Round and around

Captain Gould, first officer Tomah and Chief of Security Vincent had an impromptu meeting in the Captains ready room as the Lotus moved into its final staging point before beginning the Azimuth Horizon containment loop.

The rest of the ship remained a fury of activity, Engineering was still working on the damage to the sub structure of the ship caused by the Klingon dreadnought.

Security had been posted out side Sickbay do to a vary dangerous intruder, a shape shifting Undine that had gained assess to the ship by posing as a new crew member. It was for this vary reason these two men met with the captain.

Gould sat back a gave a bit of a sigh, his face and hands still showed the minor burn marks he received from his encounter with the Undine. "How the Undine got aboard is an important factor, but for now we have bigger concerns. We need to minimize any damage it might have done as petty officer Olsen paying special attention to the transporter systems obviously."

Tomah nodded in agreement "I suggest we take the system down until we can run a full check on it sir."

"Agreed, and I guess I have you to thank for my timely rescue Mr. Tomah? if not for your last second beam out it's vary likely Olsen may have been sitting in this seat right now." Gould said with a slight smile.

"Well sir.." Tomah mused "I'd had some suspicion in regards to Oslen somewhat earlier on, she was becoming vary friendly with me sense the day she arrived, an' me being a married man and all of course wanted none of that." Then he shrugged "But I couldn't find anything amiss in her record and her screen checked out.. so I umm.. let I let it go as it were sir."

Gould looked sympathetic "You did what you should have in this case, but in the future if someone strikes you as 'odd' share it with the rest of us commander" then gave a smug looking smile "Especially when their hitting on you commander."

Tomah looked indignant "Aye sir."

"So, any thoughts on our prisoner?"

"The Undine are not to be taken lightly," Josh replied. "We should keep her behind a level ten force field at all times. The EMH, and only the EMH, should operate on her. I'll send a security team to sickbay to watch her until she's stable, when she should be transferred immediately to a holding cell."

Josh paused for a second before continuing.

"I don't even like suggesting this when we've already got so much to deal with, but replacing you in the middle of a fight would have raised too much suspicion; I don't think that was her end goal. There may be something bigger at play here and there may be more Undine operatives on board to carry it out."

"Vincent has a point sir" Tomah agreed. "I suspect that I was her original target and the Klingon attack gave her the opportunity to 'trade up' as it were, but given both her resent posting to the Lotus and the the nearly complete revamping of the crew it's not likely she could have a co-conspirator captain" but shrugged "Not to say we shouldn't keep an eye of course."

"Vary well, Mr. Vincent see to the prisoner transfer and containment and Mr, Tomah begin a check of Petty officers' personal quarters and work areas. You know the ship and crew best, see if you can find anyone she might have been in regular contract with. I don't want to start a witch hunt and have our people seeing spy's in the shadows, but see what you can do.

He rubbed his eyes "Sainthill and I will begin the containment loop as soon as the ships in position, any questions?"

"No questions from me sir," Josh responded. "I'll get right on it."

With that, Josh stood, left the ready room, and moved across the bridge into the turbolift.

As the doors to the ready room closed behind Vincent Tomah looked at the door for several seconds before noticing captain Gould was looking at him. "Something Tomah?"

Tomah kind of frowned and shrugged "I'm sure it's nothing sir, it's just.. well, I would have thought young Mr. Vincent might have a question or two. It's just seemed he was in a bit of a hurry to get going."

Gould regarded Tomah's words for a second. "I'm sure the young man is anxious to prove himself Tomah, there's a lot for him to deal with after all."

"Indeed sir, all of us for that matter." Tomah agreed and got up to leave but hesitated in front of the door.

Gould looked up at him from his desk "Out with it Tomah, what's on your mind."

"Well sir.." he looked hesitant again "You did say I should speak up more sir.." Gould cocked his head "Go on."

"It's just that, petty officer Olsen arrived just shortly after Vincent was given full security control. An' if it was me trying to get a man on to an enemy ship, a fresh officer heading to the bridge of the Flag ship would make a compelling target sir."

Gould sat back in his chair "I suppose he would." he rested his hands on his chin "Have you been given any reason to suspect he's not who he claims to be?"

Tomah shook his head. "Not a thing sir, seems straight and proper to me, spot on what you'd expect of a capable star fleet officer." after a seconds pause he went on "If you like sir, I can look a little closer into his resent activity.. sort of keep an eye on him as it were."

