Mirror Wears My Face II

 Episode Name:  Mirror Has My Face II

   Written By:  Spider

         Cast:  Alethea, Birev, Dana, Edwards, Hurley, Spider, 
                Stewart, Takamura, Thorne and Valentine.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Spider

     Aired On:  Sun Aug 15 00:10:22 2004

     Stardate:  54313.9

Time: Sat Aug 14 14:33:36 2004

Stardate: 54313.0

The Terran Resistance, much like its Bajoran counterpart during the Cardassian Occupation, lives in caves below the surface of the Class M moon on which they're hiding. The 'Fleeters were put up for the night on very simple cots in a shared cavern-bedroom. Birev's been the subject of many surreptitious glances, and he's overheard a great deal of whispering around corners and behind his back. (I thought they were extinct. -- They /are/, they were all wiped out.) The crew has generally been given their own space; this afternoon, however, food's brought in by a gawky, wiry version of Cristobal with long, shaggy hair tied back in a ponytail. "Uh, I, ah, well, it's lunchtime." The pot of stew is settled on the cavern's rock floor, and he backs away, unslinging a bag filled with metal bowls from his shoulder. "If you're hungry."

. o O Hurley thinks "I think I like this Cristobal better. He doesn't seem as... grumpy."

Hurley stands from where she'd been sitting on the ground and brushes what she can off her uniform pants. "I am quite hungry, thank you very much," she responds with a bright smile in Cristobal's direction. "I'm Christine Hurley, Ensign," she says, pointing at the single pip on her collar.

Birev has not been bearing up well under the attention, and he tries to meet every glance with a dark frown. He moves to sniff at the stew suspiciously.

"I kind of figured, what with the single pip and all," Nathan notes with a raised eyebrow. He rubs at his eyes slightly and starts dishing out stew, setting out a couple of bowls of it. "I doubt this is at all what you're used to, but we have to make do over here." He splashes a bit of stew on his hand while glancing at Birev, and winces. "Ah, damnit. Here, Christine. My name's Nathan."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure," Hurley assures with a nod and still very bright smile though she glances at the hand that was splashed. "Do you have someone to look at that? Or at least something cool to put on it? You'll want to do that quickly. If you want, I can get the Ensign and me served while you tend to your hand?" She's wide awake and starting to settle in now.

"There's no need to stare," Birev says, frowning. "There's nothing special to see. Besides, I'm sure there's plenty of my people still alive out there. You'll meet them in time when they come back in force."

Nathan pops the heel of his thumb into his mouth and sucks the stew away from it, giving Hurley a quizzical sort of look. "... no, I'll be fine." Pause. "Thank you." He passes over a bowl to Birev, raising an eyebrow. "You really think the Andorians here are in hiding? No. They were obliterated long ago. Let me ask you something, though: can you really hear a pin drop a mile away?"

Hurley eyes the thumb-sucking Nathan momentarily before picking up one of the bowls and standing back to observe the conversation between the two.

Birev takes the bowl, settling back against the wall to eat. "I can hear the sound of a human being stupid even further."

"I may be stupid, but at least my race didn't rush off into destruction like wheat running right into a threshing machine," Nathan spits back, getting to his feet. "If you want to make yourselves useful, we could use some help with repairing our com system. We haven't been able to keep it online for very long because the anti-tracking devices Michael installed haven't been working very well." He stops for a moment, dusting off his grungy pants. "Or you could sit around and insult the person who's bringing you food. That's up to you." That said, he turns sharply on his heel and stalks out.

. o O Hurley thinks "Ok, I was wrong. Apparently Cristobals are grumpy no matter what universe you visit."

Hurley bites at her lower lip, glances to the bowl of stew in her hands and side-glances towards the Andorian. After a moment of thought, she draws in a breath and says softly, "This isn't easy for any of us. We need to work with them if we want to get home."

"Oh, of course," Birev says flatly. "I'm always eager to help my abductors in any way possible." He glances back to Hurley. "If it wasn't for them, we'd still /be/ home."

Hurley's smile fades as she states, "They didn't mean to bring us along and, in fact, they aren't the ones trying to kill us. And if we were in their position of resistance against.. people who /do/ want us quite dead, well, you and I would likely be doing the same thing they're doing now." She glances to her bowl again. "Right now, the point of how we got here is rather moot. We're here now. They're feeding us. They've sheltered us and they haven't hurt us in any way. Well, except Commander Edwards' pride. Insulting them isn't going to make them anymore inclined to getting us home. Let's eat and work on their communications system. When you feel uncomfortable, let me know and I'll try to take the spotlight off you for awhile."

"Very well," Birev finally says, "Show me to the systems that need work. It's obvious that you all need some competent assistance."

. o O Hurley thinks "...need some competent assistance? /*I*/ need competent assistance?"

Hurley raises an eyebrow in response to Birev, but she turns her attention to her stew, at which she can smile again. "Thank you, Ensign. Your.. assistance.. is appreciated," she manages to get out in a somewhat forced cheerful tone. Lifting the spoon, she quickly piles a rather large bite of the stew into her mouth and watches the ground carefully and unblinkingly.

"... asked /them/ to help you with the communications array? Nathan, are you MAD?" A female voice carries down the 'hall', sharp and short. "Are you INSANE? ... No, I will NOT calm down. We don't /know/ them, and you're going to ask for their help with our systems? How do you know they're not working for /her?/ For /them?/ You saw what they did to Femke, damnit, and now you're trusting some /random stranger?/"

Birev grunts something as he digs into his stew, eating quickly and purposefully. He lifts his head at the sound of shouting from the hall.

Hurley does as well, then she eyeshifts towards Birev and back to her stew while mumbling softly, "Well, at least we know where we stand. And look at the bright side," she says a little louder, smiling at the Andorian again, "they distrust us as much as you distrust them! We're all even!"

<CONTEST> Birev (claiming advantage) contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

"That voice sounds familiar," Birev remarks thoughtfully, head cocked to the side and antennae leaning toward the hall. "Ensign Leres, I believe."

Hurley shakes her head. "I don't think I've met her yet. Well, either hers." Quietly, she returns to eating the stew, now a bit less comfortable with the situation. She considers, then asks, "Ensign, have you considered what other.. well, people we know, would be like here? I mean, we know Lieu.. Havaris.. and Dakin are not part of the resistance, but.. what exactly makes them so different? Or is it always in them and it was just emphasized in this reality?"

<CONTEST> Birev contests his History (Human) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

Birev frowns thoughtfully. "I remember something they mentioned in the academy. There was a sort of Mirror Universe. The Cardassians, Bajorans, and Klingons are supposed to have an alliance. This may be that reality."

"... they're /human, yes, we know that," comes the female voice, apparently responding to, er, the wall, or something, "But that doesn't mean anything. How many times have we been betrayed? We trusted Kaitlyn, too!" Nathan's voice comes softly, loud enough only for Birev to hear, "They /told/ us Kaitlyn betrayed us. She wouldn't have done that." His voice is small and very, very pained.

Hurley sets her bowl down and settles on the ground to wrap her arms around her knees for story time. "Do you remember much about what was mentioned of the Mirror Universe in lectures?" She pauses a moment as the woman goes ballistic again, then directs a more specific question to Birev, "What happened in that Mirror Universe? What did the Alliance do? Who is all in the Resistance? Was the Resistance mentioned?"

