Craic

Posted on Sun Jun 5th, 2022 @ 11:41am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Ensign T'Plana-hath

Mission: Jupiter Mystery
Location: USS Washington

Shran was still reviewing the specs for the new shuttle when the door chime rang. He briefly wondered who it might be, considering Ensign T'Plana-hath was coming but he also had requested Callie to join them. "Enter" he called out.

T'Plana-hath successfully brought the Nightstalker onto the Washington as ordered. She stepped out of the shuttle portal and immediately turned back towards the control panel and input her Star Fleet Intelligence cypher sealing the ship from all except her or the captain and those he designated permission to use or board her. She turned to the young deckhand and stated, "No one is to approach this vessel without the express consent of Captain Shran dh'Klar or myself." With that she turned and made her way to the nearest turbolift, dispensing with the formal request to come aboard, after all the Washington was in the midst of a mission and she had been ordered to report to the captain. As the turbolift stopped on the bridge she made her way to the captains ready room and pressed the chime, ignoring the bridge crew and their stares.

Shran looked up as the door opened and saw the Vulcan. "Come in ensign" he said directly. "Quite the interesting craft you have brought us. I'm certain your former captain was sad to lose it. Please, have a seat. I trust your journey here was..." he tried to think of a Vulcan word but was drawing a blank, "satisfactory" he said clumsily. He made a mental note to review his materials on Vulcans.

“It was an uneventful journey, but did allow me to adjust and modify both the Nightstalker’s computer system and sensor packages.” replied T’Plana-hath. “As for Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Jackson and the USS Swordfish missing the Nightstalker, they have three more of her sisters as well as some other very unique craft on board, given her mission.” She said with a smile. “Captain please relax your attempts to conform to the standard of Vulcan norms, I am a member of a very small sect on Vulcan that follows the teachings of Nirak, which depart somewhat from those of Surak’s. So I do on occasion show emotions.”

Shran had noted the slight smile and mentally breathed a sigh of relief when she mentioned that she wasn't your typical Vulcan. Shran didn't dislike Vulcans, despite the mere tolerance shown between his race and them due to centuries of hostility, but they did tend to annoy him with their strict logic and lack of emotion and smug intellectual superiority, a remark his friend Ben Sisko had made to him on more than one occasion. "Noted ensign. I would like to introduce you to all of the senior officers, but most are currently off ship investigating this Jupiter matter. I have asked the one other senior officer of note to join us, Counselor Callie Raven-Grayson. I expect her here shortly" he said plainly.

Callie arrived at the Ready Room, she hated being tardy but her morning sickness was proving unpredictable. Pressing the chime she waited for an answer before entering. “My apologies Captain, morning sickness decided to hold me up.” She nodded to the new officer in the room. “Ensign”

Ensign T’Plana-hath looked at the mousey blonde Lieutenant who just entered the captains ready room and did a quick assessment: Lieutenant Callie Raven-Grayson, USS Washington Chief Counselor, Betazoid and Human parentage. She raised her left eyebrow at her announcement of being with child, a fact she stored away in her mind as it may come in useful to Star Fleet Intelligence in the future. “Greetings, Lieutenant.” She replied.

"Not a problem counselor. As you are the only member of the senior staff of note currently aboard other than myself, I thought it important to give you the opportunity to meet Ensign T'Plana-hath, our new Intelligence Officer. I am sure either you or Jortho will want to meet with her in the coming days for the purposes of her mental health check up. She comes bearing a gift to our ship in a new specialized shuttle. I am certain the shuttle, and more directly the ensign will show themselves to be quite useful and beneficial to the ship."

“Agreed Sir” Callie nodded and smiled. “I’d be more than happy to arrange for your evaluation Ensign” she smiled warmly as she looked towards the new Vulcan Officer.

Ensign T’Plana-hath turned to the Lieutenant and replied “Thank you, counselor. I must advise you that I am not typical of most Vulcans, I am a devotee and follower of the teachings of Nirak, so I will have times were emotions appear or I react with what appears to be emotion. We believe and are taught that the more violent emotions, most notably anger, are to be repressed, but virtue can be found in the less destructive passions, particularly curiosity and joy. We still maintain a high degree of temperance on our emotions to keep them in check. The followers of Nirak are small but respected sect on Vulcan.”

Callie nodded. “I’d like to learn more of Nirak when you have time to tell me Ensign.” She smiled warmly.

"Well, isn't this a strange gathering of supposed leadership" a disembodied voice said.

Shran stood up, his antennae standing straight as he attempted to determine where the voice had come from. "Who said that" he mused aloud.

Suddenly the sound of a glass pouring could be heard, and as everyone looked over, a figure appeared. The fair skinned human appearing man stood and looked at the trio and sipped the just poured drink. "I spoke the words lad. Seemed like an apt assessment. Strange that humans went to the stars and allowed so many others to serve along side them. Perhaps their is hope for humanity yet."

Shran took the backhanded comment in stride. "Might I ask who you are?"

Ah," the man said with a chuckle, "where are my manners? You may call me Lugh."

"And what brings you to my ship?" questioned Shran.

"Well it seemed apt since it is orbiting my planet" he replied succinctly.

Ensign T’Plana-hath stood a little more rigid at the sound of a voice coming from out of nowhere. She did not like being surprised or caught unawares. She slowly assessed the human appearing man that had appeared in the captains ready room. Her mind instantly went back to her Star Fleet Intelligence training regarding powerful and godlike aliens, she did not like the odds, if this being was indeed in that class of beings.

Callie was studying the so-called God that stood before them, she couldn’t say she’d heard of him before. “I think you’ll find that Humans have come a long way from what they used to be in the past.”

