Chapter 12 – The Magic Seven
The following morning, Mack was up early, and noticed a note on her PADD, from Marty. It just said –Late night last night. Got the documents from the lawyer and signed them. Talk to you soon – MDM
She tapped out a note to her inner circle – If you have anyone else you really want, up to 45 more names, make a list. Try to rank them. We'll talk about this all day today.
She then wrote a note to Marty – Just about ready to hire. Let me know if you have any objections to any of these. She then attached the entire list of 100 candidates, and headed to breakfast with her inner circle.
They sat together in the Cookie's kitchen. Mack flipped pancakes as the other four waited. "I think the only other person I have ever seen cooking is Commander, uh, Captain, Riker," Wes stated.
"Oh," Mack commented.
"You sound like you don't like him."
"He played a somewhat unkind practical joke on my cousin," Mack clarified.
"Oh," Wes thought for a second, "that was the guy! My friend Geordi told me about it. He said it seemed to be a bit much, that here was this brand-new officer who didn't know anything, and Riker just kinda ran over him. The guy didn't deserve it at all, and it just seemed to be kinda mean. I guess I didn't put it all together that it was pulled on Commander Madden."
"What was the trick?" Daniya inquired, helping herself to some orange juice.
Wesley explained. "That is rather passive-aggressive," Majira stated.
"How is your cousin now?" asked Crita. "I know I would have been mortified."
"I think he's okay now," Mack surmised, "but he was pretty peeved there for a while. He wants very much for this to go well. I got the same impulses about our team." Her PADD dinged. It was a response from Madden. "Speak of the devil, and he appears. Hang on a sec – I asked him if he objected to any of the candidates."
The response just said – I trust you, Mystic, in this and all things. Keep me posted – MDM
She read it quickly to herself. "He's okay with whoever we pick. Now," she turned off the burner and brought the plate of pancakes over to the table, "we have already unanimously picked three people. It's the human guy, the Witannen and the Caitian."
There were smiles all around. "This is a good start, yes?" asked Crita.
"It's an excellent start," Mack confirmed. "We have a few people where there are four yes votes. But I won't tell you their names, not just yet, okay? If you've got yes votes on five more people, send 'em over while we're eating. Don't send any more just yet. I only want your top five. The voting has been pretty consistent, so I'm guessing this could put a few of the candidates over the top, and into plus five territory."
"Will everyone need to be unanimously selected?" inquired Majira.
"I don't think so. But I think unanimous vote-getters are great. If we agree on them, then they've gotta be really good choices, don't you think?"
As they ate, PADDs were clicked and data was sent. All Mack did was program her PADD to inform her if anyone had made it to the level of a unanimous choice. The PADD dinged when it was done. She read off, "We've now got unanimity on the Vulcan woman, the Calafan woman, the Imvari and the Andorian guy. Right now, it looks like everyone else just has one vote, if they've been voted for at all. So we'll stop this method, and instead I wanna talk about today."
"Oh?" asked Wesley, adding a little extra syrup.
"It'll be small games and small teams. Whether accepted or rejected, or somewhere in between, we'll bring everybody back. We won't say anything, but we won't be worrying about our seven unanimous choices, unless they really badly screw up. We'll be watching the other 93 for the most part, and not just on their own merits, but also on how well they work with our Magic Seven."
They headed to the ship's holodeck as soon as they could. "Computer," Mack commanded as soon as the one hundred candidates had arrived, "Create five regulation basketball courts. Add five men's professional basketballs, with the usual two changing rooms that have been made for the past few days."
Accomplished.
"Change into shorts and tank tops or short-sleeved shirts, with sneakers. As before, replicate anything you didn't bring with you. We'll wait."
The candidates began to file into the changing rooms. Mack added, "Computer, make a board and put it on the wall, visible to all. Then sort all candidate records by height. Select the ten tallest candidates, and the ten shortest candidates. Pair them up – one short and one tall – but otherwise randomly. Using only the candidates' numbers, pass the data to the board. Number the teams one through ten, randomly."
As the candidates began to return, Mack said, "Check the board, and see if you've been assigned to a team. If you have, step to my right. If you haven't, sit down on the floor."
