[Allan Hood]

Deep Space Nine
Outer Docking Ring, Section 17, Turbolift

"Ah well, when the 'cold war' so to speak with the Dominion started the ship my best mate was serving on, the USS ANZAC was stationed here at DS9 to patrol, and he told me about this little old earth styled coffee shop on the second floor of the promenade, it only had four or five seats but he told me that it became a ritual between the crew to have a drink after each mission."

“Ha, I just enrolled into the Academy at that time, sir,” Hood reminisced, “I remember the reports from the Ferengi about the Dominion after they negotiated that trade agreement with the Karemma.”

After the wormhole was discovered in the Denorios Belt, Hood dreamed of exploring and helping to colonize the Gamma Quadrant. Of course, this was before he realized that so much of the Alpha Quadrant was still unexplored. The Dominion War pretty much turned him off from the idea of ever setting foot in the Gamma Quadrant.

They entered the Cardassian turbolift and rose to the second floor. Hood listened to the Trill and Vulcan discuss their deliveries until his mind unintentionally drifted back to the war, getting lost in all the atrocious memories.

“I have no desire to see the Gamma Quadrant, sir,” Hood admitted, half to himself, “if allowing the Dominion to claim it means I’ll never see a Changeling or Jem’Hadar, again, so be it.”

Hood heard how xenophobic he sounded and caught himself.

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that,” Hood confessed, turning away from the commander, “like everyone else I imagine, I’ve only had negative experiences with the Jem’Hadar and only associate war and death with them. Again, sir, I apologize.”

No wonder my father sounded like this about the Borg and Captain Picard after the Battle of Wolf 359. Imagine a liberated Borg joining Starfleet, or Romulan, or Changeling. I can’t imagine what that first Klingon officer went through.

Hood remembered how the Jem’Hadar could fight endlessly since they did not need sleep. They would attack anytime, day or night, and would not stop until there was not one left standing. It was a miracle from Elohim they held the communication relay station as long as they did and were only able to do so due to the natural land barriers.

A time for war and a time for peace, Hood thought to himself, hopefully, it’s a time for peace, finally.

“They wouldn’t happen to have sweet tea at this café, would they, sir?”

((TAG Angus, T’Mor))

OOC: I feel the same, everything's flowing well. I'm really enjoying this haha T'Mor's not staying for the cafe? Is it a cafe from the show or did you make it up for the story?

[KaiserKirk]

I had just made it up for the story so I could share some backstory about Anguses past lives, but I see no problem in retconning the story to make it something else, like that Klingon Resturant. Also, How did Allan get from talking to the Captain to being on DS9 in the cargo bay so quickly, maybe I have just misread something or another thing along those lines.

=== Promenard, 2nd Floor ===

Just as Angus was about to inform Cheif Hyman about having T'Mor take control of getting the medical equipment on board Angus turned to see Allan had a scowl on his face.

“I have no desire to see the Gamma Quadrant, sir,” Hood admitted, half to himself, “if allowing the Dominion to claim it means I’ll never see a Changeling or Jem’Hadar, again, so be it.”

Angus was caught off guard by the ferociousness of Hood who had sounded friendly only seconds before. Anguses mouth dropped an inch and stared at the Lieutenant in bewilderment, only Allan wasn't looking back, he was staring down the wall like it had offended him in some way. It looked as if Allan was about to give the wall both barrels when his expression changed to that of guilt. Immediately his anger was gone, now just a look of shame on his face.

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that,” Hood confessed, turning away from the commander, “like everyone else I imagine, I’ve only had negative experiences with the Jem’Hadar and only associate war and death with them. Again, sir, I apologize.”

Such talk of a race, even the Jem'Hadar of the founders went against everything Starfleet and the UFP stood for and was not tolerated in the slightest. Angus new that most officers would probably have a go at Allan for admitting something like that but Angus instead decided to comfort him. Turning away from T'Mor and put his one free hand on Allan's rightsholder.

"Its okay, I understand, If its any constellation my best friend, Dan was murdered by the Jem'Hadar," Angus said with compassion as he comforted Allan.

Before he could continue the lift came to a slow halt as the lift doors opened. The artistic design of the Promenade was always a breathtaking sight, but Angus wasn't focusing on any of that. He was now facing to face with the last good memory of his best friend.

