Wendy Smith is the unofficial student leader. Wendy has been able to assume the role last held by D'Tall of Orion as the student superstar at the Academy and has been able to continue to catch the eye of all involved with her amazing work at the Outpost 294 dig site.
Wendy however had been spending many, many hours out at Outpost 294 and less and less time on the Academy project of improving or at the very least creating a functional Romulan Warp Core.
Commander T'Ros, anxious to improve the relations between the Romulans and the Phoenix Fleet even spoke to the students regarding the development of a Romulan engine. Given the history of the Academy, Commander T'Ros only hoped that the students would be able to enhance the functionality of the subspace interface within the warp core. Wendy Smith missed this session as well.
Vincent and Acrylos addressed the students as the February term ended informing them that they needed to have their functional model in place by Stardate 63769.84.
To Vincent's surprise, the only student with a fully functional Romulan Warp Core was Wendy Smith. Vincent examined the engine and was amazingly impressed. The engine was beyond any expectation of the colony. Vincent was overjoyed when he called Commander Teero to inspect the work. Wendy had outdone herself.
Commander Teero too was very surprised at the completeness of the project and began to thoroughly inspect it. Perhaps the young star student had a future in engineering, moreso than any of the leaders could have imagine.
Commander Teero was laying on his back when he saw the markings. He jumped up in a bit of shock. He whispered to Vincent, "RSW Vulture's Vector"
Vincent replied, "What? Recognizing the name of the War Bird that always served as one of the spectre's orbiting the planet above."
Teero whispered, "She must have stolen their warp core. She is after all, John Smith's daughter."
Vincent actually laughed, however he knew that this could prove to be a huge problem. The Academy was now in possession of a Romulan Warp Core stolen from an orbiting War Bird by one of the Academy's students. Vincent knew he had to let Nicole know. He excused himself.
Vincent tapped his COMM badge.
=A= Computer, locate Vice Admiral Branson =A=
=/= Vice Admiral Branson is in her office on subspace communication with Captain Isaiah Reed, USS Yang Liwei =/=
Vincent did not want to interrupt. He waited a moment and then spoke.
=A= Nicole, Vincent here. We may have an issue. I am sending you the image and the data =A=
Nicole quickly read through the file.
=A= Does Commander T'Ros know? =A=
Nicole responded.
=A= If she does, she has not acknowledged. With the Yang Liwei in orbit, there is little likelihood for there to be an incident. How would you like to proceed? =A=
Vincent asked.
Nicole pondered for a moment. She paced in her office.
=A= Commodore, I would like to have yourself, Commander Teero and Dr. Varno examine the engine thoroughly and then in a gesture of good will, give it back =A=
Nicole thought that she should contact Commander T'Ros to stall a bit. She wanted a thorough and complete schematic before giving the engine back. The value would be immense to Star Fleet. Though the Romulans are our uneasy allies, they are very reluctant to share technology. This is the whole point of the experimentation here on the colony.
=A= Very good, Vice Admiral. Commander Teero will begin the survey immediately. How soon with Dr. Velta Varno arrive. =A=
Vincent inquired.
=A= She has been dispatched immediately, Commodore. Please resolve the protocol with your star student as well, without too great a sanction, but with the firm understanding that such projects need to be coordinated between either yourself, Mr. Teero or myself. =A=
Nicole was in total admiration of student Wendy Smith. She was their superstar student. She will one day serve the fleet well.
=A= Aye, Nicole. She will know her role. =A=
Vincent responded firmly.
=A= Branson out =A=
Nicole abruptly ended the conversation. She needed to contact the ROME research facility to inform them of the incident. Nicole explained that an accidental transported incident randomly removed the warp engine and the malfunction would take approximately two hours to repair. She apologized to Commander T'Ros and the Romulan Star Empire for the tragic inconvenience and offered any assistance to the crew of the Vulture's Vortex.
Commander T'Ros was furious but without proof, she had to take Nicole at her word. She was in an absolute rage as the gloating little girl had one over on her. Like Christine T'Nley, Commander T'Ros had little use for the lesbian art student and saw her as nothing more than a useless cog in the way of Romulan control of the Phoenix Colony and its valuable geothermal core and potential Omega resource.
Vincent spoke to Wendy. He told her that her espionage exposure through her father had given her skills many of the students did not possess and reminded her the project was to build a Romulan engine and not to steal a Romulan engine. Wendy only smiled telling the Commodore that her focus was on the archeological dig and proving that Star Fleet had been their countless years before.
Vincent informed Wendy that a letter acknowledging the incident would appear on her personnel file. The letter would not be listed a "formal letter of reprimand" but rather simply serve as a reminder to her future commanders of the incident. Wendy reluctantly accepted the incident and with some trebidation signed the letter.
Commander Teero finished the survey and began almost immediately to reconstruct the Vulture's Vortex Engine in the lab. Wendy was soon up to her arms in materials working on the project as were the other students.
Vincent and Nicole together "heroicly" returned the engine to the RSE Vulture's Vortex. Nicole informed the Romulan Commander that she was most happy to be of service in the rescue of their warp core from the colony transporter accident. Her smugness only served to aggrevate the Romulans. Vincent loved every minute of it. He loved to see his little girl look like she outsmarted the Romulans because he knew how much it irked them.
In truth, Nicole had been in her office the whole time and it was the student Wendy Smith who was the real thieving spy but for aesthetics, it was far better for Nicole to have done it.
Now the real work begins, the Colony has a functional Romulan Warp Core. Breaking it down and getting it work will serve Star Fleet much better in the future.
Posted by:
Commodore Vincent Viceroy
Omega Academy Chancellor
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
Vice Admiral Nicole Branson
Territory Omega Governor
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
Commander Acrylos Teero
Chief Engineer
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
