ON: <IKV Rakatel, Bridge, Day 13, 1500>>>
"Glinn" The Klingon communications officer asked for attention to the Bajoran commander. The bird of prey had been tailing the Malinche for a while now unaware of their presence.
"Yes?" He said with a raised eyebrow from the commander's chair.
"I have orders from command. They say to make contact and find out what the intent of the ship is."
The commander smiled like he had been waiting for action. He repositioned in his seat to lean forward watching the screen.
"Open a channel but remain cloaked and in the wake of their engine wash." The crewman did so and they all waited for the Malinche to receive. He decided to forgo the pleasantries since they were in the tactical advantage. Fortunately some reinforcements had arrived. More smaller ships but a trio of D-12s could do a lot.
<USS Malinche Bridge>
"Ma'am...incoming message from an unidentified vessel," a nervous looking ensign announced.
The sudden announcement immediately got Aaron's attention. Looking up from his position at tactical, he could see that he wasn't the only one who was surprised to hear this.
Isabel frowned, "On screen." Seeing a Bajoran in the command chair of a Klingon vessel, she said, "This is Captain Kersare of the USS Malinche. Identify yourself."
<IKV Rakatel Bridge>
"That is not important. What is your intent in this system." He looked at the captain and a couple short glances around the bridge for a feel of things as he watched her response.
<USS Malinche Bridge>
Hesitating, Isabel debated what, if anything, to tell them. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that...I'm not authorized to release information to unidentified vessels. Who are you?" In the back of her mind, she wondered if this was what Anara had seen in her vision...
<IKV Rakatel Bridge>
The commander smirked. "Touche, Captain. Very well, I am Glinn Roen of the IKS Rakatel. What faction are you and what is your intent in this system?" He hoped that was enough for Isabel's curiosity but thought it would be otherwise.
<USS Malinche Bridge>
Isabel wondered if the Glinn realized just how much he'd given away. Before they had suspected that there were Mirror Universe vessels in the area, but by identifying himself with a Cardassian rank while on a Klingon ship, he had just confirmed her concerns. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she knew she didn't like it.
A Bajoran Glinn, Aaron thought to himself, That doesn't make any sense. This man had identified himself by Cardassian rank while commanding a Klingon ship near the Badlands. Aaron could think of a number of reasons why a Klingon ship operating near the Badlands would have a Cardassian crew and each one seemed just as valid as the next. What he couldn't explain, however, was why a Bajoran held Cardassian rank.
While all of this speculation was quite interesting, it did not negate the fact that there was a vessel in the area that Aaron had not detected. It was likely that the ship was cloaked, but he was certain that he would have at least picked up some sort of energy signature. There would be time to worry about the why later. Right now, he needed to find that ship and the best way to do that was to try triangulating the vessel's transmission.
Roen had the feeling she should be checking in with the captain to inform her of the latest development of the Prophet's vision when she walked into the bridge to see the Bajoran commander on the screen. She froze with realization and unknowingly dropped her cup of coffee.
At the sound, Isabel turned to see Anara on the bridge. The Bajoran seemed a bit shaken and Isabel was curious if there was something she had wanted to tell her, but right now she had to deal with the Glinn. Looking back at the screen, Isabel said, "I think we both know the answer to your first question, Glinn. As to your second, we are simply following our mission orders, investigating what happened here."
<IKV Rakatel Bridge>
The Rakatel's Glinn harumphed and crossed his arms.
"As such I take it you understand my position is ordered as well. We all do as we are told and in this case we cannot allow you to reach the planet." He motioned to his tactician with a single lifted finger, which was his usual signal for arming the disruptors. In this instance it was to send a standby notice to his wing vessels. "I will give you one hour to think this over. I would hate to have to damage such a fine ship for something preventable, Captain. Roen out."
The screen went black when he cut it off. The Rakatel was still in cloak, hiding the position and caliber of the vessel. Such tactics were a way of life with the smaller, older ship. Not too far off from the terran submarines of the 20th century. The other two remained at a little distance until needed.
<Malinche Bridge>
Roen? That WAS him! Anara thought as she got up. She straightened her uniform and picked her now empty mug up nervously as the captain approached.
Isabel walked over to Anara and regarded her curiously, "What is it, Chief?"
Anara straightened her top before replying and glancing at the screen. "He is...my brother."
"Your brother?" Isabel looked at the Bajoran questioningly. True she didn't know Anara as well as some of her other crewmembers, but didn't seem to recall a brother. Based on Anara's reaction, it appeared that she hadn't expected to see him regardless.
"I don't know how or what did this, but he is him. But he died in the Bajoran Occupation. This...this makes no sense. He has been dead for almost as long as I have been alive!"
Isabel was fairly convinced that the other vessel was from the Mirror Universe, but until her suspicions were confirmed she didn't want to mention it out loud. Frowning slightly, she replied, "We'll get to the bottom of it Chief."
Aaron could hear the conversation between the two women from where he was standing, but he didn't really think it was his place to interject. If they wanted him to be included in the conversation, they would have done so. Right now, he had more important work to be doing.
Judging by what they had seen during the conversation with the Bajoran Glinn, the vessel definitely appeared Klingon in origin. There wasn't really a good way for him to determine the class of vessel just by what he had seen of its interior though. All he had to go on was the transmission they had received and even that wasn't proving to be as easy as it seemed.
OFF
A JP By:
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche
Glinn Roen Amer (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKS Rakatel
Played by: Ens N`rass
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (NPC)
Shuttlebay Manager
USS Malinche
Played by: Ens N`rass
and
Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
Moderators: Tournneau, Korath, Kersare
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
Lt. JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer & 2XO
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
On:
Planet's surface
13:00 hrs
Day 13
As the away team began their survey of the planet, or what was left of it, Aaron started looking around to figure out what caused the lack of lifesigns. As he started his survey he quickly realized that not only was all life on the planet dead, there was no life forms on the planet, dead or alive.
Checking his tricorder, Aaron noticed he was less than a kilometer from a science research center which might answer some of the questions about happened. The main door to the science center was locked, but the computer was still functioning enough to allow Aaron entry. Accessing the computer, he noticed that there were large sections of data missing but what he did find showed no indications of any anomalies that might account for the extinction. About that time, the Trout's (NPC) called in from the Malinche.
=/\= Lt. Steele, it's Morgan Trout. We've been going over scans of the planet's surface. The arctic regions show signs of melting and refreezing, while the ocean levels are lower than expected. Have you found any indication of a firestorm? =/\=
When on DS7, they had a firestorm threaten the planet. Simply put, the firestorm was a spatial anomaly that caused super-heating of a class M planet's atmosphere. DS7 had saw it coming several days ahead of time and was able to activate the planet's shield and prevent disaster.
=/\= It certainly looks like a firestorm hit this planet, but they should have had time to take precautions. Even if they didn't have shielding, they should have been able to take shelter. It's certainly a possibility but I can't say for sure. Do some more research up there, and I'll continue down here. Steele out. =/\=
Off:
Planet's surface
13:00 hrs
Day 13
As the away team began their survey of the planet, or what was left of it, Aaron started looking around to figure out what caused the lack of lifesigns. As he started his survey he quickly realized that not only was all life on the planet dead, there was no life forms on the planet, dead or alive.
Checking his tricorder, Aaron noticed he was less than a kilometer from a science research center which might answer some of the questions about happened. The main door to the science center was locked, but the computer was still functioning enough to allow Aaron entry. Accessing the computer, he noticed that there were large sections of data missing but what he did find showed no indications of any anomalies that might account for the extinction. About that time, the Trout's (NPC) called in from the Malinche.
=/\= Lt. Steele, it's Morgan Trout. We've been going over scans of the planet's surface. The arctic regions show signs of melting and refreezing, while the ocean levels are lower than expected. Have you found any indication of a firestorm? =/\=
When on DS7, they had a firestorm threaten the planet. Simply put, the firestorm was a spatial anomaly that caused super-heating of a class M planet's atmosphere. DS7 had saw it coming several days ahead of time and was able to activate the planet's shield and prevent disaster.
=/\= It certainly looks like a firestorm hit this planet, but they should have had time to take precautions. Even if they didn't have shielding, they should have been able to take shelter. It's certainly a possibility but I can't say for sure. Do some more research up there, and I'll continue down here. Steele out. =/\=
Off:
Lt. Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
OFF: This is a WAY WAY backpost....
ON:
<<Alexis’ Quarters, Day 4, 1734>>
Alexis wasn’t at all sure what to expect from an informal, relaxing, ladies night out. Truth be told, she had never experienced anything like this before. She grinned, remembering that her Academy supervisors even marked her down on her refusal to socialize as much as the others. She finished cleaning up and put on her velvety soft robe. Her closet had little to yield towards an evening with the girls that had the Captain’s RSVP on it. So she decided to go in her own relaxed style. She picked her favorite red tank and blue jeans; attire that she fell in love with in the Academy. She dried her hair and let fall over her shoulders. A few of the red colored highlights dangled down. She put on a little make-up and headed out. In the back of her mind, she still wondered what, if anything, was behind this event.
<Corridor near Holodeck 2, 1755>
After her bridge shift, Isabel had gone back to her quarters to change out of her uniform. Since this was supposed to be a more informal gathering, she thought it best to wear civilian clothes instead. No ranks, no real formality. When Isabel had sent her most recent message, she had established a time of 1800 hours for their little get together. She slowed her pace as she neared the holodeck.
L'Randil was slightly nervous at being invited to a social gathering with the women, including the captain. She had not spent much time on learning social graces among other women so she tried to dress a little neater than usual. The caitian decided that a gold buttoned front shirt and black shorts, which offset her light brown fur.
When she walked around the corner to the holodeck, she saw Isabel at the door and smiled shyly. "Good evening, Ma'am." L'Randil greeted, surprised to see her out of uniform.
Isabel smiled as she saw the Caitian, "Good evening, L'Randil. Feel free to just call me Isabel - we're off duty. It appears we're the first two to arrive, unless Nora or Alexis are already in the holodeck..."
The caitian nodded with a still nervous smile. "Issabell. An interesting name." She commented. "What is it that we are walking into, anyway?"
"I was named after a relative," Isabel replied. "I'm not sure exactly what we're walking into, actually. At least, not if the others are already in there. I do have some programs prepared, though."
Alexis rounded the corner and saw Kersare and L'Randil standing there. She walked up and put on her best sociable smile. “Ladies.”
Turning at the sound of Alexis' voice, Isabel smiled, "Good evening, Alexis. I'm glad you could come." She hoped that by using Alexis' first name, it would let Alexis know that things were informal all the way around for their gathering.
“Thanks for the invitation…Isabel.” She paused. “It just sounds odd, calling one’s Captain by her first name.”
The caitian smiled to the newcomer. She had never met Alexis, so she reached her felinoid hand out in greeting. "I am L'Randil. I don't believe we have met."
Alexis grabbed L’Randil’s…hand…and shook it. “You’re right, we’ve not met. The pleasure is mine, L’Randil.” Alexis had never met a Caitian before. She would relish the opportunity just to talk with her. “I’m Alexis.” She had decide earlier to forgo the use and mention of her abilities for the night. After all, this was supposed to be a relaxing, fun time.
Nora had a bit of a bounce to her step as she approached the holodeck. She had found as the day had worn on that she was rather looking forward to the small get together with Isabel, Alexis and L’Randil. It had literally been years since she’d had a legitimate ladies night, and the timing couldn’t have been better—she was sorely in need of a distraction these days. Dressed in a simple yellow dress, as she neared the group she was pleased to see that everyone else had also dressed comfortably and informally.
“It looks like we’re all a little early,” Nora said, joining the other three. “I hope I didn’t keep you all waiting.”
"Hardly." L'randil replied.
“Nah,” said Alexis.
"Not at all, Nora; you're right on time," Isabel replied.
"I'm glad to hear it." Before changing out of her uniform, Nora had stopped by the holodeck to make sure everything was in order for holoprogram she had selected. “Everyone ready?” she asked, nodding toward the holodeck doors.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Alexis.
Interested to see what Nora had in store for them, Isabel nodded. "I'm ready too; lead the way." She stepped back to allow Nora, Alexis, and L'Randil enter the holodeck first. As Isabel stepped in, she paused at the entrance, taking in the setting.
Nora had put some thought into selecting the setting for their ladies night. In the end, she’d decided on a place very dear to her: Her family home in Betazed, more specifically the grounds and gardens that stretched from the back of the large house to the verdant woods beyond. They entered along one of her favorite paths, one that was lined with bright blooming and somewhat exotic-looking plants.
“Welcome to the Zeral manor. I hope you don’t mind the setting, but I thought that this way we’d have a few choices.” She gestured towards the path as it continued on. “Back at the house, we’re all set up to play cards. Or we can play lawn games in another area of the grounds. And then there’s the forest, of course.” Nora turned to face the wall of trees that stood not too far in the distance. “There are some wonderful trails there if we wanted to take a nature walk. And we could always make our own trail, if we want to,” she finished with a smile, remembering fondly some of the ‘trails’ she’d made for herself during her childhood wanderings.
Isabel smiled as they walked further onto the grounds, "It's very beautiful Nora." Pausing after the Betazoid listed their options, she turned to the others, "Does anyone have a preference? I'm up for any of those activities..."
If there was one thing Alexis had going for her it was a good poker face. But sitting still for her first social event didn’t…well, didn’t set well. “Lawn games sounds interesting. What do you think, L’Randil?”
The caitian smirked. "Well, I am not familiar with most of them but that has never stopped me." She replied as she looked over some of the game items with curiosity, particularly the lawn darts with an almost concerned expression.
Following L'Randil's gaze, Isabel smiled encouragingly, "It's not as bad as it might seem. Looks like we have bocce, lawn darts, horseshoes, cornhole... Would you like to start with lawn darts, or something else?" She glanced around at the other women before adding, "I've played a couple of these games, but not in a long time."
The caitian looked at Isabel with a smile as she picked up a dart. "I was hoping these weren't for a Nosican game. I'm in."
“Excellent,” Nora said, glad that the decision was unanimous. Picking up one of the darts of the opposite color, she turned to Alexis. “Care to partner up? Although I feel I should warn you, I haven’t played lawn darts since I was at the Academy.” Truth be told, she wasn't even sure if she'd ever actually won a game before of lawn darts, but she thought that that information was better left unsaid for the time being.
“Sure,” replied Alexis. “But you’re one up on me. I’ve never heard of this game, let alone played it. It looks like something you would’ve defended your home with back on Ullian.” She grinned.
With a glance L'Randil moved over to Isabel with a dart in each hand. "Team captain?" She joked and handed one of the matching units to her friend. "So what do we shoot these things at?"
Isabel chuckled and took the dart from L'Randil. "Well, we don't shoot them, per se... We toss them and try to get them to land in that circle over there." She pointed towards a ring a short distance away. "Like this," Isabel replied as she took the dart and gave it a slight swing before releasing it underhand. The dart sailed through the air and bounced off the ring. "Well...not quite like that, but it's the general idea."
L'Randil nodded with a smirk. "I see." She looked at Isabel and took her position in the grass to look at the shot. With a delay to deliberate about it, she threw the dart and watched. It flew high and came down just outside the inner ring. "I think I could get used to this." She remarked with a subtle giggle.
“We may be in trouble,” Nora murmured wryly to Alexis. “Something tells me L’Randil’s going to be a natural.” She took a moment to aim her dart and tossed it, grimacing when it missed the mark by several inches. “You may be our team’s only hope, Alexis.”
Alexis smiled. This outing was going to be more fun than she thought. “I’ll try,” she replied. Picking up one of the darts, Alexis drew back and tossed it. The dart stuck out of the ground…about an inch inside the ring. “I’d say ‘almost,’ but my Academy roommate always said, ‘Almost only counts with horseshoes, photon grenades, and tricobalt devices.”
Before she knew it, it was Isabel's turn again. She picked up a dart and eyed her target, giving the dart a slight swing before releasing it. The dart sailed through the air and landed just inside the ring. "Well, that went better. L'Randil, your turn," she smiled as she held out a dart for the Caitian."
L'Randil smirked. This was proving to be interesting without being strenuous. She tossed it for a second near-bullseye score. "I like this. It reminds me of my days with the mining company. We would take turns throwing ore rocks at a bucket at the other end of the hangar."
For the next half hour, the four women continued taking turns at darts. L'Randil did the best, consistently, of the group. After the initial couple rounds, Alexis seemed to be doing better, but then faltered for awhile; however, she finished on a high note. Isabel continued not doing so well at first, but found her rhythm after a few tries. Nora, on the other hand, was mostly hit or miss. In the end, L'Randil and Isabel won - albeit by a small margin.
Nora had enjoyed herself and, despite her inexperience, was now of the opinion that lawn darts was an enjoyable game, especially when the company was good. With the game having been finished, she found that she was feeling a bit famished. “Is anyone else getting hungry?” she asked the group. “I thought that we might work up an appetite, and so in true Betazoid fashion there’s a veritable feast waiting for us.”
"Sounds good," Isabel said with a smile. "What's on the menu?" She waited to allow the Counselor to lead the way, and then let the other two go ahead of her. Isabel wondered exactly how large the feast was...
“I wasn’t sure what everyone would like,” Nora admitted, returning to the path they had entered on. “I chose some of my favorite Betazoid dishes along with some more traditional fare, just in case Betazoid food doesn't particularly appeal to everyone.”
L'Randil smelled the foods as they approached the table. The vegetarian samplings did not attract her attention as much as the grilled meats. It was a pleasant distraction amid the enjoyable company.
The path meandered a short ways back through the gardens before ultimately leading to a long terrace. The table that awaited them there was set for four, and nearly every inch of its surface was filled with a variety of colorful and aromatic dishes. Nora waited for the others to be seated before sitting down herself, eyeing the uttaberry crepes hungrily.
Isabel raised an eyebrow at the impressive spread of food laid before them. Once she'd taken a seat, she glanced around, getting a closer look at the food. Turning to Nora, she asked, "Any recommendations, Nora?"
“The uttaberry crepes are my favorite, which would probably explain why I can’t seem to take my eyes off of them at the moment,” Nora grinned. “Swix is also wonderful if you like sweet fruit. Raixen is not a particular favorite of mine, I confess, but my brothers absolutely adore it,” she said, gesturing to the spaghetti-like dish.
Nodding, Isabel decided to try a little of each. She had had uttaberry crepes once or twice before, but not the swix or raixen. It all looked and smelled good, at the least. Isabel used her fork to pick up one of the pieces of swix from her plate and ate it. It was quite juicy and, as Nora had said, sweet. Smiling she said, "Very good."
“I’m glad you like it.” Nora took a bite of her own swix, having decided to save the crepes for last. “If you ever find yourself on Betazed, be sure to try a swix there. There’s really nothing like a fresh swix. It just can’t be replicated.”
As the others also started eating, Isabel moved on to the raixen. She twirled a few strands of the pasta onto her fork with the help of her spoon before placing it in her mouth. The sauce, Isabel decided, was a bit odd. Not necessarily bad, but she wasn't quite sure how much she liked it. Isabel took another bite.
The non-meat dishes were a little different for the catian's palette but she tried anyway. Her reaction was similar to Isabel's, although she decided to move down the line a little to some meats. Her nose told her it was good, although she did not recognize it. "What is this particular meat, if I may?" L'Randil asked her host as she tasted some with a smile.
Nora glanced over at L’Randil. “That would be ranet. It comes from a small predator that lives in the jungles on Betazed. It’s something of a delicacy, unless you happen to live close by a jungle.” She was not particularly fond of tanet herself, or most other meats for that matter, but was glad that L’Randil seemed to be enjoying it.
The four women continued their meal, enjoying each others' company and their surroundings. It was a good first step at them getting to know each other and hopefully one that they could continue to build on in the future. Regardless, for the time being everything else - any concerns or stresses - seemed to melt away with the sounds of their voices and laughter.
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant JG Alexis Rho
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Nora Zeral
Chief Counselor & Second Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
ON:
<<Alexis’ Quarters, Day 4, 1734>>
Alexis wasn’t at all sure what to expect from an informal, relaxing, ladies night out. Truth be told, she had never experienced anything like this before. She grinned, remembering that her Academy supervisors even marked her down on her refusal to socialize as much as the others. She finished cleaning up and put on her velvety soft robe. Her closet had little to yield towards an evening with the girls that had the Captain’s RSVP on it. So she decided to go in her own relaxed style. She picked her favorite red tank and blue jeans; attire that she fell in love with in the Academy. She dried her hair and let fall over her shoulders. A few of the red colored highlights dangled down. She put on a little make-up and headed out. In the back of her mind, she still wondered what, if anything, was behind this event.
<Corridor near Holodeck 2, 1755>
After her bridge shift, Isabel had gone back to her quarters to change out of her uniform. Since this was supposed to be a more informal gathering, she thought it best to wear civilian clothes instead. No ranks, no real formality. When Isabel had sent her most recent message, she had established a time of 1800 hours for their little get together. She slowed her pace as she neared the holodeck.
L'Randil was slightly nervous at being invited to a social gathering with the women, including the captain. She had not spent much time on learning social graces among other women so she tried to dress a little neater than usual. The caitian decided that a gold buttoned front shirt and black shorts, which offset her light brown fur.
When she walked around the corner to the holodeck, she saw Isabel at the door and smiled shyly. "Good evening, Ma'am." L'Randil greeted, surprised to see her out of uniform.
Isabel smiled as she saw the Caitian, "Good evening, L'Randil. Feel free to just call me Isabel - we're off duty. It appears we're the first two to arrive, unless Nora or Alexis are already in the holodeck..."
The caitian nodded with a still nervous smile. "Issabell. An interesting name." She commented. "What is it that we are walking into, anyway?"
"I was named after a relative," Isabel replied. "I'm not sure exactly what we're walking into, actually. At least, not if the others are already in there. I do have some programs prepared, though."
Alexis rounded the corner and saw Kersare and L'Randil standing there. She walked up and put on her best sociable smile. “Ladies.”
Turning at the sound of Alexis' voice, Isabel smiled, "Good evening, Alexis. I'm glad you could come." She hoped that by using Alexis' first name, it would let Alexis know that things were informal all the way around for their gathering.
“Thanks for the invitation…Isabel.” She paused. “It just sounds odd, calling one’s Captain by her first name.”
The caitian smiled to the newcomer. She had never met Alexis, so she reached her felinoid hand out in greeting. "I am L'Randil. I don't believe we have met."
Alexis grabbed L’Randil’s…hand…and shook it. “You’re right, we’ve not met. The pleasure is mine, L’Randil.” Alexis had never met a Caitian before. She would relish the opportunity just to talk with her. “I’m Alexis.” She had decide earlier to forgo the use and mention of her abilities for the night. After all, this was supposed to be a relaxing, fun time.
Nora had a bit of a bounce to her step as she approached the holodeck. She had found as the day had worn on that she was rather looking forward to the small get together with Isabel, Alexis and L’Randil. It had literally been years since she’d had a legitimate ladies night, and the timing couldn’t have been better—she was sorely in need of a distraction these days. Dressed in a simple yellow dress, as she neared the group she was pleased to see that everyone else had also dressed comfortably and informally.
“It looks like we’re all a little early,” Nora said, joining the other three. “I hope I didn’t keep you all waiting.”
"Hardly." L'randil replied.
“Nah,” said Alexis.
"Not at all, Nora; you're right on time," Isabel replied.
"I'm glad to hear it." Before changing out of her uniform, Nora had stopped by the holodeck to make sure everything was in order for holoprogram she had selected. “Everyone ready?” she asked, nodding toward the holodeck doors.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Alexis.
Interested to see what Nora had in store for them, Isabel nodded. "I'm ready too; lead the way." She stepped back to allow Nora, Alexis, and L'Randil enter the holodeck first. As Isabel stepped in, she paused at the entrance, taking in the setting.
Nora had put some thought into selecting the setting for their ladies night. In the end, she’d decided on a place very dear to her: Her family home in Betazed, more specifically the grounds and gardens that stretched from the back of the large house to the verdant woods beyond. They entered along one of her favorite paths, one that was lined with bright blooming and somewhat exotic-looking plants.
“Welcome to the Zeral manor. I hope you don’t mind the setting, but I thought that this way we’d have a few choices.” She gestured towards the path as it continued on. “Back at the house, we’re all set up to play cards. Or we can play lawn games in another area of the grounds. And then there’s the forest, of course.” Nora turned to face the wall of trees that stood not too far in the distance. “There are some wonderful trails there if we wanted to take a nature walk. And we could always make our own trail, if we want to,” she finished with a smile, remembering fondly some of the ‘trails’ she’d made for herself during her childhood wanderings.
Isabel smiled as they walked further onto the grounds, "It's very beautiful Nora." Pausing after the Betazoid listed their options, she turned to the others, "Does anyone have a preference? I'm up for any of those activities..."
If there was one thing Alexis had going for her it was a good poker face. But sitting still for her first social event didn’t…well, didn’t set well. “Lawn games sounds interesting. What do you think, L’Randil?”
The caitian smirked. "Well, I am not familiar with most of them but that has never stopped me." She replied as she looked over some of the game items with curiosity, particularly the lawn darts with an almost concerned expression.
Following L'Randil's gaze, Isabel smiled encouragingly, "It's not as bad as it might seem. Looks like we have bocce, lawn darts, horseshoes, cornhole... Would you like to start with lawn darts, or something else?" She glanced around at the other women before adding, "I've played a couple of these games, but not in a long time."
The caitian looked at Isabel with a smile as she picked up a dart. "I was hoping these weren't for a Nosican game. I'm in."
“Excellent,” Nora said, glad that the decision was unanimous. Picking up one of the darts of the opposite color, she turned to Alexis. “Care to partner up? Although I feel I should warn you, I haven’t played lawn darts since I was at the Academy.” Truth be told, she wasn't even sure if she'd ever actually won a game before of lawn darts, but she thought that that information was better left unsaid for the time being.
“Sure,” replied Alexis. “But you’re one up on me. I’ve never heard of this game, let alone played it. It looks like something you would’ve defended your home with back on Ullian.” She grinned.
With a glance L'Randil moved over to Isabel with a dart in each hand. "Team captain?" She joked and handed one of the matching units to her friend. "So what do we shoot these things at?"
Isabel chuckled and took the dart from L'Randil. "Well, we don't shoot them, per se... We toss them and try to get them to land in that circle over there." She pointed towards a ring a short distance away. "Like this," Isabel replied as she took the dart and gave it a slight swing before releasing it underhand. The dart sailed through the air and bounced off the ring. "Well...not quite like that, but it's the general idea."
L'Randil nodded with a smirk. "I see." She looked at Isabel and took her position in the grass to look at the shot. With a delay to deliberate about it, she threw the dart and watched. It flew high and came down just outside the inner ring. "I think I could get used to this." She remarked with a subtle giggle.
“We may be in trouble,” Nora murmured wryly to Alexis. “Something tells me L’Randil’s going to be a natural.” She took a moment to aim her dart and tossed it, grimacing when it missed the mark by several inches. “You may be our team’s only hope, Alexis.”
Alexis smiled. This outing was going to be more fun than she thought. “I’ll try,” she replied. Picking up one of the darts, Alexis drew back and tossed it. The dart stuck out of the ground…about an inch inside the ring. “I’d say ‘almost,’ but my Academy roommate always said, ‘Almost only counts with horseshoes, photon grenades, and tricobalt devices.”
Before she knew it, it was Isabel's turn again. She picked up a dart and eyed her target, giving the dart a slight swing before releasing it. The dart sailed through the air and landed just inside the ring. "Well, that went better. L'Randil, your turn," she smiled as she held out a dart for the Caitian."
