Star Trek: Starbase 777

Lt.Cdr Pok walked towards the airlock in full uniform, all through she wasn’t a science officer or the like, this mission could do with at least one tactical officer on the roster. Besides, she was wanting to take the Eventides weapons out for a test drive (or just a very long review session, but test drive sounded cooler in her head.

It came to a pleasant surprise to Alyssa that thankfully they would have a third Tactical team member in the form of Kya. Alyssa rolled her head around to loosen her neck, before she cracked her knuckles and fingers, and shook out any nervousness before she entered the airlock, noticing Kya there. "Well, good to know we won't be the only tactical team members volunteering for this mission," Alyssa remarked. "It's good to see you, Commander. How are you?" She addressed Kya. In truth, it never had quite fully sunken in for Alyssa how much she had shifted. She didn't know if Kya knew about the visor days, but she didn't really care either. Alyssa liked how nice she has become. How chill she was.

Vara'l stepped out of the turbolift and headed directly to the airlock area after a brief stop off to retrieve a grab bag of his. One that contained away mission related stuff he preferred to have with him. As he headed into the airlock area, Vara'l nodded in greeting to Lieutenant commander Kya as he moved to the side and settled into a spot as he waited for more people to arrive.

Timi had also come to the airlock, figuring that with whatever was going on, they'd need security, which he could help with, and they'd be gathering information, which he could help with. So he had his contacts in and ready to go, his PADD under his arm (but just about ready to be abandoned in favour of sign language), and his gaze looking over the people slowly filtering into the airlock.

Farrah on the other hand, who was right on his heels, looked upbeat, and was bouncing on her toes as she waited for the airlock to open and the Eventide to become accessible.

Well, aside from the blackout, this was one of the first away mission opportunities that Matryx had the potential to join, so he figured he might as well be a part of it. Stepping into the airlock, he noticed everyone who was there, greeting them all with a kind smile at the same time. "Good day everyone," he said calmly. "Figured you might need a doctor, you know, just in case."

Arriving at the designated airlock with a satchel over his shoulder, T'Kastrir glanced around at the others present, offering them a slight nod as he did before moving silently to one side.

Hands smoothly moved in a non-verbal 'Hello' as two more people entered. This hello followed by a smooth use of sign, the Romulan not actually aware if either of the new people happened to know it as he'd well..not looked to see who they were, as he indicated he was a bit deep in thought. "Hello, don't mind me, I'm just thinking and going over equipment." He'd signed briefly before he opened his grab bag..and started to go over equipment checks. Started..but then paused when he heard a familiar voice, looked up and then smiled at Commander Peterson. "Hello." He greeted them. "Good to see you."

Pleased to see Commander tr'Hara once more, Matryx stepped closer to him, offering him a slight bow in respect. "Good to see you again Commander," Matryx greeted him with smile. "I hope all has been well since the blackout. Everything in good working order?"

Kya stood there silently as she waved to everyone walking into the group. “Oh I’m good, thank you commander.”

Well, you wanted a science officer? Here she was! Maggie stepped into the airlock with a coffee cup in hand as she stood off to the side. “Oh uhm, hi.”

Vara'l returned the bow with one of his own angled to be slightly deeper than Matryx's. A slight, restrained smile mustered as he nodded slightly. "Everything's worked reasonably well since then, we're functioning within reasonable parameters implant wise and the doc said I've left the effects of the blackout long behind me now." He'd smiled. "Thank you for asking, how are you yourself?"

Given the blackout had shell-shocked most people on the starbase, Matryx was relieved to hear that all had gone back to near-perfect working order. "Wonderful!" Matryx replied. "I'm happy for you, Commander. Happy I was able to get to ya and help you out. I'm especially proud of Lieutenant Niwayiva's efforts in helping you and others recover." With a shrug, he continued. "Myself, I've just tried to change back my circadian rhythm after waking up at 4am that night. Other than that, all is well." (edited)

"I'm very grateful that yourself and Lieutenants Essen and Valkyrie did, thank you again for that." Vara'l responded initially before he continued on to say. "I hope that's all gone well for you, changing back your circadian rhythm, admittedly occasionally wake around four-ish myself normally." He'd paused. "So cant say I've tried similar myself."

