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Post by Savot on Apr 8, 2020 22:39:51 GMT
[Science Lab: Enzio]
Savot had played a game with the infiltrator, a very dangerous game involving moves and countermoves folded atop each other nearly ad infinitum. The initial withdrawal from the meld was 3 parts feint, let the subject believe that its mental fortitude as well as the unfamiliar alien mindscape had blunted the vulcan's initial probe more than it had, and a concerning 2 parts genuine retreat to rejuvenate and calculate his secondary telepathic invasion. Distasteful certainly, and immoral in perhaps a great host of philosophy texts but there was something to be said for overstepping certain boundaries when the opposition had been the ones to strike first. Savot cautioned himself; however, in finding too much solace in that easily traveled road of justification.
After a battle that had felt like very possibly the majority of an entire solar rotation, but in reality mere minutes, the meld was ended. Savot managed to step backward some paces before falling to one knee between Irae and Zakryn, wanting to give Gheskori and Torek clear access to the echo of the Negotiator's consciousness during what little time they had. The vulcan had learned little besides the replacement's species, having focused most of his efforts on attempting to help the true Negotiator re-surface; learning only too late that the body was a full duplicate, not the real Negotiator with a mental intruder. As he shared what he'd gleaned with the others, he wasn't certain if there was enough of the Negotiator's mind present in this being to take ownership of the body if the Halanan consciousness could be silenced or... ironically, negotiated with. But that was a wonder for another time.
********************************************************* [Enzio: Bridge]
Assuring Commander Irae, Chief Zakryn, and his fellow Flag officers that he was, so far as he could gauge, mentally and physically sound, though quite drained from the astral face-off, Commodore Savot followed the others to the bridge though at a slightly slower pace than would be his norm. He observed the interaction with newcomer Saspari, returning Admiral Torek's nod as the Raven's CO moved to receive a communication from his vessel the results of which Torek shared with Savot upon his return.
The El Salvador, under Commander Delbridge's temporary command, had wasted no time taking up position per the Admiral's orders, Savot knowing his people were dutiful enough that they didn't need Savot to confirm the orders of a superior. The vulcan had been continually impressed with his crew's dedication and performance since the initial nebular explosion and they seemed disinclined to let that attitude wane anytime soon. Small moments like this were one of the things Savot appreciated most about being part of Starfleet.
"Curious", Savot offered, "that they would both have a replacement facility standing by, and that it would be held at a location in close enough proximity for them to be arriving this quickly. It seems probable they were intentionally trying to evade detection if we haven't seen any sign of such a base since our establishment in this quadrant. Possibly a consequence of their tensions with the Alarodians." The vulcan mentally tallied the numerous variables trying to keep track of what they knew about which group in case they needed to make military or preferably diplomatic use of such information.
The vulcan turned to Gheskori and Torek, "Section Admiral, what are your orders? Commander Irae and I can remain if you require further medical team aid for the Enzio's casualties or you believe I can be of any further use regarding the Negotiator; or we can return to the El Salvador to resume command should neutrality dissolve."
Tag:<All>
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Apr 14, 2020 1:46:13 GMT
=^= Will you be remaining aboard the Enzio? =^=
=^= I'm not sure .. Get into position then contact me .. I'll make a decision then .. Torek out =^=
Andae sighed and blinked as the comm closed, Wedlerson glancing at him as he returned to the Ops console and T'Seng taking on the role of the nominal first officer once more, her deputy tactical officer Delik Gerelo standing in.
Milyanov had made the coolant leak and venting systems' repairs rapidly allowing the Raven to accelerate to warp 9.5+ in no time. Soon on long-range scanners - data fed through and magnified on the viewscreen - the aCen system and the miasma of its system-wide nebula splayed out before the bridge crew - invisible specks of starships would dot the foreground, and yet the nearest of the two dwarf planetoids was the only solid object visible, eclipsing the nebula's sickening hues with its irregular silhouette.
"Taking up position 50,000 km to port of the Alarodian vessels, Commander," Fields reported. Aye, Andae replied, relaying to Lysia to pass the helmsman's message to the rest of the three starships.
As Captain Manley's vessel took up a similar position to starboard of the octet of Alarodian ships - before about 50 minutes later heading out to investigate a comparably-sized mass to the destroyed Ireuken mining station and two apparent attendant tugs -, Blakus opened a channel,
=/\=USS Enzio, this is Commander Blakus of the Raven. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?=/\=
It was XO V'Maz, the Vulcan officer Blakus had inadvertently squared-off against before - unless that'd merely been his own attitude; Vulcans were supposed to be emotionless after all. The Enzio XO guessed that Blakus wished to speak to his Commanding Officer.
=/\=Sir,=/\= Andae nodded as Torek's face appeared on the viewscreen, =/\=It is good to see you again. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it out in one piece - those 17 Alarodian ships we'd to intercept...=/\= Well, we do only have eight of them to contend with now, Andae, he chided himself sarcastically. =/\=Do you wish to return to the ship, sir?=/\=
Carl nodded, =/\=Admiral Gheskori has given me permission to return to the Raven, Commodore Savot likewise to the El Sal, though his first and medical officer Irae is still assisting in Enzio's sickbay. Commander Valente will remain here to investigate the possibility of more Halanan aboard the Enzio - the Negotiator had to've access to certain systems he couldn't have obtained alone. The Section Admiral feels if we spread our flag-ranking resources amongst our respective ships it will help bring our command experience to bear if we decide to in some way split up throughout the system.=/\=
<Tag Torek, Savot, Valente>
USS Raven bridge... 2 hours, 45 minutes later...
