Lisald’s head was spinning. Breen. Mechanical spiders. Disembodied voices over the comms. Strange sensor echoes and ghosts. And, somehow, a Starfleet Officer found unconscious on a Breen Dreadnaught. 

Scarcely a week ago, he was Chief of Operations on the Nebula-class USS Cygnus under the watchful command of Captain Bane and Lieutenant Commander Larsen. They had tangled, and barely won, against the dreaded Crystalline Entity. During the battle, Lisald caught a hunk of duranium from his console in his upper left chest, just below his collar bone, as it exploded in his face. A surgery later from the ships Chief Medical Officer and he was placed on convalescent leave at Deep Space 9. The doctor had told him he was seriously lucky to not have suffered any more injuries. Many more had. Some had died.

It was during this convalescence that Lisald realized how truly unhappy he was that he switched over from Science to Operations, at the request of his previous Captain and Executive Officer, Captain Stafford and Commander Pope, respectively.  While he truly loved the Cygnus and considered the ship his home, it all came back to being unhappy with the job he had, and knew that his performance was suffering because of it. Not to mention his mental health. Only two days into his convalescence, he had contacted Lieutenant Commander Larsen and had asked to be moved back to the Science Division. “Unfortunately,” the senior officer had said, “There isn’t room for you in that department, unless you are willing to lose that pip, and the Department Head slot. Ensign Spangler occupies that spot, and I know Captain Bane doesn’t want to lose him as Chief Science Officer.”

That conversation led to Lisald talking to Captain Bane and confirming what Commander Larsen had stated. To Bane Plase’s credit, he had offered to help Lisald transition back to Science and help him put in a transfer request. A few days later he was in the teal tunic again, and en route to Outpost 1-SZ on one of the Runabouts assigned to DS9, complete with a pilot. He had been (quite happily) assigned to the Steamrunner-class USS Altai. While it was not a science vessel like the Cygnus, the Altai did offer a great deal of opportunity for Lisald to get back to his roots: Alien Anthropology and Archaeology. He was excited, for sure. He even got to keep his pip and the Department Head position.

Lisald had spent less than a day at 1-SZ, long enough to get lost once, before he had been informed by Outpost Operations that the USS Altai had been rushed back into service, and was about to leave docking. He hadn’t been told why, nor did that enter his mind. Finding the closest Outpost map, he quickly found his current location and the location of the docking port. Naturally, he was on the opposite side of the stinkin’ Outpost. He sprinted most of the way across the Outpost, much to the displeasure of several security officers who yelled after him, of which he promptly ignored.

He reached the docking port just as the Operations Officer was about to close it. Making it aboard, huffing and puffing and attempting to tell the Security Officer manning the docking port who he was and what he was doing aboard, he finally gave up and called up the orders on the terminal next to the docking port. Thankfully they were in there; otherwise he would have spent however long it took for his new Captain and Executive Officer to look him up and verify he was supposed to be on this ship in the brig. The security officer waved him on, quite annoyed.

Although Lisald knew that proper procedure was to go to the Bridge first, surely he would have enough time to check out his Main Science Lab. As he had done on the Outpost, Lisald looked at the nearest ships map to find it. Two decks down, five sections aft from where he was now. No problem. As he was passing through one of the sections on the proper deck, a whole group of people, heavily armed and armored, blew past him, nearly knocking him down. It was thankful to his slight frame that he was able to squeeze up against the bulkhead enough to give them room for passage. Two things were obvious to Lisald right out of the gate; the corridors on this ship were far smaller than that of the Cygnus, and the mission they were on was vastly different than anything Lisald had experienced yet.

He finally found his way into the Main Science Lab. An Ensign, oblivious to Lisald’s rank and position on this ship, barked at him. “You, over here! I need help analyzing this data for the Captain!” Lisald didn’t think anything of it. In fact, he was much more curious and excited about the data before him. A Breen Dreadnaught adrift?! As he analyzed the dataset, more data started coming in, as well as reports from the Bridge, and, apparently, an Away Team who had found a Starfleet Officer on that Dreadnaught. They talked of mechanical spiders inside, and the sensor readings were showing the same on the outside of that Dreadnaught. He was also hearing, from other scientists in the Lab that there were strange voices and information coming over the comms systems randomly. To top it off, he kept getting sensor echoes and sensor ghosts.

Lisald’s head was spinning. The Breen. Mechanical spiders. Disembodied voices over the comms. Strange sensor echoes and ghosts. And, somehow, a Starfleet Officer found unconscious on a Breen Dreadnaught. He needed to get to the Bridge, and to his station up there, now.

Lisald ran out, the Ensign that had put him to task yelling behind him to get back to work before the doors to the Lab closed and silenced his voice to Lisald. Entering the first turbolift he could find, he ordered, “Bridge, Priority.” The computer chirruped, and off he went, several decks up. A few moments later, the doors opened to reveal the cramped bridge, barely a third the size of the Cygnus’ bridge. “Sorry I’m late! Lieutenant Lisald reports for duty,” he said, not waiting for a response, but heading to the starboard side of the bridge where he spied Science Station 1, to take up his duty as Chief Science Officer of the USS Altai.

OFF

Lieutenant jg Lisald VaatChief Science OfficerUSS Altai