Lilian entered out of breath and carrying a half eaten bagel in addition to her away bag. "Hey, I'm not too late am I?"

With another shrug, Matryx continued. "Ah, yes, just a matter of guiding it back into the right direction, the circadian rhythm. This week hasn't been the most smooth sailing for that reason, as some nights I did wake at four or six, when I mean to wake at 0700 hours. Just something to get used to again." With a chuckle, he continued. "I hope Essen isn't giving you too much of a handful to deal with," he said with a joking tone of voice. (edited)

Arriving very fashionably, slightly late, he strode into the room, hair in a long ponytail and ears sans earrings, as he sometimes dressed during away missions. Let nobody say he couldn't dress practically. "Hello, folks! Excited for the away mission today?"

Hair in a fishtail that Eshen had done for them, Thal followed behind Eshen. "Which is to say: are you prepared?"

Turning around to notice a familiar voice, Alyssa's smile returned. Likely one that Eshen wouldn't have seen until now given the last time she saw him was during the Chop Shop Showdown. "Lieutenant, good to see you again," Alyssa addressed Eshen. "Excited is a way to put it, yes."

Kya hummed. “Oh I suppose I’m excited! Hopefully it won’t be too much of an event.” She said, blissfully, unaware of the briefing she would soon get.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Commander." He'd responded as the other admitted this week hadn't been smooth sailing. "I.. suppose it is though, something to get used to again, normal operations at around that time." When the other then asked about Essen, Vara'l chuckled softly as he picked up the joke. "Lieutenant Essen was kind enough to allow myself and my son to meet her and Lieutenant Valkyries dog Mako, made Telims day." The smile that followed that comment wasn't in any way restrained. "Was very good to see, that." Vara'l then turned and waved a bit at Lieutenants Eshen and Thalass. "Hello, I am prepared." The Romulan responded as he ducked the part of the question about excitement.

1

Arriving at the airlock was captain bread himself. Dressed in his beautiful gold Republic uniform, he had his brown hair tied up in a high ponytail to it off his shoulders and out of his face. His fringe looked a lil uneven but it was because his Reman father had trimmed it and whilst Rai trusted Tiravurik with most things, perhaps a Reman wasn't the best hair dresser. Anyway, he stepped into the airlock and bowed his head in greeting to everyone. "Jolan tru," Rai said, adding in a lil wave.

3

Lama was there too, walking in behind Rai so he easily disappeared behind the giant loaf. For once, he was quiet.

Vara'l turned to the Riov as they stepped in, the uniform recognized as he subconsciously slipped into a 'at attention' posture. "Jolan tru Riov tr'Torre'vnau." The ACTO responded simply then.

Raising an eyebrow, Matryx seemed genuinely impressed. "Huh! I'll have to ask them about meeting Mako. Would be a nice way to de-stress." Before he noticed both Rai and Lama entering and gave them a slight bow. "Jolan tru Riov and Lieutenant," he greeted them.

After a few minutes Dagis showed up, PADD grasped in one hand as she looked around at the group who had already arrived. Away missions were something she rarely got the opportunity to go on, so she thought 'why not' and decided to join this one for a change.

And here Alizati was, not on the away mission, he was just popping in to wish the others good luck. "Jolan tru, I hope everyone has a good mission."

"Jolan tru..." Rai paused as he tried to remember the name of the ACTO. He felt bad about it because this was a Romulan name and he should remember those without difficulty. "Vara'l," He said, remembering the name last minute. "And Jolan tru to you too, I look forward to this collaborative effort," Rai said with another bow of his head. He looked behind him to see Lama shuffling along and stepped to the side so the detective could see the others.

Allan had spent quite a bit of time whether to go on the away mission since he'd heard the Captain's voice come over the comms system. The last time he'd been on any sort of away mission was in the terrasphere, with the Undine, and as he considered it, he had held a nervous hand against the side of his neck subconsciously, remembering... well, all of that. It wasn't going to do him any good to dwell on the details of that, though, all he had to think about was if he was good enough to go on another away mission almost 4 months later - 'sure' was the answer his brain had provided him with. "Heyyy, engie squad, what's up??" he said upon walking into the airlock, fire emojis implied to be at the end of his sentence, and looked around for the closest engineer, which.. was Alizati! He stood next to him, fiddling with the zipper of his unzipped uniform jacket (he'd zip it up soon, he told himself). "Alizati, heyy, how you doing?"