"Ah lassie, I would agree with that. You have learned quite a bit, learned how to fly, ventured beyond your home. I would certainly give you high marks for such achievements. But in some ways, you aren't much different than those of years past. I can already tell that Morrigan and Brigit would still have plenty to work with despite your enlightened sensibilities."

Shran was being cautious. If this was indeed a god, his powers would be impressive, much like dealing with the Q or some of the other class species they had encountered. Thus far, this one seemed far more benign than he might expect, and he hoped to keep it that way. "So this planet we are orbiting belongs to you. It appears to have had a civilization on it at one point. What happened to them?"

Lugh smiled. "An insightful question. I like that. Some died, some from disease, some from age. The others that survived are gone."

“Gone?” Callie looked towards Shran, then at Luge. “Where did they go?”

T’Plana-hath continued watching the exchange between the senior officers and this being, as she preferred to gather as much information as she could before suggesting or taking action. She began going down what little she knew of Earth mythology in her mind, trying to place which historical region the being claimed to be a god from. From his accent she gathered it was one of the Northern regions of what the Terrans called Europe, more specifically either the Britain or Irish . The it hit her and she smiled inwardly the Irish mythologies, the Tuatha Dé Danann. They were said to be a supernatural race, so it was feasible this being that called itself Lugh and his fellow cohorts had been to Earth, before moving on.

"Long ago, roughly 400 years as you know them, the last of us, those you call gods, left Earth and scattered to different locations. The Olympians, most, those that had remained, had become quite mad, and ventured off to parts unknown, though Apollo was convinced that eventually humans would return to worship him and the others. Horus, Isis, Amaterasu, and others splintered off as well. But those of Asgard and those of us from Avalon, we came to this world, and in time, so did humans. They were not like humans that we had known in times before, they were intelligent, gifted in the ways of science, but they sought to live a simpler life, and we were happy to indulge that request."

Shran was listening intently. He wan't sure how much of this was fact and how much might be fiction, but even in lies truth could be found, and he had a feeling this was certainly the case here.

T'Plana-hath whispered quitely
"It is God who suffered them, though He restrained them
they landed with horror, with lofty deed,
in their cloud of mighty combat of spectres,
upon a mountain of Conmaicne of Connacht.

Without distinction to discerning Ireland,
Without ships, a ruthless course
the truth was not known beneath the sky of stars,
whether they were of heaven or of earth."

It was from a very ancient poem in the Lebor Gabála Érenn that she had read during her time as a diplomatic attaché to Star Fleet.

Lugh smiled. "It appears your pointy eared friend is a bard. Perhaps she is a descendant of the Fey."

Shran glanced at T'Plana-hath and then back at Lugh. "So, you were saying."

Lugh sipped his drink and then began to speak once more, "Yes, well we had human followers once more, but some of my brethren were not as easily placated as they had once been. At one time we mostly we benevolent towards humans, protecting you from threats from outside your world and even the occasional threats from within. We had our eccentricities, but it was benign. Loki though, he had grown angry with how humans had betrayed us in varying ways, so he decided to ensure that wouldn't happen again. Loki, he was always one to prefer the minds of people, and so he tried putting our new human followers into a deep slumber. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't without flaw. You see, as I noted, our new followers were quite adept in science, and so they found a way past his devious plot, and then they turned on all of us under the assumption we were all to blame."

T'Plana-hath face flushed from embarrassment at being heard by Lugh when she had whispered the poem. She had been listening to what Lugh was saying and began to turn the information over in her mind. If one was to take what he said at face value, then all of Earth's mythological Gods and Goddess where related. An interesting avenue of inquiry to pursue.

"I admit," Lugh continued, "I didn't exactly blame them, as we did on occasion play tricks on them in jest, but Loki went too far, and he didn't realize that they could actually harm us, in a manner of speaking."

"You played tricks on them?" questioned Shran.

"Yes, nothing overly serious you understand. Something like this for example" Lugh said as he snapped his fingers, and suddenly T'Plana-hath shrunk to roughly the size of a new born child and was dressed in all green sporting a green top hat, red beard, and a shillelagh.

Callie looked suitably shocked. “What have you done!?”

Lugh gave a chuckle. "Have you never seen a leprechaun before?"

T'Plana-hath felt the familiar emotion of anger and aggression start to boil and come to the forefront of her mind when Lugh transformed her. She knew though she could not act as she was now, looking up at the rest of them.

Shran shook his head. "No. Please turn her back."

"As you wish" Lugh replied in downtrodden jest. He snapped his fingers and T'Plana-hath returned to normal.

"What happened when these humans attacked you and the others?" questioned Shran.

"Well, some like Thor and Odin and Bridid, Dagda, Morrigan, Danu, they refused to fight them, and so they simply left. Loki and a few others began killing them. I decided to try to protect them. I went to stop Loki, tried to reason with him, but while we spoke, we were ensnared. We remained trapped for some time until recently, when others dressed like you freed us."

“Our away team...” She looked towards Shran. “Wait...you said us. Is Loki free as well?” She was suddenly very afraid for Jon.

Upon Lugh returning her back to her normal self, T'Plana-hath had to use every ounce of her mental training not to lash out at Lugh and to bring the trembles in her hands under control. She began going through the mental exercises she was trained in at Monastery of Nirak. She was still focused on the conversation when she heard Lieutenant Callie's statement. The situation appeared to be worse than it would appear, a landing party had violated several star fleet regulations and now there was a situation that involved a godlike alien beings. She waited controlling her anger and aggressive emotions for the Captain to give direction.

Shran heard Callie and his thoughts were much the same. "Where is Loki?" questioned Shran.

"Oh, he is on your other ship" Lugh replied plainly.

"And you think that is wise? I have people over there."

"Very well captain. I'll go look in on them, make sure Loki is behaving himself." Lugh disappeared.

Shran hit his comm badge, =^=Shran to Grayson.=^=