L'Randil smirked. This was proving to be interesting without being strenuous. She tossed it for a second near-bullseye score. "I like this. It reminds me of my days with the mining company. We would take turns throwing ore rocks at a bucket at the other end of the hangar."
For the next half hour, the four women continued taking turns at darts. L'Randil did the best, consistently, of the group. After the initial couple rounds, Alexis seemed to be doing better, but then faltered for awhile; however, she finished on a high note. Isabel continued not doing so well at first, but found her rhythm after a few tries. Nora, on the other hand, was mostly hit or miss. In the end, L'Randil and Isabel won - albeit by a small margin.
Nora had enjoyed herself and, despite her inexperience, was now of the opinion that lawn darts was an enjoyable game, especially when the company was good. With the game having been finished, she found that she was feeling a bit famished. “Is anyone else getting hungry?” she asked the group. “I thought that we might work up an appetite, and so in true Betazoid fashion there’s a veritable feast waiting for us.”
"Sounds good," Isabel said with a smile. "What's on the menu?" She waited to allow the Counselor to lead the way, and then let the other two go ahead of her. Isabel wondered exactly how large the feast was...
“I wasn’t sure what everyone would like,” Nora admitted, returning to the path they had entered on. “I chose some of my favorite Betazoid dishes along with some more traditional fare, just in case Betazoid food doesn't particularly appeal to everyone.”
L'Randil smelled the foods as they approached the table. The vegetarian samplings did not attract her attention as much as the grilled meats. It was a pleasant distraction amid the enjoyable company.
The path meandered a short ways back through the gardens before ultimately leading to a long terrace. The table that awaited them there was set for four, and nearly every inch of its surface was filled with a variety of colorful and aromatic dishes. Nora waited for the others to be seated before sitting down herself, eyeing the uttaberry crepes hungrily.
Isabel raised an eyebrow at the impressive spread of food laid before them. Once she'd taken a seat, she glanced around, getting a closer look at the food. Turning to Nora, she asked, "Any recommendations, Nora?"
“The uttaberry crepes are my favorite, which would probably explain why I can’t seem to take my eyes off of them at the moment,” Nora grinned. “Swix is also wonderful if you like sweet fruit. Raixen is not a particular favorite of mine, I confess, but my brothers absolutely adore it,” she said, gesturing to the spaghetti-like dish.
Nodding, Isabel decided to try a little of each. She had had uttaberry crepes once or twice before, but not the swix or raixen. It all looked and smelled good, at the least. Isabel used her fork to pick up one of the pieces of swix from her plate and ate it. It was quite juicy and, as Nora had said, sweet. Smiling she said, "Very good."
“I’m glad you like it.” Nora took a bite of her own swix, having decided to save the crepes for last. “If you ever find yourself on Betazed, be sure to try a swix there. There’s really nothing like a fresh swix. It just can’t be replicated.”
As the others also started eating, Isabel moved on to the raixen. She twirled a few strands of the pasta onto her fork with the help of her spoon before placing it in her mouth. The sauce, Isabel decided, was a bit odd. Not necessarily bad, but she wasn't quite sure how much she liked it. Isabel took another bite.
The non-meat dishes were a little different for the catian's palette but she tried anyway. Her reaction was similar to Isabel's, although she decided to move down the line a little to some meats. Her nose told her it was good, although she did not recognize it. "What is this particular meat, if I may?" L'Randil asked her host as she tasted some with a smile.
Nora glanced over at L’Randil. “That would be ranet. It comes from a small predator that lives in the jungles on Betazed. It’s something of a delicacy, unless you happen to live close by a jungle.” She was not particularly fond of tanet herself, or most other meats for that matter, but was glad that L’Randil seemed to be enjoying it.
The four women continued their meal, enjoying each others' company and their surroundings. It was a good first step at them getting to know each other and hopefully one that they could continue to build on in the future. Regardless, for the time being everything else - any concerns or stresses - seemed to melt away with the sounds of their voices and laughter.
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant JG Alexis Rho
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Nora Zeral
Chief Counselor & Second Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<IkV Rakatel, Captain's ready room. Day 12>
<door chime>
"Come in." The Bajoran responded. "Have a seat, Captains."
The Cardassian and Klingon officers sat in seats across from the Glinn's desk.
"For the time being we have the element of surprise against the Terran vessel." He pointed outside to the direction of the unaware Malinche. "Once the order goes out to take action, we need to be coordinated to have the best effect."
"Agreed." The Cardassian affirmed with crossed arms. "What do you propose?"
The Klingon grunted. "We should take them out now while they are not expecting it!"
"Easy, Gul." Roen leaned forward in his seat and slid a pair of Padds to the others. "We will play the diplomatic card just to see if they are as weak as they are said to be. We don't want them getting to the planet, but if we can get them close to it we stand a better chance of hiding in radiation surges or getting backup from the larger ships. Here is the action plan starting from the time I send the signal. We need to maintain communication silence until then. That is why you were sent here in person. That ship has a very sophisticated sensory aray and should be taken very seriously."
"A fit plan, Glinn." The Cardassian Gul said. "It is a shame you are not a fleet commander."
Roen sighed. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. At one point I was, but that was a different order and time. The Alliance brass is not known for being very amenable, as you are both aware."
The other two smirked and nodded. "Diplomatically stated."
"I try." Roen smiled, then stood up. The others followed suit. "If you two have no further questions, dismissed."
OFF:
Glinn Roen Amer
Commanding officer
IKV Rakatel
and other NPC's
by
<door chime>
"Come in." The Bajoran responded. "Have a seat, Captains."
The Cardassian and Klingon officers sat in seats across from the Glinn's desk.
"For the time being we have the element of surprise against the Terran vessel." He pointed outside to the direction of the unaware Malinche. "Once the order goes out to take action, we need to be coordinated to have the best effect."
"Agreed." The Cardassian affirmed with crossed arms. "What do you propose?"
The Klingon grunted. "We should take them out now while they are not expecting it!"
"Easy, Gul." Roen leaned forward in his seat and slid a pair of Padds to the others. "We will play the diplomatic card just to see if they are as weak as they are said to be. We don't want them getting to the planet, but if we can get them close to it we stand a better chance of hiding in radiation surges or getting backup from the larger ships. Here is the action plan starting from the time I send the signal. We need to maintain communication silence until then. That is why you were sent here in person. That ship has a very sophisticated sensory aray and should be taken very seriously."
"A fit plan, Glinn." The Cardassian Gul said. "It is a shame you are not a fleet commander."
Roen sighed. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. At one point I was, but that was a different order and time. The Alliance brass is not known for being very amenable, as you are both aware."
The other two smirked and nodded. "Diplomatically stated."
"I try." Roen smiled, then stood up. The others followed suit. "If you two have no further questions, dismissed."
OFF:
Glinn Roen Amer
Commanding officer
IKV Rakatel
and other NPC's
by
Lieutenant JG L'Randil N'rass
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<<Planet Surface>>
<Colony Site, 1315, Day 13>
So far they had come up with nothing. Looking down at his environmental readout, Jason saw that he had about an hours worth of air left. He walked over to where Aaron Steele was scanning a large piece of what Jason assumed was structure.
"Finding anything yet Aaron?"
Aaron turned to face the XO even though with the EV Suits is wasn't required. He did so both out of habit and courtesy.
"Not really, it's more of what I'm not finding that bothers me. If this was indeed due to a firestorm, they should have had plenty of time to take the necessary precautions but I'm finding no indications they knew of their impending doomsday."
"Neither has anyone else," Jason said, looking around. Some of the smoke had dissipated lifting the fog slightly. That was one thing that was more then disturbing to Jason, the fact that this place used to be so teeming with life and now it was nothing but a pile of ash.
Looking around Jason couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something about this place wasn’t right. He had a feeling that it wasn’t a what that did this, more like a who. He had to push down his feelings about Adam and Tavi; Captain Kersare was an excellent captain and the Malinche a well armed ship. If whoever did this did return then the Malinche would be more then a match for them.
"I've notified the captain that we are coming up empty," Jason said. "We're also starting to run low on air...I suggest we take our final readings and then get out of here."
"We've completed our survey of the area," Trace said, jogging over to where Aaron, Julie (NPC), and Jason were standing. They had fanned out from the center of the colony, attempting to find anything. McCarty had stayed behind in the runabout, attempting to get some scans from there. So far, no one had come up with anything.
"And?" Jason asked.
"And nothing," Trace responded. "There isn't a clue around here at all. I can honestly say sir, I don't have any clue who or what could have caused this."
Even though he had basically struck out, Aaron hoped that someone else would have found some evidence of what had occurred. But from the sounds of it, they were no closer to solving the mystery now than when they first got word the colony was incommunicado. As the security officer was speaking, Aaron's tricorder started beeping. Flipping it open, the science officer attempted to identify the source of the alarm.
"Uh, Sir. I'm picking up some sort of radiation signature."
Jason looked at the science officer. "Are you sure about that? And what kind and where the hell is it coming from? Everything else around here is ashes."
Aaron checked his tricorder once again to be sure.
"Sorry sir, I'm not sure what type of radiation nor the source. As I mentioned earlier there is high levels of thermionic radiation present but that's not what I'm picking up. It's probably a good thing we're heading back up, given the circumstances I'm not comfortable with remaining on the planet if we can't identify the radiation."
"Commander Barrett to the Malinche, come in."
His transmission was met with nothing but static.
"The atmosphere is highly charged," Trace said. "I doubt that we'll be able to get any of our transmissions out until we clear it."
"Is there any way that you can isolate the source?" Jason asked, looking at Aaron. "Any way at all. I hate the idea of us going back without something to show for it."
"Already on it sir." Aaron attempted to locate or at least narrow down the source of the radiation but wasn't having much luck. "I am currently unable to isolate the source of the radiation. As for returning empty handed, that's not completely true. Sometimes the lack of evidence is just as strong as a lot of evidence. I'm pretty sure that whatever happened here wasn't natural, at least nothing we're currently aware of, and it most likely happened quickly."
"We may not have much choice," Trace sighed. "I don't think that we are going to be able to get much else out of all this."
“At least no one suffered,” Jason said, looking around.
“Probably not,” Trace said.
“Let’s pack up shop people,” Jason said. “We need to get out of here. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”
“I’ve been saying that since the beginning,” Ryan grumbled.
Jason shook his head, taking in the view again. There was something about this place that was decidedly evil…something that he couldn’t put his finger on. The away team started to head toward the runabout, leaving the ashen remains of the colony behind.
OFF: a JP By:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
And
Lt. Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
And
<Colony Site, 1315, Day 13>
So far they had come up with nothing. Looking down at his environmental readout, Jason saw that he had about an hours worth of air left. He walked over to where Aaron Steele was scanning a large piece of what Jason assumed was structure.
"Finding anything yet Aaron?"
Aaron turned to face the XO even though with the EV Suits is wasn't required. He did so both out of habit and courtesy.
"Not really, it's more of what I'm not finding that bothers me. If this was indeed due to a firestorm, they should have had plenty of time to take the necessary precautions but I'm finding no indications they knew of their impending doomsday."
"Neither has anyone else," Jason said, looking around. Some of the smoke had dissipated lifting the fog slightly. That was one thing that was more then disturbing to Jason, the fact that this place used to be so teeming with life and now it was nothing but a pile of ash.
Looking around Jason couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something about this place wasn’t right. He had a feeling that it wasn’t a what that did this, more like a who. He had to push down his feelings about Adam and Tavi; Captain Kersare was an excellent captain and the Malinche a well armed ship. If whoever did this did return then the Malinche would be more then a match for them.
"I've notified the captain that we are coming up empty," Jason said. "We're also starting to run low on air...I suggest we take our final readings and then get out of here."
"We've completed our survey of the area," Trace said, jogging over to where Aaron, Julie (NPC), and Jason were standing. They had fanned out from the center of the colony, attempting to find anything. McCarty had stayed behind in the runabout, attempting to get some scans from there. So far, no one had come up with anything.
"And?" Jason asked.
"And nothing," Trace responded. "There isn't a clue around here at all. I can honestly say sir, I don't have any clue who or what could have caused this."
Even though he had basically struck out, Aaron hoped that someone else would have found some evidence of what had occurred. But from the sounds of it, they were no closer to solving the mystery now than when they first got word the colony was incommunicado. As the security officer was speaking, Aaron's tricorder started beeping. Flipping it open, the science officer attempted to identify the source of the alarm.
"Uh, Sir. I'm picking up some sort of radiation signature."
Jason looked at the science officer. "Are you sure about that? And what kind and where the hell is it coming from? Everything else around here is ashes."
Aaron checked his tricorder once again to be sure.
"Sorry sir, I'm not sure what type of radiation nor the source. As I mentioned earlier there is high levels of thermionic radiation present but that's not what I'm picking up. It's probably a good thing we're heading back up, given the circumstances I'm not comfortable with remaining on the planet if we can't identify the radiation."
"Commander Barrett to the Malinche, come in."
His transmission was met with nothing but static.
"The atmosphere is highly charged," Trace said. "I doubt that we'll be able to get any of our transmissions out until we clear it."
"Is there any way that you can isolate the source?" Jason asked, looking at Aaron. "Any way at all. I hate the idea of us going back without something to show for it."
"Already on it sir." Aaron attempted to locate or at least narrow down the source of the radiation but wasn't having much luck. "I am currently unable to isolate the source of the radiation. As for returning empty handed, that's not completely true. Sometimes the lack of evidence is just as strong as a lot of evidence. I'm pretty sure that whatever happened here wasn't natural, at least nothing we're currently aware of, and it most likely happened quickly."
"We may not have much choice," Trace sighed. "I don't think that we are going to be able to get much else out of all this."
“At least no one suffered,” Jason said, looking around.
“Probably not,” Trace said.
“Let’s pack up shop people,” Jason said. “We need to get out of here. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”
“I’ve been saying that since the beginning,” Ryan grumbled.
Jason shook his head, taking in the view again. There was something about this place that was decidedly evil…something that he couldn’t put his finger on. The away team started to head toward the runabout, leaving the ashen remains of the colony behind.
OFF: a JP By:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
And
Lt. Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
And
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
ON: <<USS Malinche, Bridge, Day 13, 1610>>
Not much had changed in the several hours since the away team had gone to the surface. The charged atmosphere of the now red, burning planet had prevented communications with the shuttle and away team members. However, the shuttle had just returned to the Malinche. Isabel was hoping that Jason would bring her some form of answers...or at least better questions for them to solve.
With the return of the away team, it was now only a matter of time before they heard a report of their findings on the planet’s surface. Nora, like many others, was anxious to hear what they had found. The long wait had left her feeling tired, but now that they were closer to getting some answers, she was beginning to feel somewhat invigorated. “I wonder how the away team's holding up,” she commented to Isabel, noting the time. “After nearly eight hours on the planet's surface, they must be exhausted.”
Isabel nodded, "I would imagine so. Especially having to wear the environmental suits...and considering what the conditions on the planet seem to be. The sooner we solve this, though, the better." The away team - or at least Jason - likely wouldn't be back to the bridge for a little while yet, but she hoped to get a full report as soon as possible. Perhaps once they had that, they could better prepare themselves for solving the mystery.
Aaron sighed as he concluded what must have been his one hundredth scan of the area. Their proximity to the Badlands was causing significant interference with the sensors, not to mention all the residual energy traces from whatever it was that had attacked the colony. He'd been working with operations in hopes of clearing up some of the interference and he was hoping that the latest scans might show some improvement.
Looking down at the results of his latest sweep, Aaron began looking for anything out of the ordinary. He was just about to give up on finding anything when something caught his eye. There appeared to be a several faint energy signatures that hadn't been present in the last round of scans he had made. It was possible that these readings were only visible now because of the modifications that had been made, but he wasn't about to leave anything to chance.
Warrant Officer 2nd Class D'Vhal grunted at the status display in front of him. With a quick command tapped into the console he re-ran the diagnostic and grunted again. Somehow the power conduits on Deck 3 were reading as passing more power though them than the units they connected to at either end could account for. With another quick command tapped into the console, D'Vhal logged a repair request for the status monitors on those conduits.
"Report," Isabel said, addressing those on the bridge. The encounter with the potential Mirror Universe vessel not too long ago was still fresh in her mind; that ship was out there somewhere and, for all she knew, now had additional help. For now, she was relieved that the away team had gotten back safely.
"Engines and power systems are operating normally, Captain," D'Vhal reported immediately. He didn't mention the anomalous reading on the power conduits. That was clearly the result of a bad sensor and would be corrected very shortly, and it would not affect the Malinche's performance if there were a battle. Of course, if it DID become an issue, he would report it immediately, but he'd seen readings just like this a dozen times already in his short career.
As the other bridge officers were giving their reports, Aaron tried to figure out how to best sum up the complete lack of information he had to give her. His constant scans had revealed nothing of interest amongst all the residual and background radiation, even with all the modifications that had been made. It was at that moment that something in the latest scan caught his eye.
"Captain," Aaron said, looking up from his station, "I apologize for the interruption, but I think I might have found something."
Turning towards Aaron, Isabel raise an eyebrow, "What have you found, Lieutenant?" She had found it rather odd that they had thus far come up essentially empty-handed on the location of the vessel that had contacted them and on any clues as to what had caused the devastation on Athos III. Overall, the lack of evidence was disconcerting...but perhaps Aaron would have something or perhaps the away team would have some information.
"There are some unusual energy fluctuations bearing zero-zero-mark-one-eight-zero," Aaron replied, double checking the sensor readings on his tactical display, "It could be a cloaked ship."
"The ship from earlier?" Isabel asked him. "Or more likely some other ship?" Part of her hoped it was the ship from earlier...if it was something else, it would mean that there was more than one vessel out there waiting for them. And if it happened to be the ship that wreaked havok on the planet...Isabel was much less confident of their ability to defend themselves.
Roen looked at Isabel and Aaron, having thought for a moment. "Captain, if I may?" She was not used to addressing the captain but pushed on, "my visions pictured him from behind us. That is him."
Isabel looked over at Anara as she spoke up, considering the Bajoran's words. Though there perhaps wasn't any concrete evidence, she had a feeling that the woman was right. "What else can you tell us, Chief?"
"I doubt he will attack alone, Ma'am." Anara replied. "The Amer I remember was tricky but not foolish."
Nodding, Isabel turned to Aaron, "Any chance you could be picking up on more than one ship? Scan the area and see if you can pick up more readings..."
Aaron's hands danced across the surface of his console as he expanded the sweep outward. Even though it was only a faint reading, he used what he already had as a baseline in his search. The seconds ticked by as he waited for some sort of result from the scans. "There doesn't appear to be..." Aaron began, but he paused. Something had just caught his attention.
"I think I may have found another one, captain," he said, looking toward Kersare, "bearing one-four-mark-two-seven. I'd need to run a more focused scan to be sure, but that would probably alert whoever is out there to the fact that we're on to them."
"I'd rather avoid that for now, Lieutenant," Isabel said. "Anything else we can do? Especially to find out how many more ships we may be dealing with?" What they did, tactically, would partly depend on how many ships they were up against. For now, the chances of them determining what ship classes they were would be slim.
"The background interference is still too high for us to get any kind of definitive reading, ma'am," he replied, "It is possible that these readings are cloaked ships, but I can't really tell you anything more without running a more intensive scan." The truth was, he was still a little frustrated that he hadn't come across any of this in his earlier sweeps. It was his job to make sure the Malinche and her crew remained safe from any threat. Then again, it was said that hindsight was twenty-twenty.
Isabel paused to consider their options. While she didn't really want to tip of the other possible cloaked ships, the fact of the matter was that if they were out there, they already knew the Malinche was here. And, if they spoke to Glinn Roen, they would also have realized that the Malinche would be wary of other ships. "Go ahead and run the intensive scans, Lieutenant. Chances are that if other ships are out there, the first one we encountered has already informed them that we're aware of their presence."
<Rakatel Bridge>
"Glinn" The tactical officer on the Klingon vessel said as he turned to the commander. "The Terran vessel is actively pinging. There is a high likelihood they will detect the others."
He nodded. "Noted. That poses little threat to us since their torpedoes will likely not possess such tracking." Roen paused and looked at the screen. "Where do we stand on time?"
"Ten more minutes, Sir. The other two ships have the attack pattern and time synchronized." The helm officer replied.
"Good. Maintain silent running until the mark."
"Aye, Sir."
<USS Malinche Bridge>
From the command chair, Isabel turned back to Aaron, "Anything, Lieutenant? Do you need a boost to the tactical sensors?" She hoped to have an idea of what they would be up against as soon as possible so that a tactical strategy of some sort could be developed. They did know there was a Klingon vessel out there - Bird of Prey, it seemed, but most certainly it would not be alone, as Anara had pointed out.
"I'm afraid the readings are still a little vague, ma'am," Aaron replied as he focused the Malinche's tactical sensors on the two anomalous energy readings he had detected. It was pretty clear that the readings were the emissions of two cloaked ships, though it was still hard to tell exactly what types of vessels they might be.
The second vessel he had detected was definitively larger than the first and it was holding position at a greater distance away. It was the proximity of the first vessel that had Aaron concerned. "Captain...I've managed to trace the transmission to the readings located directly astern," Aaron announced, "I believe they are shadowing us."
Isabel frowned; though she wasn't surprised, per se, she still didn't like the thought. "And I suppose that for all we know, there are even more ships out there somewhere that we simply aren't picking up..." It was not a pleasant thought, that was for sure.
Anara looked to Aaron and interrupted. "May I see the data, Sir?" There are certain Badlands tactics that I may be more practiced at interpreting scans from."
Aaron looked at the woman for a moment, the stepped slightly to one side so that she was able to view display as well. He was the Chief Security/Tactical officer and it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of both ship and crew. If there was something that she was able to contribute to their situation, he was willing to hear her out.
"And what do you recommend from a Tactical perspective, Lieutenant?" Isabel asked her Chief Security/Tactical Officer. Part of her wanted to consider MVAM as it would give their adversaries multiple targets rather than a single one. However, the other ships could use the time it took to separate the vessel to attack.
Taking a moment to consider the situation, Aaron thought about the Glinn's ultimatum that they leave the system within one hour. It wouldn't be long before they found out whether the Glinn would be following through on his threat to open fire. They had already detected two vessels shadowing the Malinche and there was the distinct possibility of more cloaked ships in the area that they hadn't discovered yet. "Ordinarily, I would suggest waiting to see if they are actually going to follow through," Aaron replied, "but given the circumstances, I don't think it would be the best idea to let them control the situation any more than they already do."
Anara smirked as she brought up the radiation map of the vicinity. "A pack of wolves in the forest..." The remark caused the officers to turn their attention. "This is only a theory, Captain, but at our current rate of orbit, the Malinche will be in the radiation storm in grid C-9 at the point of the ultimatum. A classic badland's ambush. In that scenario it could be three or ten and still hide if they know what they are doing."
Isabel pondered the situation. Obviously they were headed for an ambush, and she did not like it. They had a mystery to solve on Athos III and these ships shadowing them... Truthfully she wouldn't be surprised if somehow they were involved, though considering how little it appeared was left on the planet, Isabel wasn't sure why they cared so much if the Malinche was there.
D'Vhal let a soft growl escape his throat, then looked around to make sure no one had heard it. These enemies were using dishonorable tactics. Cloaking devices were one thing, but attacking an out-numbered enemy when they were blind went against every sense of decency a Klingon in THIS universe would have.
"We have the advantage of knowing the location of at least two of their ships," Aaron said, leaning his hands on the edge of his tactical console, "whether there are any more in the area or not, that's at least two vessels within striking range. I'd rather we be the ones calling the shots if it comes to anything."
Nodding slowly as she considered Aaron's suggestion, Isabel replied, "I agree that I'd rather not be on the defensive if we can help it. At the same time, if we attack one vessel, the other will likely come to the first one's aid and, if there are more ships in the area, they may also join in. Based on the readings you've gotten, what do you think our chances are if we go to MVAM to attack the two ships that we know about?"
"I find it difficult to believe they won't be as inhibited by the interference as we are," Aaron said, glancing back down at the readings, "Our ability to engage MVAM would definitely give us a greater tactical advantage and allow us to engage more than one vessel at a time. If there are others waiting to ambush us, we could certainly use the numerical advantage."
Glad that he had come to the same conclusion she had, Isabel nodded, "Yes, we could, Lieutenant. I want you in charge of the Gamma section. We'll and tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to all hands...We will be engaging MVAM in ten minutes. Report to your assigned MVAM locations and prepare for MVAM separation."
Nodding once, Aaron tapped a few commands into the console before securing his station and stepping away. He was immediately replaced by another tactical officer who would be remaining aboard Alpha section. Aaron crossed over to the open turbolift door and stepped inside the car. "Gamma section, auxiliary control," he said to the computer as two other crewmembers joined him in the lift. A moment later, the doors hissed shut and they were gone.
Anara nodded and waited for the senior officers to finish their announcements before she asked the captain softly, "If it would be alright, Captain, I feel the bridge may be more useful in this situation than to have me in the shuttlebay. As a fighter pilot I should be of service in combat, Ma'am."
Isabel considered the Bajoran's request before nodding slowly, "Alright, Chief. Go ahead and take over at Flight Control." Looking at Anara, she added quietly, "However, I expect you to not let your emotions get the better of you with the person you believe to be your brother out there... If so, you will be relieved from the station."
The Bajoran nodded. In a certain sense she had been waiting for this opportunity since she had been in training. Even though the stories she was raised on were of the Prime version, Anara wondered how similar they may be.
"Captain, with your permission I will go to this section's engineering bay to assist with preparations there," D'Vhal said, looking towards his commanding officer. If these petaQs were going to use dishonorable tactics, he wanted to make sure the Malinche was ready to counter them, and the best way he could do that would be to assist his fellow engineers in preparing the ship for battle.
"Permission granted," Isabel answered the Klingon. She was sure the engineers could use all the help they could get right now and there would be little for him to do on the bridge for the time being.
Without another word, D'Vhal turned and headed towards the turbolift. Turning back to face the closing lift door, he ordered, "Alpha Section Engineering."
Anara sighed as she sat in the pilot seat. The control layout was similar to the larger fighters that she had time in but the ship of course was much larger and less maneuverable.
Bring it on, Amer. You are in my turf now...
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Nora Zeral
Chief Counselor & Second Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class D'Vhal (NPC)
Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Lt Cmdr Todd Peters
and
Not much had changed in the several hours since the away team had gone to the surface. The charged atmosphere of the now red, burning planet had prevented communications with the shuttle and away team members. However, the shuttle had just returned to the Malinche. Isabel was hoping that Jason would bring her some form of answers...or at least better questions for them to solve.
With the return of the away team, it was now only a matter of time before they heard a report of their findings on the planet’s surface. Nora, like many others, was anxious to hear what they had found. The long wait had left her feeling tired, but now that they were closer to getting some answers, she was beginning to feel somewhat invigorated. “I wonder how the away team's holding up,” she commented to Isabel, noting the time. “After nearly eight hours on the planet's surface, they must be exhausted.”
Isabel nodded, "I would imagine so. Especially having to wear the environmental suits...and considering what the conditions on the planet seem to be. The sooner we solve this, though, the better." The away team - or at least Jason - likely wouldn't be back to the bridge for a little while yet, but she hoped to get a full report as soon as possible. Perhaps once they had that, they could better prepare themselves for solving the mystery.
Aaron sighed as he concluded what must have been his one hundredth scan of the area. Their proximity to the Badlands was causing significant interference with the sensors, not to mention all the residual energy traces from whatever it was that had attacked the colony. He'd been working with operations in hopes of clearing up some of the interference and he was hoping that the latest scans might show some improvement.