After having checked that everything was currently and would hopefully continue to go alright in the astrometrics lab, Evoras entered the air lock. Being stationed on 777 was not something she minded, in fact if anything over the past two years she had grown more fond of it than she had expected or was comfortable with, but Evoras would not be herself if she was not intrigued by the possibility of seeing a place she'd never been to before. She silently greeted the people whose eyes she caught with a nod and the occasional Ta'al.

"Jolan tru to all of you!" Eshen said, enjoyed the way that rhymed in English, but knowing it might get lost in translation. "I have no idea if diplomacy will be needed on this mission, but I have various other skills, so I'm sure I'll be able to contribute somehow."

They nodded to Evoras, head of their division. "I am a marine biologist. It is not entirely logical for me to be here. Regardless, I am."

Vara'l inclined his head in respect as the other greeted him by name. Something that didn't particularly need to do, which was what he appreciated about it. That they'd used a name..his name. Not his rank, his first name. That was appreciated. Their following comment nodded at as he glanced to Matryx, who'd spoken to him again. "Mako's quite the loving and kind dog, perfect dog for them both I suspect, I suspect Mako probably enjoyed meeting Telim just as much as Telim enjoyed meeting them." He'd then looked to Lama. "Jolan tru Lieutenant tr'Ehweia." He greeted before he nodded to commander Lhai'Ivek in greeting and then turned to Lieutenant K'Tann again, silent as he listened in while others talked for a momeant before he settled down once more. Settled down and started another equipment check.

"I am not going on the mission, but I am wishing you luck. I have an important family call this evening as I had requested to be off duty for today," Alizati told Allan. He glanced around at the others in the room and found there to be quite a diverse cast there. Alizati raised an eyebrow slightly at Allan's unzipped uniform jacket. "It is important that one always look presentable." He said to the younger with a nod. "That is it, please come back in one piece," Alizati said, giving a ✌️ symbol and then adding. "Deuces," And leaving. After his numerous conversations with Allan, Alizati thought he may want to 'work on his exits'. Hence the gesture.

6

5

4

"Hi ACTO Vara'l," Lama said at room-level volume. He wasn't doing anything silly or making any jokes, he was going to be a man serious about his job! Lama was also worried because he felt like he really messed up in the last away mission. He had good moments of course, but he regretted some things he said and did and the words of his siblings had really impacted him.

Allan smiled at Alizati's words, and had done a peace sign right back at him with a small laugh. He sure fucking hoped they'd come back in one piece. With that scary thought in his mind, though, he moved over to Eshen. "Hey," he half-whispered as he scooched in real close next to him. As one did.

Kya blinked as she looked at Allan and Eshen, damn, good for them. She leaned against a door near the airlock, quite a large crew. “Hm, wonder what we’re being assigned.”

Five poked her head in and promptly attempted to disappear into the quickly accumulating crowd. She felt guilty since the blackout, not being able to move and help as much as she'd like to.

Possessing a similar sentiment was Rehszan, who towered over almost all of the away team. His tail swished a little bit behind him as he folded his hands, waiting patiently for orders.

He wrapped a hand around Allan's waist without looking at him, as if it was a natural, subconscious instinct to touch him as soon as he was near. "Haven't a clue what we're doing."

3

In what seemed to be a naturally subconscious reaction, Allan put his own arm around Eshen's shoulder, playing around just a little bit with a strand of the other's hair. "Yeah, well, it's investigating some.. 'colonies of interest'?" he almost said it in the same way Mo said it, as if the accent was important to quoting him accurately. "Not sure how, though. I kinda just heard 'away team' and 'engineering' and came down here, not gonna lie." (edited)

"I wonder what it is too. What is so interesting about the colony? I hope they have good weather," Lama chimed in with a soft giggle. He was blissfully unaware of what was to come and was hoping to soak up some good weather. He even brought extra sun lotion for his face because who knew what they would encounter. "Well you got me, detective Lama. I can crack every case!" Lama pointed to himself and smiled confidently.

