From david.shepherd3@virgin.net Sun Jun 28 00:47:21 1998 Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:44:38 -0600 From: David Shepherd To: INDIGO FLEET List Serve Subject: [INDIGO] USS CONSTELLATION: Dark Side of the Pizza [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ---OFFICIAL INDIGO FLEET TRANSMISSION--- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 16:54:09 +0100 From: David Shepherd Subject: [INDIGO] USS CONSTELLATION: Dark Side of the Pizza SD 00616 Dark Side of the Pizza ====================== FMD 7.0808 Scene: Captain^Òs Quarters, Deck 6 Bradford sipped carefully on his tiny glass of Bombay Sapphire. Being promoted was shock enough to recover from without having to live with a 9 a.m. hangover. ^ÑWhat a nonsensical hierarchy^Ò he thought. ^ÑI carry the responsibility for overlooking a fatal health risk to the Commanding Officer, but because I got lucky and saved him in time, I get to not only avoid the posting to be CMO of the Rigellian penal colony, but even get promoted!^Ò Joe was genuinely pleased for Stef though. Stef was one of those people Joe felt no real empathy with, but their paths seemed star- crossed.. fated to run together. Together they had been blown up in the Great Hall and together they were thrown in a Torrgar jail. Now together they were promoted. In other words he was surprised to be finding Stef was a friend not just a colleague, but that was no reason to back away. It was a hollow celebration though. As the alcohol slowly seduced Bradford^Òs concentration to wander from the chat of his two fellow drinkers, he thought how typical this was of the general mood around starbase OMEGA. He wanted to talk about it, but didn^Òt want to spoil the celebration. *Flashback to FMD 5.1300* Bradford was enjoying a lunch at one of the starbase^Òs relatively spacious restaurants. To be honest he was enjoying the solitude and relaxation more than the food. When he^Òd ordered, veal parmesan and lima beans had seemed like a really great idea, but apparently this place hadn^Òt got a clue how to cook lima beans properly.. if ^Ñcook^Ò was the right word for this replicated muck. The disappointing repast was not to be dwelt on though, because the air of the restaurant - indeed the whole station - was enough to make anyone lose their appetite. This was Joe Bradford^Òs third visit to Starbase OMEGA. On both previous occasions, the ambience of the station was one of quiet and efficient operation underlain with general happiness and contentment. The people here knew that no matter what their daily worries and troubles, they were the chosen few - they were not only on the frontier but in the capital city of it. As a result their heads were held high and smiles broke through with great regularity. The atmosphere now was different. Now the whole station had an air as sombre and uninspiring as the underside of a pizza compared to the colourful and inviting top side. Humans and humanoids were steeling themselves for war. Had he been around yesterday, the CONSTELLATION^Òs CMO would have witnessed a rather more casual attitude. Oh yes, there were reports of hostile engagements, but the prevailing reaction had been to shrug it off as another small potatoes border skirmish by a bored, backward so-called warrior race. Today was different. Today a state of the art ship of the line had limped home with most of it^Òs crew dead and the rest ripped up badly. A few of the crew of the LEXINGTON had had a chance to pass on the story of their brief and ominously one-sided engagement with the Dalriadan fleet and the tale had spread like wild fire. Only one table in the restaurant was not discussing the story. Few personnel on OMEGA had experienced active service in a war before. Many had been serving when the Federation was ^Ñat war^Ò with Cardassia or Romulus, but few had seen any substantial action. This fleet was geared to science and exploration rather than warfare. No-one seemed to know if Star Fleet was sending any assistance either. Many believed it was inevitable, but Joe was not convinced. If Dalriada had the hardware to defeat entire Indigo fleet, it would be pointless to send more warships as they too would be destroyed. UFP^Òs best strategy would be to absorb the loss knowing that even an undefeatable force could take up to a decade to cover and conquer all Federation space - time which could be used to develop technology which could effectively counter the Dalriadan weaponry, halt the advance and maybe reverse it. Doubtless SFI were busy at this very moment telling Star Fleet Command that Dalriada^Òs ^Ñprofile^Ò was one of periodic but small-scale expansion, so the long-term threat to the Federation was zero - and hence that INDIGO fleet was expendable. ^ÓRidiculous. You^Òre becoming paranoid^Ô Bradford told himself, but remained unconvinced. Everyone having similar feelings was doubtless the source of the surreal atmosphere: the fear of the knowledge that a superior force was advancing and you are facing capture, death or enslavement brings out a side of the psyche that all beings possess but modern humanoids might never experience. Layered over the tension of personal fears, other siege reactions were surfacing. Conversations featured grim determination, thinly veiled hatred of the aggressors, graveyard humour and a lot of mutual encouragement. Bootstrapped courage, but no less welcome. Having no companions, to shake of the cycle of worry Bradford made a point of going to OMEGA^Òs sickbay facility and help out with the dozens of casualties needing treatment for terrible radiation burns caused by the merciless and inhuman X-ray laser missiles. What kind of civilization could countenance using such weapons against a defensively postured opponent? Joe could already feel the hatred and bitter need for revenge for the atrocities of these dishonourable barbarians welling within him. Fortunately, a wise senior surgeon had taught him well.. ^ÑMister Bradford^Ò he had said. ^ÑYou are here to heal. When you are not able to heal you are here to comfort. If you want to contemplate the madness of man or unfairness of God which caused this, go and join the other garden gnomes in the Philosophy Department - there is NO TIME for that here!^Ò Remembering this, the CONSTELLATION^Òs Doctor shook himself and turned on his ^Ñmedic^Òs autopilot^Ò. {*End Flashback*} The Doctor shook himself again and refocused on the cavernous interior of the Commanding Officer^Òs quarters. Quietly he put aside the glass, undrained, and made a mental note to celebrate his next promotion with something Morpheus would never have in his drinks cabinet. The conversation seemed to have turned to Mr. Popular - Commander Bertoli, so Joe joined in. [Cue James^Ò post FMD 7.0810] --- FMD 7.0808 Flashback - Realities of war dawn on OMEGA Dave --- NRPG: All: An overdue greeting to all non-CONN Indigoes out there. --- Respectfully submitted, David Shepherd Lt. Cmdr. Joe Bradford M.D. USS CONSTELLATION NCC 1017-F Indigo Fleet Outstanding Writer Award SD 100525 ====== ^ÓIt^Òs not safe out here. It^Òs wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it^Òs not for the timid^Ô. ***This message sent by an official member of Indigo Fleet*** Are you also posting your message to the newsgroup?!!! ---END TRANSMISSION---