Birev frowns and shakes his head, obviously trying to listen to the other conversation. "It wasn't something they covered in detail. Nobody expected us to actually encounter it."

"Well, surprise," Hurley mutters and begins to stand again, "here we are. Normally I would wait for Commander Edwards before running into the line of fire, but.. I feel compelled to at least give.. Leres, you said? .. the option to reject our offer to help."

There's a long period of silence from the hallway, followed by a muttered curse from Gela, and the sound of someone being slapped, and a brief struggle.

"That doesn't sound good," Birev remarks with a frown. "I'm not sure if they know whether they want us or not."

Hurley draws in a quick breath and slowly heads for the hallway. "Well, let's find out."

In the hallway, Nathan is holding back a very small person with long, curly brown hair who is trying very, very, hard to get away from him and attack Gela, who stands there, looking shocked, one hand up to her slapped face. Thea is twisting like a cat who's just been dumped into water and trying to fight her way away from Nathan, but he's got her around the waist and is holding her in the air.

Birev follows Hurley out, regarding the quarelling humans with a detached frown.

Edwards wanders out of his temporary new home, squinting and glancing around. "What's going on?" he asks, frowning. "This isn't any way to act around guests."

Hurley sidesteps to stand slightly behind Edwards to look over the struggling Nathan and Thea and mutters to the Commander. "Aaah, Nathan requested assistance with their communications systems which seemed to no longer be working after something you did last night, Sir. So, we were going to help, but there seems to be disagreement over who we're loyal to, and.." she looks between the three Mirror people. ".. quite frankly, the Ensign and I here are confused as well."

"That's about it, sir," Birev says. He watches the locals, frowning thoughtfully as he tries to place the face of the one with the long, curly hair.

Nathan twists Thea rather brutally -- for a geek, he's pretty strong, or maybe it's just that she's so small -- until she's looking toward the guests down the hall. She stops fighting almost instantly, her face paling and her limbs going a little limp, eyes wide as she stares at the trio. Specifically? She's staring at Edwards, and a small, nonsensical noise escapes her throat.

"Oh. Just. Wonderful," mutters Gela, turning her head to stare down the hall accusingly at Edwards. "Good luck getting her to treat this situation rationally again. Nice going, Nathan. Idiot." This earns her a glare from Nathan, who drops Thea so she's standing upright. Mostly.

"That explains... about nothing. I didn't do anything to anything." Edwards replies, maybe just a tad defensively. He motions for the officers to hang back, then looks to the trio of mirror-combatants. "Hey, that's Medes." He gets a good look at her and shakes his head. "Er, anyway, what's the problem, people? If something needs fixed, we'll help. We're not here to play politics."

Hurley's eyes follow Thea's stare to Edwards, then back to Thea and back to Edwards again. "Sir?" she whispers a little too loudly, tugging at his sleeve, "I think there may be something a lot more... complicated... going on here. Did you do something to her last time you were here?"

"I'm not dealing with this," curses Gela, rolling her eyes and turning to stalk off. "If you lot and Mike want to risk it because he's some alternate version of... gah! Idiots!" And without a word to Edwards, she's gone.

Birev blinks as Gela storms off, glancing again to Edwards. "They seem to have a version of you as well, sir."

. o O Hurley thinks "... /Two/ of him? In one universe?"

Thea takes a couple of cautious steps forward, staring rather unabashedly at Edwards, her face pale as death. Her arms come up to cover her stomach, then, and she shakes her head, rustling dark, curly hair and turning away, back toward Nathan.

Nathan, for his part, just stands there, one hand rubbing over his face wearily. "I should have known this would happen."

"Oh, for crying out loud." Edwards grimaces. "Even I know no universe needs two of me." His snarkiness is toned down some when he watches Medes. "What? Look, I don't know what's going on, but if work needs to be done..." His frown returns, more troubled this time.

"Maybe we should just get to work on the communications system?" Hurley offers after a moment of hesitation while watching the scene in front of her. Her gaze finally moves to and falls on Nathan questioningly, "That is.. if you still want our help."

"She can't hear you," Nathan reproaches Edwards quietly, reaching out to pat Thea on the arm. "She's deaf." Grasping Thea's arm, he draws her attention up to him and signs a little bit before addressing Edwards again. "You -- our you -- was captured shortly after Jim was. Thea's... " A pause, and he shakes his head, failing to explain. "Let's go get some work done. Please. She'll feel better."

Edwards replies, with a lack of his usual irritability, "I know she's deaf." The explanation leaves him looking completely unsatisfied. But he doesn't push... for now. "Right. Work."

<CONTEST> Edwards contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Dramatically Succeeds!

Hurley quietly watches between the two men with hands falling to her sides.

Birev stands back beside Hurley, remarking quietly, "Maybe we should just get comfortable until this resistance figures out exactly what it wants from us."

Hurley mutters to Birev, "It boggles my mind that they think *we're* going to betray *them* when *they* brought *us* here in the first place by stealing *our* shuttlecraft."

Edwards just reacts all of a sudden, as if struck by an epiphany from above! "Oh my god, we're married!" Just after that exclaimation, he realizes he used his outside voice and dials it back, glancing around quickly. "Er, I mean..."

"Sir?" Birev asks Edwards with a faint frown.

Hurley chimes in with Birev, "Sir?"

Nathan shoots Edwards a look, sighing, "Yes, you catch on quick." It's then that another Michael's alternate form sticks his head through the doorway. "Nate, I need your help on this. We're receiving an encrypted subspace signal. It's like nothing I've ever seen before," notes MirrorCross, before glancing down at Thea, beginning to ask, "Is she... ?" and then glancing down the hall. "Oh. ... right. Let's... get her working."

Edwards is certainly smarter than the average... something. "Havaris is gonna kill me." he mutters under his breath. "Uh, come on, people. Let's make ourselves useful." He looks to Nathan. "What can we do? She's communications, he's an engineer, and I do a little of everything."

"He's trying to kill us all," Nathan responds confusedly, before leading the way.

Hurley decides she should cheerfully enlighten everyone around her by explaining her reality's couples. She does, however, pause before mentioning the Churas Cristobal pair, but rattles off as many couples as she can think of on the way to Work. She is, afterall, the bouncy, chatty one of the group.

Edwards wanders along, toward the damaged subspace transceiver. "What? They're a couple?" Poor him. Always behind on the gossip. He shakes his head. "I'm never going to keep any of this straight." He pauses. "You know, she doesn't look too bad with hair..."

Hurley thwaps Edwards and throws a glance at him. "*You* aren't married to her. Your other you is. Just keep that in mind."

Edwards ows as he's struck. "That's illegal, you know? Striking a superior officer?" Nevertheless, he doesn't move to arrest Hurley. "And I know that. Bela, Bela, remember Bela..."

"And the legality of striking a superior officer is going to be meaningless," Hurley responds with the sweetest of smiles, "if you offend the one group of people who aren't trying to kill us in this universe."

Birev, following along quietly, remarks, "And it seems like that group still hasn't made up their mind about whether to kill us or not."

"I take it back. You're no longer Ensign Sunshine." Edwards remarks to Hurley. "And nobody's going to kill us. People have been trying to kill me for years. It never works out."