It's was Gould's turn to look uncomfortable, what was the best course of action here? If Tomah's instinct was right, he just sent one spy to guard another, not to mention that Vincent had security override ability for most of the ship. But there really wasn't any proof that was more than conjecture. "Ok do it, but keep it subtle Tomah, I don't want him thinking we can't trust him."

Tomah smiled "Not to worry sir, he'll never know I'm there" gave a nod and left the room. Once the door closed he said it again, in a lower voice "He'll never know I'm there.."

Over the next half hour captain Gould went about working with Adams in engineering to adjust the Warp Core to allow the subspace tearing at high warp speeds.

"The engines shouldn't have any problems with the adjustments captain, the Lotus was designed to make such alterations as needed." Adams said. "The problem is with the sub structure fracture."

Gould agreed. "I was afraid of that, we have to remain at a high warp speed for an extended time, the stress will likely enlarge the fracture to a dangerous degree.. is there anything we can do to lessen the effect? perhaps if we applied integrity dampening anchor's along the support grid.."

Adams grimiest "It MIGHT help.. a little. But short of a few weeks at dry dock, well there just nothing we can do."

Gould let out a sigh "Vary well, do what you can, but no matter the out come we will complete our mission to seal the Azimuth.. no matter the cost."

With a nod Gould left engineering and headed back to the bridge, as he entered the lift Tomah called out to him. "Hold the door sir!" and quickly joined him. "Thank you captain."

"Any luck with your search of petty officer Olson's quarters?" Gould asked after telling the lift to go to the bridge.

"Most of her logs have been sent to be processed, but I doubt they will be of any use sir. I did however find something.. suggestive.. about our Mr. Vincent."

Gould said "Turbo lift: Stop." and it did. "And what would that be?"

He seemed just a bit startled by the sudden stop but recovered quickly. "It's not much at all sir, as I said it's just suggestive. Seems that Vincent and Olson met twice off duty the first two days he came aboard, both time in plan view in the lounge area. It's quite possible that it was just a coincidence sir, their shifts are coinciding of course."

Gould seemed unimpressed "That's barely suggestive Tomah, Vincent would vary almost certainly stop to meet a new crew member."

"Aye sir, of course, it's just that.. well, I checked Olson's time sheet for that period and it seems she asked to change it for an earlier time.. witch just so happened to be the same time Vincent was in the lounge.. both days.. sir."

Gould put his hand to his chin in thought while Tomah waited quietly. "She could have been trying to get close to him, new man on the bridge. But it's possible there more to it and we just can't take the chance, not with the Universe in the balance." and shook his head in annoyance. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Vincent." the computer chimed with its standard mono tone. *Lieutenant Vincent is in main sickbay* "Tomah, go up there and have him take another screening under captains orders. Tell him I'm having all the command crew doing it starting with him because he's already there. Make sure you get the security team that's there to back you if need be."

Tomah looked grim "I hope it's not what it looks like sir, he's a fine lad, I'm sure of it."

Gould nodded showing no expression "You have your orders commander." and ordered the lift to continue.

Some time passed before the ship was ready to start its run, Gould, Sainthill and Adams finished preparing the ship as best they could. Gould went out of his way not to involve Vincent or Tomah during this time, letting Tomah do his job authenticating Vincent.

"One bit of bad news captain." Adams said at the per-launch briefing. Simulation's on the effect of this operation shows considerable damage will occur with-in the sub-structure, we should be able to hold it together sir, but.. well I don't quite know how to put it."

Gould held up his hand. "I understand Adams, such prolonged damage might render the Lotus structurally unsound." he let the words hang for a few seconds. "But It changes nothing I didn't cover before, no matter what the cost, this mission much succeed." But he didn't look happy about saying it.

Adams took a breath "Aye sir, of course."

"Everyone to their stations, it's time to move out." Gould gave them all a quick nod then he and Sainthill left for the bridge.

On the turbo lift Gould and Sainthill stood side by side stoically, like two Vulcan might. Gould glanced at him, he seemed uninterested in talking but Gould knew better.

"I'd like your opinion, your logical evaluation of the situation Mr. Sainthill." He said calmly.

Sainthill seemed to consider this first, then responded. "I can see no flaw in your logic captain, the needs of the many always comes first over personal loss, it just seems that we might try harder to find an alternative to permanently disabling our vessel, you seemed rather quick to accept it sir.. But not to any unreasonable degree."