Looking down at the results of his latest sweep, Aaron began looking for anything out of the ordinary. He was just about to give up on finding anything when something caught his eye. There appeared to be a several faint energy signatures that hadn't been present in the last round of scans he had made. It was possible that these readings were only visible now because of the modifications that had been made, but he wasn't about to leave anything to chance.
Warrant Officer 2nd Class D'Vhal grunted at the status display in front of him. With a quick command tapped into the console he re-ran the diagnostic and grunted again. Somehow the power conduits on Deck 3 were reading as passing more power though them than the units they connected to at either end could account for. With another quick command tapped into the console, D'Vhal logged a repair request for the status monitors on those conduits.
"Report," Isabel said, addressing those on the bridge. The encounter with the potential Mirror Universe vessel not too long ago was still fresh in her mind; that ship was out there somewhere and, for all she knew, now had additional help. For now, she was relieved that the away team had gotten back safely.
"Engines and power systems are operating normally, Captain," D'Vhal reported immediately. He didn't mention the anomalous reading on the power conduits. That was clearly the result of a bad sensor and would be corrected very shortly, and it would not affect the Malinche's performance if there were a battle. Of course, if it DID become an issue, he would report it immediately, but he'd seen readings just like this a dozen times already in his short career.
As the other bridge officers were giving their reports, Aaron tried to figure out how to best sum up the complete lack of information he had to give her. His constant scans had revealed nothing of interest amongst all the residual and background radiation, even with all the modifications that had been made. It was at that moment that something in the latest scan caught his eye.
"Captain," Aaron said, looking up from his station, "I apologize for the interruption, but I think I might have found something."
Turning towards Aaron, Isabel raise an eyebrow, "What have you found, Lieutenant?" She had found it rather odd that they had thus far come up essentially empty-handed on the location of the vessel that had contacted them and on any clues as to what had caused the devastation on Athos III. Overall, the lack of evidence was disconcerting...but perhaps Aaron would have something or perhaps the away team would have some information.
"There are some unusual energy fluctuations bearing zero-zero-mark-one-eight-zero," Aaron replied, double checking the sensor readings on his tactical display, "It could be a cloaked ship."
"The ship from earlier?" Isabel asked him. "Or more likely some other ship?" Part of her hoped it was the ship from earlier...if it was something else, it would mean that there was more than one vessel out there waiting for them. And if it happened to be the ship that wreaked havok on the planet...Isabel was much less confident of their ability to defend themselves.
Roen looked at Isabel and Aaron, having thought for a moment. "Captain, if I may?" She was not used to addressing the captain but pushed on, "my visions pictured him from behind us. That is him."
Isabel looked over at Anara as she spoke up, considering the Bajoran's words. Though there perhaps wasn't any concrete evidence, she had a feeling that the woman was right. "What else can you tell us, Chief?"
"I doubt he will attack alone, Ma'am." Anara replied. "The Amer I remember was tricky but not foolish."
Nodding, Isabel turned to Aaron, "Any chance you could be picking up on more than one ship? Scan the area and see if you can pick up more readings..."
Aaron's hands danced across the surface of his console as he expanded the sweep outward. Even though it was only a faint reading, he used what he already had as a baseline in his search. The seconds ticked by as he waited for some sort of result from the scans. "There doesn't appear to be..." Aaron began, but he paused. Something had just caught his attention.
"I think I may have found another one, captain," he said, looking toward Kersare, "bearing one-four-mark-two-seven. I'd need to run a more focused scan to be sure, but that would probably alert whoever is out there to the fact that we're on to them."
"I'd rather avoid that for now, Lieutenant," Isabel said. "Anything else we can do? Especially to find out how many more ships we may be dealing with?" What they did, tactically, would partly depend on how many ships they were up against. For now, the chances of them determining what ship classes they were would be slim.
"The background interference is still too high for us to get any kind of definitive reading, ma'am," he replied, "It is possible that these readings are cloaked ships, but I can't really tell you anything more without running a more intensive scan." The truth was, he was still a little frustrated that he hadn't come across any of this in his earlier sweeps. It was his job to make sure the Malinche and her crew remained safe from any threat. Then again, it was said that hindsight was twenty-twenty.
Isabel paused to consider their options. While she didn't really want to tip of the other possible cloaked ships, the fact of the matter was that if they were out there, they already knew the Malinche was here. And, if they spoke to Glinn Roen, they would also have realized that the Malinche would be wary of other ships. "Go ahead and run the intensive scans, Lieutenant. Chances are that if other ships are out there, the first one we encountered has already informed them that we're aware of their presence."
<Rakatel Bridge>
"Glinn" The tactical officer on the Klingon vessel said as he turned to the commander. "The Terran vessel is actively pinging. There is a high likelihood they will detect the others."
He nodded. "Noted. That poses little threat to us since their torpedoes will likely not possess such tracking." Roen paused and looked at the screen. "Where do we stand on time?"
"Ten more minutes, Sir. The other two ships have the attack pattern and time synchronized." The helm officer replied.
"Good. Maintain silent running until the mark."
"Aye, Sir."
<USS Malinche Bridge>
From the command chair, Isabel turned back to Aaron, "Anything, Lieutenant? Do you need a boost to the tactical sensors?" She hoped to have an idea of what they would be up against as soon as possible so that a tactical strategy of some sort could be developed. They did know there was a Klingon vessel out there - Bird of Prey, it seemed, but most certainly it would not be alone, as Anara had pointed out.
"I'm afraid the readings are still a little vague, ma'am," Aaron replied as he focused the Malinche's tactical sensors on the two anomalous energy readings he had detected. It was pretty clear that the readings were the emissions of two cloaked ships, though it was still hard to tell exactly what types of vessels they might be.
The second vessel he had detected was definitively larger than the first and it was holding position at a greater distance away. It was the proximity of the first vessel that had Aaron concerned. "Captain...I've managed to trace the transmission to the readings located directly astern," Aaron announced, "I believe they are shadowing us."
Isabel frowned; though she wasn't surprised, per se, she still didn't like the thought. "And I suppose that for all we know, there are even more ships out there somewhere that we simply aren't picking up..." It was not a pleasant thought, that was for sure.
Anara looked to Aaron and interrupted. "May I see the data, Sir?" There are certain Badlands tactics that I may be more practiced at interpreting scans from."
Aaron looked at the woman for a moment, the stepped slightly to one side so that she was able to view display as well. He was the Chief Security/Tactical officer and it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of both ship and crew. If there was something that she was able to contribute to their situation, he was willing to hear her out.
"And what do you recommend from a Tactical perspective, Lieutenant?" Isabel asked her Chief Security/Tactical Officer. Part of her wanted to consider MVAM as it would give their adversaries multiple targets rather than a single one. However, the other ships could use the time it took to separate the vessel to attack.
Taking a moment to consider the situation, Aaron thought about the Glinn's ultimatum that they leave the system within one hour. It wouldn't be long before they found out whether the Glinn would be following through on his threat to open fire. They had already detected two vessels shadowing the Malinche and there was the distinct possibility of more cloaked ships in the area that they hadn't discovered yet. "Ordinarily, I would suggest waiting to see if they are actually going to follow through," Aaron replied, "but given the circumstances, I don't think it would be the best idea to let them control the situation any more than they already do."
Anara smirked as she brought up the radiation map of the vicinity. "A pack of wolves in the forest..." The remark caused the officers to turn their attention. "This is only a theory, Captain, but at our current rate of orbit, the Malinche will be in the radiation storm in grid C-9 at the point of the ultimatum. A classic badland's ambush. In that scenario it could be three or ten and still hide if they know what they are doing."
Isabel pondered the situation. Obviously they were headed for an ambush, and she did not like it. They had a mystery to solve on Athos III and these ships shadowing them... Truthfully she wouldn't be surprised if somehow they were involved, though considering how little it appeared was left on the planet, Isabel wasn't sure why they cared so much if the Malinche was there.
D'Vhal let a soft growl escape his throat, then looked around to make sure no one had heard it. These enemies were using dishonorable tactics. Cloaking devices were one thing, but attacking an out-numbered enemy when they were blind went against every sense of decency a Klingon in THIS universe would have.
"We have the advantage of knowing the location of at least two of their ships," Aaron said, leaning his hands on the edge of his tactical console, "whether there are any more in the area or not, that's at least two vessels within striking range. I'd rather we be the ones calling the shots if it comes to anything."
Nodding slowly as she considered Aaron's suggestion, Isabel replied, "I agree that I'd rather not be on the defensive if we can help it. At the same time, if we attack one vessel, the other will likely come to the first one's aid and, if there are more ships in the area, they may also join in. Based on the readings you've gotten, what do you think our chances are if we go to MVAM to attack the two ships that we know about?"
"I find it difficult to believe they won't be as inhibited by the interference as we are," Aaron said, glancing back down at the readings, "Our ability to engage MVAM would definitely give us a greater tactical advantage and allow us to engage more than one vessel at a time. If there are others waiting to ambush us, we could certainly use the numerical advantage."
Glad that he had come to the same conclusion she had, Isabel nodded, "Yes, we could, Lieutenant. I want you in charge of the Gamma section. We'll and tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to all hands...We will be engaging MVAM in ten minutes. Report to your assigned MVAM locations and prepare for MVAM separation."
Nodding once, Aaron tapped a few commands into the console before securing his station and stepping away. He was immediately replaced by another tactical officer who would be remaining aboard Alpha section. Aaron crossed over to the open turbolift door and stepped inside the car. "Gamma section, auxiliary control," he said to the computer as two other crewmembers joined him in the lift. A moment later, the doors hissed shut and they were gone.
Anara nodded and waited for the senior officers to finish their announcements before she asked the captain softly, "If it would be alright, Captain, I feel the bridge may be more useful in this situation than to have me in the shuttlebay. As a fighter pilot I should be of service in combat, Ma'am."
Isabel considered the Bajoran's request before nodding slowly, "Alright, Chief. Go ahead and take over at Flight Control." Looking at Anara, she added quietly, "However, I expect you to not let your emotions get the better of you with the person you believe to be your brother out there... If so, you will be relieved from the station."
The Bajoran nodded. In a certain sense she had been waiting for this opportunity since she had been in training. Even though the stories she was raised on were of the Prime version, Anara wondered how similar they may be.
"Captain, with your permission I will go to this section's engineering bay to assist with preparations there," D'Vhal said, looking towards his commanding officer. If these petaQs were going to use dishonorable tactics, he wanted to make sure the Malinche was ready to counter them, and the best way he could do that would be to assist his fellow engineers in preparing the ship for battle.
"Permission granted," Isabel answered the Klingon. She was sure the engineers could use all the help they could get right now and there would be little for him to do on the bridge for the time being.
Without another word, D'Vhal turned and headed towards the turbolift. Turning back to face the closing lift door, he ordered, "Alpha Section Engineering."
Anara sighed as she sat in the pilot seat. The control layout was similar to the larger fighters that she had time in but the ship of course was much larger and less maneuverable.
Bring it on, Amer. You are in my turf now...
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Nora Zeral
Chief Counselor & Second Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class D'Vhal (NPC)
Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Lt Cmdr Todd Peters
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
OFF: Part 1 of insanely massive JP...stay tuned for Part 2!
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Alpha Bridge, Day 13, 1645>>
The Malinche had finished its MVAM separation a few minutes prior and Isabel was now seated in her command chair, a grim look on her face. The situation here had deteriorated far worse than she could have ever hoped to anticipate when they had first been dispatched to Athos III. She didn't like the idea of taking the offensive; overall she generally preferred to discuss a situation and try to come to some form of resolution peacefully. However, Glinn Roen had threatened the Malinche and with at least two ships cloaked in the area, she also couldn't justify sitting idly by.
"I don't like this," Trace spoke up. He was surprised when Aaron had ordered him to the Alpha section and not Beta section. It made sense though, Aaron was in command of the Gamma section and Jason had gained a wleath of expertise in naval combat tactics from the Marans; he could learn the most by watching a situaiton like this with a close eye and had a feeling that the captain would prove a capable teacher.
"All weapon systeams are in the green," Trace said, turning from tactical to face Captain Kersare. "We're as ready as we are ever going to be."
Nodding to the Communications officer, Isabel said, "Open a channel to the other two sections; I want it kept open for the duration of this, unless it's no longer possible." She saw the young man nod quickly and tap at his console, opening the connection.
Taking a breath, Isabel addressed the crew, "Let's stay focused everyone. Commander Barrett, the Beta section will focus on the second energy signature; I believe Lieutenant Masterson has already given you the coordinates. Lieutenant Masterson, I want the Gamma section to focus on the first energy signature. Alpha section will keep an eye out for additional vessels and assist Beta and Gamma as needed. Our goal is not to destroy the vessels, but to disable them. Target shields, weapons, and their impulse and warp drives. We have a good, creative crew; so I know we'll prevail. I have faith in us - the crews of the other ships should be worried... Good luck."
Even after six years, Isabel still did not feel comfortable in her tactical role as Commanding Officer. Seriousness and strong leadership was certainly needed, especially in a situation such as this, but she still didn't like it. For that matter, her pre-battle speech could likely use some work as well. It was times like these that she wished she could retreat to Engineering.
Aaron had just arrived in the science labs and was starting a debrief with the science personnel when the call came to prepare for separation. Checking the computer, Aaron noticed that the science labs were in the Alpha section so he decided to stay with it. Divvying up the science personnel among the three sections, Aaron then headed to the bridge to see what he could do to help.
<USS Malinche, Beta Bridge>
Jason was watching screen slowly as they made their way toward the energy signature. They had all theorized that it might be some sort of cloaked ship; although nothing conclusive had been found yet. The air on the Beta section bridge was thick with tension, almost as much as it had been on the Elyshan stand off.
Ryan Morris (NPC) was at the tactical station, the helm was manned by Joshua Sychorski (NPC) and operations by Joey Summers (NPC). Jason had some small comfort in the fact that both Adam (PNPC) and Tavi (PNPC) were both on his section, although the prospect or riding into battle with them aboard at all made him more then a little nervous.
"Alright, helm take us in...one quarter impluse."
"One quarter impluse, aye sir," the young man at flight control replied.
"Look sharp people," Jason said.
Ensign Payne (NPC) arrived on what functioned as the bridge for the Beta section as Lt. Steele had placed her in charge of the sciences for that part of the ship. Fresh out of the academy she was surprised when placed in charge but was determined to do her best. However she was not off to a good start as she wasn't sure where the science station was. Thankfully, Summers at operations realized her predicament and quietly directed her to the right station.
<Beta Section Engineering>
The deep thrumming of the Impulse Engines and the warp core formed a constant background noise for the activities in Engineering. Even though the battle had yet to really start, all of the Engineers were busy, most of them trying to find ways to squeeze a few more points of efficiency out of their assigned systems. Peters watched the activity carefully, looking for any signs that one of his people needed help.
So far, everything looked good. Of course, that would only last until the shooting started. Once that time came, Peters knew that there would be far more work to do than any Engineering staff, no matter how large, could hope to keep up with.
<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>
Aaron was surprised to find himself in the center chair for the second time since coming aboard the Malinche. Despite the fact that it was only one of the vessel's three semi-independent sections, he thought that it seemed like a big responsibility for one of the ship's junior-most senior officers.
If the decision to initiate the Multi-Vector Assault Mode had surprised whoever was shadowing the Malinche, Aaron was reasonably sure that it wouldn't take them long to react to the situation. It would be the responsibility of Gamma section to track down the sensor reading that had been directly astern before they went into MVAM and disable the vessel if possible.
"Sensors have triangulated the anomalous energy reading, sir," Weaver (NPC) reported from tactical, "bearing one-two-zero-mark-seven."
"Helm, come to course one-two-zero-mark-seven," Aaron ordered, turning his attention to the forward viewscreen, "Mister Weaver, prepare a full phaser spread, zero-elevation, all banks on my mark. Scan for hull impacts, standby photon torpedoes. Remember, we're trying to disable them, not destroy them."
<<IKV K'tlan, Bridge, Day 13, 1645>>
"Why have we not been given the order to attack!?" Gul Moorag leaned forward in his and pounded his fist against its armrest and spittle ran down his beard as he shouted. "While we wait like cowards they ready themselves, we have been detected!"
Glinn Vetra grunted her agreement, "we must make our move now!"
Setak had watched the Klingons banter among themselves for the better part of the hour from his shadowed corner at the rear of the bridge. They never seemed to pay him much attention and so long as he remained quiet was allowed to watch bridge operations. Perhaps they regarded him as a spy for his master; the Legate Pernal, if they refused his presence there would be questioning. If that was the case then they were smarter than Setak gave Klingons credit for.
"Move us ahead of the fleet," Moorag barked. "We shall see who takes the glory from this field!"
"I don't remember glory being a part of your orders," Setak said from his corner, unable to contain his criticism. "If you make a move now you risk the failure of your mission."
"petaQ!" Moorag growled as he jumped from his seat and approached Setak. "I will not tolerate the insolence of a slave, regardless of his masters title!"
Before Setak could respond he felt the heavy blow of Moorag's fist against his temple and stumbled backwards in a daze.
"Take him back to his lab and keep him there!"
<IKV Rakatel, Bridge>
Glinn Roen watched as the Malinche separated into its modes, grinning with a sinister grin. In the mind of the commander the plan was shaping up as it was supposed to. His concern was that the Klingon in charge of the other vessel would defy the plan.
"Weapons, prepare for volley. We are still on track for the radiation cloud. Be prepared for blind torpedo fire. Maintain tail on this section until they fire back."
"Aye Glinn." The helmsman replied nervously. He was familiar with trusting the Bajoran but the separated Malinche was a daunting sight.
With the orders in place, he walked back to his seat and settled back into it with his head leaned forward on one hand.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>>
"Ready," Samantha announced from her position at tactical. She looked toward the center of the bridge, waiting for Masterson to give the order.
Aaron looked directly at the empty space on the main viewscreen. They might not be able to see anything now, but if there was another ship out there, they'd find it. "Fire," he ordered.
Golden-orange phaser beams lanced out in every direction as the Gamma section swooped around in an arc. The energy continued outward in a straight line at zero-elevation from the ship. As expected, most of them just kept going, but a few of them found their mark...the hull of a Klingon bird-of-prey.
A moment later, four photon torpedoes streaked across the open space toward where the hull impacts had last been detected. Three of the orange orbs continued to sail onward without any impact, but the fourth was a successful hit.
The Klingon vessel took an evasive roll to sidestep the torpedoes but the last one clipped an outboard disruptor with a jolt.
<IKV Rakatel>
"All Ships Proceed with attack plan!" Glinn Roen stated over the subspace radio. "Helm, full fire at will. Make it HURT!"
The bird of prey opened up with an intensely focused volley of disruptor blasts to the beta section's sensor array and a lucky torpedo shot to an engine before overshooting the Terran vessel to the starboard in a swift engagement of the cloaking system through a radiation cloud to regroup.
As per cue, the second bird of prey appeared on an opposing track to continue the effort in a chicken-like path head-on.
"This could be interesting." Roen said to himself, then pushed his comm button. "Engineering, report on that disruptor pod."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Bridge>>
Jason came to his feet as Gamma section opened fire, scoring several direct hits to what appeared to be a Klingon Bird of Prey. That was enough for him, he looked over to where Ryan was standing and nodded.
Seconds later the Beta section of the Malinche opened fire, the phasers spitting out angry energy in all directions. Several hit nothing, soaring away into the vastness of space but then, to port the several blasts lit up the hull of a Bird of Prey. Apparently surprised by the resources of the Malinche, the Bird of Prey spun sharply around.
"Target engines and weapons," Jason ordered. "Stay with them Joshua, torpedo spread dispersal pattern sierra, now."
Ryan nodded, making the necessary changes to the torpedo loadout and hitting the firing button. He targeted the ships engines and weapons only, he hoped that they could disable them so that they could get to the bottom of what was going on.
Torpedoes roared from the Malinche's tubes, followed in full concert by her phaser arrays. Several of the torpedoes went wide but at least one and several more phaser blasts struck home on the hull of the Bird of Prey.
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters looked up at the dim, distant whine of the phasers firing. It appeared their work was about to begin. Very quickly after the initial phaser blasts sounded there was a concussive whoosh, indicating that the Beta section had just launched torpedoes. This was followed by further sounds of both phasers firing and torpedoes launching.
"Now's when the fun begins, everyone," Peters said loudly enough for his voice to carry across the Engineering bay. "Stay alert, try and keep ahead of the damage as much as possible, and if you see an overload somewhere that looks like it might hurt someone, yell. First things, first, though... the shields are going to need as much power as we can give them."
<IKV Rakatel Bridge>
"Disruptor pod is a loss, Glinn. All systems operational otherwise." The engineer replied.
Roen sighed. The rapid fire disruptors were a staple of the bird of prey tactics. They would have to make do without. "Bring us in for a near flyby at moderate impulse, full torpedo volley rate with disruptors on the gamma section. Follow with a break to port and cloak."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>>
"Beta section coming under heavy fire," Samantha reported as she watched the information scroll across her display, "Two Klingon birds-of-prey, D12 class."
The visual on the main viewscreen confirmed the woman's statement as Aaron saw several green disruptor blasts impact the Beta section's shields. It looked as if the two Klingon vessels were working in tandem from opposite sides to prevent the Beta section from focusing its defenses on either ship.
"Let's see if we can't take some of the heat off their back," Aaron said, sizing up the situation quickly in his head, "Keep focused on our original target. Photon torpedoes, full spread."
Another wave of brilliant orbs streaked across the open space in quick succession. One after another flared as they impacted against the bird-of-prey's now-raised shields.
<IKV Rakatel>
"Touche, Terrans." Glinn Roen said as the ship buffeted. "Report!" He shouted.
"Engines holding." The tactical officer shouted back. "Shields at 70 percent and holding. Weapons currently functional as before."
"Good. Just as planned. Vent a little plasma after the next pass." The commander said with a shift of position.
<IKV Ranet(the Vor'Cha class)>
The third and as yet unannounced Mirror Universe vessel had maintained stealth up until now as a reserve. The Cardassian Gul watched the battle on the view screen waiting for the signal, still playing to the plan. "Status, Helm?" He said in a low tone.
"Rakatel has damage and the K'tlan has heavier damage. Rakatel is venting plasma in the planned manner."
"Good. Move in. Maintain moderate speed and make all passes as close as we can. Scratch some paint if you feel like it. Those little Terran "shuttlecraft" are nothing." He said with a sneer.
<<IKV K'tlan>>
"Stay with them!" Gul Moorag shouted as his ship rocked violently from two consecutive torpedo strikes. "If we are to die this day then we shall take the Terrans with us!"
The K'tlan reduced velocity unleashing another salvo of disruptor fire at the Malinche's Beta section, the radiant green energy arced through the short distance between the ships and impacted with the enemy vessel's weakening shields.
"Direct hits! We almost have them," Glinn Vetra spat with glee. "Keep firing!"
"Gul!" the K'tlan's tactical officer shouted as he pointed at the view screen.
Another of the Malinche's sections was racing toward them unleashing torrents of torpedo fire, before the portly Klingon could react the deck shifted and the crewmen were thrown to the floor.
"Shields are down!" the Tactical officer cried as he recovered. "All primary systems are offline, we're out of the fight..."
<IKV Ranet>
"Gul!, The K'tlan is dead in the water." The tactical officer shouted over the rumbling of impacts.
The Cardassian clenched a fist and tapped his armrest. "Pull them out. Make it fast. They still have three vessels to our two. Do not sit still. Hail the Rakatel and tell them to cover."
"Yes, Gul."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
"Commander it looks like one of the ships is out of the fight, she's taken heavy damage," Joey reported, looking up from operations. "Our shields are down to 70% but holding."
"Sir, we've got incoming...looks like the other Bird of Prey is trying to run cover so that the Vor'cha can beam out the survivors."
"Not going to happen," Jason snapped, taking his seat. "Helm intercept course, let's make a run at the Vor'cha, they are going to need to lower their shields in order for them to beam aboard the survivors. Target engines and weapons only."
"Sir, that Voc'cha is a lot more amored then standard designs," Ryan said, looking up from tactical. "I'm attempting to locate a weak spot in their armor."
"Keep at it, alright helm lets see if we can't get their attention."
Blasts or green energy came at the Beta section, sheeting off the ships shields. Ryan returned fire instanatly, bathing the larger ship in a web of phaser fire. He held off on the torpedoes until the last moment, unleashing a full volley as they neared the Klingon ship. The glowing orbs smashed against the forward shields.
"Their shields are holding but barely," Ryan said. "I'm modulating the phaser settings, that might work to penetrate them better."
"Good work," Jason said, grabbing the chair for support as the ship rocked again.
Like a knife blade through space the Malinche's Beta section wheeled around, pointing her nose at the looming visage of the much larger Klingon ship. Ryan wasted no time in stabbing his fingers down on the controls, unleashing a deadly hail of torpedo and phaser fire. The much smaller vessel raced along the underside of the Klingon ship, phaser arrays creating a sea of fire that rolled over the ships shields.
<IKV Ranet>
The large ship rumbled with successive impacts as the small Terran vessel took the opportunity. The Gul moved forward on his chair with an intense expression. "WEAPONS! What are you waiting for?! Throw everything at that targ!"
Meanwhile the transporter crew was working frantically to extract the ailing crew from their ship. "We have the survivors but not the research the vessel had on board."
"That will have to do for now. Resume shields and engage that "thing". I want it gone!"
<USS Malinche, Beta Section Engineering>
The ship rocked under the heavy fire from the enemy ships. Peters held tightly to his console and barely managed to avoid smashing his head against it as sparks started flying from several of the panels in the Engineering bay. "Well, if the idea was to piss them off, we're doing a good job of it..."
A loud bang behind him acommpanied by a hissing sound caused Peters to turn around. Even with the shields up, enough of the energy from the weapons fire had leaked through to damage some systems. Steam was gushing from the Warp Drive's plasma intercooler, and the warp core actually LOOKED like it was feeling the strain of the battle, to Peters' trained eye.
"Lock down that intercooler," Peters shouted to one of the other engineers as he returned his attention to trying to make sure the ship stayed in one... well, one of three pieces. "Altin, see if you can find a little more power to give to Tactical... I have a feeling the shields are going to need a bit more reinforcement before we're done here..."
<< Beta Section Bridge>>
"I think you made them angry," Joey stated as the ship thundered from multiple weapons hits. "Shields are down to 65%."
"Bring us around for another pass, Joey did you get those modifications online yet?" Jason asked, he could only hope that their shields would work on the same principle as the Malinche's.
Ryan knew that it was that Jason was attempting but had no idea of whether or not it would actually work. Generally speaking making a ship reset its shield harmonics after a tachyon hit wasn't full proof, although given thier situation he could see that it really couldn't hurt. He gripped his station as sparks flew from several stations and the Beta took more hits.
"Ryan, you find that weak spot in their armor yet?"
"Not yet, still scanning," Ryan replied.
"Tachyon pulse is ready, although I have no idea whether or not it will work," Joey stated, grabbing his station as the ship jolted again. Sparks exploded from another vacant station, prompting Jason to wince a little.
The ship wheeled about again, this time unleashing phaser fire and several bursts of tachyon beams. Hopefully they would cause the shields of the larger vessel to reset, allowing them to punch through and hit the actual hull. Even if it didn't work though, it should weaken the shields slightly.
The Beta section soared over the Klingon ship, firing everything that they had. The Klingon ship returned fire, raking their shields with multiple hits.
<IKV Rakatel>
"I think we need to send a message to get that thing off Ranet. Full volley on the left nacelle don't pass until it's offline."
