Letters from Camp Tigris"
By: M'Ressha Mikaht, Pilot , [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.28 1644

After receiving Northrop's message, Blitzer turned off comlink. He got up and walked to the back of the runabout to where Maxine was getting them something to eat.

He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Alyssa just reported in," he said. "We need to get intel to the Zion."

"Oh? Roight," she licked her fingers and handed him half the sandwich in her free hand. "Gonna be hard with all the traffic," she told him and vaguely motioned to 'out there'. "But let's get to it... Y'want to break orbit t'do it?" she wondered aloud and handed him a cola next.

Blitzer stepped aside as she walked by him, he followed her down the corridor back toward the flight control center, sniffing the sandwich. It was roast beef with horseradish, sauerkraut and peanut butter, he popped the sandwich in his mouth and munched it down.

"Yeah," said Blitzer with half a mouthful, "...we should break orbit," said Blitzer hopping into his seat simultaneously activating the controls which came to life under his paws. He brought up a star chart of the sector which appeared on the view port, blocking out the big blue planet below.

"Hmmmm...." Maxine took her seat and peered up at the star chart. "How about there," she pointed to an unmanned subspace relay station close by and Krystal popped into view with a sprinkle of golden pixie dust. "We could tap into it," the pixie added helpfully.

"Sometimes I hate when she finishes my sentences," Max commented good naturedly.

"You would have said "hack"," Krystal pointed out.

"True," Max had to agree.

"Looks good to me," said Blitzer as he turned off the navigation map. The big blue planet faded back into view. He quickly did what he was good at. Within mere seconds he plotted a course to the station and started powering up the engines, "Check the cloak, lets make a clean break from here."

"Roight," Max nodded and plugged in her interface. After a moment she gave Blitz a thumbs up and a "ready".

The ship turned and banked away from the planet out into the cold dark expanse of space. "Going to warp," announced Blitzer.

"Hanging on..." Max nodded and made sure she was buckled in.

The trip was a mere 15 minutes and Blitzer dropped out of warp. He swiftly maneuvered the runabout into close proximity.

"No life signs," she looked over at him after performing a scan. "She's clear."

"Can you access it from here," asked Blitzer.

"Probably, but we'd 'ave t'openly transmit. Establishing a link with the station would cause a non-indigenous signal... Sort of like ... background noise in space," she told him with a grin and pulled up the schematics. "There's a compatible docking port on the far side.." she tapped the screen with a slender finger to show him.

Blitzer nodded, "Okay," he said as he piloted the ship closer. It banged gently against the docking ring. Blitzter activated the docking clamp and locked into place. "That should do it," he said.

He stood and picked up the phaser rifle which was still propped nearby. When he glanced over at Max, she was getting up and checking her own pistol before moving to stand beside him.

They walked to the airlock, which was slowly pressurizing. Blitzer peered impatiently through the window and then took a step back. He shook his head nervously, "Hang on." he said has he grabbed the manual override, "We don't have all day."

Max eyed him and grabbed hold of something, taking his 'hang on' quite literally.

He opened the airlock, more than 20 cubic meters of air made a thunderous rushing sound as it filled the void in the airlock.

"Whoa...." Max's tightened her grip.

Blitzer stepped through, an eerie fog caused by the rapidly cooled and decompressed air hoovered on the treadway. It accentuated the blinking amber lights which flashed along the short walkway. He motioned for Max to enter.

At the other end, a small terminal on the station blinked, "Access Denied."

"Think we should knock?" she asked with a smirk and moved around him to get to the terminal. "Lemme see it..."

Blitzer smiled as he watched Max go to work.

Max set up and plugged into the system, settling for a moment before doing anything. "It may take a minute or two to hack into it," she told him.

The door made a hissing sound, Blitzer took a step back and pointed his phaser rifle and stepped in looking around. He motioned for Max to follow.

Maxine dutifully let him check it out first, because she really didn't like shooting things anyway. Once he motioned for her to follow, she stepped in after him and took a look around. "A'roight then.... Better get to work, huh?" she smiled a little, the deserted station giving her the creeps.

Blitzer looked about more intently, sniffing the air, and listening. While the station had many strange scents, even blood, no one had recently been here. His ears processed the many strange noises coming from everywhere too. For being deserted it was a busy place. The fur on his neck and tail stood on end.

Grasping the phaser rifle snuggly, he took a couple cautious steps inside. Looking up and down he could see through the grates there were two decks above and below them. A couple meters past the air lock the deck was solid and glossy smooth. It reflected the blinking lights on the various rows and columns of equipment.

He pulled out a tricorder and scanned around the donut shaped room. The power converter was encased in the center of the station. It went through the floor and extended out of view through the ceiling. The room was about 12 meters across. Except for the light radiated by the power converter, it was dark and filled with various systems which blinked and beeped. An access

"I just need a terminal..." Max whispered because it was a place that just screamed to be whispered in. She pointed to one and at his nod made her way around him and over to it. She walked lightly, almost tiptoeing in her effort to be needlessly quiet. His fur on end hadn't escaped her notice and it had her over cautious and glancing over her shoulder to keep making sure he was there.