As before, the Imvari was wearing knee pads. He stood to her right, as did the Caitian, the Calafan woman, the Witannen, the Jem'Hadar, a pair of Vulcans, a Klingon, a Tandaran and one of the Suliban.
"Team one?" Mack asked, "Who's on team one?" Candidates stepped forward. "Okay, you get the first pick."
Once all one hundred candidates had been chosen, Mack spoke. "You're going to play a modified form of basketball. For anybody who knows the sport already, I caution you that, just like yesterday when we played tennis, the rules won't be quite the same. Wes, c'mere."
He complied. "Okay."
"The basic rules of modified basketball are as follows. First, the object of the game is to put the ball in the hoop. Second, you can only have five team members on the court at any one time."
"But we will have ten players on each team, if the team numbers are a reliable indicator," the Andorian male pointed out.
"That's right," she confirmed, "which brings me to the third rule – you can only make a substitution if possession of the ball is changing after a basket. I am going to require that everybody gets some playing time, so you will need to sub everyone in and out at least once. Possession can also change if the ball is stolen, but you can't make any substitutions as the ball would still be in play. Now, let's go over fouling."
"Fouling?" asked the Witannen.
"Normally, you get six personal fouls and you don't play to a set number of points. But we'll do things a little differently in order to make these games fast, so you'll only play up to eleven points, or to a sudden death tiebreaker. There won't be a clock, or a shot clock. Also, you'll only get three fouls – but no technical fouls – but you still want to be careful not to foul."
"What are the fouls?" the Takret inquired.
"The real rules are more complex," she explained, "but we'll only have three kinds of fouls – stepping out of bounds with the ball, traveling, and contact with the body of whoever's in possession of the ball."
"So you're not caring about back court violations, illegal screens, or anything like that?" asked the human guy.
"Nope. Hell, stand in the paint for the whole game, for all I care."
"Oh, um, okay," he replied.
"What is traveling?" a Klingon male asked.
"Great question!" Mack praised. "Wes, can you demonstrate dribbling, and then traveling?"
"Sure," he said, "but keep in mind that I'm not very good at this." He bounced a ball a few times. "To get the ball up and down the court, you've got three ways of doing that. First is dribbling." He demonstrated a bit, and then bounced the ball too high. "Did you all see what I did there, where I made a mistake? I bounced the ball too hard, and it was hard for me to control it."
"You mentioned steals," Daniya reminded everyone, "I take it this is a way of stealing the ball?"
"Definitely," Wes confirmed, "or you could reach in for the ball. But let's go back to how to get the ball down the court. You can also pass it."
"Let's demonstrate two basic passes," Mack suggested. "The first is just a regular old chest pass. Right here," she held her arms in front of her by her chest. "Hit me, Wes!" He threw the ball at her and she readily caught it. "The other basic pass is the bounce pass. It's just what it sounds like." She bounced the ball back to him, and he caught it.
"The only other way to get the ball down the court legally is to shoot at the basket. But you probably don't wanna do that unless you're over halfway to the basket," Wesley cautioned.
"If a teammate catches your shot, it ends up really just being a pass," Mack added, "but the other team could just as easily grab the ball and steal it."
"Anyway," Wes interjected, "traveling is when you walk or run with the ball, but you don't bounce it on the floor."
"The other two kinds of fouls we're looking at should be pretty self-explanatory," Mack stated. "You can reach in for the ball, but you can't touch the person holding the ball when you do so, or you'll be hit with a foul. A foul means that play otherwise stops and you get two free throws from this line," she pointed. "Each one you make is one point. Baskets made outside this arc," she pointed again, "are worth three points. All other baskets are worth two points."
"We could easily get to twelve points, instead of eleven. Will there be a penalty if we go over?" inquired a Klingon woman.
"I don't imagine so," Crita surmised, and looked to Mack for confirmation.
"Of course not," Mack confirmed. "For those of you who know how to really play basketball, another thing we're gonna do is, you'll be able to complete your two free throws, and then the ball will switch possessions and will be inbounded. This will provide a chance to make substitutions. So, really, this is more of a sketch of basketball. If we ever actually get to play it professionally, you'll see that the rules are somewhat more complicated and different."
"You mentioned earlier," the Imvari reminded them, "that there are three fouls per player. What happens if three fouls are committed by any of us?"