OFF:
JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
ShuttleBay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign L'Randil N'rass
(Also portraying MU IKV Rakatel & MU IKV Ranet personnel)
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Gamma Section NPCs)
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Special Project Lead Developer (will be Chief Medical Officer, USS Malinche)
(Also portraying MU IKV K'tlan personnel)
and
Lieutenant Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying other Malinche Science NPC)
and
Lieutenant Commander Todd Peters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Beta section NPCs)
and
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Alpha Bridge, Day 13, 1645>>
The Malinche had finished its MVAM separation a few minutes prior and Isabel was now seated in her command chair, a grim look on her face. The situation here had deteriorated far worse than she could have ever hoped to anticipate when they had first been dispatched to Athos III. She didn't like the idea of taking the offensive; overall she generally preferred to discuss a situation and try to come to some form of resolution peacefully. However, Glinn Roen had threatened the Malinche and with at least two ships cloaked in the area, she also couldn't justify sitting idly by.
"I don't like this," Trace spoke up. He was surprised when Aaron had ordered him to the Alpha section and not Beta section. It made sense though, Aaron was in command of the Gamma section and Jason had gained a wleath of expertise in naval combat tactics from the Marans; he could learn the most by watching a situaiton like this with a close eye and had a feeling that the captain would prove a capable teacher.
"All weapon systeams are in the green," Trace said, turning from tactical to face Captain Kersare. "We're as ready as we are ever going to be."
Nodding to the Communications officer, Isabel said, "Open a channel to the other two sections; I want it kept open for the duration of this, unless it's no longer possible." She saw the young man nod quickly and tap at his console, opening the connection.
Taking a breath, Isabel addressed the crew, "Let's stay focused everyone. Commander Barrett, the Beta section will focus on the second energy signature; I believe Lieutenant Masterson has already given you the coordinates. Lieutenant Masterson, I want the Gamma section to focus on the first energy signature. Alpha section will keep an eye out for additional vessels and assist Beta and Gamma as needed. Our goal is not to destroy the vessels, but to disable them. Target shields, weapons, and their impulse and warp drives. We have a good, creative crew; so I know we'll prevail. I have faith in us - the crews of the other ships should be worried... Good luck."
Even after six years, Isabel still did not feel comfortable in her tactical role as Commanding Officer. Seriousness and strong leadership was certainly needed, especially in a situation such as this, but she still didn't like it. For that matter, her pre-battle speech could likely use some work as well. It was times like these that she wished she could retreat to Engineering.
Aaron had just arrived in the science labs and was starting a debrief with the science personnel when the call came to prepare for separation. Checking the computer, Aaron noticed that the science labs were in the Alpha section so he decided to stay with it. Divvying up the science personnel among the three sections, Aaron then headed to the bridge to see what he could do to help.
<USS Malinche, Beta Bridge>
Jason was watching screen slowly as they made their way toward the energy signature. They had all theorized that it might be some sort of cloaked ship; although nothing conclusive had been found yet. The air on the Beta section bridge was thick with tension, almost as much as it had been on the Elyshan stand off.
Ryan Morris (NPC) was at the tactical station, the helm was manned by Joshua Sychorski (NPC) and operations by Joey Summers (NPC). Jason had some small comfort in the fact that both Adam (PNPC) and Tavi (PNPC) were both on his section, although the prospect or riding into battle with them aboard at all made him more then a little nervous.
"Alright, helm take us in...one quarter impluse."
"One quarter impluse, aye sir," the young man at flight control replied.
"Look sharp people," Jason said.
Ensign Payne (NPC) arrived on what functioned as the bridge for the Beta section as Lt. Steele had placed her in charge of the sciences for that part of the ship. Fresh out of the academy she was surprised when placed in charge but was determined to do her best. However she was not off to a good start as she wasn't sure where the science station was. Thankfully, Summers at operations realized her predicament and quietly directed her to the right station.
<Beta Section Engineering>
The deep thrumming of the Impulse Engines and the warp core formed a constant background noise for the activities in Engineering. Even though the battle had yet to really start, all of the Engineers were busy, most of them trying to find ways to squeeze a few more points of efficiency out of their assigned systems. Peters watched the activity carefully, looking for any signs that one of his people needed help.
So far, everything looked good. Of course, that would only last until the shooting started. Once that time came, Peters knew that there would be far more work to do than any Engineering staff, no matter how large, could hope to keep up with.
<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>
Aaron was surprised to find himself in the center chair for the second time since coming aboard the Malinche. Despite the fact that it was only one of the vessel's three semi-independent sections, he thought that it seemed like a big responsibility for one of the ship's junior-most senior officers.
If the decision to initiate the Multi-Vector Assault Mode had surprised whoever was shadowing the Malinche, Aaron was reasonably sure that it wouldn't take them long to react to the situation. It would be the responsibility of Gamma section to track down the sensor reading that had been directly astern before they went into MVAM and disable the vessel if possible.
"Sensors have triangulated the anomalous energy reading, sir," Weaver (NPC) reported from tactical, "bearing one-two-zero-mark-seven."
"Helm, come to course one-two-zero-mark-seven," Aaron ordered, turning his attention to the forward viewscreen, "Mister Weaver, prepare a full phaser spread, zero-elevation, all banks on my mark. Scan for hull impacts, standby photon torpedoes. Remember, we're trying to disable them, not destroy them."
<<IKV K'tlan, Bridge, Day 13, 1645>>
"Why have we not been given the order to attack!?" Gul Moorag leaned forward in his and pounded his fist against its armrest and spittle ran down his beard as he shouted. "While we wait like cowards they ready themselves, we have been detected!"
Glinn Vetra grunted her agreement, "we must make our move now!"
Setak had watched the Klingons banter among themselves for the better part of the hour from his shadowed corner at the rear of the bridge. They never seemed to pay him much attention and so long as he remained quiet was allowed to watch bridge operations. Perhaps they regarded him as a spy for his master; the Legate Pernal, if they refused his presence there would be questioning. If that was the case then they were smarter than Setak gave Klingons credit for.
"Move us ahead of the fleet," Moorag barked. "We shall see who takes the glory from this field!"
"I don't remember glory being a part of your orders," Setak said from his corner, unable to contain his criticism. "If you make a move now you risk the failure of your mission."
"petaQ!" Moorag growled as he jumped from his seat and approached Setak. "I will not tolerate the insolence of a slave, regardless of his masters title!"
Before Setak could respond he felt the heavy blow of Moorag's fist against his temple and stumbled backwards in a daze.
"Take him back to his lab and keep him there!"
<IKV Rakatel, Bridge>
Glinn Roen watched as the Malinche separated into its modes, grinning with a sinister grin. In the mind of the commander the plan was shaping up as it was supposed to. His concern was that the Klingon in charge of the other vessel would defy the plan.
"Weapons, prepare for volley. We are still on track for the radiation cloud. Be prepared for blind torpedo fire. Maintain tail on this section until they fire back."
"Aye Glinn." The helmsman replied nervously. He was familiar with trusting the Bajoran but the separated Malinche was a daunting sight.
With the orders in place, he walked back to his seat and settled back into it with his head leaned forward on one hand.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>>
"Ready," Samantha announced from her position at tactical. She looked toward the center of the bridge, waiting for Masterson to give the order.
Aaron looked directly at the empty space on the main viewscreen. They might not be able to see anything now, but if there was another ship out there, they'd find it. "Fire," he ordered.
Golden-orange phaser beams lanced out in every direction as the Gamma section swooped around in an arc. The energy continued outward in a straight line at zero-elevation from the ship. As expected, most of them just kept going, but a few of them found their mark...the hull of a Klingon bird-of-prey.
A moment later, four photon torpedoes streaked across the open space toward where the hull impacts had last been detected. Three of the orange orbs continued to sail onward without any impact, but the fourth was a successful hit.
The Klingon vessel took an evasive roll to sidestep the torpedoes but the last one clipped an outboard disruptor with a jolt.
<IKV Rakatel>
"All Ships Proceed with attack plan!" Glinn Roen stated over the subspace radio. "Helm, full fire at will. Make it HURT!"
The bird of prey opened up with an intensely focused volley of disruptor blasts to the beta section's sensor array and a lucky torpedo shot to an engine before overshooting the Terran vessel to the starboard in a swift engagement of the cloaking system through a radiation cloud to regroup.
As per cue, the second bird of prey appeared on an opposing track to continue the effort in a chicken-like path head-on.
"This could be interesting." Roen said to himself, then pushed his comm button. "Engineering, report on that disruptor pod."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Bridge>>
Jason came to his feet as Gamma section opened fire, scoring several direct hits to what appeared to be a Klingon Bird of Prey. That was enough for him, he looked over to where Ryan was standing and nodded.
Seconds later the Beta section of the Malinche opened fire, the phasers spitting out angry energy in all directions. Several hit nothing, soaring away into the vastness of space but then, to port the several blasts lit up the hull of a Bird of Prey. Apparently surprised by the resources of the Malinche, the Bird of Prey spun sharply around.
"Target engines and weapons," Jason ordered. "Stay with them Joshua, torpedo spread dispersal pattern sierra, now."
Ryan nodded, making the necessary changes to the torpedo loadout and hitting the firing button. He targeted the ships engines and weapons only, he hoped that they could disable them so that they could get to the bottom of what was going on.
Torpedoes roared from the Malinche's tubes, followed in full concert by her phaser arrays. Several of the torpedoes went wide but at least one and several more phaser blasts struck home on the hull of the Bird of Prey.
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters looked up at the dim, distant whine of the phasers firing. It appeared their work was about to begin. Very quickly after the initial phaser blasts sounded there was a concussive whoosh, indicating that the Beta section had just launched torpedoes. This was followed by further sounds of both phasers firing and torpedoes launching.
"Now's when the fun begins, everyone," Peters said loudly enough for his voice to carry across the Engineering bay. "Stay alert, try and keep ahead of the damage as much as possible, and if you see an overload somewhere that looks like it might hurt someone, yell. First things, first, though... the shields are going to need as much power as we can give them."
<IKV Rakatel Bridge>
"Disruptor pod is a loss, Glinn. All systems operational otherwise." The engineer replied.
Roen sighed. The rapid fire disruptors were a staple of the bird of prey tactics. They would have to make do without. "Bring us in for a near flyby at moderate impulse, full torpedo volley rate with disruptors on the gamma section. Follow with a break to port and cloak."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Bridge>>
"Beta section coming under heavy fire," Samantha reported as she watched the information scroll across her display, "Two Klingon birds-of-prey, D12 class."
The visual on the main viewscreen confirmed the woman's statement as Aaron saw several green disruptor blasts impact the Beta section's shields. It looked as if the two Klingon vessels were working in tandem from opposite sides to prevent the Beta section from focusing its defenses on either ship.
"Let's see if we can't take some of the heat off their back," Aaron said, sizing up the situation quickly in his head, "Keep focused on our original target. Photon torpedoes, full spread."
Another wave of brilliant orbs streaked across the open space in quick succession. One after another flared as they impacted against the bird-of-prey's now-raised shields.
<IKV Rakatel>
"Touche, Terrans." Glinn Roen said as the ship buffeted. "Report!" He shouted.
"Engines holding." The tactical officer shouted back. "Shields at 70 percent and holding. Weapons currently functional as before."
"Good. Just as planned. Vent a little plasma after the next pass." The commander said with a shift of position.
<IKV Ranet(the Vor'Cha class)>
The third and as yet unannounced Mirror Universe vessel had maintained stealth up until now as a reserve. The Cardassian Gul watched the battle on the view screen waiting for the signal, still playing to the plan. "Status, Helm?" He said in a low tone.
"Rakatel has damage and the K'tlan has heavier damage. Rakatel is venting plasma in the planned manner."
"Good. Move in. Maintain moderate speed and make all passes as close as we can. Scratch some paint if you feel like it. Those little Terran "shuttlecraft" are nothing." He said with a sneer.
<<IKV K'tlan>>
"Stay with them!" Gul Moorag shouted as his ship rocked violently from two consecutive torpedo strikes. "If we are to die this day then we shall take the Terrans with us!"
The K'tlan reduced velocity unleashing another salvo of disruptor fire at the Malinche's Beta section, the radiant green energy arced through the short distance between the ships and impacted with the enemy vessel's weakening shields.
"Direct hits! We almost have them," Glinn Vetra spat with glee. "Keep firing!"
"Gul!" the K'tlan's tactical officer shouted as he pointed at the view screen.
Another of the Malinche's sections was racing toward them unleashing torrents of torpedo fire, before the portly Klingon could react the deck shifted and the crewmen were thrown to the floor.
"Shields are down!" the Tactical officer cried as he recovered. "All primary systems are offline, we're out of the fight..."
<IKV Ranet>
"Gul!, The K'tlan is dead in the water." The tactical officer shouted over the rumbling of impacts.
The Cardassian clenched a fist and tapped his armrest. "Pull them out. Make it fast. They still have three vessels to our two. Do not sit still. Hail the Rakatel and tell them to cover."
"Yes, Gul."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
"Commander it looks like one of the ships is out of the fight, she's taken heavy damage," Joey reported, looking up from operations. "Our shields are down to 70% but holding."
"Sir, we've got incoming...looks like the other Bird of Prey is trying to run cover so that the Vor'cha can beam out the survivors."
"Not going to happen," Jason snapped, taking his seat. "Helm intercept course, let's make a run at the Vor'cha, they are going to need to lower their shields in order for them to beam aboard the survivors. Target engines and weapons only."
"Sir, that Voc'cha is a lot more amored then standard designs," Ryan said, looking up from tactical. "I'm attempting to locate a weak spot in their armor."
"Keep at it, alright helm lets see if we can't get their attention."
Blasts or green energy came at the Beta section, sheeting off the ships shields. Ryan returned fire instanatly, bathing the larger ship in a web of phaser fire. He held off on the torpedoes until the last moment, unleashing a full volley as they neared the Klingon ship. The glowing orbs smashed against the forward shields.
"Their shields are holding but barely," Ryan said. "I'm modulating the phaser settings, that might work to penetrate them better."
"Good work," Jason said, grabbing the chair for support as the ship rocked again.
Like a knife blade through space the Malinche's Beta section wheeled around, pointing her nose at the looming visage of the much larger Klingon ship. Ryan wasted no time in stabbing his fingers down on the controls, unleashing a deadly hail of torpedo and phaser fire. The much smaller vessel raced along the underside of the Klingon ship, phaser arrays creating a sea of fire that rolled over the ships shields.
<IKV Ranet>
The large ship rumbled with successive impacts as the small Terran vessel took the opportunity. The Gul moved forward on his chair with an intense expression. "WEAPONS! What are you waiting for?! Throw everything at that targ!"
Meanwhile the transporter crew was working frantically to extract the ailing crew from their ship. "We have the survivors but not the research the vessel had on board."
"That will have to do for now. Resume shields and engage that "thing". I want it gone!"
<USS Malinche, Beta Section Engineering>
The ship rocked under the heavy fire from the enemy ships. Peters held tightly to his console and barely managed to avoid smashing his head against it as sparks started flying from several of the panels in the Engineering bay. "Well, if the idea was to piss them off, we're doing a good job of it..."
A loud bang behind him acommpanied by a hissing sound caused Peters to turn around. Even with the shields up, enough of the energy from the weapons fire had leaked through to damage some systems. Steam was gushing from the Warp Drive's plasma intercooler, and the warp core actually LOOKED like it was feeling the strain of the battle, to Peters' trained eye.
"Lock down that intercooler," Peters shouted to one of the other engineers as he returned his attention to trying to make sure the ship stayed in one... well, one of three pieces. "Altin, see if you can find a little more power to give to Tactical... I have a feeling the shields are going to need a bit more reinforcement before we're done here..."
<< Beta Section Bridge>>
"I think you made them angry," Joey stated as the ship thundered from multiple weapons hits. "Shields are down to 65%."
"Bring us around for another pass, Joey did you get those modifications online yet?" Jason asked, he could only hope that their shields would work on the same principle as the Malinche's.
Ryan knew that it was that Jason was attempting but had no idea of whether or not it would actually work. Generally speaking making a ship reset its shield harmonics after a tachyon hit wasn't full proof, although given thier situation he could see that it really couldn't hurt. He gripped his station as sparks flew from several stations and the Beta took more hits.
"Ryan, you find that weak spot in their armor yet?"
"Not yet, still scanning," Ryan replied.
"Tachyon pulse is ready, although I have no idea whether or not it will work," Joey stated, grabbing his station as the ship jolted again. Sparks exploded from another vacant station, prompting Jason to wince a little.
The ship wheeled about again, this time unleashing phaser fire and several bursts of tachyon beams. Hopefully they would cause the shields of the larger vessel to reset, allowing them to punch through and hit the actual hull. Even if it didn't work though, it should weaken the shields slightly.
The Beta section soared over the Klingon ship, firing everything that they had. The Klingon ship returned fire, raking their shields with multiple hits.
<IKV Rakatel>
"I think we need to send a message to get that thing off Ranet. Full volley on the left nacelle don't pass until it's offline."
OFF:
JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
ShuttleBay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign L'Randil N'rass
(Also portraying MU IKV Rakatel & MU IKV Ranet personnel)
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Gamma Section NPCs)
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Special Project Lead Developer (will be Chief Medical Officer, USS Malinche)
(Also portraying MU IKV K'tlan personnel)
and
Lieutenant Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying other Malinche Science NPC)
and
Lieutenant Commander Todd Peters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Beta section NPCs)
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
OFF: Part 2 of insanely massive JP!
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Alpha Bridge, Day 13, 1700>>
"Captain, The Beta section is falling into a trap!" Roen stated as she watched from the helm. "Moving in to assist."
Isabel nodded grimly and looked over the Security/Tactical officer, "Prepare to fire." For the most part, she had tried to keep the Alpha section out of the main fight in case they got a slew of extra visitors. A Vor'cha class was bad enough; she sincerely hoped there weren't more surprises. Now it was time for them to really join the battle. "Let's make them remember that we're here. Attack pattern Bravo Echo Seven."
"Aye sir, attack pattern Echo Seven." The pilot replied.
Trace watched as the Alpha section of the Malinche swooped in, the phaser arrays coming to life and peppering the Klingon ship with hits. He loaded the torpedo tubes and opened fire, watching the missiles slam and blister against the shields. The Klingons were good and well armed but the Malinche and her crew were better.
As the bird of prey turned abruptly to dodge away, Anara kept them in step as best she could. To an extent she was predicting his maneuvers with some measure of accuracy until the Rakatel finally managed to shake her lock.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
Gripping the edge of the console to support herself, Samantha did her best to keep her focus on the task at hand. One bird-of-prey seemed to be adrift and it looked like the Vor’cha cruiser was attempting to render assistance to them. The other bird-of-prey was certainly running cover fire for the other two ships, trying to keep all three sections of the Malinche busy at once.
"Shields at 82%, sir," Samantha announced, monitoring her readouts as another wave of disruptor fire shook the Gamma section. All this background radiation was interfering with the targeting sensors, which was making it a little more difficult to maintain a lock on the second bird-of-prey.
Aaron could see the three vessels that had dropped their cloak and were clearly visible on the main viewscreen, but there was something about this situation that didn’t seem right. It was entirely possible that whoever these people were, they had not been aware of the Malinche’s MVAM capability and had not expected to find themselves facing three vessels. Still, Anara had said something about a possible ambush. If that were the case, where were the other ships?
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
"Boy, you sure do like to bait them," Joey grunted.
The ship shook again; Jason looked over at the readout above Joey's head. Their shields were taking a pounding, how it was that Joey was keeping them assembled he had no idea. Looking back at the screen he could see the large ship headed their way and the Alpha headed to assist. "Full axis rotation, port side!"
The Malinche's Beta section twisted just as a fully volley of weapons fire let loose from the large ship. About that time the Alpha section arrived, zipping across the larger ship's bow and laying down a scattering pattern of phaser and torpedo fire.
"Bring us along side her if you can," Jason ordered. The Klingon ship was firing on both vessels now, causing the Beta section to shake violently. But they were faster and more maneuverable then the Klingon ship; in no time they were racing down the side of her, raking her with a full phaser broadside barrage.
For a brief moment the two ships hung in space, trading fire with each other before both veered away. As the Beta section pulled away the Klingon returned fire as well, this time piercing their shields on the ventral section as she peeled away.
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters felt the impact on the hull more than he heard it. Instinctively bracing himself against the console, he managed to stay upright for a moment as the ship shook, but felt himself falling as Sparks and smoke flew across the Engineering bay. Two consoles nearby exploded, adding even more smoke and heat to the air.
By the time Peters got back to his feet, nursing a sore wrist and elbow, the worse of it was over. Unfortunately, the Malinche herself was in worse shape than he was. Looking over the readouts on the surviving consoles, Peters frowned. Heavy damage to the EPS conduits on Decks 7-9, buckling on the ventral hull... perhaps even a small breach there...
The Beta section's shields were still up and holding, for now, but Peters wasn't sure how long that would last, and they had no more reserve power to shunt to the generators.
<IKV Ranet>
The Gul was getting flustered by this multi section vessel. These Terrans were better armored than any that they had in the MU.
"It appears we have scored a hit finally on the one ship, Sir."
"Well, don't dwell on it! Finish the job."
<IKV Rakatel>
After a series of maneuvers, the helm officer stated.
"Sir, we are getting tailed by the lead ship. It is being more aggressive than the others, I am having a hard time shaking it."
Glinn Roen rolled his eyes. The carefully crafted plan was proving to be more challenging than he had predicted. He licked his lips and leaned back into his seat.
"Full engagement. Ranet can handle the other section. Evasive Delta port, followed by full volley to the rear shields. No mercy, do not break off. Do whatever you have to."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
The Gamma section shuddered and lurched suddenly to the right under the renewed fire from the bird-of-prey they had been pursuing. Aaron gripped the arms of his chair to prevent himself from being thrown out of it. Behind him a panel on the aft wall exploded in a shower of sparks, sending a cloud of smoke wafting into the air.
”Evasive patter delta-epsilon,” Aaron barked out above the din, “z-minus five hundred meters.”
He watched the main viewscreen as the bird-of-prey sailed past them and into the arc of the forward weapons. A moment later, twin energy beams lanced out to impact the underside of the Klingon vessel. They were immediately followed by two photon torpedoes which flared against the vessel’s dwindling aft shields.
<IKV Rakatel>
The hits from the Gamma section found a little damage, but the shields were beginning to recover even as the bird rotated to face the Alpha section.
"Nice try, but your friend can't help you on this one." Roen sneered. "Report! Maintain on the lead vessel."
"Shields holding on all sides but the aft is marginal. Torpedo stores are low but all other systems operational."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
Jason could hear the alarm klaxons screaming in earnest now, the ship shuddered after being hit again and again. Clearly, this Vor'cha was more heavily armed and armored then he had originally thought. The ship shuddered again, causing something behind him to explode.
"Helm, bring us about," Jason ordered.
"They seem to be concentrating their fire on us," Ryan said.
"Well, aren't we lucky," Jason grunted.
"I've got it!" Ryan snapped. "Aft port quarter, their shields seem to be weak in that area and it looks like they have a network of crossbraces that are interconnnect underneath the armor...a fire good hits in that area would take out the braces and punch through the hull."
"Helm, lay in a course, Joey keep our shields up," Jason ordered.
The Beta section let loose a volley of phaser fire that tore into the Klingon ship's shields, punching through their aft port section. Taking several more hits, the Beta section twisted around and made an inverted run at the Klingon vessel. Inverted, all the ship's phaser arrays screamed to life, followed by a volley of torpedoes that sent several parts of the Klingon ship ablaze and spinning off into space.
Rotating back around as they cleared the back of the vessel the Beta section's aft shields imploded, under a heavy barrage of disruptor fire. A brace of torpedoes from the enemy ship followed, blistering against her hull.
<Beta Engineering>
"HOLD ON!" Peters shouted as the shields failed. Although the Malinche had some ablative armor on her hull, Peters knew it wasn't going to be enough against what was coming with the shields failing rapidly. Bracing himself once again with his good arm, Peters waited for the worst to come.
"I think I need to find a new line of work," Peters muttered... then all hell broke loose. The deck lurched hard one way, then bucked back the other way as half of the remaining consoles in Engineering went up in a massive display of sparks and fire.
<USS Malinche, Alpha section>
Anara pulled several moves with the Alpha section to try to shake the bird of prey with little success.
"My, Amer, you are good." She muttered. "Try this on for size." She decided to pull a fighter type tactic on the close tailing vessel and engaged differential thrust for an instant axis change without heading change. The fore shields and armor were in a better state than the aft. The additional weapons availability was a thought as well. Once flipped, she nodded to the tactical officer with a wink and then back to her controls.
Gripping the arms of her chair, Isabel held on while Anara tried some new tactics. She had to admit that the Bajoran was doing well at piloting the Alpha section, despite it being quite a bit larger than a fighter. For now, though, she had to concentrate on the battle. WIth one D12 down, they only had one more D12 and the Vor'cha to deal with...though that was more than enough considering the damage that had already been taken.
Trace's hands flew over the tactical station, unloading barrage after barrage into the Bird of Prey. He wasn't sure how much longer the Klingon's ships shields would hold given the pounding that they were taking. The Klingon ships command section came into his cross hairs again but this time Trace was ready for them.
He unloaded everything that they had from near point blank range. Lances of phaser fire and scores of torpedoes struck the Klingon vessel, her shields barely able to hold back the onslaught.
<IKV Rakatel>
"That volley took the fore shields down to 30 percent, Glinn!" The Helm reported in a worried tone.
"Tricky. Do we have anything to throw at that thing?"
"Negative, those were our last torpedo stores. Disruptors are all we have."
"Rakatel to Ranet, abort plan. Regroup in checkpoint!"
The Bajoran put his face in his hand with a perturbed look. This outcome had not been predicted from such a small vessel of weak Terrans.
<IKV K'tlan>
The lights in his lab had dimmed minutes before and it seemed to Setak that the K'tlan was no longer in the fight. The Klingon guard who had been ordered to watch over him had attempted to raise the bridge several times to no avail. Either the communications system had been knocked out or there was no one left alive to answer. Setak, who was still nursing his aching head, didn't care either way.
"Perhaps you should go to investigate?" Setak offered sarcastically to which the guard only sneered and fingered the disruptor on his belt.
The deck suddenly lurched again following a loud blast, the volume of the explosion suggested to the Vulcan that it had not originated outside of the vessel's hull. His suspicion was confirmed moments later when the interior bulkhead of the room turned red with heat and finally exploded inward sending Setak and the guard tumbling violently through the air.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
"Cease fire," Aaron said, watching as the two Klingon ships banked away on the main viewscreen, "I think they've had enough for now."
The Gamma section's weapons fell silent as she allowed her targets to continue departing without interference. It had been a pitched battle and there were other, more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.
"Helm, bring us back around and prepare to rendezvous with the other sections," Aaron continued, turning so that he could face the tactical station, "Damage report."
Samantha consulted the readouts on her display and fought the urge to let out a sigh. The list of reports was quite long, but she hadn't seen anything too terribly serious come up as of yet. "Shields are holding at 78%, all phaser banks and torpedo launchers operating at 100%," she reported, "Engineering reports moderate damage to EPS conduits on decks thirteen and fourteen, minor hull stress on deck fifteen but structural integrity is holding. Sickbay reports minor to moderate injuries, no fatalities." It wasn't the entirety of the list, but it was enough of a summary to begin with.
Aaron listened to the brief report knowing that they should very well consider themselves lucky. From what he had seen, the other two sections may not have fared as well as they did.
<Beta Section Engineering>
At some point between the volley that took down the shields and the next volley that hit the hull, Peters was thrown to the deck and rolled up against the protective railing around the warp core. The air was filled with smoke and the scent of charred circuits and Peters coughed heavily as he tried to get to his feet.