“That’s odd, investigation certainly doesn’t imply good things for those colonies.” She said with a hum. “But I’m a worry wart, nothing to be concerned with.”

With a playful snicker, Alyssa smiled. "You got that right, Lama," Alyssa remarked. She thought she'd humor Lama for a bit especially as he entered in kind of quietly.

"I mean, maybe we're investigating a.. very exciting standing bar on the waterfront? Uniform optional, an infinity pool, those little martinis with the tiny umbrellas, beautiful twilight, a friendly bartender that has way too many limbs," Lama said, just describing his dream vacation and not actually what the mission was probably going to entail. It was good to be optimistic after all! He was fully prepared for something much darker, but a part of him hoped it wasn't. "but if things do get bad, I'll protect you guys. I'm a highly trained security officer-- well ehehe actually I've never made it through any Academy, dropped out day one-- BUT I can be scary if needed," And with that Lama showed off his best scary face that did not look scary at all.

Allan was momentarily distracted after looking the Gorn science officer who'd walked in up and down, but he quickly darted his eyes away to catch a glimpse of orange hair and hoped he had it right despite not fully being able to see her: "Five, hey!!" he called out, waving with his free hand as if she could see him. "Lama, just um- asking for a friend, do you actually know a friendly bartender with way too many limbs..?"

When Allan greeted Five, Lama also turned to them and waved in greeting. He then looked at Allan when the engineer asked about the limbs thing. "Yeah, when I was visiting home on Betazed there was a Terellian bartender! FOUR arms? I wanted to flirt with him but my siblings held me back," Lama told Allan with a laugh. Saving Lama from himself was an Ehweia sibling past time, after all.

Having noticed the ACEO from across the entrance to the airlock, T'Kastrir, despite not usually being the person to initiate social interaction, decided now was a more logical time over the away mission itself, and so, wearing his Vulcan Expeditionary Group uniform robes and a satchel over his shoulder, the Vulcan-raised Human approached, giving a nod to both Lieutenants, deciding to ignore whatever he just heard about flirting. "Lieutenants." The provisional Lieutenant greeted plainly, hands clasping behind his back. Usually not one for social formalities, he decided that circumstances being as they were, which was to say they'd be working together, that it was logical to introduce himself. "I believe we have not met. I am T'Kastrir, a Stellar Cartographer. I am an exchange officer from the Expeditionary Group." He said, knowing full well Allan would recognise his name, the expression on his face blank.

Lama looked at the one person in the VEG uniform, what a cool outfit, he thought. The Starfleet excursion uniform was nice, but the VEG one looked cool af! "Jolan tru, T'Kastrir! Oh great, a stellar cartographer, we need scientists, you guys have the good brains," Lama gave him a thumbs up and smiled. It did not even occur to him that T'Kastrir was human, but then again Lama was out here having been Betazoid and served the Republic. He assumed T'Kastrir was either mixed or just raised amongst Vulcans, similar to Lama's situation.

"Ohhh, man, could you send the name of the the bar to me if you remember?" Allan asked Lama with a smile, deciding to take his hand which had been subconsciously running through Eshen's hair to start consciously braiding it, starting to make a little crown braid, roman wreath braid, whatever it was. "Hey, yeah, T'Kastrir! I'm uh, Allan. Allen, I dunno if you remember, um - if you still have the stuff from last Christmas, how's it holding up?" Something he had built and something he had acquired as a very, very rare and old item. "Hey, Lama, we - we have good brains, too." (edited)

2

"Will do," Lama did a little salute and smiled. He watched Allan and Eshen interacting and thought it was very wholesome! He wished Hopps was around so he could maybe give Hopps some playful elbow bumps or something, nothing NSFV of course! "You do too! You're ACEO after all. I know a lil about engineering, just a lil. I had to do it at my last job," Lama said, what job he was talking about was unclear.

"I do remember." T'Kastrir responded quite plainly. "The Sajek 200-series is yet to experience any electrical faults despite its age. I played it last night. The strap you provided is affixed to it, and the tuner has come in useful numerous times." He continued, before reaching into his satchel and pulling out a certain familiar orb. "And the sphere is in regular use." He said, holding it up briefly before returning it to its home in his bag. "The tea was also agreeable." He quickly added, before deciding to, for lack of a better word, throw in a curveball. "Have you read the book on the history of Vulcan computer sciences yet?" He suddenly questioned, eyebrow raising in an almost smirk-like way, despite the rest of his face being practically emotionless. His tone, however, just barely changed, an ounce of very Vulcan-like smugness creeping in as he asked his question.