((Tag T'Mor and Allan Hood))

[Allan Hood]

Deep Space Nine
Promenade, Second Level - Old Earth-Styled Coffee Shop

Such talk of a race, even the Jem'Hadar of the founders went against everything Starfleet and the UFP stood for and was not tolerated in the slightest. Angus new that most officers would probably have a go at Allan for admitting something like that but Angus instead decided to comfort him. Turning away from T'Mor and put his one free hand on Allan's rightsholder.

"Its okay, I understand, If its any constellation my best friend, Dan was murdered by the Jem'Hadar," Angus said with compassion as he comforted Allan.

Before he could continue the lift came to a slow halt as the lift doors opened. The artistic design of the Promenade was always a breathtaking sight, but Angus wasn't focusing on any of that. He was now facing to face with the last good memory of his best friend.

The trio of Starfleet officers stepped from the lift onto the second floor. Commander Angus Hems’ words and physical contact comforted Hood, at the same time it snapped him back to the present, away from his own experiences of the war.

“I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Dan, sir,” Hood said, “my friend, Roel, also died in a hovercraft racing accident on Earth a couple years ago. The surprise shocked us, even though we knew he liked to live dangerously,” Hood said, smiling to himself.

“I was on AR-558 for five months, sir,” Hood began as they entered the establishment, “we were assigned to protect the planet’s communication array for far too long, just for it to fall a year later. I served with this engineer named Kellin, trying to find these subspace anti-personnel mines.”

The small café had only a few tables and even fewer patrons. The lack of people, quietness and quaintness, appealed to the science officer.

“After a couple weeks, sir,” Hood continued as they sat together at a table, “I couldn’t focus on my mission at all, being discouraged by the deaths that kept accumulating. I began concentrating more and more on fighting the Jem’Hadar, rather than my original task.”

“Our phaser fire gave away our locations, constantly, sir,” Hood explained, “and they would try to overwhelm us with their numbers. After our power cells ran dry, I used my retractable longsword…” Hood began, trailing off.

“I always felt I let him down, sir,” Hood acknowledged, leaning forward on the table, “and I never got to apologize for it. I saw a Trill, medical or science officer, eventually took my place helping him, so I just stayed back. She was part of the supply run from DS9 that stayed to help us. Kellin was killed in the final attack, while saving her life. If we could have held out a bit longer, we would have had our reinforcements and relief from the USS Veracruz.”

Hood finally stopped, taking in where he was and attempted to relax, taking a deep breath and letting it out, slowly.

“I’m sorry for unloading on you like that, sir,” Hood said, “I haven’t talked about the war in years.”

((TAG Angus, T’Mor))

[Zach]

Deep Space Nine
Temporary Crew Quarters

*"The time is 0700. The time is 0700."*, the Computer chirps as Zachary slowly wakes up. He groans at the computer's request, and then speaks clearly enough for the computer to recognize his voice.

"Computer, silence alarm." he groaned, as he pulled his legs around to the edge of the bed and stepped on to the floor. Zachary then thought, ~"Wait, is today...the day? The day I transfer to the Ares?"~, and he asked the computer for the stardate.

*"The current stardate is 58769.1, according to the station's chronometer."*, the computer replied back.

"Oh, yep. Today is the day." Zachary remarks as he steps into his quarters small sonic shower to get changed and prepared for the day.

After his sonic shower, and a fresh new uniform with two distinct pips on his right collar, one gold and one black, he makes his way to the replimat for some coffee and a quick breakfast, while carrying his duffel, and personalized coffee mug.

Deep Space Nine
Replimat

Zach eventually makes it down to the replimat. While it usually is a fairly standard trip down for him since having transferred over to Deep Space Nine a couple days earlier than expected, today he was nervous. He had this rush of feelings, being excited, and scared for his first service on a purely exploratory mission.

Shortly after, he walked up to the replicators and ordered a coffee, one cream, one sugar, and a cream cheese bagel. He carefully poured the replicated coffee into his own coffee mug, and grabbed his bagel after sliding the duffel back onto his right arm. This time, he was destined for the Ares airlock to get settled in and aquainted with the new ship.

Deep Space Nine
Docking Ring

Zach finally made it to the main line for the Ares, holding his duffel and coffee after he finished his bagel. He briefly scans the line, looking for fellow engineering or operations crew. He noticed that the duty officer was in the standard yellow for Operations and Engineering.

Soon, the Lieutenant made it to the duty officer, after feeling like he was in line for an exceptionally long period of time.

Zach stopped with respect in front of the duty officer, and announced, "Lieutenant JG Zachary Donaldson, Assistant Chief Engineering Officer, requesting permission to come aboard."

