Subject: FRONTIER: Bad morning?

SD 70910

Ramsays' quarters

Caroline yawned and stretched in the occupied half of the double bed. 
That is, if you could call it a double bed... Abruptly she remembered 
last night's fiasco, and a foul mood descended upon her.

As she dressed, Caroline wondered just how exhausting it *really* was 
to go to the Ready Room and back. A few dozen footsteps, a cushy 
turbolift ride, a few dozen more footsteps... didn't sound very 
exerting at all.

She headed to the holodeck for a toned-down version of her normal 
exercise routine. With a fire raging in her mind, it wouldn't take 
long to dispose of the poorly-skilled computer opponents.


Holodeck

And indeed that was very true, she mused as she surveyed the litter of
bodies adorning the battleground. The safety protocols on this 
holodeck were paranoid; she hadn't got so much as a scratch.

But it had been good psychologically.


Engineering
A while later, after the ground assaults

[Captain, Lt. Maren has just been beamed aboard. He has sustained
multiple injuries,] reported Braun.

"Jeez, they'll do anything to keep me out of here," he muttered with a
hand shielding the wristcom's audio pickup. "Understood. Tell whoever's
running sickbay at the moment that I'll be up there shortly to get an 
apprisal of his condition. Ramsay out."

He sighed and left his hard work. It really wasn't his place to be 
down here helping with repairs. That was the whole point - you're the 
commanding officer, not the chief engineer.

Sykes met him outside Sickbay. "He's fine, sir. Suffering from a few 
cracked ribs and some bruising. Looks like he was captured, tortured, 
and then he either made an escape or they let him go."

"I see. Did he say anything about what happened while he was down on 
the planet?"

"I think he might have been delirious when he said it, but he 
definitely said something about two Angus' and two Patricks." Sykes 
shrugged without fully realising the implication of what he was 
saying.

But the situation was a little clearer to Will. "He did?" he replied 
in surprise. After a few moments thought, "Can I speak to him?"

"Well, okay, but keep it short - he can't talk very well with his 
chest feeling like it's been crushed by an elephant and put back 
together again." Neil motioned the captain in.

Houston was still lying on the bed Festore had left her on, but there 
was evidence to suggest her condition was improving - like the fact 
that she was sitting up and accessing the current Ops logs. Definitely
not one to get behind with her work, thought Ramsay.

Maren recognised the captain on approach. Ramsay said, "Don't try to 
talk too much. I'll try for yes-and-no questions, since I already know
half of what's going on. Okay, we'll start from the beginning. Did you
manage to get into the base?"

A nod.

"Your cloak shut down?"

Another nod. "Crowded," the Trill managed to croak.

"Right. And somewhere in the middle of that they knocked you out?"

A brief nod.

"When you came to, you were in the room where they tortured you?"

A slow nod.

"They weren't our people, you'd say?"

An agreeing nod.

"They're from a mirror universe. That means they've probably got a 
ship like ours. Any idea what they're trying to do?"

Keanu's throat exploded as he tried to explain to the captain that 
they'd wanted to know where the Frontier was. Somehow, he managed to 
get the message across.

"Thanks. And I won't hold you responsible for any of this. It's not 
fair to expect people not to break." Ramsay turned from Keanu's bed 
and tapped his wristcom. "Ramsay to bridge. I want us put into a 
position above the planet's pole. I'm betting that will mask us a 
little. We certainly aren't going to be in any expected position."

[Yes sir,] replied Ishara.

Ramsay left sickbay and headed back to Engineering, leaving Sykes to 
attend to Keanu.

"Ruth, could you pass me a hypospray of kayolane. I need to put Mr. 
Maren under."

Another chill stare. "Yes, of course Doctor," she said in an icy 
voice.

"Someone check the thermostat," said one of the injured security 
guards, "it's getting awfully cold in here." Followed by a sarcastic 
cough. Evidently someone was getting tired of the feudal atmosphere.

Neil pushed the hypo against Keanu's neck and watched the readings 
settle to slightly below normal levels. Then he went to his office and
sat down.

                       Respectfully submitted:

                            Sam M. Edwards
                  [Captain] Will Ramsay, CO FRONTIER
                 [Cmdr] Caroline Ramsay, XO FRONTIER
               [LtCmdr] Joanna Houston, 2O/OPS FRONTIER

                     "Eat any good books lately?"
                                  Q