Leaning against the Warp Status Monitor, Peters tapped in a request for a systems status report. Somehow most of the primary systems had survived. The shields were shredded and there was heavy damage to the power distribution systems along with the weapons systems, but life support, sensors, and navigational control were all functioning.
The engines themselves were not at their normal peak efficiency, but they were still online. The last item listed made Peters wince, though. The Beta section's docking systems were gone. Not offline, not heavily damaged... the control systems were actually destroyed.
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section Bridge>>
Jason sighed heavily, watching the fleeing ships. He was glad that the battle was over and was even more thankful that his section of the Malinche was still in one piece more or less. The crew aboard Beta section had gone above and beyond; they managed to fight off some pretty determined attackers and still come out of it alive.
Wisps of smoke still curled from a few stations but for the most part the room was finally beginning to clear. Jason looked around, happy to see that everyone on the bridge crew was still standing; he got up from his chair.
"Excellent job people," Jason smiled. "Joey, I have no idea how you managed to hold those shields together as long as you did but great work. Joshua, that's some of the best piloting that I have ever seen and Ryan that work with locating the weak armor was a good idea."
"Of course I'm excellent," Joey smiled. "I'm me, remember."
"How could I ever forget," Jason smiled, tapping his combadge. "Barrett to Mr. Peters, dare I ask how things are looking down there, chief?"
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters took a deep breath, and then coughed heavily from the smoke in the air, before tapping his commbadge. "You don't want to know, Commander. Please tell me you're done trying to break my ship for awhile."
<Beta Section Bridge>
"I didn't start the fight commander, you just worry about getting us put back together again," Jason told the Engineer.
<Alpha section Bridge>
Anara raised a fist in victory and let out a brief "YESS!" as the two vessels turned tail. She felt as if the battle she had been wanting most of her career had just been won. Turning to Isabel, she asked "Orders, Ma'am?"
On the viewscreen, Isabel could see the other two sections of the Malinche. From the looks of it, Beta section had taken the brunt of the attack. "Bring us up alongside Beta section, Chief." She glanced over at Tactical, "Ensign Vosh, status of the enemy vessels?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Anara responded with a graceful motion of the ship. Something told her this was not the last they would see of them, she just hoped it would be a while.
"We certainly did a number on them," Trace said. "The other two are retreating, the Vor'cha seems to have sustained heavy damage and multiple hull breaches, the D12's EPS system looks to be damaged as well, another D12 appears to be dead in the water sir."
Isabel nodded, "We'll go investigate the D12 once we've done at least some repairs...and are sure they didn't set the ship to self destruct." Frowning, she tapped at the console to her right, requesting damage reports from all three sections. At first, the screen simply blanked out and Isabel blinked, slightly surprised. Shaking her head, she pounded her fist against the console, smiling as she watched it come back to life...sometimes there was nothing like hitting something to get it to work. As she started looking through the reports, though, she sighed. They wouldn't be able to reintegrate the three sections, at least not for now.
At first Aaron had been pulling double duty. As well as keeping an eye on the sensor data to see if there was anything useful he was trying to communicate with the attacking ships. As far as they knew they had Klingon ships with Bajoran commanders but used Cardassian ranks. Consequently he tried all three languages but received no response from any of them. Placing the hails on automatic repeat, he refocused his attention on the sensor data. What he saw was surprising. "Captain! Sensors are detecting an unusual radiation signature. It's identical to what was detected on the planet shortly before we returned to the ship."
Turning to look over at Aaron, Isabel asked, "Can you identify the source? Or what it is?" In her mind, she tried to come up with some theories as to why a radiation signature found on the planet would also be detected out in space. Perhaps...perhaps the vessels that had attacked them were the ones that devastated Athos III. It wasn't a huge leap to come to the conclusion, though she wasn't entirely sure why they would attack the Malinche considering that the damage to the planet had already been done.
"The source?" Aaron didn't like not having answers, especially considering the circumstances. Running a few more scans he found a partial answer. "It appears to be coming from the attacking ships. At this point that's all I have but partial answers seem to be the trend lately."
"See what you can find out. There has to be a link....it may become clearer to us if we can get on that abandoned ship too," Isabel replied. Tapping her comm badge, she said, "Kersare to Beta and Gamma sections...I want repair estimates from Engineering and Operations as soon as possible. We should investigate that D12, but we need to take care of some of this damage first. From what I saw in the damage reports, transporters should still be operational, so if we need to move personnel around to take care of damage, do it. After your initial estimates, I want updates every hour."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section Bridge>>
On the main viewscreen, the Alpha and Beta sections could be seen flying alongside one another a short distance ahead of them. Aaron could see that the Beta section had taken the brunt of the Vor'cha's assault and it certainly looked like it had taken a heavy beating in the process.
Hearing the captain's orders over the ship's intercom system only confirmed Aaron's suspicions that things must have been even more serious than he originally thought. If they were going to have to use the transporters to move personnel around, it meant that one or both of the other sections were incapable of undergoing the reintegration process.
"Masterson to Alpha section," Aaron said, tapping a control on the console to his right, "Initial engineering reports are estimating at least eight to twelve hours to complete repairs on our end. It should take less than two to restore shields to full efficiency and repair some of the minor damage."
<Alpha Section Bridge>
"Acknowledged, Gamma Section," Isabel replied. The repair estimate wasn't ideal, of course, but it could have been worse. She was certain it would be much, much worse for Beta section. It would all be easier if they could re-integrate the ship, but that wouldn't be possible unless Todd could work some miracles in Beta section.
<Beta Section Bridge>
Jason looked at the information he had briefly before replying, "Barrett to Alpha Section. Captain, I'll get you a repair estimate as soon as I can. We took quite a beating and it's too extensive for an immediate estimate. We'll start work right away."
<USS Mailnche, Alpha Section Bridge>
"Thank you, Commander. If you need some of the Alpha Section personnel to help with repairs, let me know." Turning back to the Alpha Bridge crew, Isabel said, "Alright, we have a lot of work to do, let's get started." Standing from the command chair, she turned to Aaron, "Lieutenant, you have the bridge. I'm going to see about helping Engineering with repairs."
"Aye ma'am." As the Captain left the bridge, Aaron moved to take over the command chair and pulled up situation reports for the Alpha section while PO1 Meade (NPC) moved from an auxiliary console to the primary science station. It wasn't necessary but Aaron felt that during emergency situations it was best to have all the primary stations if for no other reason than to help keep up morale.
Isabel moved to the turbolift, a grim expression on her face as she waited for the doors to swish open. Really she wanted to know what, if anything, was on the D12 that had apparently been abanded. The reality, though, was that the Malinche badly needed repairs. If the other ships came back, the Malinche was in no shape to take them on. First things first...
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
ShuttleBay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign L'Randil N'rass
(Also portraying MU IKV Rakatel & MU IKV Ranet personnel)
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Gamma Section NPCs)
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Special Project Lead Developer (will be Chief Medical Officer, USS Malinche)
(Also portraying MU IKV K'tlan personnel)
and
Lieutenant Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying other Malinche Science NPC)
and
Lieutenant Commander Todd Peters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Beta section NPCs)
and
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Alpha Bridge, Day 13, 1700>>
"Captain, The Beta section is falling into a trap!" Roen stated as she watched from the helm. "Moving in to assist."
Isabel nodded grimly and looked over the Security/Tactical officer, "Prepare to fire." For the most part, she had tried to keep the Alpha section out of the main fight in case they got a slew of extra visitors. A Vor'cha class was bad enough; she sincerely hoped there weren't more surprises. Now it was time for them to really join the battle. "Let's make them remember that we're here. Attack pattern Bravo Echo Seven."
"Aye sir, attack pattern Echo Seven." The pilot replied.
Trace watched as the Alpha section of the Malinche swooped in, the phaser arrays coming to life and peppering the Klingon ship with hits. He loaded the torpedo tubes and opened fire, watching the missiles slam and blister against the shields. The Klingons were good and well armed but the Malinche and her crew were better.
As the bird of prey turned abruptly to dodge away, Anara kept them in step as best she could. To an extent she was predicting his maneuvers with some measure of accuracy until the Rakatel finally managed to shake her lock.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
Gripping the edge of the console to support herself, Samantha did her best to keep her focus on the task at hand. One bird-of-prey seemed to be adrift and it looked like the Vor’cha cruiser was attempting to render assistance to them. The other bird-of-prey was certainly running cover fire for the other two ships, trying to keep all three sections of the Malinche busy at once.
"Shields at 82%, sir," Samantha announced, monitoring her readouts as another wave of disruptor fire shook the Gamma section. All this background radiation was interfering with the targeting sensors, which was making it a little more difficult to maintain a lock on the second bird-of-prey.
Aaron could see the three vessels that had dropped their cloak and were clearly visible on the main viewscreen, but there was something about this situation that didn’t seem right. It was entirely possible that whoever these people were, they had not been aware of the Malinche’s MVAM capability and had not expected to find themselves facing three vessels. Still, Anara had said something about a possible ambush. If that were the case, where were the other ships?
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
"Boy, you sure do like to bait them," Joey grunted.
The ship shook again; Jason looked over at the readout above Joey's head. Their shields were taking a pounding, how it was that Joey was keeping them assembled he had no idea. Looking back at the screen he could see the large ship headed their way and the Alpha headed to assist. "Full axis rotation, port side!"
The Malinche's Beta section twisted just as a fully volley of weapons fire let loose from the large ship. About that time the Alpha section arrived, zipping across the larger ship's bow and laying down a scattering pattern of phaser and torpedo fire.
"Bring us along side her if you can," Jason ordered. The Klingon ship was firing on both vessels now, causing the Beta section to shake violently. But they were faster and more maneuverable then the Klingon ship; in no time they were racing down the side of her, raking her with a full phaser broadside barrage.
For a brief moment the two ships hung in space, trading fire with each other before both veered away. As the Beta section pulled away the Klingon returned fire as well, this time piercing their shields on the ventral section as she peeled away.
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters felt the impact on the hull more than he heard it. Instinctively bracing himself against the console, he managed to stay upright for a moment as the ship shook, but felt himself falling as Sparks and smoke flew across the Engineering bay. Two consoles nearby exploded, adding even more smoke and heat to the air.
By the time Peters got back to his feet, nursing a sore wrist and elbow, the worse of it was over. Unfortunately, the Malinche herself was in worse shape than he was. Looking over the readouts on the surviving consoles, Peters frowned. Heavy damage to the EPS conduits on Decks 7-9, buckling on the ventral hull... perhaps even a small breach there...
The Beta section's shields were still up and holding, for now, but Peters wasn't sure how long that would last, and they had no more reserve power to shunt to the generators.
<IKV Ranet>
The Gul was getting flustered by this multi section vessel. These Terrans were better armored than any that they had in the MU.
"It appears we have scored a hit finally on the one ship, Sir."
"Well, don't dwell on it! Finish the job."
<IKV Rakatel>
After a series of maneuvers, the helm officer stated.
"Sir, we are getting tailed by the lead ship. It is being more aggressive than the others, I am having a hard time shaking it."
Glinn Roen rolled his eyes. The carefully crafted plan was proving to be more challenging than he had predicted. He licked his lips and leaned back into his seat.
"Full engagement. Ranet can handle the other section. Evasive Delta port, followed by full volley to the rear shields. No mercy, do not break off. Do whatever you have to."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
The Gamma section shuddered and lurched suddenly to the right under the renewed fire from the bird-of-prey they had been pursuing. Aaron gripped the arms of his chair to prevent himself from being thrown out of it. Behind him a panel on the aft wall exploded in a shower of sparks, sending a cloud of smoke wafting into the air.
”Evasive patter delta-epsilon,” Aaron barked out above the din, “z-minus five hundred meters.”
He watched the main viewscreen as the bird-of-prey sailed past them and into the arc of the forward weapons. A moment later, twin energy beams lanced out to impact the underside of the Klingon vessel. They were immediately followed by two photon torpedoes which flared against the vessel’s dwindling aft shields.
<IKV Rakatel>
The hits from the Gamma section found a little damage, but the shields were beginning to recover even as the bird rotated to face the Alpha section.
"Nice try, but your friend can't help you on this one." Roen sneered. "Report! Maintain on the lead vessel."
"Shields holding on all sides but the aft is marginal. Torpedo stores are low but all other systems operational."
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section>>
Jason could hear the alarm klaxons screaming in earnest now, the ship shuddered after being hit again and again. Clearly, this Vor'cha was more heavily armed and armored then he had originally thought. The ship shuddered again, causing something behind him to explode.
"Helm, bring us about," Jason ordered.
"They seem to be concentrating their fire on us," Ryan said.
"Well, aren't we lucky," Jason grunted.
"I've got it!" Ryan snapped. "Aft port quarter, their shields seem to be weak in that area and it looks like they have a network of crossbraces that are interconnnect underneath the armor...a fire good hits in that area would take out the braces and punch through the hull."
"Helm, lay in a course, Joey keep our shields up," Jason ordered.
The Beta section let loose a volley of phaser fire that tore into the Klingon ship's shields, punching through their aft port section. Taking several more hits, the Beta section twisted around and made an inverted run at the Klingon vessel. Inverted, all the ship's phaser arrays screamed to life, followed by a volley of torpedoes that sent several parts of the Klingon ship ablaze and spinning off into space.
Rotating back around as they cleared the back of the vessel the Beta section's aft shields imploded, under a heavy barrage of disruptor fire. A brace of torpedoes from the enemy ship followed, blistering against her hull.
<Beta Engineering>
"HOLD ON!" Peters shouted as the shields failed. Although the Malinche had some ablative armor on her hull, Peters knew it wasn't going to be enough against what was coming with the shields failing rapidly. Bracing himself once again with his good arm, Peters waited for the worst to come.
"I think I need to find a new line of work," Peters muttered... then all hell broke loose. The deck lurched hard one way, then bucked back the other way as half of the remaining consoles in Engineering went up in a massive display of sparks and fire.
<USS Malinche, Alpha section>
Anara pulled several moves with the Alpha section to try to shake the bird of prey with little success.
"My, Amer, you are good." She muttered. "Try this on for size." She decided to pull a fighter type tactic on the close tailing vessel and engaged differential thrust for an instant axis change without heading change. The fore shields and armor were in a better state than the aft. The additional weapons availability was a thought as well. Once flipped, she nodded to the tactical officer with a wink and then back to her controls.
Gripping the arms of her chair, Isabel held on while Anara tried some new tactics. She had to admit that the Bajoran was doing well at piloting the Alpha section, despite it being quite a bit larger than a fighter. For now, though, she had to concentrate on the battle. WIth one D12 down, they only had one more D12 and the Vor'cha to deal with...though that was more than enough considering the damage that had already been taken.
Trace's hands flew over the tactical station, unloading barrage after barrage into the Bird of Prey. He wasn't sure how much longer the Klingon's ships shields would hold given the pounding that they were taking. The Klingon ships command section came into his cross hairs again but this time Trace was ready for them.
He unloaded everything that they had from near point blank range. Lances of phaser fire and scores of torpedoes struck the Klingon vessel, her shields barely able to hold back the onslaught.
<IKV Rakatel>
"That volley took the fore shields down to 30 percent, Glinn!" The Helm reported in a worried tone.
"Tricky. Do we have anything to throw at that thing?"
"Negative, those were our last torpedo stores. Disruptors are all we have."
"Rakatel to Ranet, abort plan. Regroup in checkpoint!"
The Bajoran put his face in his hand with a perturbed look. This outcome had not been predicted from such a small vessel of weak Terrans.
<IKV K'tlan>
The lights in his lab had dimmed minutes before and it seemed to Setak that the K'tlan was no longer in the fight. The Klingon guard who had been ordered to watch over him had attempted to raise the bridge several times to no avail. Either the communications system had been knocked out or there was no one left alive to answer. Setak, who was still nursing his aching head, didn't care either way.
"Perhaps you should go to investigate?" Setak offered sarcastically to which the guard only sneered and fingered the disruptor on his belt.
The deck suddenly lurched again following a loud blast, the volume of the explosion suggested to the Vulcan that it had not originated outside of the vessel's hull. His suspicion was confirmed moments later when the interior bulkhead of the room turned red with heat and finally exploded inward sending Setak and the guard tumbling violently through the air.
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section>>
"Cease fire," Aaron said, watching as the two Klingon ships banked away on the main viewscreen, "I think they've had enough for now."
The Gamma section's weapons fell silent as she allowed her targets to continue departing without interference. It had been a pitched battle and there were other, more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.
"Helm, bring us back around and prepare to rendezvous with the other sections," Aaron continued, turning so that he could face the tactical station, "Damage report."
Samantha consulted the readouts on her display and fought the urge to let out a sigh. The list of reports was quite long, but she hadn't seen anything too terribly serious come up as of yet. "Shields are holding at 78%, all phaser banks and torpedo launchers operating at 100%," she reported, "Engineering reports moderate damage to EPS conduits on decks thirteen and fourteen, minor hull stress on deck fifteen but structural integrity is holding. Sickbay reports minor to moderate injuries, no fatalities." It wasn't the entirety of the list, but it was enough of a summary to begin with.
Aaron listened to the brief report knowing that they should very well consider themselves lucky. From what he had seen, the other two sections may not have fared as well as they did.
<Beta Section Engineering>
At some point between the volley that took down the shields and the next volley that hit the hull, Peters was thrown to the deck and rolled up against the protective railing around the warp core. The air was filled with smoke and the scent of charred circuits and Peters coughed heavily as he tried to get to his feet.
Leaning against the Warp Status Monitor, Peters tapped in a request for a systems status report. Somehow most of the primary systems had survived. The shields were shredded and there was heavy damage to the power distribution systems along with the weapons systems, but life support, sensors, and navigational control were all functioning.
The engines themselves were not at their normal peak efficiency, but they were still online. The last item listed made Peters wince, though. The Beta section's docking systems were gone. Not offline, not heavily damaged... the control systems were actually destroyed.
<<USS Malinche, Beta Section Bridge>>
Jason sighed heavily, watching the fleeing ships. He was glad that the battle was over and was even more thankful that his section of the Malinche was still in one piece more or less. The crew aboard Beta section had gone above and beyond; they managed to fight off some pretty determined attackers and still come out of it alive.
Wisps of smoke still curled from a few stations but for the most part the room was finally beginning to clear. Jason looked around, happy to see that everyone on the bridge crew was still standing; he got up from his chair.
"Excellent job people," Jason smiled. "Joey, I have no idea how you managed to hold those shields together as long as you did but great work. Joshua, that's some of the best piloting that I have ever seen and Ryan that work with locating the weak armor was a good idea."
"Of course I'm excellent," Joey smiled. "I'm me, remember."
"How could I ever forget," Jason smiled, tapping his combadge. "Barrett to Mr. Peters, dare I ask how things are looking down there, chief?"
<Beta Section Engineering>
Peters took a deep breath, and then coughed heavily from the smoke in the air, before tapping his commbadge. "You don't want to know, Commander. Please tell me you're done trying to break my ship for awhile."
<Beta Section Bridge>
"I didn't start the fight commander, you just worry about getting us put back together again," Jason told the Engineer.
<Alpha section Bridge>
Anara raised a fist in victory and let out a brief "YESS!" as the two vessels turned tail. She felt as if the battle she had been wanting most of her career had just been won. Turning to Isabel, she asked "Orders, Ma'am?"
On the viewscreen, Isabel could see the other two sections of the Malinche. From the looks of it, Beta section had taken the brunt of the attack. "Bring us up alongside Beta section, Chief." She glanced over at Tactical, "Ensign Vosh, status of the enemy vessels?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Anara responded with a graceful motion of the ship. Something told her this was not the last they would see of them, she just hoped it would be a while.
"We certainly did a number on them," Trace said. "The other two are retreating, the Vor'cha seems to have sustained heavy damage and multiple hull breaches, the D12's EPS system looks to be damaged as well, another D12 appears to be dead in the water sir."
Isabel nodded, "We'll go investigate the D12 once we've done at least some repairs...and are sure they didn't set the ship to self destruct." Frowning, she tapped at the console to her right, requesting damage reports from all three sections. At first, the screen simply blanked out and Isabel blinked, slightly surprised. Shaking her head, she pounded her fist against the console, smiling as she watched it come back to life...sometimes there was nothing like hitting something to get it to work. As she started looking through the reports, though, she sighed. They wouldn't be able to reintegrate the three sections, at least not for now.
At first Aaron had been pulling double duty. As well as keeping an eye on the sensor data to see if there was anything useful he was trying to communicate with the attacking ships. As far as they knew they had Klingon ships with Bajoran commanders but used Cardassian ranks. Consequently he tried all three languages but received no response from any of them. Placing the hails on automatic repeat, he refocused his attention on the sensor data. What he saw was surprising. "Captain! Sensors are detecting an unusual radiation signature. It's identical to what was detected on the planet shortly before we returned to the ship."
Turning to look over at Aaron, Isabel asked, "Can you identify the source? Or what it is?" In her mind, she tried to come up with some theories as to why a radiation signature found on the planet would also be detected out in space. Perhaps...perhaps the vessels that had attacked them were the ones that devastated Athos III. It wasn't a huge leap to come to the conclusion, though she wasn't entirely sure why they would attack the Malinche considering that the damage to the planet had already been done.
"The source?" Aaron didn't like not having answers, especially considering the circumstances. Running a few more scans he found a partial answer. "It appears to be coming from the attacking ships. At this point that's all I have but partial answers seem to be the trend lately."
"See what you can find out. There has to be a link....it may become clearer to us if we can get on that abandoned ship too," Isabel replied. Tapping her comm badge, she said, "Kersare to Beta and Gamma sections...I want repair estimates from Engineering and Operations as soon as possible. We should investigate that D12, but we need to take care of some of this damage first. From what I saw in the damage reports, transporters should still be operational, so if we need to move personnel around to take care of damage, do it. After your initial estimates, I want updates every hour."
<<USS Malinche, Gamma Section Bridge>>
On the main viewscreen, the Alpha and Beta sections could be seen flying alongside one another a short distance ahead of them. Aaron could see that the Beta section had taken the brunt of the Vor'cha's assault and it certainly looked like it had taken a heavy beating in the process.
Hearing the captain's orders over the ship's intercom system only confirmed Aaron's suspicions that things must have been even more serious than he originally thought. If they were going to have to use the transporters to move personnel around, it meant that one or both of the other sections were incapable of undergoing the reintegration process.
"Masterson to Alpha section," Aaron said, tapping a control on the console to his right, "Initial engineering reports are estimating at least eight to twelve hours to complete repairs on our end. It should take less than two to restore shields to full efficiency and repair some of the minor damage."
<Alpha Section Bridge>
"Acknowledged, Gamma Section," Isabel replied. The repair estimate wasn't ideal, of course, but it could have been worse. She was certain it would be much, much worse for Beta section. It would all be easier if they could re-integrate the ship, but that wouldn't be possible unless Todd could work some miracles in Beta section.
<Beta Section Bridge>
Jason looked at the information he had briefly before replying, "Barrett to Alpha Section. Captain, I'll get you a repair estimate as soon as I can. We took quite a beating and it's too extensive for an immediate estimate. We'll start work right away."
<USS Mailnche, Alpha Section Bridge>
"Thank you, Commander. If you need some of the Alpha Section personnel to help with repairs, let me know." Turning back to the Alpha Bridge crew, Isabel said, "Alright, we have a lot of work to do, let's get started." Standing from the command chair, she turned to Aaron, "Lieutenant, you have the bridge. I'm going to see about helping Engineering with repairs."
"Aye ma'am." As the Captain left the bridge, Aaron moved to take over the command chair and pulled up situation reports for the Alpha section while PO1 Meade (NPC) moved from an auxiliary console to the primary science station. It wasn't necessary but Aaron felt that during emergency situations it was best to have all the primary stations if for no other reason than to help keep up morale.
Isabel moved to the turbolift, a grim expression on her face as she waited for the doors to swish open. Really she wanted to know what, if anything, was on the D12 that had apparently been abanded. The reality, though, was that the Malinche badly needed repairs. If the other ships came back, the Malinche was in no shape to take them on. First things first...
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
ShuttleBay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign L'Randil N'rass
(Also portraying MU IKV Rakatel & MU IKV Ranet personnel)
and
Lieutenant JG Aaron Masterson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Gamma Section NPCs)
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Special Project Lead Developer (will be Chief Medical Officer, USS Malinche)
(Also portraying MU IKV K'tlan personnel)
and
Lieutenant Aaron Steele
Chief Science Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying other Malinche Science NPC)
and
Lieutenant Commander Todd Peters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(Also portraying Beta section NPCs)
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
-
Peters
- Senior Staff
- Posts: 202
- Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:17 pm
- Location: Space, the final frontier...
- Contact:
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
ON: <USS Malinche, Beta Section Engineering, Day 13, 1800>
After a quick trip to sickbay to have his wrist looked at, Peters had returned to Engineering to review the damage reports and get an idea of how long it would take his crew to put things back together well enough for the Malinche to recombine and finish their mission. So far the news was fairly good. Only one of the docking clamps had been physically damaged and the Malinche could safely operate with up to 5 clamps out of commission, as long as they weren't all in the same area.
Locking out the damaged clamp so that it wouldn't try to deploy with the rest of them would be a fairly simple procedure, once the system was operational again. As far as getting the clamping system operational, that was a bit more challenging. Most of the subprocessors that operated those systems had been destroyed... melted, fried, actually burned to slag... it was a rather amazing situation, and Peters had to wonder if the designers of this ship had even thought of this possibility when they came up with the MVAM concept.
"Computer," Peters said after a few moments of thought, "are back-up copies of the docking clamp control programming available?"
"Affirmative."
"Great. Is it possible to transfer control of the docking clamp systems to another set of existing subprocessors and operate the docking systems that way?"
"Negative. Currently operational subprocessors are not compatible with docking systems."
"Of course they aren't," Peters muttered to himself. Peters pulled up the specifications for the docking system subprocessors and grimaced. It was possible to build new units, but it would take some time. Still, it was possible that the system could be brought back online within a day or so.
Standing, Peters tapped his commbadge. "Peters to Schulz. Would you mind beaming over to the Beta section? I need your assistance with a project over here."
OFF:
After a quick trip to sickbay to have his wrist looked at, Peters had returned to Engineering to review the damage reports and get an idea of how long it would take his crew to put things back together well enough for the Malinche to recombine and finish their mission. So far the news was fairly good. Only one of the docking clamps had been physically damaged and the Malinche could safely operate with up to 5 clamps out of commission, as long as they weren't all in the same area.
Locking out the damaged clamp so that it wouldn't try to deploy with the rest of them would be a fairly simple procedure, once the system was operational again. As far as getting the clamping system operational, that was a bit more challenging. Most of the subprocessors that operated those systems had been destroyed... melted, fried, actually burned to slag... it was a rather amazing situation, and Peters had to wonder if the designers of this ship had even thought of this possibility when they came up with the MVAM concept.
"Computer," Peters said after a few moments of thought, "are back-up copies of the docking clamp control programming available?"
"Affirmative."
"Great. Is it possible to transfer control of the docking clamp systems to another set of existing subprocessors and operate the docking systems that way?"
"Negative. Currently operational subprocessors are not compatible with docking systems."
"Of course they aren't," Peters muttered to himself. Peters pulled up the specifications for the docking system subprocessors and grimaced. It was possible to build new units, but it would take some time. Still, it was possible that the system could be brought back online within a day or so.
Standing, Peters tapped his commbadge. "Peters to Schulz. Would you mind beaming over to the Beta section? I need your assistance with a project over here."