After a couple seconds of looking at his PADD and keying in some information, the officer replied, "Permission granted, Lieutenant. Welcome to the Ares. The Yeoman behind me has the rest of your information."

Zach nodded gratefully, and replied with a thank you, as he walked past the duty officer to the Yeoman. The Yeoman caught his attention, and handed him a PADD. "Lieutenant, here is your initial data packet. There's important information about your quarters, your workstation, and the current status of Engineering and the departments crew roster."

The Yeoman continued, "Your personal belongings are being transferred to the ship as we speak, and will be sent to your quarters shortly. Any questions?"

Zach replied, "No, but thank you."

He then walked off to the turbolift, with his PADD in hand. He punched up the information for his quarters, noting that he was on Deck 7, because his duffel was starting to drag on him. He walked into the turbolift, and enunciated, "Deck 7."

[rybrarian]

Laxeth arrived on Deep Space 9 the day before yesterday. He was nervous about his first deep space assignment. He decided to blow off some steam in Quark's Bar. After talking with one of the Ferengi staff members off and on for over an hour, he was ready to try his first game of Dabo.



He hoped he would run into one of his new crewmates soon.

[KaiserKirk]

=== DS9, Promenade , 2nd Floor ===

The Officers, T'Mor, Angus and Allan walked out of the small lift and out into the sprawling Promenade. Angus stopped to turn and face T'Mor. Tapping his comm badge on his left breast Angus began to speak after hearing the simple chirp of the comm badge.

=^= This is Commander Hems again chief, I've just sent you one of my personnel to take command with loading the equipment on board.=^= Angus advised as he gave T'Mor the go-ahead to make her way back down to the PCB.

As T'Mor left the group Angus' comm badge chirped again, notifying him of a communication.

=^= Understood. =^= Chief Hyman responded.

As the duo began to walk again Allan broke the few seconds silence.

“I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Dan, sir,” Hood said, “my friend, Roel, also died in a hovercraft racing accident on Earth a couple years ago. The surprise shocked us, even though we knew he liked to live dangerously,” Hood said, smiling to himself.

"Thank you, Allan, I'm also very sorry about Roel. Do you want to talk about it?" Angus said in a low calm voice, recalling his Psychological training as Flynn.

Allan agreed and for the duration of the walk over to the practically empty cafe Allan talked about his friend Roel, and then his early life in Starfleet. As they arrived at the cafe, which was mainly just chairs and tables, with a 'bar' up against the wall, inside where two employees, both Bolian, this was when Allan started to talk about his horrid experiences at the famed and barren planet AR-558.

“I was on AR-558 for five months, sir,” Hood began as they entered the establishment, “we were assigned to protect the planet’s communication array for far too long, just for it to fall a year later. I served with this engineer named Kellin, trying to find these subspace anti-personnel mines.”

As the duo sat at one of the centre tables Angus noticed that Hood had relaxed a fair bit more, this was good for Angus, helping a patient with his or her problems could only happen if they felt comfortable with you and their surroundings. Though Hood wasn't actually a patient Angus still wanted to help him. The next step was to relate to Hoods problems, this comforted the patients because it was relieving to know that you weren't the only one with problems this would make a patient much more open in therapy sessions.

“After a couple weeks, sir,” Hood continued as they sat together at a table, “I couldn’t focus on my mission at all, being discouraged by the deaths that kept accumulating. I began concentrating more and more on fighting the Jem’Hadar, rather than my original task.”

“Our phaser fire gave away our locations, constantly, sir,” Hood explained, “and they would try to overwhelm us with their numbers. After our power cells ran dry, I used my retractable longsword…” Hood began, trailing off.

“I always felt I let him down, sir,” Hood acknowledged, leaning forward on the table, “and I never got to apologize for it. I saw a Trill, medical or science officer, eventually took my place helping him, so I just stayed back. She was part of the supply run from DS9 that stayed to help us. Kellin was killed in the final attack, while saving her life. If we could have held out a bit longer, we would have had our reinforcements and relief from the USS Veracruz.”

It had been around five minutes when Hood finally stopped.

“I’m sorry for unloading on you like that, sir,” Hood said, “I haven’t talked about the war in years.'

"Don't be sorry, how do you feel about getting all that off your chest?" Angus, who had been silently absorbing all this information finally spoke. "I bet you feel much better and less... conflicted... oh and you don't have to call me sir, just call me Angus."