Wedlerson alerted that the Maracanda was beginning to gather scans of the unknown vessels entering the outer reaches of the system. Scans that were at first inconclusive soon revealed a single mass of virtually the same dimensions as the hitherto destroyed mining outpost, and two tugs, both - inordinately - heavily armed.
"Well, it's time Manley high-tailed it out of there, isn't it?" Andae murmured from the XO's chair, "He's got his readings; the tugs' weapons are no match for the Maracanda under normal circumstances, but given its marginally weakened st- "
T'Seng's interrupted abruptly, "Admiral Torek, Commissioner Saspari is hailing the three of us, Raven, El Salvador and Enzio." Carl nodded for her to go on. "He demands to know why we've been boxing in his vessels for the last 4.5 hours. He's a patient man, he says," she smiled as she read the text-only communique on her screen, "But he's beginning to take this as a provocation."
Blakus glanced at the officer at Mission Ops, "Ensign, extrapolate the eight Alarodians' trajectory should they've proceeded along it and hadn't been effectively blocked by us."
"... Sure enough, sir, they were heading directly for a rendezvous with the replacement mining outpost and its tugs," Tolson reported.
Blakus and Torek glanced at one another, "I'd like the Raven in the vicinity of the Maracanda should things go awry. That was part of the original plan, Andae."
"Does Saspari wish to form an alliance with Tor'ng and the Ireukens, contrary to our ideas?" Andae asked, casting about. "What the Ireukens harvest from the wormhole is one of the Alarodians' primary sources of power, let's not forget," Svensson put in, "Perhaps they mean to commandeer the new mining outpost, steer it to the nebula and wormhole and begin harvesting the energy themselves, cutting out the Ireuken middle-man."
"The Maracanda is returning with her data, Admiral," an officer reported, "... Wait, she's under fire from one of the tugs. Quantum torpedoes, or something like it - if I had to guess, Ireuken design.
Meanwhile, the Halanan craft, graphite metal and beige, angular, hovered threateningly on the viewscreen. Andae understood the El Sal was keeping watch on that vessel, while the Enzio was holding off almost the entire flotilla of eight Alarodian craft.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on Apr 15, 2020 22:24:45 GMT
=^= Do you wish to return to the ship Sir? =^= Blakus asked, Carl, nodded.
=^= Admiral Gheskori has given me permission to return to the Raven, Commodore Savot likewise to El Salvador .. .. .. The Section Admiral feels if we spread our flag-ranking resources amongst our respective ships it will help bring our command experience to bear if we decide to in some way split up throughout the system =^=
=^= Understood .. I will send a shuttle to rendezvous with the Enzio once I have the Raven in position .. Estimate eighty minutes =^=
=^= I'll be waiting .. Torek out =^= he turned to Calli:
"You heard all that?"
"Yes, you still believe the Halanan to be a viable threat in all this then?" his Advisor asked.
"They're not involved because they are at a proverbial 'loose end' are they..." he replied, moving to one side of the Bridge, "The Starbase will be in this region in the next six hours, and with the issues concerning the Aide's I'm not willing to dismiss there may not be a connection. I know we have nothing to go on, but as the old saying goes 'once bitten' ....." USS Raven-C ::Carl had been on the Bridge a mere five minutes and was being briefed by his Executive Officer: "Well, it's time Manley high-tailed it out of there, isn't it?" Andae murmured from the XO's chair, "He's got his readings; the tugs' weapons are no match for the Maracanda under normal circumstances but given its marginally weakened st .... " he fell silent as Lysia T'Seng suddenly interrupted, saying the Alarodian Commissioner wished to speak with him. The conversation with Saspari, if it could be called that being practically one-sided, didn't last long. The two looked at each other for a moment, a sense of almost foreboding passing between them. "I'd like the Raven in the vicinity of the Maracanda should things go awry. That was part of the original plan, Andae." Torek said, Blakus nodding, instructed the Navigation Officer to set course at warp four. Underway less than an hour, en route to meet with the Maracanda, Torek, and Blakus were informed that they had come under fire and were heading in Raven's direction! "She obviously needs our help," Wedlerson commented from Ops, Andae instructed Marionette to increase velocity to warp seven, cutting their time to the besieged ship to less than five minutes ..... The tactical view displayed showed three of the Alarodian vessels had clearly overtaxed their drive systems to catch the Maracanda, the remainder were catching up by virtue of approaching at a tangent to the Maracanda's direction of travel. All three ships were firing on the Intrepid Class, but she wasn't sitting silently fleeing. They could see tracks of photon torpedoes as they crossed the vast expanse, two slammed into the lead Alarodian vessel, a good hit as the Raven's sensors confirmed it was adrift and tumbling. Torpedoes hit the other two with less significant damage as they had begun to evade. "Two of the larger group are coming about," T'Seng informed them. "Comms, contact the Maracanda, request Commander Grant to come about... Helm, alter course to intercept the two coming our way... Tactical, arm phasers and torpedo launchers..." Torek ordered in quick succession, "We'll deal with the two coming to us then swing around, drop the two following the Maracanda as they pass us," "The remaining three are still heading for the Ireuken complex Admiral," Lysia added. "SIR!... Commissioner Saspari is demanding to speak to you, immediately," the Comms Officer informed Torek. "He'll have to wait, please tell him I will contact him when time permits. "We have positive locks on the two oncoming ships Admiral," T'Seng said, eyes on her panels, "Both are locking weapons, firing!" Photon