Hurley blinks a couple of times, not sure if she should be relieved or disappointed. Finally, she can't help but giggle. "Well, it may not be wise to give these people anymore excuses than they already have." She pauses and bites at her lower lip. "I wonder who else we're going to run into down here. So far none of us have faced ourselves yet. That.. would have to be an eerie feeling."

"Perhaps not, sir," Birev says, "But that doesn't mean the rest of us are particularly safe." He gives Hurley a tight smile. "At least I can be assured that there's no alternate of myself."

"That may be fortunate," Hurley says quickly, smiling to Birev. "We will always know you're you."

"I'll look out for you two." Edwards pauses and shudders. "And meeting ourselves... If I met the other me, I'm sure the universe would suddenly freeze and implode."

"Commander," Hurley says, coming to a rather abrupt halt. "you're likely going to have to meet you one way or another. He was taken right before their Jim, right? Well, what would be the chances they're held together? We may have to rescue you.. well, MirrorYou.. with their Jim."

Birev frowns thoughtfully. "Odd they didn't mention him earlier. Unless they already know that their Commander is dead?"

"Hey, let's not think about that." Edwards looks remarkably uncomfortable all of a sudden. He motions for the halted Hurley to move. "Come on, Sunshine. We have a thing to fix." He continues on. "This is a long hallway."

"See, Sir?" Hurley says, sadly smiling, "you're not invincible."

"They must want to spread their vital centers out, in case of bombardment," Birev remarks as the hallway goes on and on.

"Or maybe we took a wrong turn?" Hurley asks, picking up pace to keep up with Edwards again. "Surely it can't be very far; the compound isn't /that/ big, is it?"

Edwards leads his people into the room where some nondescript flunky is working on the subspace tranceiver. Said flunky grumbles about them doing the job and wanders off. "Well. I guess that means this it." he comments.

Hurley immediately moves to the tranceiver to look for damage or anything that would otherwise cause service interruption. "They didn't happen to mention.. what was wrong with it, did they?"

Birev frowns distastefully as he looks around the room. "They said they were having trouble keeping it online. The anti-tracking devices seemed to be causing trouble of some sort."

"Have at it." Edwards motions toward the equipment, putting some of his awesome command skills to use. "Let's show 'em why we're considered the best of the best back home."

"That doesn't tell us much," Hurley states and plops onto the rock ground to look under the system as well, getting an idea of the hardware involved. "We obviously don't want to take anti-tracking devices offline, not while we didn't encounter that Klingon last night. Any good ideas on how to optimize the anti-tracking to not interfere with communications?"

"Probably their power systems," Birev grumbles, checking on a console. "They just keep adding systems everywhere without worrying about balancing their consumption and routing."

Stewart takes up a position leaning up against one wall, and notes, "This isn't really I have any knowledge about. I'll just sit here and watch out for things that need to be shot."

Edwards remarks, "I'm sure they've been worried about oth-- yah!" He spins around and shoots a glare at Stewart. "Oughta put a damn bell on you."

Hurley folds her arms around her knees and looks up at Birev. "Or, it could be a conflict between the two systems. It wouldn't be unheard of, I mean, we have one device trying to keep us hidden and another device trying to communicate - the two can be mutually exclusive, which might be why communications are overridden and shut down while the anti-tracking is online. He said.. Michael.. did it. Not you?" she looks towards Edwards.

Birev squats down to remove a panel, wrinkling his nose at what he sees. "This thing shouldn't even work as well as it does. I've seen neater relays put together by a drunken Ferengi."

Stewart gives Edwards a little nod, "Well, that would be rather counterproductive, all in all. So, other than the Andorian, if we get split up, how do we know everyone is who they say they are when we meet up again?"

"We all know each other and our universe better than they do. There has to be questions we can ask." Edwards looks back toward the two busy workers. "No, it wasn't me. And you two should be able to fix it. You're Starfleet officers."

Hurley glances towards Birev. "Drunken Ferengi still have lots of latinum to throw around. It looks to me like these people simply make due." She looks back towards Edwards and quickly shakes her head. "Probably their version of Cross, I imagine. Hopefully he'll be willing to help us by showing us how it's supposed to work, and we can work around it." She glances back to Stewart and Edwards, explaining quickly, "Sir.. we don't .. use ... anti-tracking devices that I know of. Encryption, yes, but Starfleet tends to be more interested in encrypting information passed instead of hiding its origins."

Birev reaches in to tighten a connection, withdrawing his hand immediately as a spark leaps for him. "Argh! This may take a while, sir. We'll have to figure out how everything is supposed to work before we can start fixing it."

"You can't work with it?" Edwards asks, frowning. "Did we miss the part where I said 'best of the best'? I know you can do it. I have faith in you." He nods matter-of-factly.

"What's the issue?", Stewart asks, "I mean, why are we tinkering with this particular piece of equipment when I'm sure there's hundreds of broken things in here."

Hurley pauses and looks back to Birev. She's not the sarcastic one. She's not the one who tells her Commanding Officers the Obvious. Clearing her throat, she does, however, attempt to explain it simpler. "Yes, we can do it. I have no doubt that we can fix the communications system. However, we might break their anti-tracking devices, which could be Very Bad. They'll be able to send and receive transmissions, yes, and Havaris and Dakin will be able to trace them back here. To this base. And kill them."

Birev straightens up indignantly. "I didn't say that, sir. It'll just take some time. The hard part is fixing it without breaking anything else."

"Just try to do that. Fix it without breaking anything. Letting our hosts get massacred would be kinda rude." Edwards replies, before glancing back to Stewart. "They specifically mentioned this. So we're helping out. It's the least we can do for our kidnappers."

Hurley closes her eyes and does the only thing she can do. She says, "Yes, Sir." with a bright smile and turns to try to sort out the conflict between the two systems. "Ensign, what are your programming skills like?"

Stewart replies, "I think that the least we could do for our kidnappers is to steal back our shuttle, and fly out far enough that we could eat replicated popcorn as we watch the system burn. This is definitely a step up from that."

"Not as good as my hardware skills," Birev tells Hurley, frowning as he looks over the guts of the system.

Edwards gives Stewart a look at that. "Except we don't let people burn. Even people we don't like, much less people that look like our crewmates and friends."

Hurley nods once. "Good. Then our skills are well-balanced. See if you can figure out how the hardware is interconnected. I'm going to see what I can find on the interface. It's probably something insanely simple. I hate it when I miss the simple stuff."

"Welll..." Stewart says, still leaning up against the wall, "We're going to let someone burn. I mean, there's a war on, and so forth. It's just that we've decided we'd rather see the other people burn. And I'm not disputing that decision, but I am pointing out that it's been made."

. o O Hurley thinks "I must remember to ask Lieutenant O'Rielly if Intelligence employs something similar to this. If so, I do hope it's a lot.. cleaner code and hardware.. than this. I wonder if he would be able to help with this, or if he'd be over there bickering with Stewart and Edwards at the moment."

Birev removes a couple of chips, swapping their positions. "Looks simple enough to me. Their engineers are idiots." He pulls out his tricorder, taking readings on a particular relay.

Hurley clears her throat and flashes a patented Hurley-smile in Birev's direction. "Ensign, I know you're angry and frustrated, and you have right to be, but... calling them idiots.. isn't going to make you popular here." She looks back to her terminal, returning her concentration to information scrolling up her screen. "Maybe we can think of a better word than idiot? I think 'sweethearts' sounds nice."