Blitzer remained on guard near the airlock.

"It'll take me a minute," she told him, her voice still soft and rather subdued. "I'll focus a burst directly to the Zion..." she kept talking because Blitzer didn't, and she always babbled when she was nervous. Or was scared. Like now.. "And I'll use a Marquis cipher.... Broadcast it from a sectorized array...." She looked around cautiously even as she began trying to link into the system's communications array.

Blitzer looked about nervously as more lights and panels seemed come to life as Max worked. His ears independently combed the room for sounds.

Max glanced over at him and shifted a bit, becoming even more nervous at his apparent nervousness. But she focused on her work and after what seemed like an eternity, but was actually about a minute, she jumped and her hand went automatically to her chest. "Bloody 'ell..."

Blitzer's ears and eyes locked onto Max, "What is it?"

"Bloody thing shocked me," she looked over at Blitz and frowned. "But m'in," she added with a cheeky grin, as if that made the shock okay. "It's not supposed t'do that," she went back to frowning and looking at the computer terminal suspiciously now.

Blitzer's ears darted to catch a noise from one of the decks above them, he shifted his stance, "Okay."

After a rather cautious moment and another glance to him, she went back to work. "What's the message?"

"Pacifica under Federation control, eight cloaked Galor class ships, one sovereign." Blitzer cleared his throat, "Delaplane and his cabinet are prisoners on the afore mentioned USS Yamato, possible ground troops." He nodded at Max when he was done.

Max relayed the message, sending a directional signal burst pulse directly at the Zion. "Roight... It's sent... Just waiting for acknowledgement now..." she told him and after a moment nodded. "Got it..." She didn't immediately disconnect from the computer system though and 'listened' for any traffic that might be there. After another moment or two she pulled back and turned to look at him. "We're done."

Blitzer breathed a sigh of relief, "good, let's go."

"Right... It's like a ghost ship..." she dared to breathe and hurried to his side. Safety in numbers and size... Definitely safety in size.

Blitzer followed Max through the airlock back to the runnabout. Their hurried pace caused swirls and eddies in the fog which had spread everywhere. He turned and closed the airlock.

"Let's get out of here," he said as he headed back to the front of the ship. He took his seat and disengaged the docking clamps and maneuvered away from the relay. "Any activity," he asked Max.

Max monitored the current status for several moments before shaking her head. "No---"

"All's quiet on the home front," Krystal popped into view and saluted.

"There seems to be a little more comm chatter than there was before, but nothing encrypted... Just routine stuff," Max told Blitzer. "That place gave me the *creeps*," she admitted out of the blue.

"Let's head back to Pacifica," said Blitzer.

"M'all for that," Max agreed whole heartedly.

Blitzer laid in a course and went to warp. It seemed like a longer flight back, but when they arrived Blitzer took up the same orbital position as before.

"Double check the cloaking matrix please," requested Blitzer politely.

"Checking," she acknowledged and glanced over at his tone. After a moment her eyes turned back to her display and she frowned a bit in concentration. "Roight... It's good now," she sat back and relaxed a little, still a bit keyed up from the relay station. "Our girl say anything 'bout when she'd be back?" Max asked him.

Blitzer shook his head, "nope, but she must have more work to do." Blitzer looked over at Max, "you think we should try to make contact with her?"

Max frowned a bit in thought. "Only if we got something t'tell her," she commented. "Do we?"

Blitzer shrugged, "I guess not." He took a deep breath and sighed, as he pushed his chair back and made himself comfortable. "It could be a long wait yet," he commented.

"Almost makes y'want to get up an' pace, huh?" Maxine likewise leaned back and crossed her arms under her breasts as she stretched her legs out.

"I could pace if it would help," Krystal offered.

Blitzer put put his paws behind his head and chuckled, "You could do the pompom thing again," he said looking out the corner of his eye for Max's reaction.

Max blinked and shot him a *look* as Krystal giggled and poofed into the little cheerleader's outfit complete with pompoms and pigtails. "You are such a bad influence on her," Max told him.

"Ra.. Ra.. Ra!" Krystal cheered.

"See?" Max pointed to the cheerleading pixie.

Blitzer chuckled, "I haven't been this entertained since the last time I was on the holodeck."

Max reached out and fwapped him lightly on the chest with the back of her fingers. "Don't encourage her."

Blitzer clutched his 'wound' and laughed a chuckle.

But after watching cheerleading routines for a while, Blitzer couldn't help instigating more trouble, he leaned forward, "Do you know any other fun things?"

Krystal stopped cheering and looked rather thoughtful. "I can hula," she told him.

"Hula?" said Blitzer, "What's that?"

"Uhh..." Max eyed the pixie.