OFF:
Tony
AKA
Lieutenant Commander Todd Peters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<<USS Malinche>>
<Beta Section Bridge, Day 13, 1800>
Joey (NPC) had been left in charge of the bridge as soon as Jason departed. He wasn't all that fond of the big chair, especially in situations were he had little to know experience. He knew as well as everyone else on all the sections that the Klingons could return at any moment and the Malinche, at least his section, was in no shape for another attack.
He stood up, looking around the bridge. Black marks covered the bulkheads and several displays that were right behind the captain's chair had actually been blown out. Not that it surprised him, the pounding that they took was pretty bad. That Vor'cha had been upgrade considerably. Joshua (NPC) was still at the helm keeping them steady along side the Alpha and Gamma sections.
Anthony Stone (NPC) had replaced Ryan (NPC) at tactical and Mara his place at operations. Mara had long wavy chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, she was on the short side and possessed a petite build. Anthony was built like a linebacker, broad shouldered and having buzzed brown hair and brown eyes.
"Engineering reports that the shields should be full restored with in the next few minutes or so," Mara said, looking up from her station.
"At least that something, no sign of them returning?" Joey asked, looking at Anthony.
Anthony shook his head, his fingers dancing across the station in front of him. "Not so far, no. Although we're down to 50 torpedoes and the port side phaser coupling took a little damage. I don't think it will be able to fire at full power."
"Great," Joey muttered. "Get the information to Peters."
"I think he already knows sir," Anthony sighed. "There is something about that ship that bothers me though."
"Which one?" Joshua finally asked, his Texan accent kicking in. "Last time I checked the Klingons weren't even mad at us."
Joey nodded, he had made the same assessment of the situation earlier. Unless of course they weren't Klingons at all but someone else that wanted them to think that they were Klingons. He shook his head, forcing himself to abandon idle speculation that wasn't going to get them anywhere. He looked back at the viewscreen, hoping that the away team was having better luck at finding answers then he was.
"Mr. Stone, let's see the sensor readings from the battle again, specifically the Vor'cha."
Anthony nodded and put the information up on the main screen. Joey watched the numbers scroll by, the ship was certainly well armed and armored but Ryan's shot to the aft end did some damage. He turned around to look at the rest of the bridge crew.
"Anthony, what runs through that area in the Klingon ship?"
"Hang on," he said, hands tapping several icons. "If that ship really is a Vor'cha then it looks like there are several EPS relays and junction points in that area; even some that feed the port nacelle. I don't think we got all the way down to them but if they return, concentrating our fire in that area would probably be a good idea."
"Noted," Joey said. "Send that information to the other two sections, would you."
"Aye sir."
Joey took his seat again, sinking back into it. He wasn't sure how Jason and Captain Kersare did this on a daily bases.
OFF:
All NPC's Played by:
<Beta Section Bridge, Day 13, 1800>
Joey (NPC) had been left in charge of the bridge as soon as Jason departed. He wasn't all that fond of the big chair, especially in situations were he had little to know experience. He knew as well as everyone else on all the sections that the Klingons could return at any moment and the Malinche, at least his section, was in no shape for another attack.
He stood up, looking around the bridge. Black marks covered the bulkheads and several displays that were right behind the captain's chair had actually been blown out. Not that it surprised him, the pounding that they took was pretty bad. That Vor'cha had been upgrade considerably. Joshua (NPC) was still at the helm keeping them steady along side the Alpha and Gamma sections.
Anthony Stone (NPC) had replaced Ryan (NPC) at tactical and Mara his place at operations. Mara had long wavy chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, she was on the short side and possessed a petite build. Anthony was built like a linebacker, broad shouldered and having buzzed brown hair and brown eyes.
"Engineering reports that the shields should be full restored with in the next few minutes or so," Mara said, looking up from her station.
"At least that something, no sign of them returning?" Joey asked, looking at Anthony.
Anthony shook his head, his fingers dancing across the station in front of him. "Not so far, no. Although we're down to 50 torpedoes and the port side phaser coupling took a little damage. I don't think it will be able to fire at full power."
"Great," Joey muttered. "Get the information to Peters."
"I think he already knows sir," Anthony sighed. "There is something about that ship that bothers me though."
"Which one?" Joshua finally asked, his Texan accent kicking in. "Last time I checked the Klingons weren't even mad at us."
Joey nodded, he had made the same assessment of the situation earlier. Unless of course they weren't Klingons at all but someone else that wanted them to think that they were Klingons. He shook his head, forcing himself to abandon idle speculation that wasn't going to get them anywhere. He looked back at the viewscreen, hoping that the away team was having better luck at finding answers then he was.
"Mr. Stone, let's see the sensor readings from the battle again, specifically the Vor'cha."
Anthony nodded and put the information up on the main screen. Joey watched the numbers scroll by, the ship was certainly well armed and armored but Ryan's shot to the aft end did some damage. He turned around to look at the rest of the bridge crew.
"Anthony, what runs through that area in the Klingon ship?"
"Hang on," he said, hands tapping several icons. "If that ship really is a Vor'cha then it looks like there are several EPS relays and junction points in that area; even some that feed the port nacelle. I don't think we got all the way down to them but if they return, concentrating our fire in that area would probably be a good idea."
"Noted," Joey said. "Send that information to the other two sections, would you."
"Aye sir."
Joey took his seat again, sinking back into it. He wasn't sure how Jason and Captain Kersare did this on a daily bases.
OFF:
All NPC's Played by:
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<<USS Malinche>>
<Alpha Section Bridge, Day 13, 1900>
Anara had been studying the battle flight patterns of the Klingon vessels ever since the attackers had left, in between controlling helm. The review was somewhat revealing. When the shift was over, she nodded to the successive ensign and stepped back to the captain, who was sitting in her chair. Standing in front of Isabel, she straightened. "Captain, may I have a word in private?"
Isabel had taken a break from helping the engineers with repairs; they had everything under control as far as she could tell and she didn't want to be in the way. Besides, if the other vessels came back, her place was on the bridge. As the Bajoran approached her, Isabel looked up and listened to her request. "Of course, my Ready Room," she replied as she stood.
Leading the way to her Ready Room, Isabel wondered if Anara was having more dreams or if, perhaps, she'd had some sort of epiphany. Then again, it could be about something else entirely. Regardless, Isabel would find out shortly. As the two entered, Isabel motioned towards two chairs near the entrance.
The pair sat down in their seats although Roen was a bit uneasy and it was evident by her positioning. "Captain, I have been reviewing the tactical patterns of the battle and it has been rather interesting."
"Interesting?" Isabel asked, raising an eyebrow. "In what way?" Though she was slightly surprised that her Shuttlebay Manager and, currently, Flight Control Officer had done a tactical analysis, Isabel kept an open mind. If the commanding officer of the Rakatel really was her brother, Anara could have additional insight into the tactics that Aaron would not.
"Well, my..." She quoted, "...brother, has been the mastermind of this attack for sure. This attack was very similarly modeled after one that he wrote about in his log during the Bajor/Cardassia war. He used three mid-range assault ships to raid three similar Cardie bombers that were en route to Bajor. It was successful, but barely, and he remarked that they used much stronger armor than predicted." She looked out the window for a moment. "The way he described the radiation storm and ensuing blind torpedo usage lends me to think this may even have been the same area."
Pondering the new information, Isabel frowned, "Did they mention anything about the area? The name of the planet, perhaps?" This whole mission was leaving a bad taste in her mouth, as well as quite a few unanswered questions. She doubted StarFleet would be very happy about all the questions still left and Isabel hoped to solve at least some of them.
"No, he left the name of the planet out of the log. The unit did not want any locations exposed if captured. Anyway, his usual style if I am right will be to regroup within a very short time. Undoubtedly he will enlist another Vor'cha if it is available. Now that we are softened we are vulnerable."
Isabel nodded, "Mostly Beta section is the most vulnerable due to the damage they sustained. If we did get attacked again, our best bet would be to remain in our un-integrated form, though. I would much rather have a second battle, if necessary, on our terms... And it's still troubling that there's a Bajoran with a Cardassian rank commanding a Klingon vessel... We didn't hear anything from the other vessels, so we have no way of knowing if the same holds true for them."
Anara nodded. "I know a lot of this is speculative, but the Prophets gave me the visions for a reason. I think this is why." She thought for a moment and smirked. "Just a twisted thought, my parents always remarked how much Amer was as stubborn and defiant as I was...er...am. Thank you for being willing to work with me on this, Ma'am. I know we didn't get off to a good start."
"That very well may be," Isabel agreed. Considering the situation they were in, she was inclined to listen to any thoughts, advice, or dreams her crew had if it would potentially help. "There's no need to thank me; I need to do what is best for the crew...and in this case it involves keeping an open mind. We may not have gotten off to the best start, Chief, but I also believe in second chances; you've certainly been a help to the crew during this situation and I appreciate that."
The captain's reassurance made Roen relax a little. "At this point I do not think I have much else, but that may change." She waited for a moment before standing up at attention.
Isabel nodded, "If you think of something, just let me know."
"I should be getting to my quarters as my shift ended an hour ago. We can only hope for a dream filled night." She said with a slight joke.
Giving the Bajoran a brief smile, Isabel nodded, "Good night; dismissed." She watched as the Bajoran left her Ready Room. Perhaps this was what Anara had needed...she certainly seemed more calm than before and less judgmental. Sighing slightly, Isabel stood and headed back to the bridge; she might be able to get some sleep, but it wouldn't be much and not yet.
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
Shuttlebay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign N'rass
and
<Alpha Section Bridge, Day 13, 1900>
Anara had been studying the battle flight patterns of the Klingon vessels ever since the attackers had left, in between controlling helm. The review was somewhat revealing. When the shift was over, she nodded to the successive ensign and stepped back to the captain, who was sitting in her chair. Standing in front of Isabel, she straightened. "Captain, may I have a word in private?"
Isabel had taken a break from helping the engineers with repairs; they had everything under control as far as she could tell and she didn't want to be in the way. Besides, if the other vessels came back, her place was on the bridge. As the Bajoran approached her, Isabel looked up and listened to her request. "Of course, my Ready Room," she replied as she stood.
Leading the way to her Ready Room, Isabel wondered if Anara was having more dreams or if, perhaps, she'd had some sort of epiphany. Then again, it could be about something else entirely. Regardless, Isabel would find out shortly. As the two entered, Isabel motioned towards two chairs near the entrance.
The pair sat down in their seats although Roen was a bit uneasy and it was evident by her positioning. "Captain, I have been reviewing the tactical patterns of the battle and it has been rather interesting."
"Interesting?" Isabel asked, raising an eyebrow. "In what way?" Though she was slightly surprised that her Shuttlebay Manager and, currently, Flight Control Officer had done a tactical analysis, Isabel kept an open mind. If the commanding officer of the Rakatel really was her brother, Anara could have additional insight into the tactics that Aaron would not.
"Well, my..." She quoted, "...brother, has been the mastermind of this attack for sure. This attack was very similarly modeled after one that he wrote about in his log during the Bajor/Cardassia war. He used three mid-range assault ships to raid three similar Cardie bombers that were en route to Bajor. It was successful, but barely, and he remarked that they used much stronger armor than predicted." She looked out the window for a moment. "The way he described the radiation storm and ensuing blind torpedo usage lends me to think this may even have been the same area."
Pondering the new information, Isabel frowned, "Did they mention anything about the area? The name of the planet, perhaps?" This whole mission was leaving a bad taste in her mouth, as well as quite a few unanswered questions. She doubted StarFleet would be very happy about all the questions still left and Isabel hoped to solve at least some of them.
"No, he left the name of the planet out of the log. The unit did not want any locations exposed if captured. Anyway, his usual style if I am right will be to regroup within a very short time. Undoubtedly he will enlist another Vor'cha if it is available. Now that we are softened we are vulnerable."
Isabel nodded, "Mostly Beta section is the most vulnerable due to the damage they sustained. If we did get attacked again, our best bet would be to remain in our un-integrated form, though. I would much rather have a second battle, if necessary, on our terms... And it's still troubling that there's a Bajoran with a Cardassian rank commanding a Klingon vessel... We didn't hear anything from the other vessels, so we have no way of knowing if the same holds true for them."
Anara nodded. "I know a lot of this is speculative, but the Prophets gave me the visions for a reason. I think this is why." She thought for a moment and smirked. "Just a twisted thought, my parents always remarked how much Amer was as stubborn and defiant as I was...er...am. Thank you for being willing to work with me on this, Ma'am. I know we didn't get off to a good start."
"That very well may be," Isabel agreed. Considering the situation they were in, she was inclined to listen to any thoughts, advice, or dreams her crew had if it would potentially help. "There's no need to thank me; I need to do what is best for the crew...and in this case it involves keeping an open mind. We may not have gotten off to the best start, Chief, but I also believe in second chances; you've certainly been a help to the crew during this situation and I appreciate that."
The captain's reassurance made Roen relax a little. "At this point I do not think I have much else, but that may change." She waited for a moment before standing up at attention.
Isabel nodded, "If you think of something, just let me know."
"I should be getting to my quarters as my shift ended an hour ago. We can only hope for a dream filled night." She said with a slight joke.
Giving the Bajoran a brief smile, Isabel nodded, "Good night; dismissed." She watched as the Bajoran left her Ready Room. Perhaps this was what Anara had needed...she certainly seemed more calm than before and less judgmental. Sighing slightly, Isabel stood and headed back to the bridge; she might be able to get some sleep, but it wouldn't be much and not yet.
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Warrant Officer 2nd Class Roen Anara (PNPC)
Shuttlebay Manager
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign N'rass
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<IKV Ranet conference room, Day 13, 2300>
The two vessels had made their retreat as quickly and discreetly as they could, and then rendezvoused with an additional Vor'cha class cruiser later in the evening to regroup. The two Guls and Glinn Roen sat in positions around the conference room table, still dirty with a little smoke residue. The silence of their defeated expressions was almost as loud as if they had been shouting it out.
After some extended waiting in silence, the operation's high commander stormed into the room and pounded his fist on the end of the table with fire in his eyes. Vi'kar Gul Brunal's eyes moved from one Commanding Officer to another, "What is wrong with you? Which one of you came up with that ridiculously reckless plan?" The Cardassian seethed, the muscles in his jaw clenching.
Roen stood up with a fury. "How dare you call the plan reckless. Our analysis could not show that these Terrans posses 'ablative' armor technology!" He clenched his fists and squinted at the commanding officer before he straightened up and quipped, "Furthermore, why would you have sent the K'tlan loaded with the pathogen into battle?"
Gul Moorag shot up out of his chair and leveled an icy glare at the operation commander, "Mind your tongue Bajoran, or I'll rip it from your face. The Terrans were lucky, that is all!"
"Perhaps they were lucky, but the fact remains you allowed your ship to be lost!" Roen sat down with a smug jeer at the almost twice as heavy Klingon. "That speaks for itself."
Moorag lunged at the Bajoran but restrained himself at the last minute, if they had been alone together the smaller man would not have been so fortunate. "You know nothing of what you speak! Unless you have something useful to say stay silent!"
"Do control yourself, Moorag." The cardassian Gul said with rolled eyes. He did not enjoy the company, particularly when the two other officers would quip.
"Enough!" Brunal shouted. "I've not heard a useful word out of either of you." Turning to the other Cardassian in the room, he said, "And what do you have to say, Gul Yornal? I would have thought that at least you would have had more sense than to engage in this ill conceived idea."
Moorag grunted at his fellow officers and sat with a resounding thud, he could stand being wounded in battle, fight fearlessly on the front lines of a war but he could not tolerate being chastised. He eyed Roen with murderous intent, the Bajoran would do well to watch his back.
Gul Yornal turned to face the senior officer. "I was given the order to assist in deterring the Terran vessel just as Moorag was. However we were given the order to follow Roen's lead as his tacticians had been analyzing the ship for some time. When he presented us with a sound ambush plan I agreed."
He took a breath then continued after looking to Roen. "In my opinion, the plan was not flawed. The manner in which they responded to our attack pattern is indicative that these terrans have a higher degree of tactical prowess than we are familiar with. I believe they are a continued significant threat to our operation whether they hold the K'tlan and the pathogen or not. We inflicted heavy damage to the ship, and I feel we could easily finish them off if we resume the attack with both battle cruisers before they have a chance to repair."
Brunal frowned as he listened to Yornal. This entire situation was rather unfortunate... "What else do we need to do with this planet? Is there anything more for us to do? We don't have the research and, for that matter, it is my understanding that the Vulcan was left behind on the K'tlan..."
Yornal nodded. "Yes, he and a guard did not have a chance to remove the research from the vessel before we had to divert. The intent was to resume but the containment chambers were damaged, so the guard said to leave him with the Vulcan to not contaminate the crew. If anything is a positive, the inquisitive Terrans will likely contaminate themselves before they can find a cure."
Moorag grinned to himself as the others spoke, he had ensured that the Vulcan would not leave K'tlan alive by giving his loyal warrior secret orders to perform an execution. The Klingon guard would die to complete his mission, with honor and at last Moorag would have the upper hand on the troublesome doctor. Inferno's light had obviously been a success and in his opinion Moorag believed the bio weapon to be unneeded. It didn't matter either way, his peers would never know the truth.
"Well, the main point of us coming here was to test the device...which we have. However, we must now assume that the Terrans realize the planet's destruction was our doing. It is quite likely they will come after us again, to get our research or to destroy us. But they don't realize that my ship is here," Brunal began, thoughtfully. "We can either set a trap for them, or simply go after them once we have more repairs done on your ships."
Roen looked up from leaning his head on his elbow. "They will unlikely hunt for us. At this point they will likely be licking wounds for a while. A multi part vessel like that generally has a fragile docking system with it's own vulnerabilities." He leaned back and looked at the other two Guls. "I can't say for Yornal, but the Rakatel will be ready to fight as soon as we get a reload and a new disruptor pod. Sooner the better."
Brunal nodded, "If they are as damaged as you believe, we should have plenty of time to make our repairs before attacking them. This time I do not want there to be any chance of them making it out alive." Though there was no harm in playing with their prey a little first, perhaps. He did so enjoy mocking his victims and giving them time to fully realize the precarious position they were in before annihilating them.
"There is another possibility we have not considered," Gul Moorag grunted as he looked around the table. "With the K'tlan disabled my warriors will sit idle while your crews decimate these Terrans, what honor is there to be had for them? Let us board and capture one of these vessels! We could take it back, study it and use what we find to facilitate a new generation of warships!"
Yornal and Roen looked at the Klingon with raised eyebrows. The Cardassian was the first to reply. "If we had a challenge to simply disable this vessel, how can you propose actually taking it? I agree it would be the ultimate stick in their works indeed, but to do so will require a very very intensive attack."
Roen nodded in affirmation. "Agreed. To do that we would need to have all the vessels of this operation available as insurance."
"It would be worth the trouble," Moorag smiled broadly, he had expected the response, Cardassians and Bajorans had no stomach for risk. "We target the lead vessel with the brunt of our attack at the onset of the engagement, with their defenses diminished a transport could attach to their hull and cut through! Once the head of the Targ is removed the rest of the body cannot function!"
"I welcome your zeal, but do we seriously have the crew numbers to overtake a large crew as that? Destroying the ship is easier than capturing it." Roen was still disbelieving of the plan although he thought it was novel.
"They are Terrans!" Moorag shouted as he drove his gloved fist into the table's glass surface causing cracks to web out. "Terrans with formidable weaponry and defenses but they are no match for Klingon Warriors on even ground!"
"Perhaps, Moorag." Yornal said with a smirk. "These terrans seem tricky though."
Moorag sneered at Yornal, the Cardassian was weak, spineless and his constant hesitancy left a bitter taste in the Klingon's mouth. Standing and turning to their leader, Brunal, the Klingon leaned into the table with fists planted, "I can do this... Let my warriors bring glory to the Alliance!"
Brunal had listened carefully to the discussion amongst the three commanding officers and considered their thoughts. On the one hand, being able to take a vessel such as this back to their universe could give them significant advantages. On the other... "It is too risky, Moorag. If the perfect opportunity existed...and if the three of you hadn't botched up the earlier plan. But you already lost your ship; I don't see any reason to allow your foolishness to cost us more. We need to destroy the Terrans."
Moorag stood erect and silently regarded the others with hostility in his eyes. He had been ignored and belittled in front of his peers, had he been aboard his own vessel he would have killed the lot of them. With a menacing growl he turned and stormed out of the room, the others would do things their way but he would have his glory yet, sanctioned or not.
After the Klingon's departure, Brunal turned to the other two, "Get repairs underway; we'll coordinate with a specific plan once they're nearly complete. I will not tolerate any more mistakes."
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Vi`kar Gul Brunal (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Fik'oth (Mirror)
played by: Captain Kersare
and
Gul Moorag (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV K'tlan (Mirror)
played by: Provisional Lieutenant Setak
and
Gul Yornal (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Ranet (Mirror)
played by: Ensign N'rass
and
Glinn Roen Amer (PNPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Rakatel (Mirror)
played by:
The two vessels had made their retreat as quickly and discreetly as they could, and then rendezvoused with an additional Vor'cha class cruiser later in the evening to regroup. The two Guls and Glinn Roen sat in positions around the conference room table, still dirty with a little smoke residue. The silence of their defeated expressions was almost as loud as if they had been shouting it out.
After some extended waiting in silence, the operation's high commander stormed into the room and pounded his fist on the end of the table with fire in his eyes. Vi'kar Gul Brunal's eyes moved from one Commanding Officer to another, "What is wrong with you? Which one of you came up with that ridiculously reckless plan?" The Cardassian seethed, the muscles in his jaw clenching.
Roen stood up with a fury. "How dare you call the plan reckless. Our analysis could not show that these Terrans posses 'ablative' armor technology!" He clenched his fists and squinted at the commanding officer before he straightened up and quipped, "Furthermore, why would you have sent the K'tlan loaded with the pathogen into battle?"
Gul Moorag shot up out of his chair and leveled an icy glare at the operation commander, "Mind your tongue Bajoran, or I'll rip it from your face. The Terrans were lucky, that is all!"
"Perhaps they were lucky, but the fact remains you allowed your ship to be lost!" Roen sat down with a smug jeer at the almost twice as heavy Klingon. "That speaks for itself."
Moorag lunged at the Bajoran but restrained himself at the last minute, if they had been alone together the smaller man would not have been so fortunate. "You know nothing of what you speak! Unless you have something useful to say stay silent!"
"Do control yourself, Moorag." The cardassian Gul said with rolled eyes. He did not enjoy the company, particularly when the two other officers would quip.
"Enough!" Brunal shouted. "I've not heard a useful word out of either of you." Turning to the other Cardassian in the room, he said, "And what do you have to say, Gul Yornal? I would have thought that at least you would have had more sense than to engage in this ill conceived idea."
Moorag grunted at his fellow officers and sat with a resounding thud, he could stand being wounded in battle, fight fearlessly on the front lines of a war but he could not tolerate being chastised. He eyed Roen with murderous intent, the Bajoran would do well to watch his back.
Gul Yornal turned to face the senior officer. "I was given the order to assist in deterring the Terran vessel just as Moorag was. However we were given the order to follow Roen's lead as his tacticians had been analyzing the ship for some time. When he presented us with a sound ambush plan I agreed."
He took a breath then continued after looking to Roen. "In my opinion, the plan was not flawed. The manner in which they responded to our attack pattern is indicative that these terrans have a higher degree of tactical prowess than we are familiar with. I believe they are a continued significant threat to our operation whether they hold the K'tlan and the pathogen or not. We inflicted heavy damage to the ship, and I feel we could easily finish them off if we resume the attack with both battle cruisers before they have a chance to repair."
Brunal frowned as he listened to Yornal. This entire situation was rather unfortunate... "What else do we need to do with this planet? Is there anything more for us to do? We don't have the research and, for that matter, it is my understanding that the Vulcan was left behind on the K'tlan..."
Yornal nodded. "Yes, he and a guard did not have a chance to remove the research from the vessel before we had to divert. The intent was to resume but the containment chambers were damaged, so the guard said to leave him with the Vulcan to not contaminate the crew. If anything is a positive, the inquisitive Terrans will likely contaminate themselves before they can find a cure."
Moorag grinned to himself as the others spoke, he had ensured that the Vulcan would not leave K'tlan alive by giving his loyal warrior secret orders to perform an execution. The Klingon guard would die to complete his mission, with honor and at last Moorag would have the upper hand on the troublesome doctor. Inferno's light had obviously been a success and in his opinion Moorag believed the bio weapon to be unneeded. It didn't matter either way, his peers would never know the truth.
"Well, the main point of us coming here was to test the device...which we have. However, we must now assume that the Terrans realize the planet's destruction was our doing. It is quite likely they will come after us again, to get our research or to destroy us. But they don't realize that my ship is here," Brunal began, thoughtfully. "We can either set a trap for them, or simply go after them once we have more repairs done on your ships."
Roen looked up from leaning his head on his elbow. "They will unlikely hunt for us. At this point they will likely be licking wounds for a while. A multi part vessel like that generally has a fragile docking system with it's own vulnerabilities." He leaned back and looked at the other two Guls. "I can't say for Yornal, but the Rakatel will be ready to fight as soon as we get a reload and a new disruptor pod. Sooner the better."
Brunal nodded, "If they are as damaged as you believe, we should have plenty of time to make our repairs before attacking them. This time I do not want there to be any chance of them making it out alive." Though there was no harm in playing with their prey a little first, perhaps. He did so enjoy mocking his victims and giving them time to fully realize the precarious position they were in before annihilating them.
"There is another possibility we have not considered," Gul Moorag grunted as he looked around the table. "With the K'tlan disabled my warriors will sit idle while your crews decimate these Terrans, what honor is there to be had for them? Let us board and capture one of these vessels! We could take it back, study it and use what we find to facilitate a new generation of warships!"
Yornal and Roen looked at the Klingon with raised eyebrows. The Cardassian was the first to reply. "If we had a challenge to simply disable this vessel, how can you propose actually taking it? I agree it would be the ultimate stick in their works indeed, but to do so will require a very very intensive attack."
Roen nodded in affirmation. "Agreed. To do that we would need to have all the vessels of this operation available as insurance."
"It would be worth the trouble," Moorag smiled broadly, he had expected the response, Cardassians and Bajorans had no stomach for risk. "We target the lead vessel with the brunt of our attack at the onset of the engagement, with their defenses diminished a transport could attach to their hull and cut through! Once the head of the Targ is removed the rest of the body cannot function!"
"I welcome your zeal, but do we seriously have the crew numbers to overtake a large crew as that? Destroying the ship is easier than capturing it." Roen was still disbelieving of the plan although he thought it was novel.
"They are Terrans!" Moorag shouted as he drove his gloved fist into the table's glass surface causing cracks to web out. "Terrans with formidable weaponry and defenses but they are no match for Klingon Warriors on even ground!"
"Perhaps, Moorag." Yornal said with a smirk. "These terrans seem tricky though."
Moorag sneered at Yornal, the Cardassian was weak, spineless and his constant hesitancy left a bitter taste in the Klingon's mouth. Standing and turning to their leader, Brunal, the Klingon leaned into the table with fists planted, "I can do this... Let my warriors bring glory to the Alliance!"
Brunal had listened carefully to the discussion amongst the three commanding officers and considered their thoughts. On the one hand, being able to take a vessel such as this back to their universe could give them significant advantages. On the other... "It is too risky, Moorag. If the perfect opportunity existed...and if the three of you hadn't botched up the earlier plan. But you already lost your ship; I don't see any reason to allow your foolishness to cost us more. We need to destroy the Terrans."
Moorag stood erect and silently regarded the others with hostility in his eyes. He had been ignored and belittled in front of his peers, had he been aboard his own vessel he would have killed the lot of them. With a menacing growl he turned and stormed out of the room, the others would do things their way but he would have his glory yet, sanctioned or not.