Edwards doesn't comment further on the matter of burning people. He looks to Hurley and Birev, and makes a face at her suggestion. He doesn't comment on that either.

. o O Edwards thinks "She is sugary sweet. Wow. I'm going to need my teeth checked."

Valentine peeks her head in around the edge of the doorway. "We want to be popular here? Is it really an issue?"

Birev looks doubtfully at Hurley for a moment or two. "Calling them idiots helps make things work better. Trust me." He sighs heavily. "Very well. They're... sweethearts... that shouldn't be allowed within three meters of these electronics."

"Tara!" Hurley's cheery smile glances over her shoulder to the doorway in response to the friendly voice. "Come! Join us! We're fixing stuff that if we break further we'll all die! Isn't it great?" Strangely, her tone isn't sarcastic. She has a challenge and she intends to meet it.

"Is that so?" queries a voice from another doorway leading off elsewhere into the compound, clipped and short. "I'll be sure to tell Mike you said that. He might keep that in mind when he's figuring out how to send you home. Or have you figured out how to get back already?"

Ladies and gentlemen: Craig Malloy.

. o O Stewart thinks "Oh good. They have a Malloy too."

Stewart thumbs towards the door, and says, "I don't think sweethearts is technically accurate either. Let's just go with people we happen to have been thrown in with by chance."

Valentine grins at Hurley as she steps into the room. "While you're at it, can you make their voices sound funny?" She pauses to glance around at the latest voice. "Okay. /He's/ the same here." She peers toward Craig. "Hiro's busy, so don't go comming him every five minutes. Last time was /very/ bad timing."

"Ensign." Edwards greets Valentine. Then he squints over at Malloy. "Mr. Malloy." That greeting's much more subdued. "Shouldn't you be really nice and pleasant over here?"

"Lady, I don't know you and I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, but if I /do,/ I /still/ don't want to know," Craig replies sharply. "When you're all done insulting us, there's a message you might want to come take a look at. We've got it mostly decrypted, but it doesn't use our protocols," he notes. "We think it's for you." That said, he turns and glances at Edwards. "I was nice and pleasant, right up until I got to the other side of this doorway. Some "officers" you've got here." Turning on his heel, he exits.

Birev simply growls something under his breath as he continues to fiddle with the guts of the system.

Edwards looks to the others and observes, "I think we hurt his feelings."

Hurley glances between all of the still-rather-angry Starfleet officers and Craig. Before she gets a chance to ask him something, however, he disappears which causes her to sigh. "He might've been able to get Michael for us, guys," she notes softly and stands from her seat. "I'll see what I can do about the encrypted message... I've.. well, I have some experience in communications."

Stewart tilts his head to one side, and says, "Wait... a message got to us all the way out here, despite the fact that we're both in the middle of nowhere and in an entirely different universe?" He raises his eyebrows, and adds, "This is probably a Ferengi advertisement offering low-cost Risa tours."

Valentine watches him go. "Awwww, the poor thing," she remarks in response to Edwards. "Think he's forgotten we sorta didn't ask to be here in the first place." A thoughtful look turns on Stewart, then she chuckles.

"Let's curb the attitudes for now. Like it or not, we're stuck with these people, and we're gonna have to depend on them to get out of here alive. I want everyone on their best behavior." Edwards points at Stewart. "And I want you on her best behavior." He indicates Hurley at that.

. o O Valentine thinks "My best behavior involves a striptease on a bar table. That might sweeten 'em toward us."

Hurley raises an eyebrow as she looks at Edwards, then glances to Stewart, still a little confused. "Right," she finally says, smiling brightly towards the grumpiest of all the officers, "Encrypted message." she points at herself, "communications." She heads towards the door to see if she can find where Malloy went. "Let's see what I can do about getting that message decrypted."

"Hey, I like these people," Stewart notes, folding his arms across his chest. "About time we found a universe where I get a little respect, even if it's not really me. And I think the message is decrypted. Or at least, they said it was mostly so. I think it just needs watching. So I'll tag along." And so he follows along behind Hurley.

"I'll keep working on this," Birev says, looking up from his project briefly. "I think I'm on the right track."

"Aye, sir." Valentine nods to Edwards, rather meekly for her. She leans back against a wall to watch Birev, arms folded across her chest, frustration radiating from every part of her.

"Good." Edwards moves to follow Hurley and Stewart. "If we can get out of this all right, I'll give you all a medal. It'll have to be one I made up myself, though."

. o O Valentine thinks "For proper behavior to one's kidnappers above and beyond the call of duty. My rep would be ruined."

Hurley's following of Malloy doesn't take her very far -- it's not a complicated compound or a large one. "... too stupid to send them home. Do they even realise that Alliance personell would kill them out of hand if they realized where they're from? Gah! I don't know. I think when people get on even /my/ nerves, that's just about the end of them." Silence, and then a long sigh. "Well, who gives a damn, Thea? It's not for us, it's for them, and we haven't heard from Morgan in weeks. I think she failed."

"You're far too generous, sir," Birev tells Edwards with a faint smile.

"Make mine a chocolate medal." Tara pushes forward to sit near Birev. "I can at least hand ya tools as ya need 'em. Just yell. You know, protoplasmic inverter, optical impuslse capacitor, bubblegum."

Hurley listens to the rant patiently and calmly, then clears her throat and smiles towards the ranter. "Can I be of assistance?"

"Frankly, I think they'd probably kill anyone looking like me out of hand anyway," Stewart says calmly, "I have heard from reliable sources that I'm a wanted criminal here."

Edwards says nothing. He just reaches over to touch Stewart's arm and give him a mildly reproachful look.

. o O Edwards thinks "Diplomacy. Must be diplomatic. Oh boy, we're screwed."

<CONTEST> Birev contests his Systems Engineering (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Birev contests his Systems Engineering (Security) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

It's Craig who's ranting, standing between Thea and Dana, with Thorne leaning against a panel on the other side of the room, peering down a panel and tapping at it repeatedly. Thea glances toward Hurley, and her hands move briefly before she gestures toward the door leading out into the hallway.

"Yeah, Thea. We should probably round them all up. Once we get it all the way decrypted, they'll all want to hear it, I'm sure." This, from Dana.

"I just hope the Alliance doesn't have a scheme like this," Thorne mutters as he pokes halfheartedly at the console.

Hurley glances over her shoulder at Stewart, then back to the people in the room. "If you'd like, I might be able to help with the decryption... but, if you'd rather I went back in the other room, I could also get to work on stabilizing the commsys."

Valentine glances over her shoulder toward the doorway, shifting to rise smoothly to her feet. "Sounds like we're being paged."

Birev leans back from his work with a sigh. "No, that's not right." He glances to Valentine. "You might want to give it a try yourself, sir. Their system is only managing to confuse me."

Edwards catches on and looks to Hurley. "They're talking about getting us all in here." he explains. "I think." He turns his attention to the rebels. "We'll get our people to come see this." He motions for Stewart to do the honors.

Valentine pauses mid-step toward the doorway to peer at the gadgetry with a frown. "I'm as likely to break it as to fix it, unfortunately. Communication equipment is not my forte."

"I think it would be best if we got this message unscrambled first, and then we can try to put one back out, if it is what I think it is," Craig replies, with Dana offering a brief nod of her head in agreement. "Get the rest of your people in here, and we'll go from there."
"Maybe starting with getting you all some clothes that, ah. Blend," Dana comments.