Phoenix walked down the corridor as he made his way to the corridor. "I hope I'm not too late. I was doing things within the environmental ring, hope I'm not too late on what is going on." Phoenix made his way behind the others as he waited for some sort of order.

"You're in time! We haven't left," Lama giggled and clasped his hands together. "We were just chatting about what we think this mission is gonna entail. I hope we're off to a vacation paradise! But... i don't think this will be that."

"I believe it's some sort of artifact. Something that is small but can do a ton of damage or something along those lines." Phoenix shrugged as he leaned against the wall as he thought to himself about certain things. "I had just been feeding the birds before I got the comm to come down here."

"You suspect that, ensign, and yet you seem unusually relaxed. I believe the protocol, as is taught to you in Starfleet Academy, is to treat all away missions, especially when there is a lack of information about where you're going and what you're doing, with the utmost caution." Bellona admonished brusquely as she stepped through the airlock and walked past Phoenix in silence. She was dressed for the occasion, alright, in full mission appropriate gear. Her expression was stony as she made her way through the crowd, cold and unknowable. Bellona did not like the unusually relaxed mood that seemed to occupy the room. Why were all her fellow officers chatting about holidays or vacations or tiny umbrellas in drinks? Well, if she had to be the only one on the mission with her head seemingly scrwed on straight and facing in the direction of their end goal, so be it. (edited)

"Lieutenant, please chill the fuck out. There are enough senior crew here, including the captain, so if there was an issue it would have been addressed already," Timi's PADD read out after a few moments of frantically typing. They weren't even on the Eventide yet, and she was already like this? Holy shit.

8

Phoenix was caught off guard as he noticed that Bellona was possibly talking to him. "Lieutenant, I can't show emotions and that is written on my record. I don't feel relaxed, or anything of a sort, but I forgive you for possibly not knowing that." Phoenix didn't know what to say, but he didn't want people getting the wrong idea of him in any way.

As Allan braided his hair, he leaned toward him a little, thoroughly enjoying the grooming session. "Speaking as someone whose job involves reading people's behaviour, in my experience, it's better to start off missions relaxed and clear-headed. Getting stressed about things before the mission even begins is a surefire way to guarantee more panic on the mission itself. Everyone copes in their own ways with things, of course. As a Vulcan, I find it's much easier to regulate my emotions when I approach situations like this with a sense of calm and even humour - and you know how much us Vulcans love exploring different ways of regulating our emotions!" He was also a Klingon, of course. He'd never liked the language of referring to himself as half-Vulcan or half-Klingon - he always felt like he was just both. Adding the half always sounded kind of clunky, anyway.

"I believe the Enarrain is right, we should not be sweating so soon," Rai said, completely forgetting the Fed ranks, but he was close enough. He clasped his hands together and took slow breaths, he was calm and collected but was slightly worried about the synergy between the team after hearing Bellona and Phoenix's interaction. "We do not yet know the nature of this mission so we should avoid speculation. Eshen is correct."

Grey eyes fixed on the Lieutenant as Vara'l twigged to there being a disturbance and focused on the conversation. As he noted how things were going, he turned about and looked from Timi to Belloma and the others. Satisfied other officer had the situation handled, Vara'l contented himself with watching what was going on. Ready to speak up as well if needed.

They glanced at Bellona, then looked around at the rest of people. Perhaps she was confused. "It is the nature of most beings to engage in small talk while waiting for things, such as in queues or elevators. I will demonstrate." They cleared their throat. "How was The Game last night? Did Team win?"

5

"I am sorry to say, Arrain, I have lost the game," Rai said with the most deadpan expression as he turned to Thalass.