Krystal ignored her and blinked huge blue eyes at Blitz. "You know... It's a dance..." she shook her hips and the pompoms disappeared. "It originated in the Islands of Hawaii. On Terran," she added and her pigtails disappeared to be replaced with long flowing hair. "They wore a grass skirt," she told him and the cheerleader outfit disappeared to be replaced with the grass skirt and two coconut halves strategically placed. "It's very traditional," she finished. Tiny leis appeared around her wrists and ankles and she started to dance.

Max coughed and stared at the pixie. "Oh good gods..." she groaned.

Blitzer chuckled at Max's disproval. "Grass huh?" He leaned back, as soft hawiian music floated through the air.

"People actually *did* that?" Max squeaked as she watched.

"Yep," Krystal nodded and launched into the history and significance of the hula as she gyrated and swiveled her hips in time to the music.

Blitzer was satisfied where performance and clapped his paws together when she was through.

"What else can you do?" egged Blitzer.

Krystal peered at Blitz as she accessed her data files. "I can belly dance," she offered.

"What?? Oh 'ell no!" Max sat up and reached over to clamp a hand over Blitz's mouth. "Don't you dare!"

"Sure!" said Blitzer innocently, "What is th..." Before he could finish his sentence, Max's hand silenced him. His eyes widened as he looked over at her. "Mpff..mpfff ffpmf.."

"No, no, and no..." Max told him, shaking her head and keeping her hand in place. But it was too late, cause Krystal had heard his "sure" and ran with it. "Don't you *dare* egg her---" Her voice stopped as the new music started complete with gossamer veils and the jingle of the charms that now adorned the pixie's rather scantily clad body. Max's gaze swiveled to the hologram and she stared in disbelief at the ruby sparkling from the navel of the tiny form.

Blitzer clapped his paws together in delight. He wasn't sure if it was the little pixie's stint or the fact that Max's own creation was getting the better of her.

"Is this dance from the Orion system?" he asked

"Oh no," Krystal assured him. "It's from a place called the Sudan on old Terran, and harems," she told him, and launched into another detailed history lesson on harems, belly dancing and Scheherazade. Of course then the music of the same name began to play.

"Oh great... Now look what you've done," Max eyed Blitz accusingly.

Blitzer smirked.

"I can do the Orion Slave Dance," Krystal offered.

"NO!" Max blinked and shot Blitzer a warning look.

Blitzer's ears and whisker's wilted slightly under Max's menacing look. He put his paw over his mouth and shrugged. "You sure have a lot of talent," said Blitzer, "Did Max teach you all those things?"

Max blinked at his wilted look and he could see her relenting. She couldn't be mean looking when he looked like that. She snorted at his question and sat back in her chair to watch the pair of them.

"Oh no," Krystal shook her head. "Maxie only codes," she told him. "Codes and codes and codes... And then runs diagnostic programs," she nodded. "I read about them in the data banks.

"Well, then, you are a smart one," he said with his ears perking up a little toward Krystal.

Krystal grinned and preened her wings. "Why thank you," she curtsied.

"What are you doing to my pixie?" Max asked, eyeing the way the hologram seemed to flirt with Blitz.

"I'm just being polite," said Blitzer with a wry smirk.

"You're corrupting her," Max glanced over at him. But she didn't look upset really. More intrigued. Krystal meanwhile was back to preening her wings and braiding her hair.

"I'm sure if you had to, you could erase her memory somehow." Blitzer offered.

"Mmhmm," Max nodded her agreement. "Hate to though. Be like erasing yours or mine.. I think I might affect her adversely, y'know?" she looked over at him then.

Blitzer nodded.

"Hey..." Max leaned forward and poked at Krystal a bit to get her attention and the little pixie looked up between them with a sparkling of disrupted pixie dust and a blink of big blue eyes.

"I didn't do it," Krystal offered automatically, which made Max snicker.

"You compile that encryption program I wrote?" Max asked her, smiling when Krystal nodded and pointed to Max's PADD. "Right there," she insured her creator.

"Good, thank you," she watched a second as Krystal went back to what she was doing and then turned to Blitz. "When our guys get close enough we should send them that program so they can decipher the comm. traffic," she suggested and started running a check on the decryption program.

"That will give them a good advantage," remarked Blitzer

"Ah, bloody 'ell..." Max grumbled and sat up. "I need t'rewrite parts of this," she told Blitz at his look. "The computer isn't powerful enough on the runabout and there's some flaws in the way it compiled. 'ow soon before the Zion gets 'ere? Any idea?"

"Blitzer looked over at her, "At warp 8, about 11 hours," he said, "But I don't think they will come that fast."

"Plenty of time t'get this finished then," Max indicated her PADD. "We'll 'ave t'plan 'ow to transmit the data to them..." she pointed out.

Blitzer drew a deep breath, "You are right," he sighed. "We should make another trip back to the relay station." His tail tapped the deck nervously.

Max gave him a -look- as a shiver coursed it's way down her spine. A return visit to the ghost ship was not something she was looking forward to.