something attached onto the generator coils, which she did not immediately recognize. Then she remembered that it was a mechanism called a field actuator. This job was going to be even more interesting if this cloaking device was equipped with field actuators. She made sure they were disengaged before continuing.

To Kirby, the total wait must've seemed endless. It was, unfortunately, necessary. This mission here was not as simple as snatching up the cloaking device and beaming back. Great care had to be taken. And a lot of delicate manipulation had to be done. Nothing could be done wrong. And because of that, it would take a little longer to get this done. Surely he must've realized that, Kestra hoped.

There was no danger presently and she had the chance to work uninterrupted... at least that was so temporarily. Her fear was that she would not have enough time to get the thing removed before the Romulans broke down the doors and came for them all.

However, as those thoughts passed through her mind, a pair of Romulans made their entrance into the room via the ventilation ducts, taking out a Marine in the process. Despite the firing and the words shouted, Kestra and Ens. Blake continued their work. Kestra briefly heard the Romulan shout out a code of some sort, but her mind wasn't on it.

"Federation identification code Alpha Iota Alpha," stated the Romulan before Kirby. Kirby didn't hear him well, though, as he was communicating through looks to the two men ensconced on the deck above, both of whom had their rifles trained on the Romulan's back. Lt. Marritza, however, did recognize the code and stepped forward before anymore shots were fired.

"I recognize the code, Chief," stated the Lieutenant. "He needs to see the captain, I'd think."

"Very well, sir," stated Kirby, looking meaningfully up at the two Marines above, but they maintained their bead on the Romulan, their rifles set on heavy stun. Kirby turned to the engineer and science officer who were working feverishly at the device. "Now would be good, officers," he said, hefting his rifle and taking up a position by the door.

When the last conduit was disconnected, Kestra began to unbolt the

cloaking device from the drive's warp plasma conduits. It was much

quicker, and much to Chief Kirby's relief, the removal of the cloaking

device could be seen physically. After finishing unbolting it, Prynne

held the cloaking device in her hands. Ensign Blake took the weighty

cloaking device for Prynne. As Blake did so, Kestra's heart nearly jumped

out of her chest.

"Don't drop it!" Kestra exclaimed, overcome with anxiety.

Blake looked unfazed by her blurted assertion, and simply walked into a position far enough away from the quantum singularity drive to allow a pattern lock-on for transport. Kestra was about to do the same when a click and sudden silence overtook engineering. The humming sound from the force fields had disappeared.

Lt. Marritza immediately ordered the transport of everyone on-board the T'saloset. A dozen marines, plus the dead and wounded Marines, and Ensign Blake were the first to go in a coupled transport. Kestra Prynne was too close to the quantum singularity drive to allow a pattern lock to be established on her.

"Move away from the drive!" he yelled at her.

"Get the hell out of here, sir!" shouted Kirby at the Lieutenant. Marritza was about to reprimand the Chief for his disobedience, but he never got the chance as the rest of the Marines and the new Romulan, excluding Kirby, were transported away. The doors to engineering were blasted open, and one Romulan with a none-too-pleased group behind him, immediately fired his disruptor at Prynne, the one who had been working on the quantum singularity drive. Kirby dodged a fire at him, as he rushed over to Prynne. He dragged her unconscious body away from the drive, and once he was a sufficient distance from it, he tapped his comm badge and nearly shouted into the communicator, "Emergency transport to Sickbay!"

Kirby, holding the remote transmitter that was intended to set off an anti-matter detonator, which had been installed beside the Romulan Q.S. drive, finally pressed the initiation button as they were transported off the T'saloset. The trilithium explosive was the perfect means of destruction of the ship. Unlike a torpedo shot at Engineering, this way would prevent there from being any debris. The T'saloset would have vanished from existence, in a manner of speaking.

Chief Kirby was later told by a medical officer that the T'saloset had been completely vaporized. Every engineer, every officer, on-board the Romulan ship, removed from existence. Hopefully, Kestra Prynne would not suffer the same fate as those Romulan engineers.

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NRPG: This has been a joint effort by Kestra Prynne and Chief Kirby

I apologize to everyone about using their characters, but I just decided to get everyone off the ship and have it be destroyed instead of dragging it out with more joint posts. If I've done wrong or misplayed any characters, I apologize, but I wanted to get this taken care of. Any complaints can be directed to Aaron Baugh, abaugh@expert.cc.purdue.edu.