"I don't know about that, babe. Some of them look good traipsing around in pajamas," Thorne offers with a rather significant glare at Edwards.

Hurley looks down at her uniform, then to Stewart's uniform and back towards Edwards with eyebrow raised.

Edwards replies to Thorne's taunt and look with a simple, "Now I'm a married man."

. o O Thorne thinks "We should have launched him out the airlock. We really should have."

Stewart gives Edwards a nod, and then turns a little to make his way down to where the others are working. "Hey you lot, come on up. Apparently there's something they want you to see." And then he returns, "They'll be up directly."

Thea stands close to Nathan for a moment when everyone's gathered in one room, and then abruptly turns away from the group of 'Fleeters to move and help Thorne at his panel. Her hands are shaking, and she signs at him briefly before tapping at a console.
A snort. "Maybe, Randal, but they just don't, you know, blend. And while traipsing around in pajamas might work for the Right Hand's concubines... " Dana laughs, shaking her head slightly. "Somehow I think they won't care for /these/ pajamas. Anyway, come take a look at this message, hunh?"

Valentine glances toward the door and heads toward Stewart's voice, beckoning with a gesture to Birev. Eyebrows rise. "Pajamas?"

Birev turns away from his work reluctantly, moving with the others.

Hurley moves further in to allow room for others to pile in behind her, arms folding across her body while waiting quietly.

"They mean that they don't much care for what we're wearing. And that they think it's likely to, you know, get us extra shot." Stewart nods to this, and says, "As opposed to the regular shot we'll be getting otherwise. "But if you get the Commander there to sign off on it, I'd be willing to change. Preferably into something in an active camoflage sort of colour."

Thorne glares over his shoulder at Edwards again for a moment before he flashes a brief series of signs at Thea. "Yeah. Concubines." And then he's back to work.

"Er, concubines?" Birev asks, blinking.

Edwards just flashes a cheery smile at Thorne. Then he focuses. "Yeah, yeah, sure. We'll change and blend. No sense in being glaring targets." He wanders closer to the message center, glancing at Thea as he does.

. o O Edwards thinks "I wish I knew sign language."

Valentine starts to answer Stewart, glances toward Edwards, and nods with a grimace. "They're probably right." And ohh, how she hates admitting it.

Dana points toward the system that Thorne and Thea are working on. "Take a look at this message. We've gotten it partway decrypted, but these aren't our codes, so it's pretty much just been Thea and Randal hacking at it repeatedly. See if you can get it the rest of the way decoded." Pause. "And don't sneak up on Thea. She's been known to kick people in the knees if she's startled."

Hurley steps towards Randal and Thea slowly and carefully, moving to Thea's side to carefully get her attention. With a smile and motion towards the system, she watches Thea, but talks to Thorne, "Please, let me help."

Edwards motions toward Hurley, as she moves to help, "She's our communications expert."

Thea shoots Thorne a brief, irritated glance, and looks back down at the com panels, tapping at them.

"In fact, just give Thea a lot of space," Randal spits as he turns around, planting himself rather abruptly between the aforementioned and Edwards. To Hurley, he just indicates the console with a jerk of his head.

Valentine shifts slightly, folding her arms across her chest... and slowly starts to smile.

. o O Thorne quivers a bit internally. He really doesn't want Edwards to hit him again.

. o O Valentine pictures the Thea we all know and love dealing with the shuttle thieves. Ahh, sweet, sweet bliss.

Stewart comments offhandedly, "By the way, if we're going to go raiding some prison facility belonging to an evil empire, might it be possible to beg, borrow, or steal something more effective than a hand phaser? I imagine you're low on the orbital bombardment capability, but a rifle of some sort would be appreciated. Energy or... this world probably hasn't invented the TR-116, has it?"

. o O Stewart thinks "All in all, I'd rather be on Occa. Least there you know they've got a good rifle somewhere."

Edwards sighs at Stewart's question. "We're not getting out of this without killing people, are we?" he mutters.

GAME: Hurley spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Hurley contests her Espionage (Cryptography) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Hurley (claiming advantage) contests her Espionage (Cryptography) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

"Probably not," Valentine answers Edwards in a bland murmur, but it's Randal Thorne and Dana Rivers her gaze finds.

"Well, depends. Do you call getting killed getting out of this?" Stewart looks over at Edwards, and says, "And I'm betting we've already killed people. We did shoot on a vessel and blow up their engines."

"Sir," Hurley says, trying and failing to curb her excitement. "It's from Commander Ghorev and Lieutenant Laco. I don't know what it says, but they got a message to us - HERE!"

. o O Edwards thinks "I'm tired of killing people."

Edwards gives Stewart a dour look at his comments. Then he turns his attention to Hurley, who takes his mind off the matter. "What? How? What does it say?" he asks.

Valentine perks, grinning happily rather abruptly. "Ghorev! He /would/."

Dana turns and makes a brief signal to Malloy with one hand; he nods slightly and maneuvers past the group and out of the room. She crosses her arms across her chest and comes to peer over Thorne's shoulder.

Thorne folds his arms over his chest, glancing at Dana with both of his eyebrows raised.

. o O Thorne thinks "Ghorev? Sounds... foreign."

. o O Dana thinks "More cavalry. Hoorah."

"I don't know!" Hurley exclaims still excitedly. "But, they did! I can't read it.. looks like instructions of some sort, but.. I guess I need more lessons with Lieutenant O'Rielly. If he were here, we could break the encryption, I'm sure."

Stewart folds his arms over his chest, and says, "Maybe we could wire back and ask them to bundle him into a torpedo tube and send him along."

"Don't tell me we need O'Rielly." Edwards grimaces. "There has to be something you can do. Isn't there?" A teeny, tiny bit of hope seeps into his voice when he asks.

. o O Stewart thinks "If we're lucky, they wouldn't have room for life support."

Valentine shoots Stewart a sardonic look, giving the message a frustrated look.

Hurley blinks rather indignantly at Edwards. "What's wrong with Bristol?" she asks, the cheeriness dissipating just slightly. "He's competent and kind and dedicated." She nods once, then looks back to the message as though she's actually going to get further with it. "And good at this," she mutters softly.

Stewart looks over to Hurley, and says, "Let's just say that if Bristol were here, the problem would likely be that they used a faulty encryption scheme. Plus, we'd have Bristol here, and let's just say that there aren't many people who make me look like I'm all keen on proper procedure and due process. Bristol's one of them. But, if Bristol were here, we could try to trade him straight across for whoever their version of him is. We couldn't lose, unless they said no."

"Or, we could stop wasting time and figure it out ourselves," Thorne mutters darkly. "Since this Bristol guy ain't here, for starters."

. o O Thorne is irritated with the Starfleet dandies.

Hurley suddenly turns, the light-bulb appearing over her head, and looks directly at Edwards. "Commander Ghorev sent this, which means he likely followed standard encryption protocols, right? Maybe the shuttlecraft's computers can decrypt the message? I mean, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Sure, why not." Stewart meanders over towards the console, and says, "This Bristol guy not being here is the only good part of all of this." He leans down to take a look at the readout, occasionally gingerly tapping at the console.

GAME: Stewart spends a courage point.

"Let's stop insulting O'Rielly now." Edwards remarks half-heartedly. "And whatever you think will work, Sunshine. You're the expert." He eyes Stewart. "Or maybe Stewart..."