"Then that person sits out the rest of the game," Wes answered, "and someone else will have to sub."
"What if six people on a team each commit three fouls?" the Jem'Hadar inquired.
"Then you'll play with only four people on your team," Mack replied. "You can see why it's not such a good idea to commit a bunch of fouls."
=/\=
Marty was at his station on the Bridge of the Enterprise-E. They were between star systems, but not too far from where he'd gone with his away team. His mind was wandering a little. "Hmm?"
"I said, Mr. Madden," said Captain Picard, "we should discuss your findings."
"By all means." Marty followed the older man into the Ready Room. Once the door was securely shut, the captain asked, "Well?"
"I've been doing some research on chi radiation, sir," Marty began.
"And?"
"It's got tons of potential applications – everything from time travel to traveling between universes without a wormhole or an ion storm combined with a transporter malfunction; to interphased cloaking; to possibly even weaponry. It's like the Swiss Army Knife of energy."
"I see. I presume the cloaking application is why you have designated everything as being confidential?"
"In part," Marty allowed, "it's also because of this finding we made. See, as Lieutenant Commander LaForge explained to me, all of the matter in our universe vibrates on a twenty-one centimeter radiation band. Other universes presumably vibrate on other bands."
"They do. We had an issue with Lieutenant Commander Worf, perhaps it's a decade ago now. He was phasing in and out, through what were evidently parallel universes. We got him back, eventually, but," Picard noted, "it was because we determined his quantum signature. The barrier between quantum realities was breaking down, and we had to locate him among several versions of the Enterprise."
"Then this gets even more interesting, sir."
"Truly?"
"Yes. We found what looked like almost a rift. It was a kaleidoscope of radiation bands – it kept sliding from twenty to twenty-one, sometimes down to nineteen and up to as high as thirty-eight once, and then back down again."
"Do these numbers refer to the centimeters of the various radiation bands?"
"They do," Madden confirmed. "The four of us, sir, we believe that the cause of this phenomenon, it isn't natural. We also suspect that the etiology is from outside our universe."
"Do you believe that whoever is doing this – do you think they are testing out the various and sundry radiation bands, or quantum signatures?"
"That's exactly what I think," replied Marty, "it's almost like they're knocking on a series of doors, seeing who'll answer."
"Or who'll let them in," opined the captain.
"Or where they can force their way in."
=/\=
Play began. The five games went fairly smoothly. The inner circle blew whistles as needed. Only one team failed to allow all of its members to play – team two, which had both Suliban on it.
Even though that team had technically won its game, Majira held a hand up. "I believe you have not followed all of our instructions to the letter. I would like to confirm this with Coach MacKenzie."
"It seems foolish," complained one of the Suliban, "to care more about the fact of substitutions than on overall results."
By this time, the other games had finished. Mack could finally look up. She scanned the faces of the candidates. "You, sir," she singled out the Jem'Hadar, "kindly explain why we care about substitutions."
The Jem'Hadar thought for a moment. "I must say that I agree that overall results – wins over losses – are more important. However, there is a value to making substitutions."
"Which is?" Wesley prompted.
"Tired or mildly injured players can rest. Players in foul trouble can be swapped for the ones who are not in trouble, and can thereby play with more aggression. The coach can devise different plays, depending upon the strengths or weaknesses of a particularly configured squad."
"Exactly correct," Mack praised. "Now, we've got four teams that won their initial rounds, and one that technically won but fails to qualify for not following the rules. Therefore, their opponents will – hey, let's try something different." She thought for a second. "I want all twenty of you to stand here, at my left." She motioned to the members of the Suliban team and its opponent. "Okay, Majira, pick the best ten players from this combined group."
Majira checked her notes and made her selections. "I am ready."
"You'll be the new Team Two and will go to the next round. We'll play another round robin. Anyone out of contention can hit the showers."
They played. As they did so, some styles began to emerge. Some of the candidates were graceful, like the Caitian. Others were bruisers, like the human guy. One of the Klingons picked a fight with the Imvari, and they were both thrown out of their game. The Vulcans were better at scoring than at defending. The Jem'Hadar, of all people, turned out to be a natural.