torpedoes... Fire..." Carl ordered calmly, "Helm, bring us about," he had barely finished the sentence when the enormous Sovereign Class Starship rolled easily to Port and began a high-power turn. At the same time, six torpedoes slammed into the oncoming Alarodian ships, destroying both in a spectacular firework display, their own weapons passing by thousands of meters off target. "Admiral, the Commissioner insists you speak to him," Carl reluctantly nodded and the clearly irate face of the Commissioner replaced the tactical view: =^= YOU DARE .. DARE .. To fire on innocent vessels of the Alrodian Coalition! =^= the man almost screamed. =^= As you should be aware Commissioner .. Your vessels initiated hostilities by firing on a Federation ship sent to escort the Ireuk .. .. .. =^= =^= You will SUFFER for this .. YOU and your 'FEDERATION' will never gain access to the wormhole .. You will be stranded and hunted until NONE of you surv .. .. =^= "Cut the Comm Lieutenant, if he doesn't know what's happening by now then he'll have to remain ignorant," Carl said, as the Raven locked onto the pursuing Alarodian ships ..... Raven and Maracanda fired almost simultaneously, the chasing vessels suffering the same fate as their colleagues. Carl ordered yet another change of heading, this time to head directly for the Ireuken Facility. "Comms, open a channel to the remaining Alarodian vessels, request they power down and hold position pending our arrival," "Yes Sir," "Oh... Make sure they understand the consequences of refusing," "Yes, erm will do Admiral," the woman said, somewhat confused at being given such a task, but carrying it out nonetheless. "I can imagine the faces of those Commanders when given an ultimatum by their Junior," Harry said with a snigger. Carl couldn't help allow a slight grin to form as he watched the viewscreen. "Sir, the Halanan vessel has powered-up and is heading our way," Lysia said, "As is the Commissioner's vessel," "Have the three Alarodian vessels complied with my Lieutenants' instructions?" Torek asked his Tactical Officer, receiving a 'no' in reply, he turned to his Exec' and spoke quietly, "Andae, contact the Enzio and El Salvador. Update them on our situation. Request the Section Admiral monitor our situation and make a decision on how they and the El Sal' proceed," Blakus nodded then got up heading for the Captain's Ready Room. Carl watched the stars stream by on the viewscreen ..........
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Apr 17, 2020 0:07:48 GMT
The present, Enzio ready room
Gheskori listened aghast as the Raven First Officer informed him of what'd taken place at the farthest edges of the system beyond this planetary system's own Oort Cloud. Loss of life no matter how hostile the intent of those who'd been the perpretrators was always regrettable, however those aggressors had destroyed an Ireuken - apparently - civilian operation.
"The Halanan vessel is closing on the coordinates of the Ireuken mining station, Admiral," Blakus said, "As is Commissioner Saspari's vessel."
Were they in competition for it? Ghes asked himself, or was there something more nefarious, conspiratorial going on?
"I'll have Commodore Savot and the El Sal follow the Halanan ship," he said. He tapped his terminal and opened a comm to the Excalibur class, Savot appearing on the screen, "Commodore. Enjoying having command back from Commander Delbridge?" The Vulcan was impassive; Ghes cleared his throat, "Track the Halanan vessel, at a safe distance; as you'll have seen, it's moving towards the newcome Ireuken mining station and the surviving Alarodian ships that attacked it. Commander Blakus, request Carl that the Raven keep in close proximity to Alarodian Commissioner Saspari's vessel and disregard any complaints the Commissioner may make, unless he wishes to speak directly to me. Also instruct both to be prepared to defend the Ireuken station and its tugs from further aggression; perhaps this show of good will towards the Ireukens will encourage them to give us what we need to safely traverse the wormhole."
<Tag Torek, Savot>
Four distinct species/factions were converging on the coords of the replacement Ireuken station: the Ireukens themselves, the Alarodians (four ships including Saspari's), the Federation (the Raven and the El Salvador) and the Halanan...
Earlier aboard the Maracanda, before investigating the new outpost... a covert comm being open to Commissioner Saspari's vessel...
"I understand, my agent; effect the rescue of our ally," Saspari instructed. The Maracanda officer at the console nodded and made to exit his quarters. He entered the bridge and let it be known First Officer V'Maz had requested his assistance in person on the Enzio. Manley reluctantly let him go, for they were soon to head out to explore the anomaly and possible replacement mining station.
Boarding the Enzio and making his way to the science lab, he found the Halanan ensconced in his protective sheath, encased within a level 10 forcefield; he seemed convalescent, his enhanced metabolism repairing his quasi-comatose body faster than was possible for ordinary humanoids. Phasering the surprised scientists and techs unconscious - having masked the internal sensors of the Enzio in this region and suppressed the emergency phaser discharge prevention system - the man collected the Halanan Negotiator from the harness as he groggily came to.
"Anna?" he asked blearily as they stumbled towards the exit.
"Not quite. Though she was certainly a pain, too."
The Negotiator nodded, soon becoming reacquainted with affairs, "I trust you've formed a hole in the starboard shield fore quarter?"
The man nodded, "The shield generator in that area is offline; they won't detect my tampering, at least not before we're off the Enzio and long away from here." The man smirked; the Negotiator returned it but was uneasy, eventually he asked how they may get to the transporter room. "Just down that hall, two decks down." They sprinted off, incapacitating Enzio personnel they came across before the latter could raise the alarm.