"On another note, what do you want to have?" Angus smiled as he held his menu.

((Tag, T'Mor and Allan Hood))

[Allan Hood]

Deep Space Nine
Promenade, Second Level - Old Earth-Styled Coffee Shop

"Don't be sorry, how do you feel about getting all that off your chest?" Angus, who had been silently absorbing all this information finally spoke. "I bet you feel much better and less... conflicted... oh and you don't have to call me sir, just call me Angus."

"On another note, what do you want to have?" Angus smiled as he held his menu.

“I do feel better, sir...Angus,” Allan Hood said, “thank you for listening. It's difficult for me to talk about the war and Roel.” Hood looked down at the menu Angus slid over to him. He tried his best to put his old memories behind him.

“I almost forgot how hungry I was,” Hood began, “I’ll get a sweet tea, vegetable soup, and garden salad with old American-style Italian dressing.” He was not used to holding a replica of such an archaic relic. The paper felt rougher than he imagined and it kept losing its shape as he held it, eventually laying it on the table.

“What will you be having?” Hood asked while taking in the smells of the café, “what brought you to the Ares?

((TAG Angus, T’Mor))

[KaiserKirk]

Deep Space 9
Old Earth-Styled Coffee Shop, Second Level, Promenade

Angus had just picked up the odd and archaic 'menu', as he read through it he noticed It had a lot of foods he had never heard of before, like Cheese Cake or Brownies. Angus now knew why Dan liked the place so much. Dan was a stickler for old earth. Always shoving useless facts into his friend's faces such as 'the first human-made object in space was a V-2 rocket made by Nazi Germany, it was launched into space on 3 October 1942'. He was always so enthusiastic about it. That was always something Ollie and Angus missed. It took them both a very, very long time to get over his death. It was only possible with the experience from Flynn.

"I do feel better, sir...Angus,” Allan Hood said, “thank you for listening. It's difficult for me to talk about the war and Roel.” Hood looked down at the menu Angus slid over to him. He tried his best to put his old memories behind him.

"That's perfectly alright," Angus stated. He was never really open about having past lives, he didn't hide it but he didn't tell every man and his tribble either. But Angus started to debate silently whether it would help to say or not.

As he debated internally Hood started to look at the menu, he looked as confused as Angus had.

“I almost forgot how hungry I was,” Hood began, “I’ll get a sweet tea, vegetable soup, and garden salad with old American-style Italian dressing.” He was not used to holding a replica of such an archaic relic. The paper felt rougher than he imagined and it kept losing its shape as he held it, eventually laying it on the table.

As Hood fumbled with the flimsy paper menu Angus made up his mind.

"I just want to let you know that, one of my past...selves was a Psychologist and Psychiatrist. He dealt with a lot of trauma and PTSD patients, I know that there is already a councillor on the Ares but if you ever want to talk to me, it would be okay." Angus consoled, leaning in as Hood laid the paper menu onto the table.

Hood looked Angus in the eyes and gave a soft nod of agreement.

OOC: To be retconned if you want to take it a different way with Hood.

To swing the mood back into a more pleasant direction Allan broke the silence with a question.

"What will you be having?" Hood asked while taking in the smells of the cafe.

Double checking the menu again Angus smiled and spoke.

"I think the 'Poached' egg sounds nice with a side of bacon and sweet tea as well."

Standing up and pulling his metal chair away from him he headed towards the counter. Due to the lack of customers, he was the only one in line. The Blue skinned cashier worker gave Angus a broad and friendly smile, which Angus returned.



"Hi, what would you like to order?" The Bolian beamed, obviously happy to have a customer.

"Hello, I would like two Sweet Teas, one vegetable soup, and garden salad with old American-style Italian dressing and one Poached egg with bacon please," Angus stated.

"Okay that will be $30 Federation Credits please, and we will have that ready for you in soon." The Bolian replied as he gave Angus a small white piece of paper that had all his transaction information. Angus believes it was called a recreate.

Getting back to his seat with the paper in hand Hood looked up.

“what brought you to the Ares?"

That, Angus thought was a good question. Sitting back down he started to recall all the events that lead him here.