Ten games were played, and the entire pool of candidates seemed to be spent. "Okay!" Mack called out. "Here are the standings. We have a tie for first, with three wins apiece, for Teams Two and Four. Third place is Team One, with two wins. The other two teams each won one time. So Team Two and Team Four will play for the championship. Everybody else can hit the showers."
Team Two included the Caitian, the Imvari and the human guy. Team Four included the Jem'Hadar, the Witannen and the Takret. They were all winded. "Take a breather," Wes suggested.
"You'll only play to seven points," Mack decided. "I know you're all beat. I'm not looking for a big scoring blowout, okay? We'll just see this through and then call it a day."
=/\=
"Mr. Madden," Picard said, "I'll need to escalate this matter. Inform Mr. LaForge, Mr. Barclay and B-4 that the matter is Top Level security. Take the Bridge."
"Yes, sir." Marty left the Ready Room.
"Computer," Picard commanded, "get me Admiral Nechayev."
"Jean-Luc," she asked, "what's your news?"
"My team has reported. The chi band radiation appears to be phasing in and out, and changing its radiation band sizes. This may be comparable to what initially happened to Lieutenant Commander Worf that one time."
"Possibly," she allowed, "but we had earlier thought that it was possibly a natural phenomenon. Have you changed your mind?"
"I'm convinced now that it is not. It has lasted a while, and it appears to be far too variable and unstable to be natural – it would have already collapsed upon itself, and it has not."
"So, it's made by an intelligence," she deduced, "and they are sustaining it somehow, yet they're making it appear unstable?"
"That might be a byproduct of what they are doing."
"Which is?"
"They seem to be trying out frequencies. It's almost as if it was communications-based, in that they're trying channel after channel."
"But it's not communications," the admiral pointed out.
"Right. It's more as if were a probing of weaknesses. Wherever they can gain admittance, I suspect they will enter."
"If they can get through without the use of a wormhole, or an ion storm during a simultaneous transport, then they could readily come here."
"Precisely."
"We will," she declared, "treat this as a potential hostile act. I also want you to perform research, and determine if there are any precedents for this sort of, well, I suppose it could be referred to as a universe to universe crossover. Anything beyond ion storms, wormholes and the Lieutenant Commander's experience."
"Understood. Any other orders?"
"Stay in the area for now," she replied, "perhaps they'll reveal themselves. Nechayev out."
In her office, the admiral commanded, "Computer, get me Section 31, and record this call as a Top Level security matter, and all other communications on this subject as well. Create a file, Top Level security protocol, on my authorization only, Nechayev Sigma 621."
Accomplished. File name?
"Operation Mirror Chameleon."
=/\=
The two teams played the final game. Because the prescribed point total was so small, both teams turned over completely the first time that possession of the ball changed, so as to assure that they had complied with the substitution rule. In less than fifteen minutes, the Jem'Hadar's team had won.
"Good going," Mack praised, "I like how everybody took care of the subs issue immediately. That showed foresight. Hit the showers, okay? We'll start interviews but none of you'll be first – give you a chance to cool down a bit." They departed, and she called out, "Computer, create a waiting room that can seat one hundred people. Make me one office, with a table and six chairs. One door should open into the waiting room. The other should open to the exit."
She beckoned to her inner circle and then to one of the Suliban. Once they had all gotten into the office and were seated, she turned to the Suliban and inquired, "Why should I hire you?"
"I, uh, I beg your pardon?"
"That's today's question," she clarified.
"Well, uh, I was on the championship Kalerian montar team in '76. My, my motor skills are good. I can learn any sport you, you ask me to."
As he spoke, the inner circle took notes. "Anything else?" asked Mack.
"Um, I think this would be an interesting assignment."
They had finished interviewing all of the candidates except for the Jem'Hadar and the so-called Magic Seven. Mack called the Jem'Hadar into the office and asked him the same question she had been asking all of the candidates. He thought for a moment, and spoke. "I have watched your methods all week. I do not necessarily agree with all of them. But they seem effective. I suspect you will select a fairly eclectic team. That is likely the best choice, as you will be playing all manner of games, and probably a few that are not known outside their own systems. If I do not fit in with your vision, or I am not compatible with your other choices, then maybe you don't want to bring me on. I can understand such a decision, although I feel it would be the wrong one."
"Oh?" asked Daniya.