4

"How very unfortunate. I placed a bet that hinged upon your success. As an expressive being highly invested in the outcome of Sport, I will throw my hat on the ground and stomp on it to demonstrate my displeasure." They didn't have a hat, so they mimed doing that. What was this, improv? (edited)

5

"I will say a rude, but rhyming chant to mock the opposition. I think?" Rai was equally confused what he was doing by it felt right. (edited)

A few moments behind the rest of the away mission members Aoife arrived after stopping by an armoury to grab her 'lucky' phaser. Since coming to 777 she had by chance used the same phaser on away missions and it had not let her down yet.

He came out of the turbolift to a staggering amount of people in the airlock - it was hard to count them all from where Saren was standing. Right, there were going to be multiple teams going to multiple points of interest... Trying to stay unnoticeable, the scientist decided to stay closer to the Eventide, waiting for the briefing to happen.

Evoras was not really surprised to see Saren enter the airlock. She had after all noticed his reaction to the mission at hand, even if she was hesitant to come to any conclusions given the limited amount of information she had. As it was she made her way over to him and after giving him a nod silently stood a little to the side from where he was.

4

"Jolan tru, erei'Arrain," Rai bowed his head in greeting to Saren. He was happy to see the scientist there, he was a trusted friend of Solait's so by association, trusted by Rai too.

Eventually, a group of Command officers would approach the gathered people with PADDs in their hands, intent on grouping them into separate teams and assigning each team a point of interest to investigate. Before that could occur though, the officers were encouraged to gather around them for a debrief: "Thank you all for coming here," a round-faced Bolian began, one hand behind her back, the other holding the PADD in front of herself. *"Unfortunately I have to tell you all that this mission won't be as pleasant as you've all been hoping. I will be brief: the analysis of the data acquired on our friend RRW Kinaen, turned out to be routes and locations to many now destroyed Romulan and possibly Reman colonies. You will be investigating said colonies in hopes of finding out just what had transpired there. Each team will be sent do a different one. Please ensure that you check *everything: air quality, soil and water and plant samples, any ruins or items you can find, all of these things and more can hold some answers for what had happened decades ago... Are there any questions before we begin the team building?" (edited)

"Are we expecting them to be inhabited? By colonists, or otherwise?" Aoife asked, always the soldier.

"Oooo an investigation! I'm a detective, I'll help us crack the case," Lama said with a lil salute and a glowing smile, almost as bright as the white spots that covered his face and hands.

"Surely there must be some data as clues as to why these colonies were destroyed? Scans of them were presumably taken from space - which may well have picked up residual energy particles from energy weapons fire." Bellona reasoned.

"..We are not," she responded to Aoife after a small moment of hesitancy. Having to deliver less than stellar news was in her job description, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant, "If a miracle happens and any colonists are found, ensure they are safe and brought back to the station." The Bolian officer's dark blue gaze then flitted towards Bellona: "True, but Starfleet does not have sensors in Romulan space, where the majority of these colonies are located. If an opportunity rises, you are free to investigate on site during the expedition."

"Romulan space..." Rai's expression turned to that of worry, with his bushy brows furrowed and a strong frown on his face. He didn't want to speculate, but in his mind he was already thinking of the worst case scenarios.

Kya hummed as she looked over her PADD. “Oh, just for clarifications sake, are we all splitting up into teams? Or are there others?” She asked. (edited)

"Your former assumption is correct," the Bolian nodded. "Are there any other questions?"

"Yeah? What kind of engineering?" Allan had briefly asked to Lama, smiling when T'Kastrir had said everything was in good running order. "Niiice, yeah I mean, if you ever want a jam sesh, that's still on the table," and then of course, he laughed when the scientist asked him about the book. "Holy shit, do you know how statistically rare it is to have gotten eachother for Secret Santa? Like, I'm not going to sit here like a total nerd and do the math right now in front of you, but yeah, I did, pretty fast, too- it was so fucking cool, thank you again," he finished up Eshen's little crown-wreath braid around his head, making sure it was secure before giving him a small kiss. Recovering from the laughter of Thalass and Rai's interaction, he caught a glimpse of a very science officer before the group of command officers shuffled in, and he listened carefully as the Bolian officer explained what was going on, zipping his jacket up very slowly to avoid the sound disrupting things. Oh. Now destroyed... despite keeping his ears listening to the Bolian, the rest of Allan's body after hearing those words was now focused on finding the science officer he'd caught the glimpse of moments earlier. "C'mere," was all he whispered as his hand went to Eshen's and pulled him along through the crowd until he found Saren, letting go of Eshen in case he wanted to stand on the other side of the science officer, because, well, Saren had two hands, and as Allan approached him he offered his own hand to one of them.