"Well," Angus started, taking in a deep breath."Ollie, who was my last life was killed in the last months of the war when his ship the Churchill was heavily damaged by a squad of Breen warships. The bridge was completely gone, along with the shuttle bay and one of the warp nacelles, the other was heavily damaged. I guess the breen had stolen specs for the Ambassador class because they knew exactly were to hit. I was an Assistant Nurse at that stage, the symbiont was only able to survive because I was in the Medical bay and most of the equipment and personnel were still functional. When it got me, who was a trill from the Luna colonies that had only two goals in life as a host it was hard. I had to take all the academy exams again just so I could keep my rank and position in Starfleet. It wasn't until a few months ago when the Head of Starfleet Medical wanted me to be on the Ares that I actually got promoted to CMO. I had partial leader experience from Ollie and my early time in Starfleet as Angus as Assistant Nurse. Hell, yesterday was the first time I had ever seen the wormhole and this station."

After a short minute of silence, Angus started to talk again.

"And what about you, what brings you to the Ares?"

((Tag Allan Hood))

[Allan Hood]

Deep Space Nine
Promenade, Second Level - Old Earth-Styled Coffee Shop

"I just want to let you know that, one of my past...selves was a Psychologist and Psychiatrist. He dealt with a lot of trauma and PTSD patients, I know that there is already a consoler on the Ares but if you ever want to talk to me, it would be okay." Angus consoled, leaning in as Hood laid the paper menu onto the table. Hood looked Angus in the eyes and gave a soft nod of agreement.

“Thank you very much,” Allan Hood said in appreciation, “I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD after the war and I check in with the consoler from time to time, but, I’m not required to go. I’ll probably take you up on that from time to time.”

"Okay that will be $30 Federation Credits please, and we will have that ready for you in soon." The Bolian replied as he gave Angus a small white piece of paper that had all his transaction information. Angus believes it was called a recreate.

“Federation Credits?” Hood asked in surprise, “I don’t have any money. I guess that’s part of the old-Earth theme? How can I get some?”

"Well," Angus started, taking in a deep breath."Ollie, who was my last life was killed in the last months of the war when his ship the Churchill was heavily damaged by a squad of Breen warships. The bridge was completely gone, along with the shuttle bay and one of the warp nacelles, the other was heavily damaged. I guess the Breen had stolen specs for the Ambassador class because they knew exactly were to hit. I was an Assistant Nurse at that stage, the symbiont was only able to survive because I was in the Medical bay and most of the equipment and personnel were still functional. When it got me, who was a trill from the Luna colonies that had only two goals in life as a host it was hard. I had to take all the academy exams again just so I could keep my rank and position in Starfleet. It wasn't until a few months ago when the Head of Starfleet Medical wanted me to be on the Ares that I actually got promoted to CMO. I had partial leader experience from Ollie and my early time in Starfleet as Angus as Assistant Nurse. Hell, yesterday was the first time I had ever seen the wormhole and this station."

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Hood wondered, “I have some questions about being a joined Trill. How do you juggle multiple lifetime experiences? How old are you? Does the symbiont have its own personality? Does it have to adjust to your personality?”

"And what about you, what brings you to the Ares?"

“After graduation,” Hood began, “I was assigned to the USS Sutherland, in the Ninth Fleet near Bajor during the Dominion War, under the command of Captain Shelby. I was there about 13 months before being sent to AR-558. We were only supposed to be there three months, but, it turned into five.

“I ended up being in the Second Battle of Chin’toka as a fighter pilot,” Hood continued, sipping his tea, “I never thought I’d be assigned as a fighter, though, considering my field was in science and news and we were barely in the cold war stages. We were ordered to provoke the Dominion into breaking formation using direct assaults and strafing runs. Two months later, we got the same orders during the Battle of Cardassia.

“I was promoted to junior-grade and sent to Cardassia a month later,” Hood said between bites of vegetable soup, “there I got the…privilege…to be part of the humanitarian aid sent during the Reconstruction Era.

“For six years,” Hood explained, focusing on his salad, “I helped clean excess antimatter radiation from Cardassia’s surface and atmosphere. Someone liked what we were doing and I earned the J. Bruce Award for my work there in Radiobiology. That got me promoted to lieutenant and the opportunity to join Ares as chief science officer.

“My major was Astrophysics with focus on Temporal, Quantum and Relativistic Mechanics, Warp Field Theory, and Exoarchaeology,” Hood specified, “I joined Starfleet explore ‘strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations,’ three years before the Dominion War began.

“Instead,” Hood said with some remorse, finishing his meal, “I was assigned to take part in a war against a new civilization and spent six years cleaning up radiation. Hopefully, I’ll finally get to use everything I was trained for, my whole reason I joined Starfleet was to explore, not conquer.”