"See," the Jem'Hadar continued, "by myself, I can add to your eclecticism. But I can offer more than that. I can offer muscle and intelligence, although you can get those from others. I can offer you a different perspective. I have had to adapt to this culture, and it has not been easy. But I can do it, as I have. This experience in adapting, it can serve us both well as the team changes, engagements fall through or new sports have to be learned. Bring me on, and I will become the player you want me to be."
"What about ketrecel white?" Majira asked.
"I use nearly none of it now, and am nearly completely clean of it," he reported, referring to an addictive drug taken by his species. "I am able to get yridium bicantizine from tri-nucleic fungi. I will need to grow these fungi on board, with your permission, of course."
"It's a genetically engineered dependence, isn't it?" Wes inquired.
"It is," confirmed the Jem'Hadar. "As is loyalty to Vorta, and the Founders. But I have found, as I have been getting my yridium bicantizine from elsewhere, my blind obedience to both groups now seems, well, I have been questioning it. I have been coming to the inescapable conclusion that I don't wish to be their slave any longer."
"We will be closely watching replicating," Mack informed him. "If you are hired, and we find you are upping your dosage, you'll be kicked off the team. I don't care where we are or who we're about to play."
"I understand."
"If any means – whether it's drugs or therapy or an operation or diet or even, I dunno, hypnosis that can cure you once and for all of the dependency, or can at least lessen its severity even more, if you are hired I expect you to undergo it. You'll be expected to seek out those treatments, and not depend on Majira here to find them for you – if we hire you. Is that clear?"
"Abundantly. Coach MacKenzie," the Jem'Hadar looked straight at her, "I do not want this addiction. I never have. My people's creed and our undying devotion to the Vorta and all of that – I have always had trouble following them. As I purge myself of more and more of the white, I find them even more questionable. This addiction, and this creed and everything about it – it has crippled my people and kept my race as slaves to the supply and the suppliers. Every microgram of it is evil. I will fight this addiction, as I have, but not for you. I fight it to free myself from these chemical shackles. And, I hope, for a way for others to be able to break them as well."
"Thank you," Mack replied. He departed. She turned to the others. "I know none of you wanted him. What do you think of him now?"
"I, I'm still not sure," Crita admitted. "But should we not see the, what did you call them?"
"The Magic Seven," Daniya told her.
"Yes, yes, them," confirmed the furry woman.
"Are there any objections to, or reservations about, the Magic Seven?" Mack asked. "Speak now, or forever hold your peace."
Everyone else was quiet. "Let's go out to see them," Mack said. They all stood up. "Computer, eliminate all furnishings unless someone is sitting down, and all holographic trappings." The holodeck converted to its original form, which was a surprisingly small room with grid-like emitters in the floor, on the walls and on the ceiling.
The Magic Seven all looked up once the room had changed. The Andorian asked, "Can we help you?"
"Line up, please," Mack requested, "in any order, it doesn't matter." They did so. She went to the human guy, who was at one end of the line. "What's your name?"
"Uh, Darren Shaw. But call me Tag."
"Congratulations, Tag," she held out her hand. "The job is yours, if you want it."
"Oh, thank you!" He pumped her hand vigorously.
Next was the Caitian. "What's your name?" asked Mack.
"M'Belle."
"Welcome to the team, M'Belle."
"What's your name?" Mack asked a Vulcan woman.
"I am called T'Val."
"Welcome aboard, T'Val. You?" Mack asked the Witannen.
"I am Adeel."
"You're hired, Adeel. You?" Mack asked the Andorian fellow.
"Trechek."
"Great to have you with us, Trechek. You?" Mack addressed a Calafan woman.
"Yi'imspi. My name means student of communications or student of speech."
"I'm happy to report that you're hired. And?" She was at the end of the row, where the Imvari stood.
"I am Grosk."
"I have a job for you, if you want it, Grosk." They shook hands. "Now," Mack added, "I need for you to keep quiet about this for around twenty-four hours. If I get wind that you've spilled the beans early, then the offer is rescinded and you're off the team. There's no talking to parents, children, spouses, lovers, friends, agents, anyone. There's one more thing for you to do today, before you go."
"Oh?" asked Tag.
"Come to the bottom level and pick out a bunk for yourself. Keep in mind, you'll have a roommate."