Meanwhile frantic information was passed back and forth from the science lab to the bridge, =/\=This is the Science Lab, Petty Officer Hernandez reporting... Sir, the Negotiator has gone, he's been taken from his sheath and harness; forcefield circuitry burnt out...=/\=
=/\=What?!=/\= the officer on duty, Yarwood, stood. =/\=Where is he...? Tactical, internal sensors... Locate the Negotiator!=/\=
Seconds went by when it was found he'd just beamed away along with one other person - a human male - to the Halanan vessel.
Still back posting, Enzio bridge
"Commander Scober had just beamed aboard; apparently he had urgent matters he wished to discuss with me," V'Maz informed the bridge crew as Gheskori and Valente entered from the ready room. As they all evaluated the news, a comm came from below-deck,
=/\=Bridge, this is Petty Officer Jones, security medic. I've found what appears to be Alarodian blood on one of the bulkheads between the science lab and the main transporter room... I recognise the DNA from debris and remains detected among the destroyed Alarodian vessels.=/\=
Gheskori acknowledged and mused, "So an officer appears aboard the Enzio, apparently having been expected..." V'Maz confirmed this. Ghes rubbed his chin and took the command chair, casting about the bridge, "Soon after that the Negotiator disappears. Am I right in saying only Nurse Walker, or the EMH or command-level officers would've had the requisite access to disable the forcefields and release the bonds on the Negotiator?"
"Yes, sir..." Yarwood said, "Which could well mean that the Maracanda's Commander Scober did it, and he may be an Alarodian."
"The Alarodians and the Halanan are in league?" Calli, still on special assignment from the Raven asked with incredulity.
Back up to date
Ghes had informed Torek and Savot via their own XOs of their findings of Scober's status as a likely Alarodian and of his and the Negotiator's escape to the Halanan craft. "Savot, track the Halanan vessel closer, scan for lifesigns matching with Scober and/or the Negotiator's and attempt some form of rescue." Ghes hadn't a clue how they might go about that; weaken a section of the shields?
<Tag Torek, Savot, All>
"Warp speed to the coordinates of the replacement Ireuken outpost, of our own vessels, and of the Alarodians' and Halanan's craft. Engage," the Denobulan ordered.
"Sir, the three Alarodian ships aside from Saspari's that's en route have taken up position around the new mining outpost."
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Post by Savot on Apr 19, 2020 21:06:08 GMT
[El Salvador: Recent Past]
As Delbridge watched the remote piloting of the microprobe they'd surreptitiously launched via airlock depressurization towards the Ireuken vessel orbiting the nearby planetoid, Karysta notified him from Ops of the shuttlecraft violently departing the Enzio's bay en route to the Halanan ship. The situation update then came in from the Enzio to the El Salvador and Maracanda telling them what had happened, and Delbridge chewed his bottom lip for a second before committing himself to a course of action, "Alter microprobe course, tag that shuttle before it gets inside the Halanan ship's shield envelope. If we can attach before it crosses the threshold of their ship's shields we should be able to pass through like the probe is part of the shuttle. Once we do, detach and steer it to their communications relay. I want to try tapping into their comms so maybe we can get a look at what the devil's going on inside with whoever these weirdos are."
Karysta raised an eyebrow in a manner she might have been irritated to learn was much akin to her Prime-universe father, "Proceeding as instructed, Commander Delbridge; though my recently legitimate studies of Starfleet protocol would suggest your terminology of 'weirdos' is not the ideal mentality for a Federation representative towards new lifeforms."
Delbridge, while not the most social man in his more tech-involved pursuits, still possessed the intelligence and situational awareness not to point out that exact similarity to Savot that Cadet Karysta was displaying, merely clearing his throat and nodding, "You are absolutely correct, Cadet. Computer: Log Commander Chester W. Delbridge; official apology and vernacular retraction of the word 'weirdos' in reference to our newest potential threat." Karysta, while still focusing on piloting the probe, nonetheless twisted her head slightly back with a scrunched brow of surprise at how uncharacteristically formal the Chief Engineer was being. Delbridge spoke again, "It is the professional and diplomatic opinion of this officer that a more appropriate and enlightened classification of the new species is hereby for the record: strangenoids. End log."
***************************************************************************** [El Salvador: Present Time]
Savot, Irae, and Zakryn returned to the bridge via the whishing open of the rear turbolift doors, Delbridge letting out a visible and exaggerated sigh of relief upon being... well, relieved. He filled Savot in on the probe, which thanks to how far it had already traveled when the shuttle made its break from the Enzio, had had sufficient time to secretly attach itself to the shuttle's hull riding through the matched shield variance, "It's now attached to their comm array and we're in the process of hacking their communications now, but we're having to take it slow to ensure we go undetected."
Section Admiral Gheskori had informed Torek and Savot via their own XOs of their findings of Scober's status as a likely Alarodian and of his and the Negotiator's escape to the Halanan craft. =^=Savot, track the Halanan vessel closer, scan for lifesigns matching with Scober and/or the Negotiator's and attempt some form of rescue.=^=
=^=Orders received and understood, Section Admiral, may random chance favor each of our respective ventures=^=, Savot replied essentially giving the needlessly long Vulcan version of wishing them all good luck. As the screen cleared, he turned to Deis, "Commander Irae, form a boarding party and proceed to the Transporter Room with all haste. Cadet Karysta, I am going to attempt to elicit a voluntary communication signal from the Halanan vessel. From what I was able to glean from the Negotiator's mind during a meld, I believe Alarodian communication technology still necessitates their transmitting on the same frequency as their shields in order to transmit an outgoing hail much like Federation prison complexes in previous centuries. With our microprobe in place, when they hail us we should be able to ascertain the frequency their transmitting on and therefore their shield frequency. You will transmit this frequency to the Transporter Chief and Commander Irae's party will beam through their shields."