Gould didn't look at him or respond right away. "Vary well, after mission start take what ever resources' you need and start looking for that alternative, if there is one."

Still looking as if he was bored with the conversation he agreed "Of course captain" and then said in a whimsical human kind of way "I'll see what I can do."

Just before the turbolift arrived at the bridge, Josh turned to his security officers.

"I want you two to head back to sick bay," he ordered. "Not only will you be securing the area as called for in regulations, but keep track of anyone who goes in and how long they stay. Report to me if you see anything out of the ordinary."

"Aye sir," the officers said in unison.

When the turbolift opened onto the bridge, Josh stepped out and moved towards his post.

"Captain," he said, "the prisoner is secure in the brig and is being questioned by my investigations officer."

"Vary good Mr. Vincent, take your post." Gould watched the man dismiss his replacement thoughtfully.

He then sat down and pushed a button on his chairs arm rest. "All hand, this is your captain. We are beginning our primary run to to contain the Azimuth Horizon event. This will create considerable stain on the Lotus substructure and power systems, report anything you see or even feel to your supervisor immediately, anything could be important.

Once completed we will have done our part to stop the expansion of the Horizon into not only Federation space, but to our home galaxy as well. Keep on your toes everyone, and God speed to us all.. Captain Gould out."

He then looked over to his helmsman "When ready Mr. Moor, take us in."

With a quick nervous nod Lt. Moor keyed the final sequence, and the ship leapt into warp.

Time passed slowly as the ship made it's long winding path around the Azimuth Horizon, Gould spent much of this time walking around the bridge checking stations. Most notable the engineering station. From time to time the ship would rumble and sway as it ran along patches of the anomaly and stations would flicker in and out sightly. But all these things were expected and adjusted for.

Vincent was watching his panel closely "Approaching next launch point captain"

"Understood, you may fire when ready" Gould said for the 5th time that hour.

Vincent waited a few more seconds then push on his screen, it made the standard 'firing weapon' that it always made. "Probe away captain"

"Conformation on placement Sainthill" he said without looking around.

Silence followed for what seemed like minuets before Sainthill confirmed the probe position. "Affirmative sir, probe is in position"

Gould gave a nod and continued his restless vigil. Several more minuets passed and he returned to the engineering station. "Status of the damaged area? are we still in projected range of structure failure?"

The ensign nervously checked his readings again before daring to answer his captain. "Actually sir, it's less so.. at its current rate of breakdown we should be in the clear long before structural collapse"

Gould looked at him skeptically then checked the reading for himself and sure enough, the superstructure 'rip' had barely been effected at all by their high warp speed run. "I guess the ablative armor is reinforcing the area better then we figured" and smiled at the man "With any luck we may still be able to fly home under our own power" and walked off leaving the ensign also smiling but feeling a little sick. "Luck.." he murmured.

At that point Vincent got something of a puzzled look on his face and started to say something "captain.." but then stopped. Gould looked at him but said nothing. "I thought I picked up a signal but.. no, there it is again.. vary faint" Gould walked over to his station but said nothing so as not to disturb his tactical officer. "It's a distress signal, federation.. I think, it's vary close to the event."

"Are there any of our ships out here Sainthill? perhaps civilian traffic?" Gould said as he moved over to the OPS station.

Sainthill checked his readings, cross-referencing them with his computer logs. "Nothing Federation is suppose to be in this area but the Azimuth task force captain, but it could be nearly any of them sir." then added "But none of the assigned ships were tasked to go so deep inside the Horizon sir."

Gould thought about it before responding, the bridge crew waited to spring into action but being the captain meant considering all the issues. "Projected chance of solvable solution in a 'best case' recovery effort in achieving our primary goal?" Quite simply he was asking his science officer if they had time to check it out and still complete their mission, but knew better than to ask him in a way that offered debate.

Sainthill did some quick calculations and checked his readings "We have one hour, 43 minuets and 12 seconds of non-adjustable time in witch to lend to such an endeavor sir. Given the likelihood of a best case scenario is less than 23.56% of a chance, not even adding in the unknown factors of.."

Gould said sternly "Best.. Case.. , yes or no Mr. Sainthill?"

Sainthill gave a placid look "Yes captain, with an additional 23 minutes, 37 seconds remaining."

"Helm! plot an intercept course!" he said turning away from Sainthill and returning to his seat

Moor smiled as he said "Already plotted sir, on your word"

"The word is given.. and good work Lieutenant, engage!"

And with that the Lotus barreled headlong into the storm.