2

He returned the kiss as thank for Allan giving him his new fancy hairdo, and was led along quite happily to one of the other loves of his life. He did, reluctantly, let go of Allan's hand and take Saren's, since Saren hadn't yet had his dose of Eshen affection today. Still, when they were all linked, it felt as though an electric current ran through their linked hands, joining them all together.

3

Rehszan's tail swished behind him while he waited, quiet anxiety bubbling up in his core, static electricity on the fritz. He didn't have any questions anymore; they'd been asked by those around him already..

Evoras' presence was felt like something solid and reliable. Saren would've greeted her with something more substantial than a slight twitch of his muscles, but right now, raising his gaze from a particularly interesting point on the floor in front of him. It felt borderline disrespectful, but even his Romulan strength wasn't enough to lift lead. He already knew the answer to Lieutenant Commander's question, before the Bolian could even utter it out - and he couldn't help but breathe out a quiet little scoff and slowly shake his head at her attempt to be hopeful. Couldn't blame her, really, but... Gods. Gods. He didn't allow himself to become frustrated. Hope was good; hope was what pushed them all forwards. There was no reason to get mad for it. There was movement. Not around him, but towards him. Only a few people in his life were allowed to approach him in such a familiar, head-on way. His eyelids fluttered upon being touched, blinking something away so that Saren could finally look up at them. "My home is in that list too," he confessed quietly.

7

Hearing no more questions asked, the command officers began to group the available officers into teams. The one going with the Eventide was tasked with inspecting a colony called Ishai V. Time to board the vessel!

Kya nodded softly. “Of course.” She said as she moved into the Eventide with her hands clasped behind her back.

Maggie meanwhile scampered down the hallway to the Eventide, still looking over the briefing.

Not a word from the Chief as she made her way to the Eventide, expression a little bit grim. What an unfortunate turn of events...

Rehszan wove around the steady flow of people, following diligently to the Eventide. Here we go..

Aoife made her way aboard the Eventide following the flow of other officers doing the same.

Rai walked through the airlock.

Phoenix followed suit as he followed the rest of the crew into the Eventide.

Bellona follwoed them in silence.

“I am very aware of the statistics.” T’Kastrir had responded to Allan before turning his attention to the briefing material. Oh, how fascinating, they could potentially see horrific imagery. Well, no backing out now. He headed onto the Eventide along with everyone else.

5

Having not been on an away mission in absolutely ages, Dagis had really rather been looking forward to going on this one… Until the briefing occurred. Oh… oh no. This was not what she’d hoped for at all. Despite her reservations, though, it would look entirely cowardly to back out now, so she joined the others when they began boarding.

"Oh, Saren," he said with a sympathetic sigh, gently kissing him on the cheek. He had no idea how personal this mission was going to be for him. Hopefully he'd be okay. "Let's get to the Eventide for now, alright, beloved?"

4

Allan nodded, not having as many words to say as he'd figured that was the case, and yet he wasn't sure how to respond - thankfully, Eshen was good with words, and as he spoke them, Allan gave Saren's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah," he nodded again, offering a soft smile, "lesgo." And if they were all good with that, he led them in their little chain on to the turbolift.

1

He closed his eyes and let out an appreciative hum in response to Eshen's soothing gestures and Allan's reassuring one. It could be okay. He wasn't alone. "I'll be okay, I want to help," he then gave the two a small smile, gently squeezing their palms in return. "Let's go."

4

Vara'l entered the ship quietly and headed to the nearest turbolift.

Ten arrived at the airlock he was clearly still waking up. He had a piece of toast in his mouth, coffee in one hand and an aid kit in the other. He had tossed his tricorder around across his chest in its shoulder sling and an away mission belt rested around his neck, his shirt on backwards. Clearly he had rushed to the gathering point, eager to explore a strange new world.

He was led quite happily by Allan to the #turbolift. Ten, arriving just as everyone was leaving, should also probably do that.

Evoras followed the other people onto the ship.

Lilian followed the others onto the Eventide.