From: Fabian Alexander <psychon@oocities.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 15:47:58 -0700
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE:  Are The Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship ?

MD 14.1050
Scene: Bridge

	Ensign O'Graeach, pretending to be busy recalibrating the sensors while
actually listening in to the Milkyway Full Body Contact Competition on
the SubSpace radio, glanced at the large screen.  The ship carrying
Captain Bell was moving away rapidly.  That made two people jumping
ship, Oz noted dryly.  Okay, so Gann wasn't one to run away easily, the
two of them had faced simulated odds together and survived - despite
Ganns insistence of rescuing those people, when reason and self
preservation had told Oz to get the hell out of that system.  But now
the Captain.  the Captain was supposed to be the last to leave the
ship.  What was going on ?  Did she know something he didn't ?  Was the
mission doomed ?  Would they end up in a full scale war ?
Or maybe it was those Corellians.  Oz still believed they had blue scaly
skin, forked tongues and yellow eyes that did not blink, despite what
Anne Murray had said.  And he was none to keen to meet them.  He knew
things would go wrong.  They always did.  Staying this close in orbit
meant the Corellians, with their superior sensor grid, could work out
all sorts of things, and then blast them out of the sky.  There was a
rescue pod with his name on.  He had ensured that by programming one of
the pod doors only to respond to his voice.  And as it was a seperate
system from the ships computer it couldn't be overridden by anyone -
unless, of course, they were a computer whiz kid.

	Watching the ship disappear into warp, leaving the bright flash for a
moment, he wondered whether this was a sign.  An omen.  Did the rats
leave the sinking ship ?  And if so, why wasn't he one of them ?  Rats
all over the galaxy had developed a sixth sense for danger, one
cognitive function of which was: IF shape of a redhead running away very
quickly and screaming 'HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELPPPP' THEN leave ship.  His
instincts told him that now would be a good moment to leave ship.  His
brain told him that doing that would leave him vulnerable to the
Hunters, whose rules stated that they could not Hunt him while he was a
member of a tribe or clan or army.

	"Oh, bugger.", he sighted, turning back to his broadcast.  At least he
did not have to see the Corellians, and Clarissa was free this evening,
and maybe things would sort themselves out without involving him.

	"Yeah, as if.", he said to no-one in particular.  "As if that would
happen."

NRPG:
Just a short post.  I'm not sure about the MD.  I'd have thought it
would be 13.something, but shall we say the Corellians turn up 14.1800 ?
I was wondering, would anybody mind if he Corellians had blue, scaly
skin, forked tongues and yellow, swirly eyes that did not blink ?  Sort
of snake-like exterior.  It's just, O'Graeach happens to be
particularily snake-o-phobic <BEG>  You know the thing rats have about
snakes ? <G>

Love,
Fabian

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