((Tag Angus))

[Scarlett]

USS Ares
Deck 4 – Lounge and Mess Hall

Cleaning her lips with a napkin, A’Mand signaled she was finished with the light meal and then took a final sip from the water glass. She looked out the forward-facing window of the Mess Hall and was able to witness the Bajoran Wormhole open in multi-colored brilliance. A’Mand was briefly captivated by the swirling phenomena before she returned to the information on her PADD. The wormhole brilliantly, and suddently ceased its existence forcing her to wait a second as her eyes adjusted.



Knowing the Ares was headed to Cardassian space, she thought it wise to study the predominate species and culture. Although she knew about Cardassians, it was mostly from off-hand experience and formal education, which is always truncated. The same could be said of the source on her PADD, yet gathering as much information from multiple sources may prove valuable in the long run.

A’Mand looked over her shoulder and noticed one other crewman in the corner of the room with his back turned toward her. He was also engaged with a PADD and was clearly occupied with it. Choosing not to interrupt the crewman, she returned the plate and cup to the reclimator and left the Mess Hall.

Deciding to continue exploring her new home, A’Mand entered a turbolift.

“Deck eleven.” The tube hummed in reply briefly before stopping.

The doors swished open and a Lieutenant with Command colors entered, completely engrossed with his own PADD. He was slightly taller than A’Mand, with light brown hair and clearly fit for his age. She guessed he exercised beyond regulation standards. Without looking up, he says, "Deck Seven." After looking at the PADD a few more seconds, he seemed to realize something, and then quickly declared, "Computer! Um, belay that request for Deck Seven. Take me to ... take me to the Flight Deck, please."

It’s then that he looks over to A'Mand and realizes he isn’t alone in the turbolift. "Third ship I’ve been on in a week and a half,” he admits with shrug. "I’ll consider the day a victory if I don’t accidentally walk into the warp core reactor."

Lieutenant A’Mand raised an eyebrow at the remark. ~”Is he embarrassed?”~

“It’s a new ship for several of us, myself included.” She smiled without teeth in an attempt to continue breaking the ice as she learned long ago and extended her hand in human-styled greeting. She knew she had the upper rank, but was not one to use it unless necessary. “I’m A’Mand, Chief Counselor.”

((TAG James Cole))

[Generator]

USS Ares
Turbolift

The young officer quickly assesses the shipmate who caught him lost in thought. Blue uniform. Two full pips (could be worse, at least this isn’t how you met Captain Wilson). As she turns, he catches a glimpse of a pointed ear under her hair. Hm, Vulcan. That’s an unusual hairstyle for a Vulcan.

“It’s a new ship for several of us, myself included. I’m A’Mand, Chief Counselor.”

Jim takes the hand offered by the Counselor, with a small smile and a polite nod. “James Cole,” he replies. “I’m the XO of the ship’s fighter squadron. Pleased to meet you, Counselor.”

He nods toward the PADD in his left hand. “I was just reading up on the squadron commander; I think he and I had a year in common at San Francisco. Then I was so busy thinkin’ about that, I forgot I’m no longer on my former ship, the Schirra.” While he had thought the year on that Saber-class vessel to be rather dull, he nonetheless had fond memories of the ship and her crew.

He paused in thought for a moment, then asked the Counselor, “It must really make your job trickier, when there’s a big influx of new crew to the ship. You said you’re new here too; may I ask where you were assigned prior to this?"

((TAG A’Mand))

[Scarlett]

USS Ares
Turbolift

"It must really make your job trickier, when there’s a big influx of new crew to the ship. You said you’re new here too; may I ask where you were assigned prior to this?

A’Mand looked onto Lieutenant Cole’s face as he spoke. ~”Soft features, with a confident attitude.”~ Their hand shake completed, she replied, “It is also a pleasure to meet you Lieutenant.” She decided to formalize rank to introduce a professional distance, while also keeping her smile on the hope she presented congeniality.

“It is a challenge, I agree and have spent several months reviewing various files in preparation for the journey.” She raised her own PADD to indicate a common point between their divergent duties. She continued, “My previous assignment was on the USS Sixth Wave with Captain Lori Kalmar.”

The hum of the turbolift changed as it came to its destination making a natural break in the direction of the conversation. A’Mand pivoted attention away from herself. “Have you had a chance to meet the Captain, yet?”