Valentine blinks at Hurley. "It's worth a shot." The look she gives Stewart's back tries not to be /too/ dubious.

<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Espionage (Cryptography) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

Thea looks between the faces of all -- most -- present, and watches Hurley for a moment before turning to Thorne and maneuvering her hands through a series of signs. The ring on her hand flashes once or twice during the long sequence, and she tilts her head to the side at the end of it.

Stewart hums and haws over the message for a moment or two, before he gets up, nods simply, and makes his way back to lean up against the wall. "Well... it's definitely a message."

Birev frowns thoughtfully as the others try to figure it out. "I've no experience with encryption, but maybe a fresh perspective would spot something?"

"Thea thinks we should try to put it through your computer," Thorne offers after watching Thea's hands flash. "She thinks we've done all we can using our equipment."

"Let's do that." Edwards says to Thea's suggestion, via Thorne. "If that doesn't work, we'll just let everyone have at it."

Valentine nods, giving Hurley a smile. It was Chris' idea, after all.

Hurley beams brightly to Thea and glances back to Edwards. "See? Great minds think alike. I'm positive our computer can decrypt it, and likely much more accurately than all of us put together." Looking to Randal, "No offense, of course."

Thorne raises both of his eyebrows. "Captain Courage over there calls you 'Sunshine', and you're worried about me being offended?" Smirking, he turns back to Thea and flashes another string of signs at her -- presumably telling her of the decision.

Valentine mutters something about where the sun /doesn't/ shine, a cold look directed toward Thorne. There, now she's a glaring target.

Hurley hmms to herself and glances over at Birev. "Do you suppose they picked up on residue from the energy readings we found in the shuttlebay to figure out where we are?"

Stewart sighs to himself, "Okay, let's get this done with. Because I don't think we can even figure out exactly how to send them a return message to say, 'Huh?'."

Thea nods her head once, and very precisely so, before signing a few times and tapping at the controls a couple more times. She pulls a datarod out from the console and turns around, slipping it into the pocket of her loose tunic shirt. Every time she looks at Stewart or Edwards -- especially the latter -- there's a flickerflash of emotion -- surprise, happiness, disappointment -- and her expression withdraws into itself again.

Birev nods to Hurley. "They must have. Or they were able to analyze the readings I'd taken earlier."

"She's copying the message now." Thorne folds his arms over his chest, flashing a 'don't test me' grin at Valentine.

Valentine just smiles sweetly back at the thieving rat.

Edwards looks away from Thea and motions for Stewart to go ahead. "Lead the way, Leftenant." he remarks. "Let's get a move on with this."

"Amazing," Hurley notes with a nod, absent-mindedly turning to watch Thea while continuing her conversation with Birev. "You know, there's a reason I always feel so intimidated around that man. I nearly failed my evaluation with him giving it to me."

. o O Valentine thinks "Ohhh, you'll get yours, sooner or later. I hope Churas feasts on your entrails, little man. Preferably while you're still alive."

Stewart turns to make his way down towards the shuttlebay, commenting, "Did you meet that mirror-Thea when you were here last, Edwards? She seems to know you."

Thea offers Edwards a brief, apologetic look, or tries to, but he's not looking at her, and so she becomes the first person out the door, hurrying ahead, dark curls trailing behind her.

"I'm going to go check on Craig's progress with that comsys. I'm hoping we hear from Morgan," Dana notes to Thorne, leaning over to kiss his cheek, her face tight and concerned. "If she catches her, this could all be an awful lot easier."

"No." Edwards answers Stewart quietly as he follows him. "She's married to the other me."

Valentine murmurs, "Or the mirror-Edwards worked his charm on her at some point." She glances over her shoulder as she follows Stewart, then blinks at Edwards. "Like I said..."

Hurley can't help it. She pauses and asks of Dana, "She catches her?"

"Guess I'll babysit," Thorne mutters as he starts to hustle after Thea. "Nobody," he offers to Hurley as he motors past.

. o O Thorne has a brief stab of worry about Morgan.

"Oh," Stewart says, and then replies, "No accounting for taste, then." And he continues on his way towards the shuttle.

"Hey, don't talk about her like that." Edwards chides Stewart.

. o O Valentine feels pure frustration erupting. "And they say we insult them? We don't need a bloody babysitter!"

. o O Edwards thinks "Jerk."

. o O Hurley thinks "Such negativity all around me all the time. You'd think this would at least be a vacation from the fighting between TimeFleet and Starfleet, but oooooh no, someone up there decided it'd be a GREAT IDEA to throw a MIXTURE of us into an alternate reality where we can fight with EVERYONE around us /AND/ ourselves. I think when we get back, I'm going to hunt down Edan and inform him what I think of his prankster prophets."

Hurley smiles sweetly and bounces off after the group.

By the time everyone else finds their way to the shuttle, Thea's already inside and working -- everything's powered on as much as it can be without making the shuttle a beacon in the forest. (There is no real shuttle bay, just a sheltered area of forest where they hide their stolen shuttle and the one decrepit Bajoran scout-ship they probably use for transport.) She's settled in the pilot's chair, her hands moving with rather complete assurance over the controls of a ship she's probably never seen before.

Some things /never/ change.

Valentine doesn't look the least bit surprised; she merely chuckles, moving off to one side of the shuttle.

Thorne finds his way next to Thea, settling into the seat next to her and turning the seat so he can keep an eye on everyone that he doesn't trust.

. o O Thorne thinks "How can they look the same... and still have nothing in common with our people?"

Hurley doesn't mind the Thorne and moves directly to her favorite spot, at the communications console where she waits to see the message again, this time with Starfleet computer assistance.

Edwards wanders over to loom over Hurley and peer over her shoulder quietly.

Dana slides the datarod home into the appropriate slot on the console and sits back, turning her head to the left and watching Hurley from her seat pretty much right next to the Ensign. She glances at Thorne, then, and flickers her hands once, carefully watching either him or Hurley, and that's it.

Valentine watches quietly, arms folded across her chest beneath a tightly neutral expression.

. o O Valentine thinks "C'mon, Chris, you can do it, babe."

Stewart makes his way into the shuttle, and promptly opens the weapons locker on board. "Okay, which of you aren't carrying a weapon yet? I don't think we can depend on them not shooting unarmed people out of chivalry."

Edwards glances toward Stewart. "Over here." he replies.

<CONTEST> Hurley (claiming advantage) contests her Espionage (Cryptography) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Thorne folds his arms over his chest as he waits, watching with as much interest as he can spare between watching everyone else.

Valentine looks over to give Stewart a weak smile. "Um, I'm not, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, Lieutenant. I can't hit the broadside of a bulkhead with a phaser. Can't I just tear my shirt off and let 'em drool themselves to death?"

Stewart tosses a phaser over to Edwards, and then hands one over towards Valentine. "If your aim is that bad, you'll just have to stand up front where you're less of a danger to the rest of us. But given the options on the table, no offence, go with the phaser."

. o O Valentine winces. "Oh, boy, I've always wanted a career as cannon fodder."