With Karysta nodding wordlessly, the Commodore turned to his First Officer, "It is highly probable that once your presence aboard their vessel is discovered, they will rotate their shield frequency preventing us from beaming you back out. For both this reason and the negative impacts of leaving stolen Federation technology in the hands of another species, your exit strategy should be to evacuate in the shuttle that was stolen from the Enzio with ideally both Scober and the Negotiator in-tow. When we receive your signal of mission completion we will manuever the El Salvador so as to pass between your shuttle and the Halanan vessel preventing its firing upon you. If possible, we will align ourselves towards the Halanan ship allowing you to pilot the shuttle to the El Salvador's Main Hangar at the aft of the ship while still protected from their fire as we drop aft shields. However if this proves untenable we will lower ventral shields while our dorsal shields face the enemy ship and beam your party aboard through the dropped shields before destroying the shuttle to prevent its re-capture though I do not believe this will be a priority for the Halanan. Recommend your weapons to be to high output as Halanan DNA possesses innate energy resistance. I am presently unaware of any genetic defenses the Alarodian Scober may possess."
<Tag: Irae response if any>
************************************************************************************** [El Salvador: 103 seconds later]
Commodore Savot sat in the Captain's chair on the El Salvador's Main Bridge, and upon receiving readiness confirmation from Irae's team waiting in the Transporter Room, he nodded to the waiting Karysta who opened a general comm channel aimed towards the Halanans, =^=Halanan vessel, this is Commodore Savot of the Federation starship El Salvador. You are in illegal possession of stolen Federation technology and a person-of-interest under charges of espionage, murder, posing as a Federation representative, and sabotage. I request you lower your shields and return these to our custody, as there is little logic in expending time and energy on assaulting defenses that are doubtless as easily surpassed as your Negotiator's mental defenses ultimately proved.=^= In truth the mental battle had been an intensely strenuous one but Savot made a tactical gamble that in the absence of logic's guidance, the Negotiator's ego might prove vulnerable to the posturing.
Karysta's eyes widened at the uncharacteristic taunt from the vulcan captain but couldn't turn to look aghast at him as was her initial instinct since she had to keep her eyes on her readouts to get that signal frequency to the Transporter room. A few moments passed where it seemed like the taunt would come to nothing, but finally the comms chirped the transmission of an incoming signal which Savot held up a hand, "Hold on opening a channel...", counted off a few heartbeats of time as he crossed his legs and rested his intertwined fingers in his lap as though utterly unperturbed at any of the day's events, "Open channel, Cadet Karysta." The screen filled with the seething face of the Negotiator, and Karysta watched her console in her peripheral vision subtly, fingers moving only as much as needed to transmit the shield frequency to the transporters, then moved her right hand behind the support strut of her console so it couldn't be seen from the Halanan's perspective, and gave Savot the OK sign with her fingers.
Catching that in his own peripheral vision, knowing that Irae's team was now on-mission, Savot raised an eyebrow at the viewscreen as though surprised, =^=I am presently engaged, Negotiator; did you want something...?=^=
<Tag: Irae>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on Apr 28, 2020 12:43:07 GMT
"Sir, the Halanan vessel has powered-up and is heading our way," Lysia said, "As is the Commissioner's vessel,"
"Have the three Alarodian vessels complied with my Lieutenants' instructions?" Torek asked his Tactical Officer, receiving a 'no' in reply, he turned to his Exec' and spoke quietly, "Andae, contact the Enzio and El Salvador. Update them on our situation. Request the Section Admiral monitor and make a decision on how they and the El Sal' proceed," Blakus nodded then got up heading for the Captain's Ready Room.