((TAG James Cole))

[KaiserKirk]

OOC: Hey Allan, again great job at writing so far, I just have a few things to discuss. With your recent post, you gave answers to a lot of what my character Angus had been saying. I have been struggling to figure out how to add this all in because it would look like I was just ignoring your work. So if you don't mind I would like to just fiddle with the words a bit and in what order they were said, this is just to make things run a bit more smoothly. If you disagree that's okay, I can always just retcon it. Oh, and I had to do some research on currencies in the UFP. I have known for quite some time that the UFP abolished money but in some episodes spread out mainly through DS9 and TNG a few characters refer to 'Federation Credits'. Not much is known apart from that so I decided to use them for the Cafe. Again if you disagree I can always go back an edit it.

Deep Space 9
Old Earth-Styled Coffee Shop, Second Level, Promenade

After finishing his backstory Angus looked up from the pad T'Mor had given him and was fiddling with. Allan who had been quiet for the whole story nodded in approval. After only 30 seconds of silence, Hood looked Angus in the eyes and began a very delicately worded question.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Hood wondered, “I have some questions about being a joined Trill. How do you juggle multiple lifetime experiences? How old are you? Does the symbiont have its own personality? Does it have to adjust to your personality?”

Angus smiled at Allan's obvious discomfort with asking. He probably thought It would afford him or something along those lines. Everyone, he met always felt weird around Angus and Ollie, not so much Flynn, maybe it was because people knew that it was his first... life or the way he composed himself. People just had so many questions and didn't know how to ask. And to Anguses amusement they always came flooding out, just like Allan.

Angus leaned back in his chair, absorbing the rush of questions that flew out of Hood's mouth. After taking a moment to think he lent back in and started to speak.

"No its perfectly alright. I was selected as one of the few lucky to be able to join by the Symbiosis Commission. I had been training since I left high school to become a joined trill... Angus that is." laughing at himself he calmed down and began to speak again. "Even though I passed selection I still haven't quite grasped the proper wording of referring to my past and present... selves. To be honest I have never really been able to keep all my different personalities in order. I've noticed ever since the joining 16 years ago that some days I wake up all juvenile and fun like Ollie and other days I wake up all methodical and disciplined like Flynn. Most of the time, well practically all the time who I am is a composition of all my past lifetimes. Before I was joined I used to be very... set in my ways, I was a bit stubborn."

Angus paused to recall the next question, then with his hands started to calculate exactly how old he was. It was hard keeping track sometimes because memories and events would all get muddled up and confusing.

"I am... well should I say the symbiont is 130 years old, Flynn died in a house invasion by some Ferengi burglary at 76, long after he retired. Ollie died in the ambush at 24 and I turned 30 earlier this year, and In my opinion, the Symbient doesn't have its own personality per say... well it does but now it more feels like it is a combination of its past experiences... Like it absorbed the feelings and personalities of Flynn and Ollie and combined them."

"Well, then that appears like everything" Angus laughed. "And what about you?" He asked raising one hand. "What brings you to the Ares?"

“After graduation,” Hood began, “I was assigned to the USS Sutherland, in the Ninth Fleet near Bajor during the Dominion War, under the command of Captain Shelby. I was there about 13 months before being sent to AR-558. We were only supposed to be there three months, but, it turned into five.

“I ended up being in the Second Battle of Chin’toka as a fighter pilot,” Hood continued, sipping his tea, “I never thought I’d be assigned as a fighter, though, considering my field was in science and news and we were barely in the cold war stages. We were ordered to provoke the Dominion into breaking formation using direct assaults and strafing runs. Two months later, we got the same orders during the Battle of Cardassia.

“I was promoted to junior-grade and sent to Cardassia a month later,” Hood said between bites of vegetable soup, “there I got the…privilege…to be part of the humanitarian aid sent during the Reconstruction Era.

“For six years,” Hood explained, focusing on his salad, “I helped clean excess antimatter radiation from Cardassia’s surface and atmosphere. Someone liked what we were doing and I earned the J. Bruce Award for my work there in Radiobiology. That got me promoted to lieutenant and the opportunity to join Ares as chief science officer.

“My major was Astrophysics with focus on Temporal, Quantum and Relativistic Mechanics, Warp Field Theory, and Exoarchaeology,” Hood specified, “I joined Starfleet explore ‘strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations,’ three years before the Dominion War began.

“Instead,” Hood said with some remorse, finishing his meal, “I was assigned to take part in a war against a new civilization and spent six years cleaning up radiation. Hopefully, I’ll finally get to use everything I was trained for, my whole reason I joined Starfleet was to explore, not conquer.”