Hurley's eyes flash with a look only seen by those who have witnessed her in front of her terminal for hours while either breaking or writing code. She's in her element and concentration is devoted *entirely* to the more comfortable and familiar console in front of her. She doesn't hear, nor does she care about what's happening behind her. Finally, in triumph, she breaks her silence with a squeal of delight, clap of her hands and declaration, "I GOT IT! He details how to send messages to the station - how to encrypt them... where... " she reads, and in excitement starts trailing off. "Care package!" she declares and turns to face Edwards with quite possibly the brightest smile she's ever had. "They have sent coordinates for where to send the message so we can receive a care package from them! And they have an idea of how to get home!" She pauses, still excited, so her tone is a little too exuberant and giddy for the next part, but it comes out anyway, "it might not work, and our atoms could end up scattered across potentially thousands of realities, but! It's an idea! And that's what counts!"

Alethea watches Hurley with a bizarre sort of fascination, tilting her head to the side and wrinkling her nose up slightly. She blinks about sixteen times, and turns to Thorne with a quizzical expression on her face.

Edwards deftly catches the tossed phaser and turns his attention back to Hurley when she squeals. "Whoa." he mutters, at her exuberant words. "Okay, okay. Messages, care package, way out. All of that sounds great. Getting obliterated? Not so great. Where are the coordinates for?"

Thorne lifts his hands, looking absolutely bewildered. Finally, he just makes two signs.

Valentine takes the weapon gingerly, making a little "Ha ha" sort of sound at his comment. Her attention is completely distracted as Chris Hurley bursts out with the contents of the message. "Goooood job, Chris. Let's go home," she suggests firmly.

. o O Hurley thinks "Is this man /DEAD/?! I broke the encryption! They can contact us and have given us instructions for contacting them! And we might /get home/!"

"Well," Stewart says, as he hands out phasers, "That does possibly give us the option of going home directly. Which means we have to decide, you know, whether we're going to help these people or not. I thought we had decided we were, which generally means a delay on the getting home. As for the care package? I'm all for that."

Alethea looks up at Stewart, and over at Hurley, and her brow wrinkles up for a few long moments before her face pales a little and she turns her attention toward Thorne, signing rapidly.

. o O Alethea thinks "No, no, you can't leave yet. We need him. We need /them./"

. o O Alethea feels slow, creeping horror, gut-wrenching dread.

Hurley watches Edwards in absolute shock for a moment, then looks back to the message. "The location appears to be back where the station should stand - so where we were attacked last night. Wait... no, it looks like they're *working* on getting us home, they don't have a definite plan in play yet." Her excitement is certainly toned down and she looks back towards Edwards. "We could, of course, respond with the encryptions to not send the package if we didn't want to go, but that could potentially lead the Alliance here - which is Bad."

"That's rather disappointing." Edwards frowns at Hurley. "Don't worry, I won't let the rest of the crew get you." He moves to pat her on the shoulder. "Let's see..." He glances toward Thea and Thorne. "It's not safe to go back there, is it? I assume those coordinates are where we came through, from our side. Aren't they?"

Valentine opens her mouth to respond to Stewart, only to deflate again at Hurley's words, looking weary.

. o O Valentine thinks "So it's back to the prison break. This just keeps getting better and better."

Thorne shrugs to Thea, his look saying that he has no idea.

"As for the coordinates... I wouldn't go back there," Thorne comments mildly. "Not for a while, at least."

"If we do, though," Hurley cuts in, looking between Thorne and Edwards, "we could request they send through better weapons." Her gaze falls on Stewart.

Alethea looks up at Edwards, watching his face carefully. She taps at the console a few times, pulling up the ship's log, peers over at the console for a moment, and then looks back up at him, nodding in agreement and signing at him. She finishes signing. Blinks a few times. Shakes her head and looks like she might laugh at herself, and then turns to sign at Thorne.

Stewart comments, "Well, the ideal would really to be a trade of personnel. As this sounds like a hostile-territory extraction rather than a trip to Risa. And some of us can't really seem to tell the difference between the two."

. o O Stewart is thinking of Valentine.

Valentine wanly puts on her best innocent look. "You mean we're not on Risa?"

. o O Hurley thinks "And here we go again with the fighting. And the taunting."

"There's a difference?" Edwards is only sidetracked long enough to say that, because he is a smartass, after all. Then he focuses on Alethea and Thorne. "You mind translating that?"

"She says we came through right here," Randal notes sourly. "She wants to know if you're leaving without helping us... and to say she's sorry." He crosses his arms over his chest, frowning. "And, just in case none of you have noticed, we're in a middle of a war for the continued survival of our people here. This really is life or death for us, no matter what you might think. We..." he pauses, looking like he's swallowing something that tastes absolutely rancid, "...we need you."

Hurley looks at Randal, then at Edwards, then back again. "We don't have a way home yet," she insists. Sending objects through isn't the same as sending people." She falls silent while her gaze falls on Thea.

. o O Thorne absolutely loathes the idea of needing... THEM... for help.

. o O Alethea is about thirty seconds from losing her mind, and she just doesn't care /who/ helps them, at this point. The Governor's Right Hand themselves -- all three of those awful bastards -- could offer her help, and she might not spit in all of their faces. She might take that help.

"Well, in that case," Stewart says, "It sounds like the mission objectives are unchanged either way. Except now we can possibly send a shopping list for what we want to bring along."

Valentine frowns slightly, watching Thorne as he speaks, then her lips purse, and she looks away, toward the back of the craft.

. o O Valentine thinks "You need the shuttle, maybe. I don't care about your war. For all I know you're a bunch of fanatic terrorists and the Alliance is only acting in self-defense. Go to hell, Randal Thorne."

After those three magic words, Edwards replies, "Well now that's all you had to say..." He smiles and motions to Alethea. "Tell her we're not leaving yet. And check out these coordinates. If we can get some stuff from our side, it'll make things all the easier."

Thorne's communicator trills softly, and he pushes himself to his feet. "They need me out there. I'll... send someone else who can sign for Thea." He communicates the same in signs, tosses in Edwards' reply, and then heads for the hatch.

Her eyes drop, and she nods slightly, hazarding a small smile, fragile and thin. Thea nods her head slightly in response to Thorne's explanation, and glances aside at Hurley with a questioning expression. A few moments later, her hands tapping the console, she pushes a text message over to the Ensign.

WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM ME IN ORDER TO DO THIS?

Hurley glances to the console, then back to Thea, repeating the message for Edwards sake, "What do we need from Thea, Commander?"

Edwards looks around at the assembled crewmembers. "One of you couldn't know sign language?" He looks back to Hurley. "Show her the coordinates. See if we can go there and get the care package."

Valentine shakes her head a bit at Edwards' question, examining her phaser's controls and pushing it to maximum stun.

Stewart looks over to Edwards, "No, but I'll make a point of learning when I get back. I'm sorry I didn't plan better for this completely unexpected event."

Hurley types out a response message for Thea - WE NEED TO GO TO THESE COORDINATES AND SEND A MESSAGE TO REQUEST A CARE PACKAGE FROM OUR STATION. WILL YOU HELP US GET THERE?

. o O Hurley thinks "I wonder if we can request a Klingon ship as part of our care package."

. o O Valentine thinks "We're either going to get killed in the prison break, or /they/ will, leaving us stranded in this reality to get killed shortly afterwards, or everything comes out hunky dory and we go home and live happily ever after. Somehow hunky dory feels like a longshot."

Nodding her head slightly, Thea replies with a few taps on her console, I CAN FLY A LITTLE. OF COURSE I'LL HELP YOU. She chews her lip a little bit, and then nods once. YOU NEED TO SEND THE SIGNAL BACK FIRST, RIGHT?