Carl watched the stars stream by on the viewscreen ..... Things were beginning to become decidedly crowded in this region of the aCen Star System, inwardly he hoped they were not going to find themselves in the middle of some Civil War between the Ireuken and Alarodian. "Helm, bring us about on an approximate heading for the mining facility and bring torpedo launchers online, let's see if Commissioner Saspari is in the mood for a game of poker shall we," he sat mulling over the tactical view as the Raven turned. Hardly surprised when the Alarodian vessel followed suit eventually parallelling the Raven at some three thousand kilometers, though somewhat surprisingly, the Commissioner didn't attempt to make contact. He decided to raise the stakes, hoping to goad their 'shadow' into a response, "Tactical, lock torpedoes on the oncoming mining facility," Lysia had no sooner done so when the Alarodian vessel shot forward, coming about hard to position itself between the two. "Hold here," Carl ordered. He watched as numerous ships began an achingly slow ballet as they repositioned themselves, some clearly protecting the mining facility, while others were making it clear they would act if the need arose ..... Maybe Saspari was hesitating due to the fact that both El Salvador and the Enzio were en route, maybe he didn't want to instigate hostilities with the numbers as they were. Carl ordered a long-range scan just to be sure they were not going to be joined unexpectedly. As El Salvador took up position Commander T'Seng notified Carl that she had detected a transport. "From?!" Torek asked quickly. "El Salvador to the Halanan vessel," she replied, Andae and Carl exchanged glances. "Going after the Negotiator?" the Exec' speculated, continuing less vocally, "What do you think of this idea that Scober from the Maracanda is responsible for freeing the Negotiator?""Beyond me, but I can't see how he could 'be' Alarodian, it's just not feasible. Unless of course, that is not 'our' Scober," Carl shrugged. Again he turned his attention to the tactical view Lysia had reinstated: It was clear for all to see that the Federation were in a three-way standoff with the Ireuken Confederacy and the Alarodian Coalition, he pondered the idea of holding talks, though given Saspari's attitude to Torek he somehow doubted the man would be amiable to any form of sit down unless it involved the very public lynching of the Raven Commanding Officer. His musings were interrupted by Lysia. "Admiral, we still have weapons lock on the mining facility..." "Has anyone else activated their weapons?" he asked. "No Sir," "OK... Take weapons off-line, let's give them a show of good faith," Carl ordered, "We need to show these people that we can all work together, somehow, otherwise we're all going to be missing out." "Sir..." the Comms Officer said, Blakus and Torek turning in her direction, "The Ireuken Manager aboard the mining facility is requesting permission to continue their approach to the wormhole, he believes it will have little impact on our current situation, and they need to begin mining prestart procedures with all due haste," Carl had to think hard for a moment, then came to a decision: "Comms, inform the Enzio, El Salvador, oh, and the Maracanda, that we will begin approaching the wormhole en masse to allow the mining facility to begin preparations for going on-line, then instruct the facility to begin approach at no more than one thousand meters per second. They must halt their approach at five hundred thousand kilometers from the wormhole, instill on them that we 'WILL' fire on them if they stray," "You're sure about this?" Andae asked. "If we're making progress, however minor, no-one will be firing on anyone..." Carl said, still convincing himself, "... Besides, if we're all watching each other no-one is looking towards the Starbase." he finished. "I hope you're right," Blakus said, eyes on the viewscreen ..........
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on May 1, 2020 19:54:28 GMT
Gheskori sat and pondered in the centre chair, evaluating recent events once more. It seemed the Alarodians had taken up position around the mining outpost to guard against its capture or use by anybody else than themselves, waiting for their Commissioner's vessel to arrive from in system - once Saspari had arrived, it had been expected they would re-arm weapons and continue their attack, either by fencing with the Raven or assaulting the outpost directly, but no activation sequence had been detected.
The Raven was advising they make an about turn and head in system ahead of the outpost, opening and paving the way for the facility while making sure it followed its course exactly.
Ghes agreed to head back towards the wormhole with the Raven, but suggested it would be best to leave the El Salvador and Maracanda behind. The El Sal was engaged in its attempted recovery of Scober and the Enzio shuttle from the Halanan ship, and should follow where that ship went, while the Maracanda should accompany the El Sal. It would very much raise the suspicion of the Halanan if the El Sal was seen to be keeping close attendance alone on their ship.
"Helm, bring us about, warp factor one towards the wormhole. Commander Yarwood, Lieutenant Miak, maintain close watch on the Alarodian ships." The Enzio and Raven jumped to warp within seconds of one another.
"The Alarodians are following us, sir, keeping their distance at 6,000 kilometres, from the mining outpost 3,000 kilometres," Miak reported. Ghes nodded, very well, if they move any closer or activate their weapons then we'll make a move, for now, let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
He turned to V'Maz, "If the Halanan and Alarodians are acting in league to whatever degree of commitment - if they acted in league to release the Negotiator from the science lab - then I think we should go further with this... Yarwood, confirm, is the Ireuken Viceroy Tor'ng's vessel still in orbit of the dwarf planetoid?"
"Confirmed, sir."
"Send a communication to Tor'ng outlining that we'd like to form an agreement: we are willing to protect his new mining outpost from Alarodian aggression, in return for receiving everything the Ireuken Confederacy knows about the wormhole in this system including all sensor data they have collected from the other side. He has our full backing. If it's necessary, he'll remember that Administrator Rac'zil while informative wasn't exactly free from ulterior motive in providing us with similar information before, and he told us nothing of how we might actually traverse the wormhole in safety. Tor'ng could do better than that."
Ten minutes passed, "Tor'ng's ship is responding, sir... He agrees to a temporary alliance against the Alarodians and Halanan and is suggesting we prepare to receive a data stream of information on the wormhole," Miak reported.
"Policy, Metternich style," Yarwood beamed at Ops, confusing everyone.
"Prepare to accept it, Lieutenant Miak," Ghes nodded, "Quarantine and scan for malicious code as normal. Science teams to evaluate, and pass the data to the Starbase once it's within range of the system. At least it won't have to go in blind as Lindqvist and the phantom base did."
The Enzio and Raven led the way for the mining outpost which followed slowly and at quite a distance, until they began to draw near, relatively, to the wormhole's coordinates. Both ships began experiencing gravitational distortion and shearing effects, but it was minimal; the aim was to continue to distract the Ireukens and Alarodians from the inbound Starbase, unless they'd already detected it. Managers on the outpost agreed to shield the Enzio and Raven from the effects of the wormhole's gravitation once they'd begun catching up.
He thought about how the El Sal and Maracanda were doing with the Halanan, still shocked at the Maracanda XO's apparent hidden allegiance, and wondering if the real Scober wasn't bound and gagged somewhere on the Starbase having never set out for the wormhole research mission... He thought it wise not to be seen hailing the El Sal and requesting an update on the rescue, for the moment, not being sure whether the Halanan, or indeed anyone else, might be listening in...