It took Angus a few moments to take in all he had heard. recalling what he said about joining a war against a new civilization instead of exploring. It reminded him of Ollie who was in those very shoes... who died before he even got to experience what Starfleet was really about: exploring, peace, prosperity. It wasn't the Federation's fault. They were backed into a corner and the only way of stopping the Dominion was to border the wormhole. Starfleet was so militarily geared from the war that he sometimes wondered if it would ever truly go back to its pre-war self... at least Angus thought, finishing his meal. At least we are on the right track with the Ares.

Angus stood up, tucked his chair in and returned the plates and cutlery to the counter.

"Well, it was certainly nice to meet you, Allan, unfortunately, I really do have to get things organised on the Ares. I'll be heading off to board and meet up with T'Mor and the rest of my department in the medbay... care to join me?"

[Generator]

USS Ares
Turbolift

“My previous assignment was on the USS Sixth Wave with Captain Lori Kalmar.”

Jim frowns in thought. "Hmm, Sixth Wave, Captain Kalmar... it sounds familiar, but that could just be memory playing tricks on me. Were you guys part of the fleet exercise they did out of Starbase 39 last year? Maybe I saw the ship there." He shrugs. "It'll come, or it won't."

“Have you had a chance to meet the Captain, yet?”

"Not yet, no. In fact, you're the first person on board I've had a chance to talk to, apart from the Yeoman at the docking pylon; I only got on board not fifteen minutes ago." The turbolift stops and opens up onto Deck 11. As it does, Jim gestures to the opening door. "Is this you? I was figuring I'd just head down to Deck 17, see if I could find anyone else from the fighter wing." After he says that, a burst of realization flashes across his face. "There it is, Deck 17. I just might avoid walking into the warp core after all, Lieutenant!" He grins.

OOC: I'm picking Deck 17 just so I can use an actual number. Eagle, if you want to correct me later, go ahead and I can edit/retcon this.

((TAG A'Mand))

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
USS Ares - Bridge

The first thing that struck Commander Teriir as he stepped off the turbolift and onto the bridge for the first time was its size. The USS Aries' bridge was far larger than that of his previous ship but he could see the advantage of having extra terminals for different stations.

~"That one,"~ he recognized a standing terminal on the opposite side of the bridge, slightly behind the captain's chair, as the tactical station. That would be his post for the duration of this mission. He made his way over to it, trying to be discrete. He knew he would be recognized almost immediately by some of the younger officers, both from his being more of a peer of theirs than a senior officer and also from curiosity about war stories. He had participated in several major battles during the war and more minor ones than he could keep track of. Because of crew rotations he would sometimes be left at an outpost anxiously waiting for the USS Icarus to return. Many of the people who waited with him weren't as lucky.

The Coridan Ensign who was at the tactical station looked up as he drew near, giving him a simple nod before stepping aside for him. She headed for the turbolift before he could have a word with her. Although it was common for junior officers to perform only minor greetings or acknowledgements to their superiors while on duty, he was expecting a little bit more of a conversation.

~"Business as usual,"~ Teriir thought to himself as he turned his attention to his new station. The controls were extremely familiar but almost reversed from his last post. Sovereign Class ships had more phaser arrays than torpedoes while Akira Class ships had far more torpedo launchers than phasers. There were also fewer controls for him to coordinate now, since the duties of directing fighters belonged to someone else.

He performed a few calibration tests to ensure targeting systems were operating within his personal preferences, which were set higher than regulations. He always looked to be at peak performance so if regulations were limits one could stop at, he kept going. Within minutes he had the sensors up to where he liked them. Knowing most other tests, such as test firing the ship's weapons, would have to wait until they were out in open space, he started taking a look around.

There was a variety of species present on the bridge, with several Humans and a Caitian present off to his left. Another Trill, wearing a blue uniform, was heading over to what Teriir guessed was the science station to deliver a PADD to an Andorian. Hearing a turbolift behind him opening, he glanced over his shoulder to see who was joining them. A human with a red uniform and light brown hair was stepping off the turbolift with a PADD in his hands.

~"He has Captain's pips."~ Teriir noticed immediately.

Shifting to attention, he initiated the formal welcoming for his new commanding officer, "Captain on the bridge!"

I am assuming Captain Wilson is taking a PADD he received from DS9 to his ready room to review.

((TAG Captain Wilson))