Hurley simply nods in response to Thea.

Edwards cheats, reading the message over Hurley's shoulder. Then he stands back and moves to sit in the co-pilot's chair that Thorne vacated.

Valentine glances toward Thea and Hurley at all the tapping, then her gaze flickers toward her fellow officers before returning to the deck again.

Alethea offers Edwards a tense, barely-present smile when he takes Thorne's seat, and taps out another message to Hurley. OKAY. LET'S DO THAT. AND THEN WE SHOULD GO. GET THIS DONE. Her left thumb presses at the bases of her fingers, nervously, and she clears her throat, a little too loudly.

. o O Alethea is tense, angry, hurting, filled up with conflict.

Stewart notes, "We should make sure to ask for the TR-116, and Tak's grenade launcher. Beyond that, I suggest we just give them a description of the situation and a note to go whole hog."

Hurley pauses a moment, looks between Edwards and Thea and types out a response. IF WE SEND THE RESPONSE FROM HERE, THE ALLIANCE MAY INTERCEPT IT AND TRACE ITS ORIGINS HERE. IS MICHAEL CROSS AVAILABLE TO TEACH ABOUT HIS ANTI-TRACKING DEVICE?

. o O Edwards thinks "Nooo, this isn't at all awkward."

Stewart adds, "Actually, we might as well each make up a wish list besides. It'll be like Christmas. Only with more people trying to kill us."

Edwards offers Alethea a small smile in return. Then he looks back at the others. "Do they know what they're going to send or do they want us to request stuff?" he asks. "Just so we're clear."

IT'S NOT EXACTLY AN ANTI-TRACKING DEVICE. IT MAKES THE TRANSMISSION LOOK LIKE GARBAGE, LIKE SPACE NOISE, BUT THAT ONLY WORKS IF YOU HAVE A WAY OF READING THAT ON THE OTHER SIDE, ONE OF /OUR/ COMSYSTEMS. WE'LL HAVE TO SEND IT ONCE WE ARE EN-ROUTE, AND THEN CHANGE COURSE AFTER, Thea types back. YOU SHOULD TALK TO MICHAEL LATER, THOUGH, ANYWAY, IF YOUR ARE A COMMUNICATIONS PERSON. Since she's not looking at Stewart, she doesn't respond to anything he says.

Valentine notes without looking up, "Nothing on my wish list but going home."

"Valentine, look at me." Edwards states.

Stewart says, "Could you add a sedative for her to my list?"

Hurley notes the order and looks directly at Edwards as well.

Valentine looks up calmly toward the Commander.

And ignores Stewart.

"We're going to get home. I promise. We just need to do our jobs first. These people need us, and it's our duty to help people in need." Edwards says, turning back to face front. "So are we all ready or what?"

Hurley considers for a moment, then moves towards Edwards to speak quietly, making sure she's well out of Stewart's hearing range.

Valentine just lifts an eyebrow, otherwise expressionless.

Hurley whispers to Edwards, "I.. barely.. passed my marksmanship OER, Sir."

Stewart snaps his fingers, and says, "If possible, as well as the TR-116, I would appreciate my knife. Both of which are located in my quarters on the Aegis."

Alethea startles a little; she had started playing with the console on the shuttle. She's a little fascinated by this shuttle, to say the least. Obviously, she hasn't seen its like before. Leaning back to stay out of the way of the conversation that's happening across her, she gnaws her lower lip a little.

. o O Valentine thinks "Great speech, Commander. Funny, I don't recall signing up to rescue alternate reality whatever-they-are's." Her thoughts turn sarcastic. "And hell, maybe the Alliance needs us too. Let's just help them out while we're at it. Yeesh."

"It's okay." Edwards replies to Hurley. "Draft a message. See about getting us the basic supplies. Weapons, tools, medical supplies and anything else that's standard in this situation that's not at all normal. And any special weapons our triggerhappy commandos want." He pauses. "And ask for something for Medes here. What's that thing Magret Etena used to tote around all the time?"

Hurley cants her head and confusedly responds to Edwards, "A pregnant wife?"

Takamura clears his throat, finally bringing attention to himself from the back of the shuttle. "I'd like to request my Type III-c with grenade launcher, my Idisha blade, a medical kit, a crate of stun grenades and if you think it's necessary a mounted phaser."

Valentine blinks in Hurley's direction, and dissolves into snickers.

"Yes, get her a pregnant wife." Edwards gives Hurley a look. "No. Ask for some kind of translator. There has to be something to help out the deaf, that doesn't require invasive surgery." He glances toward the back. "Geez, Takamura. You need a bell like Stewart." He looks back to Hurley. "Put it all on the list. And at the bottom, write 'or whatever you planned to send.'"

Hurley's fingers automatically move to the bridge of her nose and eyes close. "Ok. So, Big Weapons, basic supplies, tools, medical supplies, Small Weapons, Tak's Idisha blade, stun grenades, Mounted Weapons, TR-116, Stewart's knife from his quarters on the Aegis, More Weapons and a deaf translator. Do I have everything?"

Valentine jests weakly, "Lots of whiskey."

Takamura chuckles softly with a grin. "Lt. Golden trained us well on our stealth techniques, sir. And the device Magret used was a speech to text translator so she could understand us. It wouldn't help us understand her." Then to Hurley, he adds, "My blade can be found in my quarters and my rifle is in the Aegis armory."

Hurley considers and suddenly states as though it should simply make sense to everyone, "A holographic translator. I'm sure Isole could whip one up in no time."

Alethea sits quietly, now, staring out the front viewscreen and fiddling her fingers together in her lap. She picks at her fingernails and twists the ring on her left hand. Tears at a cuticle. Stares out the window. Chews her lower lip. Waits.

"They're gonna think we decided to stay behind and carve out our own empire." Edwards remarks. "We ready to go now?"

Hurley nods and turns to tap out one more message to Thea before starting on her message to Ghorev. I'M PREPARING THE MESSAGE TO SEND TO OUR STATION. DO YOU KNOW OF ANYTHING YOU GUYS WILL NEED?

Takamura smirks at Edwards. "We haven't asked for own Defiant-class or Lux's latinum reserves."

Valentine moves toward her engineering console, settling down to run her pre-launch check. "Our own stealth-type uniforms would be nice. No need to draw on these folks' resources more than necessary."

I CAN THINK OF A LOT OF THINGS WE NEED, Thea replies via text when she finally thinks to look down at the screen and answer Hurley. WHAT WE NEED MOST ARE JIMMY AND MICHAEL BACK, THOUGH. SO LET'S HURRY. THANK YOU.

. o O Hurley thinks "I'm giving this woman my entire chocolate reserve in my room."

Hurley taps Thea on the shoulder and nods in response, then looks at Edwards. "I'll get started on the message to send home."

"All right. We're going. The message can be typed up enroute." Edwards waves a hand near Alethea, making sure he has her attention. "We're going."

Valentine nods in satisfaction at her readings, giving the nearest bulkhead a fond pat. "Atta girl."

Takamura steps over to the engineering console to stand next to Valentine, offering her a supportive smile.

Alethea nods her head once as she taps at the console, and brings the shuttle -- already prepped -- up and pushes her up toward orbit. She doesn't say anything, just reaches up a hand to push her long hair out of her face before going back to tapping at the console as the Baer climbs back into the stars.