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on May 4, 2020 16:20:25 GMT
::Deis just listens, arms crossed, looking a little bit frazzled...physically anyway. Before hes finished shes already shrugging out of her somewhat singed labcoat and uniform jacket. A hand in her pocket brings out a tie for her hair, which she slips in after slicking it back, winding the tie around and letting it shrink in tight. These two activities makes her look a little different. Much more severe, plasma scarring from the right temple streaking its way down the visible flesh of her arm. She had hoped that her Captain wouldnt ever have to experience her doing this sort of thing..but...we both know that she became good at this during her disappearances. Thankfully, he wont be there to see any of this. He will only see the results of a well executed extraction. Taking in the information, she gives him a nod:: Dinna worry, i 'ave sommat for just such an emergency. Ill take a quick detour to sickbay. ::And she just cant help the slightly unsettling grin from flashing across her lips before pivoting and pointing to the huge gorn security officer:: Zak. Pick out 2 others tha' dinna mind a bit o smash n grab. Ill be in th teleporter room in 5.
::And with that, the little doctor commander turns from the bridge and heads turboliftwards. Once she arrives in sickbay, she just gives Iris a quick grin and an outward palm that says "we will talk later". In one of the back alcove sections, set aside for extra quarantine space, Deis approaches a certain locker. In her time as a doctor, she learned that there are certain mixtures of various broad spectrum psychotropic substances that tend to blanket the width of genetics of various alien species. Shes used this on humans, vulcans, gorn, romulans, a few cardassians, and we will just stop right there. The list just continues. She usually carries a single charge of this in a hypospray kept in her boot...and today is no exception. Its come in handy on more than a few occasions. The addition of a similarly broad spectrumed sedative makes it pretty damn effective for temporary disabling of the fighting instinct, physical coordination, manual dexterity, and equilibrium. This is not exactly an approved substances...but were not exactly in starfleet approved space, now are we?::
::A rather thickish disruptor shaped handgun is drawn from the clips in the locker, as is two slap cartridges of flechette needles loaded with the substance. One of thses, Deis slaps into the loader on the weapon. The second she tucks in just behind the strap of her tank shirt, pressing the little clip closed to hold it in place until, and if, needed. There is more in this locker but what shes taken should be all she needs. Thus she closes the locker and engages the palm lock. Then she just strides out of sickbay with this wicked looking weapon, giving Iris a "be right back" nod. The nurse looks after her a little wide eyed and murmurs...:: Oh dear.
::Meeting up with her team in the transporter room takes only another minute or two as she swung by her quarters and brought along her second weapon...an old style romulan disruptor. Its plenty high output enough for this. Plus the thing is just intimidating looking. Zakryn and his two carry the larger pulse phaser rifles, and Deis nods to these in approval.:: Righ. Once weve transported over, ye gents spread out. Dinna give em a single target. Do nae get in front o me or youll get a dart in th posterior and ye dinnae want tha, trust me. ::SHowing the flechette weapon. She dosent bother to holster either weapon as shes not even bringing holsters.:: We get in, take down anyone in our way, get th two packages disabled. We leave by shuttle. Any questions?
::There does not seem to be any...Zakryn wouldnt choose green officers for this kind of thing, not with THIS Commander leading the extraction. Hes read her personnel file...well...the bits that wernt classified as heck..and maybe a few redacted bits that were. Said Commander gives them the nod and they take position on the pads. Deis crouches loose and easy, weapons poised for easy aim so that not a sliver of a second is wasted upon arrival. Plus, peopl tend to shoot at normal chest height during a transport...she dosnet plan on giving them a target.:: Remember gents...these people take us over. Wether this means a "hosts" death or nae...tis better to assume tha it does. Weapons to kill. Energize.
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::Timing can be everything. And in this case, the timing was damn near perfect. The shuttle was being exited and stepped away from as the glimmer of the transport dazzles the eyes. Security inside the shuttle bay do indeed aim for the "chest" which leaves the group untouched though Zak would have to duck a bit more than the rest.:: MOVE! ::Deis moves into an immediate run from her crouch once oriented directionally, both weapons extended though once she gets an eye on the targets, the disruptor is only used for anyone outside that very small area. The guys spread out excellently and unload. The more chaos and confusion caused by their side, the better, so long as the targets are clear. Zak remains close with Deis, though behind, because once half the distance of the shuttle bay is closed, she lifts that secondary weapon and sprays in an uzi-like arc in front of her. Most of the flechette needles hit the shuttle pointlessly, but a few hit the flesh they are designed to pierce. Shes reloaded the weapon and sprayed again before return fire happens from the few security left standing in the shuttle bay. One of the guys gets hit with a tazing jittering stun and drops:: Zak! Get him! ::The Gorn splits from behind Deis with a leap to grab our colleague. Deis keeps on target as though weapons fire just isnt a thing that can possibly cause her a problem. And having such an attitude actually helps for that very thing to not happen. She dosent stop pushing foreward and has approached the shuttle and two drooling jittering targets without obstruction. While Zak drags in our guy, and the other sec lays down a suppressive fire, Deis kneels and checks the eyes of the two downed targets. Pupils pinpoint and then widen as though light was streaming at them in a slow strobe effect:: Good. Get em loaded n SON OF A!!