After the Klingon's departure, Brunal turned to the other two, "Get repairs underway; we'll coordinate with a specific plan once they're nearly complete. I will not tolerate any more mistakes."
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Vi`kar Gul Brunal (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Fik'oth (Mirror)
played by: Captain Kersare
and
Gul Moorag (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV K'tlan (Mirror)
played by: Provisional Lieutenant Setak
and
Gul Yornal (NPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Ranet (Mirror)
played by: Ensign N'rass
and
Glinn Roen Amer (PNPC)
Commanding Officer
IKV Rakatel (Mirror)
played by:
Lieutenant JG L'Randil N'rass
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<<IKV K'tlan>>
<Med Lab, 1340, Day 14>
Setak groaned as he pushed himself from the Medlab floor, his hand instinctively went to the side of his cranium which felt as if it had been split in two by his fall. The moist surface of his head caused him to check his hand which he found to be green with blood and the blurriness of his vision suggested that he had incurred at least a mild concussion. That he was awake at all was a good sign he knew, after a quick check he found no other signs of injury, it could have been far worse. Confident that he was in satisfactory he stood only to stumble, grasping the air for some kind of support his hand finally found the frame of one of the labs four test chambers.
After shaking his head and blinking to right his vision Setak's gaze honed in on a face, one of the colonists that had been brought on board for testing. The Human man was cold blue in death and looked almost serene but Setak knew that his end had been otherwise. Swallowing hard his thought drifted from regret and remorse to a sudden sense of danger as he realized that the chambers containment field was inactive. He staggered back a few paces before impacting with a bio bed and resting into a sitting position. He knew that he was immune to the pathogen that had killed the colonists but the sense of dread was gripping regardless. If the Alliance ships had failed to eliminate the Terran vessel, which he suspected was the case, then the Humans would undoubtedly come aboard searching for answers; Innocents all, their deaths would be inevitable. Perhaps, he wondered as he stood and made for the door, he could communicate the the Terran vessel, warn them off...
It was then that he heard the sound of voices in the distance. Not Klingon or Cardassian, the language was distinctly foreign, Terran. He had thought the situation could not become more dire but with the realization that the Humans were already on board and exposed to the Virus he changed his mind. It had gotten a whole lot worse.
<Corridor, 1345, Day 14>
The inside of the ship was a smoke filled mess. Clearly, there was a reason that the ship had been abandoned. According to their scans she had already lost warp and impulse power. Lights blinked on and off and the smell of burned out circuitry was present in the air.
"I don't like this," Ryan (NPC) mumbled, from behind Jason. "Something about this doesn't seem right."
"We'll be fine," Trace spoke up. "After all scans didn't show any life signs over here."
L'Randil looked around with her tricorder, occasionally adjusting her helmet with a sigh. Caitian ears were a nuisance in humanoid safety equipment, but that came with the territory.
"The power grid is just about useless, Sir." The ensign stated, trying to scan differently with her tool. "This ship is so old I am amazed it held up this long." The note of sarcasm was evident in her voice.
"Carbon scoring indicates that they may have been boarded before, doesn't look new though," Jason said, pointing to the various burn marks along the hall.
"Again, not making me feel any better," Ryan grunted.
Jason would hate to admit that he shared Ryan's dislike of their current situation. There was something that felt very wrong about the vessel. He almost wished that the captain had blasted the ship to space dust. No matter, they were here now and had a job to do.
"Ensign," Trace said. "Are you reading what I am reading?"
The engineer looked up at Trace. "I think that may be usable, if only for a moment. It must be independent of the ship's systems." She knelt down beside it and scanned further. "The technology is rather different from the Klingon vessel. No idea how though."
"Nor do I," Trace said. "But take a look here."
Trace indicated his tricorder, which was pointing them down the corridor toward what appeared to be a still functioning power supply. It was odd that they hadn't noticed it before, although with all the interference floating around it wasn't all that surprising.
"Any life signs?" Jason asked, thumbing the safety off on his phaser assault rifle.
"Not that I can detect," Trace responded, doing the same. "You think that someone stayed behind after they abandoned ship?"
"Ensign, I'm not sure what to think at this point," Jason sighed. "Landril can you access the ships computers? Maybe we can pull something useful from there."
The caitian quirked an ear at his mispronunciation, but didn't say anything. "I'll see what I can do." She worked intently on the computer input panel for several minutes as she tried to gain access to the system.
"The Klingon syntax is rather unique, but I think I have it now." She smirked. "Score. The crew manifest called for 21 and only 14 left."
Trace nodded, thumbing the trigger on his phaser rifle to stun. He wasn't expecting a fire fight but should one break out, he would be ready for it.
"Wait" She interrupted. "It appears we have a winner in the medical bay."
"Are you sure about that?" Trace asked.
"Come on," Jason said, motioning the away team forward.
Through the half opened lab door Setak could see the beams from hand held lights in the smoke filled atmosphere of the corridor' the Terrans were approaching. Realizing that he had been made Setak looked about the harried room for options, his eyes falling on the disruptor, still holstered on a fallen Klingon guard's belt. Could they be trusted? He wasn't certain of the intentions of these alternate Terran's intentions but he was certain that he would not give up a chance at freedom. Grabbing the disruptor and arming it he crouched low behind the rooms single bio bed and waited.
Jason motioned forward and both himself and Ryan entered the room, dropping into crouches and sweeping the area with their weapons. Trace couldn't see anything, although he would trust the Caitan and the tricorder in their current situation.
Setak closed his eyes and steadied himself as he heard rustling nearby, the Terrans had entered the lab and couldn't be but a few meters away. He felt anxiety rise in his throat and did his best to surpress the emotion but its fiery grasp held him firm.
"Come no further!" Setak warned with an elevated but controlled tone. "I am armed and will not allow you to take me or my research from this place."
That instantly got Jason's interests. Both Trace and Ryan tracked their phaser rifles in the direction that the voice had come from. Looking at the Caitan, she nodded indicating that they had zeroed in on the source.
"This is Lt. Commander Jason Barrett of the starship Malinche, we have your position locked, come out with your hands up."
Setak clenched his jaw and gripped at the disruptor, he didn't want to shoot anyone but his options were limited. He could turn himself in and face slavery once again or try to fight his way out and more than likely end up dead. Neither option was appealing, he needed more time.
Trace looked at Jason and quirked an eyebrow at his commanding officer. Whoever this person was he certainly sounded arrogant. Trace brought his rifle up and attached a small grenade launcher to it. He loaded a stun bomb and locked it in placed, looking at Jason. Jason nodded but gave him the signal to sit tight.
"Don't make us have to come drag you out...now come out with your hands up."
"I will comply," Setak relented at last, seeing no alternative. "But you have to give me assurances. That I will not be taken prisoner and that I will be released."
"Your ship fired on a Federation starship after ignoring all diplomatic avenues," Jason said. "You will be taken into custody until we can determine what has happened, depending on your role and corporation we'll have to see where we end up. You will be treated fairly according to all articles of the Federation."
Diplomatic avenues? Articles of the Federation? Setak wasn't sure if he was hearing correctly, who did these Terrans think they were?
"And I can assure you sir that I will not ask you again to come out. Either follow the instructions or we do this the hard way, your choice."
Setak set aside the disruptor and raised his hands above the bio bed so that they could be seen before rising to his feet and taking a good look at the intruders. They wore atmospheric suits which he was thankful for but he was equally perplexed by the sophistication of the equipment they carried.
"I will cooperate," Setak said, sizing up the Terran leader. "However, In the interest of saving the lives of your crewmen I suggest that you listen carefully to what I have to say."
L'Randil turned a concerned ear to the scientist's statement. As an engineer she needed to know everything she could about Setak's work.
Nodding toward one of the breached containment chambers Setak began, "the atmosphere has been compromised by a deadly pathogen, you cannot risk taking me aboard your vessel."
Jason arched an eyebrow inside his helmet, looking over to where Trace was kneeling. He was wishing now that they had brought along a member of the science department, although given that they thought that they might be beaming into a battle situation, they hadn't. He had a brief moment of panic for himself and his team but pushed it down.
"Trace?" Jason asked, looking at the Trill.
Trace took out his tricorder and began to scan the area, moments later it confirmed what the Vulcan had said. Fighting back the urge to smack him across the face with the butt of his phaser rifle, Trace merely nodded an affirmative to Barrett.
Jason muttered a very colorful Klingon curse. "Our bio-filters should be able to filter it off the suits and then we can be quarantined while our medical staff examines us."
"Fascinating," Setak interrupted. "Your vessel's systems have that capability?"
Before Jason could respond the whole ship shifted violently to the left, knocking them off their feet. There was an explosion somewhere in the ship as part of it suffered a decompression before the bulkheads sealed. Ryan slammed into a broken containment container with a strangled grunt.
Trace pitched forward, nearly missing hitting his head on the lab table. The sound was defiently from a bulkhead collasping; judging by the damage that the ship had taken in the battle he was surprised that there was anyone left inside that was still alive.
"Everyone alright?" Jason asked.
"Sir," Ryan said, his voice a little shaky. "My suit...its punctured...its sealed now, do you think that the virus had time to get in."
After righting himself Setak turned to the young Terran with a grim expression and moved toward him. Removing his medical scanner from its belt pouch he held it up before the others as they moved to stop him indicating that it was not a weapon. The tricorder like device confirmed what Setak already knew; after hitting the soft tissue of the Terran's lungs the virus had begun to gestate instantly.
"Hes infected," Setak confirmed in a monotone voice and turned to examine the others. "The rest of you are fine... For now. The longer you remain here the higher the risk of infection will be."
Trace was instantly angry...although he had no clue as to why. Ryan held a look of shock on his face but recovered quickly; his face masking the concern that he as clearly feeling.
"We need to get him out of here," Trace said, he leveled his phaser rifle at Setak. "You better tell me that you can treat him."
Setak eyed the weapon and the man who wielded carefully before turning his attention back to the infected officer. In truth he wasn't certain that he could treat the man but it seemed his life would depend on it.
Jason eyed the Trill carefully, he had no doubt that Trace wouldn't fire on the Vulcan, although breaking his nose with the butt of his phaser rifle...well he wasn't so sure about that. Jason was angry as well but was holding his anger in check, mostly because he didn't want to give the Vulcan any chance not to help.
"Ensign," Jason said, turning to the Caitan. "Download what information you can from the ships main computer."
"Will do." L'Randil said energetically. The terminals were not in the best of shape but she was able to get some progress already.
"And what is your name?" Jason asked, looking at the Vulcan. "As I said before, I'm Lt. Commander Jason Barrett of the starship Malinche, can you treat him?"
"Setak," the Vulcan offered carefully. "The Alliance was not interested in a cure to the virus, only increasing its lethality." Setak paused and watched as Jason seemed to tense, he knew that if he did not agree to try that he would be dead shortly. "I will try Commander," Setak said, expressionless. "But time is of the essence and I will need a lab..."
Jason looked at Trace, waiting for him to say something that would have gotten them in more trouble. But Trace remained silent, looking to Jason as to what they should do next. Jason breathed a sigh of relief, apparently that little outburst got it out of Trace's system.
"Then we need to transport to the Malinche right away," Jason said, tapping his the com unit on the arm of his suit. "Commander Barrett to the Malinche; Captain, we seem to have a problem."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
Isabel frowned; she wasn't particularly surprised that there would be a problem, but it still wasn't a pleasant thought. "Go ahead, Commander, what's the problem?"
<IKV T'Klan>
"Mr. Morris has been infected by something on the ship; we found a Vulcan by the name of Setak - he thinks that he might be able to treat him if not then he assures that the virus will be lethal."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
"Infected?" This was certainly not what she'd had in mind when she sent the away team to the D12. "Is anyone else infected? Or just Mr. Morris?" There were quite a few questions running through her head, but if the virus really was lethal, as the Vulcan claimed, they may not have much time. Some of her questions would have to wait, unfortunately.
<IKV T'Klan>
"No one else but Ryan, apparently they were conducting some sort of experiments over here, Ryan fell and his suit got punctured. The rest of us should be fine."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
Shaking her head, Isabel replied, "Alright, I'll contact the transporter room once quarantine is set up - five or ten minutes. We'll have Mr. Setak and Mr. Morris beamed to Alpha Section's Sickbay under Medical Quarantine protocols. The rest of you will be beamed to Beta Section's Sickbay under Medical Quarantine until we've deemed that you're not infected. The Medical Holograms will be activated and Mr. Setak can coordinate with them."
<IKV T'Klan>
"Sounds like a plan Captain," Jason said, looking at the rest of his away team and at Setak. There was something about the Vulcan that he didn't trust; but they could deal with that later. Right now they needed to get Ryan to sickbay and get him treated. Assuming that they could treat him. He shook that thought away, Setak would be able to cure him, he would make sure of that. If not, then Setak will have wished that he died on the Klingon ship.
Setak raised an eyebrow as he listened to the Terrans communicate with their Captain, he was surprised when the leaders voice remained calm after hearing of the situation. He wondered if she might not fully understand the ramifications of the situation; but that was not had caught his attention the most.
"Medical holograms?" Setak muttered curiously. "Fascinating."
"We need to get moving," Trace said, his voice a low growl. "I'm not entirely sure how much longer this bucket is going to hold togehter."
"How are you doing Mr. Morris?" Jason asked.
Ryan took a deep shuddering breath before looking his XO in the face. "Doing fine sir, although the way that these bodies look tells me that might not be the case for long."
"We'll get you out of this," Trace said, shooting an evil look at Setak. "I promise."
Setak understood Trace's sentiment but wasn't so sure, he thought it unwise of the Terran to make promises that he couldn't keep. With a reluctant sigh he nodded to at least give the appearance of confidence, as much for himself as the others, his life depended on it.
"Then lets get this show on the road," Jason grunted. "Malinche, you heard the captain begin transport."
OFF:
A JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
&
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
&
Setak
Provisional Chief Medical Officer
<Med Lab, 1340, Day 14>
Setak groaned as he pushed himself from the Medlab floor, his hand instinctively went to the side of his cranium which felt as if it had been split in two by his fall. The moist surface of his head caused him to check his hand which he found to be green with blood and the blurriness of his vision suggested that he had incurred at least a mild concussion. That he was awake at all was a good sign he knew, after a quick check he found no other signs of injury, it could have been far worse. Confident that he was in satisfactory he stood only to stumble, grasping the air for some kind of support his hand finally found the frame of one of the labs four test chambers.
After shaking his head and blinking to right his vision Setak's gaze honed in on a face, one of the colonists that had been brought on board for testing. The Human man was cold blue in death and looked almost serene but Setak knew that his end had been otherwise. Swallowing hard his thought drifted from regret and remorse to a sudden sense of danger as he realized that the chambers containment field was inactive. He staggered back a few paces before impacting with a bio bed and resting into a sitting position. He knew that he was immune to the pathogen that had killed the colonists but the sense of dread was gripping regardless. If the Alliance ships had failed to eliminate the Terran vessel, which he suspected was the case, then the Humans would undoubtedly come aboard searching for answers; Innocents all, their deaths would be inevitable. Perhaps, he wondered as he stood and made for the door, he could communicate the the Terran vessel, warn them off...
It was then that he heard the sound of voices in the distance. Not Klingon or Cardassian, the language was distinctly foreign, Terran. He had thought the situation could not become more dire but with the realization that the Humans were already on board and exposed to the Virus he changed his mind. It had gotten a whole lot worse.
<Corridor, 1345, Day 14>
The inside of the ship was a smoke filled mess. Clearly, there was a reason that the ship had been abandoned. According to their scans she had already lost warp and impulse power. Lights blinked on and off and the smell of burned out circuitry was present in the air.
"I don't like this," Ryan (NPC) mumbled, from behind Jason. "Something about this doesn't seem right."
"We'll be fine," Trace spoke up. "After all scans didn't show any life signs over here."
L'Randil looked around with her tricorder, occasionally adjusting her helmet with a sigh. Caitian ears were a nuisance in humanoid safety equipment, but that came with the territory.
"The power grid is just about useless, Sir." The ensign stated, trying to scan differently with her tool. "This ship is so old I am amazed it held up this long." The note of sarcasm was evident in her voice.
"Carbon scoring indicates that they may have been boarded before, doesn't look new though," Jason said, pointing to the various burn marks along the hall.
"Again, not making me feel any better," Ryan grunted.
Jason would hate to admit that he shared Ryan's dislike of their current situation. There was something that felt very wrong about the vessel. He almost wished that the captain had blasted the ship to space dust. No matter, they were here now and had a job to do.
"Ensign," Trace said. "Are you reading what I am reading?"
The engineer looked up at Trace. "I think that may be usable, if only for a moment. It must be independent of the ship's systems." She knelt down beside it and scanned further. "The technology is rather different from the Klingon vessel. No idea how though."
"Nor do I," Trace said. "But take a look here."
Trace indicated his tricorder, which was pointing them down the corridor toward what appeared to be a still functioning power supply. It was odd that they hadn't noticed it before, although with all the interference floating around it wasn't all that surprising.
"Any life signs?" Jason asked, thumbing the safety off on his phaser assault rifle.
"Not that I can detect," Trace responded, doing the same. "You think that someone stayed behind after they abandoned ship?"
"Ensign, I'm not sure what to think at this point," Jason sighed. "Landril can you access the ships computers? Maybe we can pull something useful from there."
The caitian quirked an ear at his mispronunciation, but didn't say anything. "I'll see what I can do." She worked intently on the computer input panel for several minutes as she tried to gain access to the system.
"The Klingon syntax is rather unique, but I think I have it now." She smirked. "Score. The crew manifest called for 21 and only 14 left."
Trace nodded, thumbing the trigger on his phaser rifle to stun. He wasn't expecting a fire fight but should one break out, he would be ready for it.
"Wait" She interrupted. "It appears we have a winner in the medical bay."
"Are you sure about that?" Trace asked.
"Come on," Jason said, motioning the away team forward.
Through the half opened lab door Setak could see the beams from hand held lights in the smoke filled atmosphere of the corridor' the Terrans were approaching. Realizing that he had been made Setak looked about the harried room for options, his eyes falling on the disruptor, still holstered on a fallen Klingon guard's belt. Could they be trusted? He wasn't certain of the intentions of these alternate Terran's intentions but he was certain that he would not give up a chance at freedom. Grabbing the disruptor and arming it he crouched low behind the rooms single bio bed and waited.
Jason motioned forward and both himself and Ryan entered the room, dropping into crouches and sweeping the area with their weapons. Trace couldn't see anything, although he would trust the Caitan and the tricorder in their current situation.
Setak closed his eyes and steadied himself as he heard rustling nearby, the Terrans had entered the lab and couldn't be but a few meters away. He felt anxiety rise in his throat and did his best to surpress the emotion but its fiery grasp held him firm.
"Come no further!" Setak warned with an elevated but controlled tone. "I am armed and will not allow you to take me or my research from this place."
That instantly got Jason's interests. Both Trace and Ryan tracked their phaser rifles in the direction that the voice had come from. Looking at the Caitan, she nodded indicating that they had zeroed in on the source.
"This is Lt. Commander Jason Barrett of the starship Malinche, we have your position locked, come out with your hands up."
Setak clenched his jaw and gripped at the disruptor, he didn't want to shoot anyone but his options were limited. He could turn himself in and face slavery once again or try to fight his way out and more than likely end up dead. Neither option was appealing, he needed more time.
Trace looked at Jason and quirked an eyebrow at his commanding officer. Whoever this person was he certainly sounded arrogant. Trace brought his rifle up and attached a small grenade launcher to it. He loaded a stun bomb and locked it in placed, looking at Jason. Jason nodded but gave him the signal to sit tight.
"Don't make us have to come drag you out...now come out with your hands up."
"I will comply," Setak relented at last, seeing no alternative. "But you have to give me assurances. That I will not be taken prisoner and that I will be released."
"Your ship fired on a Federation starship after ignoring all diplomatic avenues," Jason said. "You will be taken into custody until we can determine what has happened, depending on your role and corporation we'll have to see where we end up. You will be treated fairly according to all articles of the Federation."
Diplomatic avenues? Articles of the Federation? Setak wasn't sure if he was hearing correctly, who did these Terrans think they were?
"And I can assure you sir that I will not ask you again to come out. Either follow the instructions or we do this the hard way, your choice."
Setak set aside the disruptor and raised his hands above the bio bed so that they could be seen before rising to his feet and taking a good look at the intruders. They wore atmospheric suits which he was thankful for but he was equally perplexed by the sophistication of the equipment they carried.
"I will cooperate," Setak said, sizing up the Terran leader. "However, In the interest of saving the lives of your crewmen I suggest that you listen carefully to what I have to say."
L'Randil turned a concerned ear to the scientist's statement. As an engineer she needed to know everything she could about Setak's work.
Nodding toward one of the breached containment chambers Setak began, "the atmosphere has been compromised by a deadly pathogen, you cannot risk taking me aboard your vessel."
Jason arched an eyebrow inside his helmet, looking over to where Trace was kneeling. He was wishing now that they had brought along a member of the science department, although given that they thought that they might be beaming into a battle situation, they hadn't. He had a brief moment of panic for himself and his team but pushed it down.
"Trace?" Jason asked, looking at the Trill.
Trace took out his tricorder and began to scan the area, moments later it confirmed what the Vulcan had said. Fighting back the urge to smack him across the face with the butt of his phaser rifle, Trace merely nodded an affirmative to Barrett.
Jason muttered a very colorful Klingon curse. "Our bio-filters should be able to filter it off the suits and then we can be quarantined while our medical staff examines us."
"Fascinating," Setak interrupted. "Your vessel's systems have that capability?"
Before Jason could respond the whole ship shifted violently to the left, knocking them off their feet. There was an explosion somewhere in the ship as part of it suffered a decompression before the bulkheads sealed. Ryan slammed into a broken containment container with a strangled grunt.
Trace pitched forward, nearly missing hitting his head on the lab table. The sound was defiently from a bulkhead collasping; judging by the damage that the ship had taken in the battle he was surprised that there was anyone left inside that was still alive.
"Everyone alright?" Jason asked.
"Sir," Ryan said, his voice a little shaky. "My suit...its punctured...its sealed now, do you think that the virus had time to get in."
After righting himself Setak turned to the young Terran with a grim expression and moved toward him. Removing his medical scanner from its belt pouch he held it up before the others as they moved to stop him indicating that it was not a weapon. The tricorder like device confirmed what Setak already knew; after hitting the soft tissue of the Terran's lungs the virus had begun to gestate instantly.
"Hes infected," Setak confirmed in a monotone voice and turned to examine the others. "The rest of you are fine... For now. The longer you remain here the higher the risk of infection will be."
Trace was instantly angry...although he had no clue as to why. Ryan held a look of shock on his face but recovered quickly; his face masking the concern that he as clearly feeling.
"We need to get him out of here," Trace said, he leveled his phaser rifle at Setak. "You better tell me that you can treat him."
Setak eyed the weapon and the man who wielded carefully before turning his attention back to the infected officer. In truth he wasn't certain that he could treat the man but it seemed his life would depend on it.
Jason eyed the Trill carefully, he had no doubt that Trace wouldn't fire on the Vulcan, although breaking his nose with the butt of his phaser rifle...well he wasn't so sure about that. Jason was angry as well but was holding his anger in check, mostly because he didn't want to give the Vulcan any chance not to help.
"Ensign," Jason said, turning to the Caitan. "Download what information you can from the ships main computer."
"Will do." L'Randil said energetically. The terminals were not in the best of shape but she was able to get some progress already.
"And what is your name?" Jason asked, looking at the Vulcan. "As I said before, I'm Lt. Commander Jason Barrett of the starship Malinche, can you treat him?"
"Setak," the Vulcan offered carefully. "The Alliance was not interested in a cure to the virus, only increasing its lethality." Setak paused and watched as Jason seemed to tense, he knew that if he did not agree to try that he would be dead shortly. "I will try Commander," Setak said, expressionless. "But time is of the essence and I will need a lab..."
Jason looked at Trace, waiting for him to say something that would have gotten them in more trouble. But Trace remained silent, looking to Jason as to what they should do next. Jason breathed a sigh of relief, apparently that little outburst got it out of Trace's system.
"Then we need to transport to the Malinche right away," Jason said, tapping his the com unit on the arm of his suit. "Commander Barrett to the Malinche; Captain, we seem to have a problem."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
Isabel frowned; she wasn't particularly surprised that there would be a problem, but it still wasn't a pleasant thought. "Go ahead, Commander, what's the problem?"
<IKV T'Klan>
"Mr. Morris has been infected by something on the ship; we found a Vulcan by the name of Setak - he thinks that he might be able to treat him if not then he assures that the virus will be lethal."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
"Infected?" This was certainly not what she'd had in mind when she sent the away team to the D12. "Is anyone else infected? Or just Mr. Morris?" There were quite a few questions running through her head, but if the virus really was lethal, as the Vulcan claimed, they may not have much time. Some of her questions would have to wait, unfortunately.
<IKV T'Klan>
"No one else but Ryan, apparently they were conducting some sort of experiments over here, Ryan fell and his suit got punctured. The rest of us should be fine."
<USS Malinche, Alpha Section Bridge>
Shaking her head, Isabel replied, "Alright, I'll contact the transporter room once quarantine is set up - five or ten minutes. We'll have Mr. Setak and Mr. Morris beamed to Alpha Section's Sickbay under Medical Quarantine protocols. The rest of you will be beamed to Beta Section's Sickbay under Medical Quarantine until we've deemed that you're not infected. The Medical Holograms will be activated and Mr. Setak can coordinate with them."
<IKV T'Klan>
"Sounds like a plan Captain," Jason said, looking at the rest of his away team and at Setak. There was something about the Vulcan that he didn't trust; but they could deal with that later. Right now they needed to get Ryan to sickbay and get him treated. Assuming that they could treat him. He shook that thought away, Setak would be able to cure him, he would make sure of that. If not, then Setak will have wished that he died on the Klingon ship.
Setak raised an eyebrow as he listened to the Terrans communicate with their Captain, he was surprised when the leaders voice remained calm after hearing of the situation. He wondered if she might not fully understand the ramifications of the situation; but that was not had caught his attention the most.
"Medical holograms?" Setak muttered curiously. "Fascinating."
"We need to get moving," Trace said, his voice a low growl. "I'm not entirely sure how much longer this bucket is going to hold togehter."
"How are you doing Mr. Morris?" Jason asked.
Ryan took a deep shuddering breath before looking his XO in the face. "Doing fine sir, although the way that these bodies look tells me that might not be the case for long."
"We'll get you out of this," Trace said, shooting an evil look at Setak. "I promise."
Setak understood Trace's sentiment but wasn't so sure, he thought it unwise of the Terran to make promises that he couldn't keep. With a reluctant sigh he nodded to at least give the appearance of confidence, as much for himself as the others, his life depended on it.
"Then lets get this show on the road," Jason grunted. "Malinche, you heard the captain begin transport."
OFF:
A JP brought to you by:
Ensign Trace Vosh
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
&
Ensign L'Randil N'rass
Shuttle Maintenance Specialist
&
Setak
Provisional Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Commander Jason Barrett
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
OFF: This is a backpost
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Bridge, Day 13, 1100>>
After speaking with the Counseling staff, Nora quickly discovered that it was too difficult for her to simply sit and wait for any news from the planet’s surface. Hoping that she could be of use in some other way for the time being, or at least stay updated on the situation at Athos III, she left Counseling and headed directly for the Bridge.
Once the turbolift had reached its destination, Nora moved quietly to take the chair to the left of Captain Kersare. “Any word from the away team, Captain?”
