[snip]

Chatter immediately came from both Klingon and Romulan fleets between each other, followed by urgent hails to the Starfleet ships demanding (in the case of the Klingons) or firmly requesting (in the case of the Romulans) just what had happened.

=^=The comms have been open, I believe our host has heard you. So we’re going to prepare to depart.=^= she stated glancing back at Jasper and the orb.

With that then, their work here was almost done. Glen needed to reply to the Klingons and Romulans, but he was unsure about how much to tell them. Enough of the story to keep them well away, but not too much that would make them inquisitive enough to disregard him. And would they believe him in any case; Andone might just, but the Klingon was likely to ignore him entirely.

With the tensions reducing, Kord released the ship. He was still on edge, but that was normal.

The com chirped as a call from sickbay came in =^=”Grunch to Bridge, Captain NE Baxton will be fine he needs to be Transferred at the best possible opportunity but still what happened is only a Symptom to the main disease around here and that is the fact your cat is now a tiger not that I fully believe that is what has happened…even still if it has really happened Might I suggest that we figure out how to change your cat back into a cat I doubt Starfleet would be too keen on the idea of one of its captains having a Tiger for a pet!”=^= the grumpy voice of the Chief Medical Officer called out

Glen replied to Grunch =/\= I realise that, Doctor. My cat, so MY problem! I had hoped that he would revert back to normal. If he won’t then we might need to look at finding him a zoo of some kind. I’m on it… but right at this moment I need to reply to the Klingons and Romulans who I think you’ll agree are a bigger threat? Hal is dealing with Ginger. Glen out =/\=

Glen then made to Commander Andone and the Klingon Captain =/\= Good Morning . This is Captain John T Glen of the starship Merrimack. The Creators of the ‘stone’ you have both been seeking are fully ready to defend themselves and their planet. They have weapons and defences far superior to ours, as was just demonstrated to you. I convinced them that the Orions were the aggressors here, but they won’t believe that if we stay around here any longer, or if you attempt to invade and obtain the stone. In addition, should you decide to ignore my advice then you will discover that the stone will only work in the place it rests now. Any attempts to remove it will fail and its power will be diminished, so that would be a pointless exercise. I see it as a dangerous weapon of mass destruction, but thankfully its power is currently limited to this star system. I suggest that we make this system off-limits and have it placed under a quarantine, and that no vessels, whether civilian, scientific or military, should be allowed to visit this star system. =/\=

Glen, CO

The Klingon Commander was the first to reply =/\= Our goal here was to avenge the insult of the Orions raiding our border outpost. This has been satisfied, we care not for wild legends of Stones or this alien race you seemed to have discovered. =/\= The commander said, closing the channel then and without another word their ships came about and left.

William turned in his chair to watch the Captain give his ultimatum to the enemy vessels. His thoughts turned to Ginger, if he was indeed just a larger than a normal cat would it be possible to keep it as a pet. William knew from experience that the lazy bastard only ever liked a handful of the crew, or at least had never liked Will in the slightest.

CSO

At this point Andone replied, =/\= It seems you never get a break in a calm mission Captain. Whether this legend is true or not does not matter to me, nor did I have orders to pursue any discoveries for the benefit of the Empire. As such I will leave you and your fellow ship to handle clean up and isolation of this system. Good day.. =/\= Andone said turning about too and leaving with the one damaged T-5 destroyer in tow.

=/\=Security to the Bridge. Captain, your Big Cat is contained in the Botany Lab. She looks like she’s sick. You don’t happen to keep a large quantity of catnip on the ship, do you? =/\=

CoS

Just as the COS spoke another hail came in from the Creators =/\= Captain it would seem due to a rogue errant calculation on our part one of your creatures aboard your ship is still effected by the Stone. Please stand by while we correct this error in your reality. We would then request you and your ally leave the system as we will be reality shifting this system into another for continuing our explorations far beyond here. It was good to meet ones such as you and your allies of these Klingons and Romulans it is only one of a handful where we have studied such an alliance. Fair creations to you and your people. =/\= They said closing the channel.

Another energy pulse was registered in the Botanical gardens and on scans Ginger was now hacking up its meals in its normal cat form.

Rogers it seems was nonplussed about being so dismissed with a simple =/\= It would seem Captain we have been summarily dismissed from further investigations and explorations here. My ship and I will take our leave, thank you again for your assistance earlier and in this venture. Till next we meet. =/\= he said closing the channel and angling the Avenger about and went to warp back to Federation space.

Once the Merrimack did likewise they had a moment of a bright silver-white light behind the ship before the entire system vanished from sensors likely out of their plane of reality. What adventures next awaited the Merrimack one could only guess.

==End Sim==

GM CockRoach