===== Captain's Ready Room, USS Chimera ===== There was silence in the Ready Room. Rangi sat on her chair deep in thought, staring blankly at the floor but seeing many things in her minds eye. She frowned, glanced up at Shane and pressed her palms together tapping the fingers tips on her chin. "Shane" she said slowly, much in the tone of a child about to ask for something impossible.She dropped her hands to her lap when he turned his head to look at her. "I was thinking....you remember Navarre and how she evaded capture?" Shane nodded instantly. Even if it was a long time ago and he himself wasnt on that mission, the events were very interesting and scaring, so Shane remembered most of the reports from that time. The 'trick' the 'evil' doctor used to escape was quite a master piece ... so he could not forget about that. "Yes" he said, "She surgically altered one of her assistants to look like her." Rangi paused, then said: "If it was possible to get onto the Romulan ship....we might be able to find out if Athena is held there...and where ...and we could do that fairly easily...well..perhaps not 'easily'...but we could do it. Navarre changed her appearance...we could do that too...uniforms are simple..and its not that difficult to surgically alter the appearance of a man. We could go where we liked within reason...what do you think?" Shane looked at Rangi with quite a surpise. It was a way he would never think of ... even if it was an 'old school' trick. Altering some man and beaming them over to the Romulan Warbird ... secretly and swiftly looking for the counselor and for anything suspecting as well ... clean and simple. "Sounds like a great idea to me Rangi" Shane said with an optimistic expression on his face. "So you say you could 'alter' a small group of lets say 6 man to look like Romulans?" Visibly cheered by his keen acceptance of the idea she replied: "Given time yes....six will take a while but its possible if Mercedes and Maikai help....Scott and Steve too ofcourse." She considered something silently for a few seconds and remet his eyes. "Yes...we can do it." she said and a faint smile touched her lips. Shane nodded: "Very well Rangi, but how is it with a close scan of those men. I dont suppose you could somehow 'cloak' their human biosigns ..." he asked with little hope. "Well...." she looked at him doubtfully, her expression a mirror of his own. She gave a shake of her head and said.. "...No." Leaning back in her chair, she watched the thoughtful look on his face."But...if we could come up with a device to imitate Romulan biosigns...it could work short term though we wouldnt be able to conceal it from a detailed tricorder scan." Shane nodded again: "I thought so, even" his face brightened again, "when such a device could be more than enough for a short mission. I dont think that even Tal Shiar crew runs with tricoders around, scaning everyone on meeting." Looking at Rangi he asked: "How long would you take for those surgical alterations?" "A good question" she replied and ran her left hand over her hair. "It depends really...if we can find subjects that 'look' Romulan...bone structure and so on...that would be helpful...we have three teams of two...only one main surgical bed though...." She frowned in concentration thinking of the procedures involved. "I would need at least an hour and a half...perhaps two hours...from the time you give me the men in sickbay." she added. Shane nodded: "Fair enough for me Rangi" and smiled. "I'd like to ask you pick up the 5 most suitable man from ODA teams alpha and delta for the alteration. I will be the last one." Shane looked at Rangi and then continued: "But we will start only when OPS or Engineering can confirm that Athena is on the warbird." Rangi looked at him in total disbelief. Her lips parted in readiness for speech but no words came. Eventually she managed to stutter: "But..you mean...wouldnt it be ....." For a moment her right hand fingers touched her collar then fell back to her side. "What about Acheson?" she asked, clasping at a straw "Wouldnt he be more suitable? " Shane shook his head slightly: "Look Rangi. Walsh and McKnight are away and I need Acheson on the Bridge ... so there the logical choice is me. I used to be CTAC for quite a time and even CSEC for few days back on Aurora. Please dont worry about me, I'll be fine. She wore an apprehensive expression but said quietly "Orcourse...I know you will." Knowing it was pointless to pursue the question further,she bowed her head, looking down at the floor and wishing she had never suggested the idea in the first place.When she raised her eyes to him she said nothing but forced a weak smile. Shane stood up from his chair and walked slowly towards her. "So we agree here, dont we?" he asked with a soft smile. "If you have 5 Minutes time I'll offer you a chocolate drink, possibly not such a good one as you used to drink with Athena, but still its chocolade" He stood in front of her and his smile deepened as she looked up at him. Falling in with his wish to end the discussion, she attempted to be light hearted and asked in a fairly convincing tone: "Well....can you make it double chocolate?...with the little mint chips?" ===== End of log ===== Cmdr. Shane Guzman XO/ACO USS Chimera & LtCmdr. Rangi Summers CMO/AXO USS Chimera