Isabel glanced over at Nora as the Counselor took her seat on the bridge, "I"m afraid not, Lieutenant. We're still waiting to hear back from them." Turning slightly in her chair, she asked, "How are things in Counseling?"
“As well as can be expected,” Nora replied. “I confess that I’m not sure what to expect, but my staff is on the alert and ready should our services be needed.” The Betazoid sighed quietly, glancing at Isabel out of the corner of her eye. “And how are things here on the Bridge?”
"Well," Isabel began, "About the same as it has been...sitting around and waiting. We have been scanning the area for anything unusual, but thus far haven't really come across anything. Hopefully we'll learn more once the away team is back." Whatever had happened, it seemed that any clues they might find would be on the planet - at least for starters. Perhaps the away team's findings would help them know where to look.
Nora nodded, smiling slightly. “The crew is a little tense,” she observed. “So many aboard the ship hope for the best, but they are preparing themselves for the worst concerning any survivors. It doesn’t take a telepath to sense that, I’m sure, but that’s the impression I’ve been getting in waves since we arrived.” She was very concerned about the outcome of the colony herself, but at the same time, she was determined to be practical. Although they had little information as to what had happened, the chance that anyone could have survived what appeared to be a catastrophic event was slim indeed.
Sighing, Isabel decided to change the subject, "Has Crewman Liras (NPC) had a chance to get started?" Recently she had approved Britney's request to help out as a Morale Officer - or at least to try it out. Considering the Direidian's enthusiasm, Isabel thought it would be a good fit.
“She has, actually,” Nora said, grateful for the change in subject. “Fira (NPC) has been working with her as far as any training goes, not that she needs very much instruction. I think she will be a natural.” From what Fira had reported, Britney was already shaping up to be a great addition to Counseling. “I’ve been meaning to thank you for sharing her with us.”
"I'm glad to hear it, Lieutenant," Isabel said with a smile. While she appreciated Britney's efforts as yeoman, Isabel also realized why she would want to expand into another role. Truthfully, she liked the idea of her crewmembers expanding their responsibilities. "You're quite welcome. I think it will help break up the monotony of searching through the various reports and information that she usually takes care of for me."
“I think you may be right,” Nora agreed. “And I think it will be a good fit for Britney. Besides, I rather like the idea of having two Morale Officers. Not that low morale is often a problem aboard the Malinche, of course, but there are times when it can be a little much for one person.” Fira was an excellent Morale Officer as far as Nora was concerned, and she had never heard her complain about feeling overworked. But there were times when it seemed that everyone within Counseling felt the strain of seeing to the crew’s mental and emotional needs, particularly when missions went awry. The counselor was hopeful that adding Britney to their small department would help whenever the going got tough.
Isabel nodded, "Especially in situations such as this. I think it'll be a good thing all around." Truthfully, with all the situations the Malinche seemed to get into, they could probably use a much larger counseling department... But Nora and her staff were doing rather well with the crew; everyone seemed to be fairly well adjusted considering.
“Mmm,” Nora wordlessly agreed, her thoughts drifting away to other matters. Her smile was soft as she observed the other crewmembers on the Bridge, and she was very much aware of their emotions concerning the ship’s current uneasy situation. After a few moments, she spoke again. “It can’t be said that life aboard the Malinche is dull. My last assignment was fairly interesting, but it was never as exciting there as it tends to be here.”
"Exciting is one word for it," Isabel chuckled slightly. "I'd rather it be the good kind of exciting though... I suppose finding the Rome, in the end, was a good thing. I'm not sure this will end up being a similar situation."
Nora exhaled slowly, nodding. “I’m beginning to feel that way myself.” And from some of the feelings her telepathy was picking up, she knew that many of the crew felt the same. The idea of an entire colony being reduced to nothing was troubling, to say the very least. She knew that there couldn’t always be happy endings, but that didn’t stop her from wishing that there was something more that she could do to help turn the bleak situation around in some way.
“The Malinche certainly has seen her share of danger and excitement,” Nora said at length, threading her fingers together in her lap. “And no matter how unfortunate this situation seems, I’m confident that your ship and your crew are up to the challenge. Whatever we can do, we’ll do it. I find some comfort in that.”
"Yes she has... And I agree; thus far we've not come up against something we couldn't handle. I'm not sure if that luck will hold, but I'd like to think that we have the kind of crew that's able to take on whatever challenges we face," Isabel replied, finally settling back into her chair. "For now, all we can do is wait..."
OFF:
A JP brought to you by:
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
ON:
<<USS Malinche, Bridge, Day 13, 1100>>
After speaking with the Counseling staff, Nora quickly discovered that it was too difficult for her to simply sit and wait for any news from the planet’s surface. Hoping that she could be of use in some other way for the time being, or at least stay updated on the situation at Athos III, she left Counseling and headed directly for the Bridge.
Once the turbolift had reached its destination, Nora moved quietly to take the chair to the left of Captain Kersare. “Any word from the away team, Captain?”
Isabel glanced over at Nora as the Counselor took her seat on the bridge, "I"m afraid not, Lieutenant. We're still waiting to hear back from them." Turning slightly in her chair, she asked, "How are things in Counseling?"
“As well as can be expected,” Nora replied. “I confess that I’m not sure what to expect, but my staff is on the alert and ready should our services be needed.” The Betazoid sighed quietly, glancing at Isabel out of the corner of her eye. “And how are things here on the Bridge?”
"Well," Isabel began, "About the same as it has been...sitting around and waiting. We have been scanning the area for anything unusual, but thus far haven't really come across anything. Hopefully we'll learn more once the away team is back." Whatever had happened, it seemed that any clues they might find would be on the planet - at least for starters. Perhaps the away team's findings would help them know where to look.
Nora nodded, smiling slightly. “The crew is a little tense,” she observed. “So many aboard the ship hope for the best, but they are preparing themselves for the worst concerning any survivors. It doesn’t take a telepath to sense that, I’m sure, but that’s the impression I’ve been getting in waves since we arrived.” She was very concerned about the outcome of the colony herself, but at the same time, she was determined to be practical. Although they had little information as to what had happened, the chance that anyone could have survived what appeared to be a catastrophic event was slim indeed.
Sighing, Isabel decided to change the subject, "Has Crewman Liras (NPC) had a chance to get started?" Recently she had approved Britney's request to help out as a Morale Officer - or at least to try it out. Considering the Direidian's enthusiasm, Isabel thought it would be a good fit.
“She has, actually,” Nora said, grateful for the change in subject. “Fira (NPC) has been working with her as far as any training goes, not that she needs very much instruction. I think she will be a natural.” From what Fira had reported, Britney was already shaping up to be a great addition to Counseling. “I’ve been meaning to thank you for sharing her with us.”
"I'm glad to hear it, Lieutenant," Isabel said with a smile. While she appreciated Britney's efforts as yeoman, Isabel also realized why she would want to expand into another role. Truthfully, she liked the idea of her crewmembers expanding their responsibilities. "You're quite welcome. I think it will help break up the monotony of searching through the various reports and information that she usually takes care of for me."
“I think you may be right,” Nora agreed. “And I think it will be a good fit for Britney. Besides, I rather like the idea of having two Morale Officers. Not that low morale is often a problem aboard the Malinche, of course, but there are times when it can be a little much for one person.” Fira was an excellent Morale Officer as far as Nora was concerned, and she had never heard her complain about feeling overworked. But there were times when it seemed that everyone within Counseling felt the strain of seeing to the crew’s mental and emotional needs, particularly when missions went awry. The counselor was hopeful that adding Britney to their small department would help whenever the going got tough.
Isabel nodded, "Especially in situations such as this. I think it'll be a good thing all around." Truthfully, with all the situations the Malinche seemed to get into, they could probably use a much larger counseling department... But Nora and her staff were doing rather well with the crew; everyone seemed to be fairly well adjusted considering.
“Mmm,” Nora wordlessly agreed, her thoughts drifting away to other matters. Her smile was soft as she observed the other crewmembers on the Bridge, and she was very much aware of their emotions concerning the ship’s current uneasy situation. After a few moments, she spoke again. “It can’t be said that life aboard the Malinche is dull. My last assignment was fairly interesting, but it was never as exciting there as it tends to be here.”
"Exciting is one word for it," Isabel chuckled slightly. "I'd rather it be the good kind of exciting though... I suppose finding the Rome, in the end, was a good thing. I'm not sure this will end up being a similar situation."
Nora exhaled slowly, nodding. “I’m beginning to feel that way myself.” And from some of the feelings her telepathy was picking up, she knew that many of the crew felt the same. The idea of an entire colony being reduced to nothing was troubling, to say the very least. She knew that there couldn’t always be happy endings, but that didn’t stop her from wishing that there was something more that she could do to help turn the bleak situation around in some way.
“The Malinche certainly has seen her share of danger and excitement,” Nora said at length, threading her fingers together in her lap. “And no matter how unfortunate this situation seems, I’m confident that your ship and your crew are up to the challenge. Whatever we can do, we’ll do it. I find some comfort in that.”
"Yes she has... And I agree; thus far we've not come up against something we couldn't handle. I'm not sure if that luck will hold, but I'd like to think that we have the kind of crew that's able to take on whatever challenges we face," Isabel replied, finally settling back into her chair. "For now, all we can do is wait..."
OFF:
A JP brought to you by:
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Commander Nora Zeral
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
Re: Mission 17 - Inferno's Light
<<USS Malinche - Alpha Section>>
<Sickbay, 1400, Day 14>
After materializing in the Malinche's sickbay Setak felt the change of environment swiftly and abruptly; the rooms lights were at least twice as bright as those aboard the Klingon vessel and the ships atmosphere seemed strangely fresh for a space faring vessel. Breathing in deeply Setak could feel the higher quality air sting his lungs slightly, its crisp freshness had an astringent quality to it that the Vulcan instantly appreciated. Taking a quick look around he immediately realized the the whole of the room seemed sterile, it reminded him of Trill, previously the only clean environment he had ever known. If the rest of the ship was like its medical facilities Setak ventured that he might actually enjoy his time aboard the Terran vessel, assuming of course they didn't execute him prematurely.
Ryan (NPC) really had to try hard to resist the urge to punch Setak in the face. He was staring around the inside of sickbay like he had never seen one before while Ryan stood there with a lethal infection growing inside him. He cleared this throat several times but that didn't appear to phase the Vulcan at all. He still had his phaser assault rifle and it took a good deal of self restraint not to smack the Vulcan across the back of his head. He saw the LMH activate and move toward them both.
Maria (NPC) had been activated after the quarantine protocols had been put in place. Unfortunately, nobody had told her exactly what the nature of the medical emergency was; they had simply left her in the quarantine area. Although she was programmed to handle various situations, Maria was not fond of being activated and simply left with no instructions. She had been surprised when two people had beamed in - a Vulcan who was not in a StarFleet uniform and a young man in Services gold, an Ensign. When the Ensign spoke up - trying to get the Vulcan's attention, Maria moved over to him as she pulled out a medical tricorder, "Good afternoon, I'm Dr. Del Amico, how are you feeling?"
"Aside from a minor laceration and a few sore ribs I am fine," Setak replied with an eyebrow raised at the blue collared woman. Taking the Ensign by the arm he escorted the Terran to the nearest bio bed and gestured for him to sit. "You should be more concerned about your associate, he has been infected by a highly lethal virus."
Following the two men, Maria eyed the Vulcan. "Haven't you been infected as well then? I presume that's what the quarantine protocols and my being activated are for, to prevent others from becoming infected. Do you know what it is?" She began scanning, trying to ascertain just what the virus was.
"I should hope so," Setak grimaced as he took the tricorder and probe from the hologram's hands. Following her prior example he began to survey the Ensign for himself. "I created it. In regard to your prior question, I too am infected and as a carrier can spread the virus but as a Vulcan I am immune to its effects."
"Peachy," Ryan growled, under his breath
Satisfied with the readings Setak snapped the Tricorder closed and began to examine the biobed's control console. "We will need to place the Terran in stasis," Setak said absently. "Lowering his core temperature will slow the progression of the infection buying us a little more time."
"The Terran has a name," Ryan grumbled.
He really didn't like the idea of being placed into stasis, even more so when they had no idea if they were going to be able to wake back up again. He had only been in stasis one other time and that was not a pleasant experience either; he ended with nightmares for weeks after that. He felt a cold sweat break out over his body; he wasn't sure if it was nerves or the damn virus. Although he supposed that it could be both.
A bit taken aback as the Vulcan took her tricorder, Maria blinked a few times as he took over. "You created it? If you're infected and can spread it to others, we'll have to cure you as well." She frowned at his next statement, "What kind of infection is this?"
"Yes, I created it. I took no pleasure in doing so however," Setak paused to study the expression on the hologram's face. "The pathogen consists of an enveloped RNA virus that settles into the gray matter of the brain. Once it has taken root there it replicates quickly, dissolving synaptic receptors and otherwise slowing brain activity as it spreads. Within twelve hours the victim will experience full body paralysis and within twenty four hours death as the mind simply stops telling the rest of the body to function."
Maria's eyes widened as the Vulcan explained the graveness of the situation. "Who are you?" She had a difficult time believing that a Vulcan would create something such as this, but then again, he didn't entirely seem like a normal Vulcan. There was something...different about him.
"A victim of circumstance," Setak smiled wryly. "Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of parallel world lines? I come from one such, alternate reality, where the circumstances of existence are likely quite different from what you know to be here. Judging by your reaction I would surmise that my involvement in the creation of this virus is out of character... Perhaps Vulcans here are not subjected to forced servitude?"
"Do you think that we could stop worrying about whatever alternate reality he came from and get to work on fixing me," Ryan snapped, annoyed that they weren't already discussing treatment options.
"Try not to worry, Ensign. I'm putting you in stasis now...we'll figure something out," Maria replied with a calm smile on her face. Moving over to the biobed controls, she brought up the stasis control screen and entered in a few parameters before activating it. She then turned back to the Vulcan, "No, they're not...In fact, none in the Federation are, but that is a discussion for another time. You do have some ideas on how to reverse this, don't you? My patient had better live..."
"Your patient," Setak sighed. "May not be so fortunate. The alliance was not concerned with the creation of a vaccine or other treatments; on the contrary my orders were to make this... Weapon, as difficult to treat as possible."
Maria nodded slowly, "How much extra time will the stasis give us? I can search through my knowledge to see if I can identify similar viruses and potential cures, though cross referencing everything may take some time..." Her eyes moved down to the bio bed's vitals information, checking to make sure the Ensign was doing as well as could be expected while in stasis.
"Hours perhaps," Setak shrugged as he began to examine the room's facilities. "But I have to admit, I was not expecting to find such sophisticated technology on a Terran vessel. You, for example... Remarkable. You will have to acquaint me with the tools here, perhaps with the resources available we will indeed be able to find something in time."
"Well, I am a Long Term Medical Hologram. I was designed to be able to care for patients on a long term basis - specifically when a regular medical staff is not on hand," Maria began. "It would take a great deal of time to acquaint you with everything here, but I will do my best." She walked over to the wall and picked a device up off the shelf, bringing it over to the Vulcan, "This, for instance, is a Neural Stimulator. We use it to help repair the CNS pathways in the event of neuro-synaptic failure."
Setak took the foreign device into his hands and studied it; he had seen similar instruments on Trill decades prior but not one so advanced. Standing beside the hologram he examined the rest of the instruments in the locker that the Neural Stimulator had come from and as he did he began to wonder how it was that an inferior species had become so advanced. Turning to the computer terminal nearby his fingers slid over its smooth sterile surface and a grin came to his lips.
"Your computer," Setak started in an admiring tone. "It is powerful enough to accommodate genetic sequencing operations?"
Isabel, curious about the person who would supposedly be able to save her crewmember, had made her way to Sickbay as soon as she could. Walking in, she made her way over to the quarantine barrier in time to hear the Vulcan's question, "Yes, it is. And we can allocate more power for it as well, if needed....Mr...?"
"Setak," the Vulcan replied wryly without turning, having recognized the woman's voice as that of the Captain. "You Terrans do not waste any time do you? I suppose I should commend you for that."
"When time is of the essence, Mr. Setak, we prefer not to waste time," she replied. Looking over the LMH, Doctor Maria Del Amico, she asked, "What is the condition of Ensign Morris?"
After a quick glance over at Setak, Maria replied, "Well, Captain, Mr. Setak suggested that we put him in stasis to buy us more time to find a cure. Right now his vital signs are as stable as can be expected, so we can now concentrate on the cure." She wasn't entirely sure how well this would work; it was fairly obvious that the Vulcan was not used to the type of technology the Malinche had and it could be that something in their technology would be vital to solving the case of the virus.
Isabel nodded and turned her attention back to the Vulcan, "Do you think you can find a cure in time, Mr. Setak?" She didn't like the idea that the life of one of her crew was in the hands of someone she had never met and knew nothing about... However, from what she understood, he was the person who had created the virus and was, therefore, their best hope.
Setak turned and paced the length of the room to study the Captain of the ship through the quarantine screen; she was not a formidable woman but she did seem confident. "It would be in my best interest to find a cure before your crewman dies would it not?"
Keeping an eye on him as he paced, Isabel replied, "Yes, it would. Based on what my First Officer told me, the only reason you're not currently in the Brig is because you may be the only one who could find a cure. Regardless, that doesn't tell me if you feel you can. If it brings about death within 24 hours, I have to believe it's not going to be something you can reverse in an hour."
Setak nodded knowingly; he was a prisoner. His hands trembled slightly as anger welled up within him but he knew that losing control would not help his cause. "I believe it can be done," he exaggerated, obviously irritated. "But if I am to succeed I must start now, you will have to excuse me."
It was unsettling, to some degree, to see a Vulcan expressing emotions in such a manner... He seemed upset at her words - but what had he expected? He had created a virus which likely killed the colonists and could, in fact, kill her crew. Isabel pushed her unease aside, though, and looked over at him, "Of course, Mr. Setak. If there's anything you need that would aid you, please let me know."
Setak nodded as he approached the room's primary computer and accessed the data that the Terrans had salvaged from his lab. All of the information he required was present but he would be starting his work from scratch, with little time to work with he knew that every second would have to be a productive one.
"Hologram," Setak grimaced. "Take the other console and help me with the re-sequencing and while you're at it prepare your systems to run trials. I hope you're prepared for a long evening..."
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign Ryan Morris (NPC)
Brig Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign Vosh
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Chief Medical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(rank/position to be granted at the end of this mission)
and
Dr. Maria Del Amico (NPC)
LMH
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Captain Kersare
and
<Sickbay, 1400, Day 14>
After materializing in the Malinche's sickbay Setak felt the change of environment swiftly and abruptly; the rooms lights were at least twice as bright as those aboard the Klingon vessel and the ships atmosphere seemed strangely fresh for a space faring vessel. Breathing in deeply Setak could feel the higher quality air sting his lungs slightly, its crisp freshness had an astringent quality to it that the Vulcan instantly appreciated. Taking a quick look around he immediately realized the the whole of the room seemed sterile, it reminded him of Trill, previously the only clean environment he had ever known. If the rest of the ship was like its medical facilities Setak ventured that he might actually enjoy his time aboard the Terran vessel, assuming of course they didn't execute him prematurely.
Ryan (NPC) really had to try hard to resist the urge to punch Setak in the face. He was staring around the inside of sickbay like he had never seen one before while Ryan stood there with a lethal infection growing inside him. He cleared this throat several times but that didn't appear to phase the Vulcan at all. He still had his phaser assault rifle and it took a good deal of self restraint not to smack the Vulcan across the back of his head. He saw the LMH activate and move toward them both.
Maria (NPC) had been activated after the quarantine protocols had been put in place. Unfortunately, nobody had told her exactly what the nature of the medical emergency was; they had simply left her in the quarantine area. Although she was programmed to handle various situations, Maria was not fond of being activated and simply left with no instructions. She had been surprised when two people had beamed in - a Vulcan who was not in a StarFleet uniform and a young man in Services gold, an Ensign. When the Ensign spoke up - trying to get the Vulcan's attention, Maria moved over to him as she pulled out a medical tricorder, "Good afternoon, I'm Dr. Del Amico, how are you feeling?"
"Aside from a minor laceration and a few sore ribs I am fine," Setak replied with an eyebrow raised at the blue collared woman. Taking the Ensign by the arm he escorted the Terran to the nearest bio bed and gestured for him to sit. "You should be more concerned about your associate, he has been infected by a highly lethal virus."
Following the two men, Maria eyed the Vulcan. "Haven't you been infected as well then? I presume that's what the quarantine protocols and my being activated are for, to prevent others from becoming infected. Do you know what it is?" She began scanning, trying to ascertain just what the virus was.
"I should hope so," Setak grimaced as he took the tricorder and probe from the hologram's hands. Following her prior example he began to survey the Ensign for himself. "I created it. In regard to your prior question, I too am infected and as a carrier can spread the virus but as a Vulcan I am immune to its effects."
"Peachy," Ryan growled, under his breath
Satisfied with the readings Setak snapped the Tricorder closed and began to examine the biobed's control console. "We will need to place the Terran in stasis," Setak said absently. "Lowering his core temperature will slow the progression of the infection buying us a little more time."
"The Terran has a name," Ryan grumbled.
He really didn't like the idea of being placed into stasis, even more so when they had no idea if they were going to be able to wake back up again. He had only been in stasis one other time and that was not a pleasant experience either; he ended with nightmares for weeks after that. He felt a cold sweat break out over his body; he wasn't sure if it was nerves or the damn virus. Although he supposed that it could be both.
A bit taken aback as the Vulcan took her tricorder, Maria blinked a few times as he took over. "You created it? If you're infected and can spread it to others, we'll have to cure you as well." She frowned at his next statement, "What kind of infection is this?"
"Yes, I created it. I took no pleasure in doing so however," Setak paused to study the expression on the hologram's face. "The pathogen consists of an enveloped RNA virus that settles into the gray matter of the brain. Once it has taken root there it replicates quickly, dissolving synaptic receptors and otherwise slowing brain activity as it spreads. Within twelve hours the victim will experience full body paralysis and within twenty four hours death as the mind simply stops telling the rest of the body to function."
Maria's eyes widened as the Vulcan explained the graveness of the situation. "Who are you?" She had a difficult time believing that a Vulcan would create something such as this, but then again, he didn't entirely seem like a normal Vulcan. There was something...different about him.
"A victim of circumstance," Setak smiled wryly. "Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of parallel world lines? I come from one such, alternate reality, where the circumstances of existence are likely quite different from what you know to be here. Judging by your reaction I would surmise that my involvement in the creation of this virus is out of character... Perhaps Vulcans here are not subjected to forced servitude?"
"Do you think that we could stop worrying about whatever alternate reality he came from and get to work on fixing me," Ryan snapped, annoyed that they weren't already discussing treatment options.
"Try not to worry, Ensign. I'm putting you in stasis now...we'll figure something out," Maria replied with a calm smile on her face. Moving over to the biobed controls, she brought up the stasis control screen and entered in a few parameters before activating it. She then turned back to the Vulcan, "No, they're not...In fact, none in the Federation are, but that is a discussion for another time. You do have some ideas on how to reverse this, don't you? My patient had better live..."
"Your patient," Setak sighed. "May not be so fortunate. The alliance was not concerned with the creation of a vaccine or other treatments; on the contrary my orders were to make this... Weapon, as difficult to treat as possible."
Maria nodded slowly, "How much extra time will the stasis give us? I can search through my knowledge to see if I can identify similar viruses and potential cures, though cross referencing everything may take some time..." Her eyes moved down to the bio bed's vitals information, checking to make sure the Ensign was doing as well as could be expected while in stasis.
"Hours perhaps," Setak shrugged as he began to examine the room's facilities. "But I have to admit, I was not expecting to find such sophisticated technology on a Terran vessel. You, for example... Remarkable. You will have to acquaint me with the tools here, perhaps with the resources available we will indeed be able to find something in time."
"Well, I am a Long Term Medical Hologram. I was designed to be able to care for patients on a long term basis - specifically when a regular medical staff is not on hand," Maria began. "It would take a great deal of time to acquaint you with everything here, but I will do my best." She walked over to the wall and picked a device up off the shelf, bringing it over to the Vulcan, "This, for instance, is a Neural Stimulator. We use it to help repair the CNS pathways in the event of neuro-synaptic failure."
Setak took the foreign device into his hands and studied it; he had seen similar instruments on Trill decades prior but not one so advanced. Standing beside the hologram he examined the rest of the instruments in the locker that the Neural Stimulator had come from and as he did he began to wonder how it was that an inferior species had become so advanced. Turning to the computer terminal nearby his fingers slid over its smooth sterile surface and a grin came to his lips.
"Your computer," Setak started in an admiring tone. "It is powerful enough to accommodate genetic sequencing operations?"
Isabel, curious about the person who would supposedly be able to save her crewmember, had made her way to Sickbay as soon as she could. Walking in, she made her way over to the quarantine barrier in time to hear the Vulcan's question, "Yes, it is. And we can allocate more power for it as well, if needed....Mr...?"
"Setak," the Vulcan replied wryly without turning, having recognized the woman's voice as that of the Captain. "You Terrans do not waste any time do you? I suppose I should commend you for that."
"When time is of the essence, Mr. Setak, we prefer not to waste time," she replied. Looking over the LMH, Doctor Maria Del Amico, she asked, "What is the condition of Ensign Morris?"
After a quick glance over at Setak, Maria replied, "Well, Captain, Mr. Setak suggested that we put him in stasis to buy us more time to find a cure. Right now his vital signs are as stable as can be expected, so we can now concentrate on the cure." She wasn't entirely sure how well this would work; it was fairly obvious that the Vulcan was not used to the type of technology the Malinche had and it could be that something in their technology would be vital to solving the case of the virus.
Isabel nodded and turned her attention back to the Vulcan, "Do you think you can find a cure in time, Mr. Setak?" She didn't like the idea that the life of one of her crew was in the hands of someone she had never met and knew nothing about... However, from what she understood, he was the person who had created the virus and was, therefore, their best hope.
Setak turned and paced the length of the room to study the Captain of the ship through the quarantine screen; she was not a formidable woman but she did seem confident. "It would be in my best interest to find a cure before your crewman dies would it not?"
Keeping an eye on him as he paced, Isabel replied, "Yes, it would. Based on what my First Officer told me, the only reason you're not currently in the Brig is because you may be the only one who could find a cure. Regardless, that doesn't tell me if you feel you can. If it brings about death within 24 hours, I have to believe it's not going to be something you can reverse in an hour."
Setak nodded knowingly; he was a prisoner. His hands trembled slightly as anger welled up within him but he knew that losing control would not help his cause. "I believe it can be done," he exaggerated, obviously irritated. "But if I am to succeed I must start now, you will have to excuse me."
It was unsettling, to some degree, to see a Vulcan expressing emotions in such a manner... He seemed upset at her words - but what had he expected? He had created a virus which likely killed the colonists and could, in fact, kill her crew. Isabel pushed her unease aside, though, and looked over at him, "Of course, Mr. Setak. If there's anything you need that would aid you, please let me know."
Setak nodded as he approached the room's primary computer and accessed the data that the Terrans had salvaged from his lab. All of the information he required was present but he would be starting his work from scratch, with little time to work with he knew that every second would have to be a productive one.
"Hologram," Setak grimaced. "Take the other console and help me with the re-sequencing and while you're at it prepare your systems to run trials. I hope you're prepared for a long evening..."
OFF: JP brought to you by:
Ensign Ryan Morris (NPC)
Brig Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Ensign Vosh
and
Provisional Lieutenant Setak
Chief Medical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
(rank/position to be granted at the end of this mission)
and
Dr. Maria Del Amico (NPC)
LMH
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
played by: Captain Kersare
and
Captain Isabel Kersare
Commanding Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A