::Because she missed a single man that rounded the shuttle and shot her point blank in the bodycore. This is NOT a stun weapon.:: COMMANDER!! ::Is yelled by the wonderous bellow of our beloved gorn, and the gunman finds himself lifted and thrown just...so much farther than any bipedal body should tolerate. Deis manages to not drop her weapons and grunts, rather pained:: Just get me in the seat and lets bloody GO! ::The hiss of the opening shuttle door is most welcome. Our downed man is more or less tossed in with the two targets, in an unceremonious pile. The undowned man keeps us covered while Zakryn drags Deis inside and straps her into a seat, the cover man slipping in and hissing the doors back closed. Deis, woozy and totally unaware of how much, or what kind, of damage shes taken, gets the shuttle repowered up, though things are getting a little fuzzy. Aaaaand nope.:: Zak...shuttle weapons...blow out that door and get us home. Im just gunna...take a second...'ere... ::And that is when the commander passes out. So she misses the sight of this shipd shuttle bay doors blowing out in a very clear sign to the El Salvador that the mission was a success. In total, this operation took 8 minutes in total. Though once weve returned home, there would be a call for sickbay.::
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on May 6, 2020 16:11:42 GMT
After the fight with the Alarodian ships and the El Salvador's transport of people to the Halanan ship, the Raven turned back towards the wormhole, the Enzio in attendance and the Ireuken replacement mining facility some thousands of kilometres behind. Blakus sat in the first officer's chair watching the four Alarodian ships on the viewscreen's tactical display - it was clear to the Raven officers, they just hadn't said it aloud yet, Saspari's ships were slowly gaining.
"Sir, we and the Enzio are now being shielded from the gravitational distortions by the Ireuken outpost," Wedlerson reported.
Torek acknowledged and the command officers returned to their silent vigil. Eventually, as Saspari's vessels entered within a thousand kilometres of the Raven, Blakus spoke, "What are they doing? Why are they trying their luck?" He thought on the Commissioner's possible motive, aware that anyone hostile didn't necessarily need any other motive, "Have we detected a weapons activation?"
"Negative, Commander."
And still the Alarodian vessels neared until they began to close within a hundred kilometres, the range number on the viewscreen a blur as it decreased rapidly. Alarms and claxons started up, muted,, "It seems they're going to try and ram us, sir!"
"Evasive, pattern Omicron Psi 4 2!"
The Raven fired port and dorsal thrusters, rotating anticlockwise about a centre of mass some 200 metres above herself and escaping out of harm's way as two Alarodian ships knifed through the place it'd occupied. The vessels trailed away, one of them inadvertently spewing plasma from its middle nacelle, a result of the fight with the Raven earlier. "They're coming about, sir, closing in for another run."
The ships passed by again, their 150 metre frames dwarfed by the Raven who brought her phaser arrays online but held her fire. "It seems they're trusting in us moving out of the way," Torek commented as Saspari and his attendant vessel jockeyed for position with the Raven which now was continually obliged to evade and allow the Alarodians space.
"Or are they tempting us into a fight? They may wish for a collision, so they have a fair pretext to break this unofficial truce," Blakus said. They'd all noticed that the other two of the four Alarodian craft had made for the Enzio's position and were trying to keep close to its hull, forcing the Prometheus class likewise to take evasive action. Andae shook his head, "This ridiculous dance can't carry on much longer."
"All four Alarodians are now within the bubble generated by the Ireuken facility," Svensson said, pressing buttons rapidly, "A theory on their actions, they may be looking for the antigrav bubble's protection; they may not be able to maintain themselves this close to the wormhole without it."
Harry spoke, "Admiral, I'm detecting an explosion at the coordinates of the El Salvador, Maracanda and the Halanan vessel. It seems that a depressurisation has occurred on the Halanan vessel."
Blakus received a nod from Torek and stated to Wedlerson they would respond as appropriate once a comm from the El Salvador was received, they couldn't break the cover of Commodore Savot's recovery operation until they were clear as to what'd happened. "If either the Halanan or Alarodians, who seem to be allied, make a move we must take firm action," he said unhappily, considering such action of dire necessity than of wishing it to be so.
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on May 6, 2020 16:13:39 GMT
Gheskori was gritting his teeth and ordering different combinations of evasive manoeuvres, using a few the Enzio hadn't been forced into for quite some time. "Admiral, the Starbase has reached the limits of the system and is requesting permission to begin its approach. The authorities enquire whether it is safe to do so. They're still hailing."
"Can't they see we're busy!" Ghes virtually shouted, then stood and smoothed his jacket down, "Commander V'Maz, see to the evasive patterns. I'll be in my ready room."
He settled behind his desk and tapped the console, a flag officer appearing. "Admiral Basirov. Glad to see you again. You wished to -"
"Can we approach now, Gheskori? Well?!" Basirov was red-faced and seemingly furious, his shoulders and arms flexing making it clear he was clenching and unclenching his fists. Ghes was somewhat surprised to see him, he understood the man had undergone therapy after his temporary defection to the dissidents, something he'd redeemed himself from by incapacitating the man who'd tried to detonate a device on one of the promenades (Noel Grimes), although Basirov had soon after shown he hadn't switched back his allegiance, by destroying the Starfleet surveillance that'd captured him saving said promenade. He was uncooperative and had been taken into custody, seemingly championing neither side in the conflict. Many days, weeks in confinement had seen him repair himself and his ways, and deconditioning procedures had shown he'd been brainwashed - with only partial success - by Serova and co. He'd returned to active duty but had clearly been unstable, something the senior officers of the Enzio had noticed before leaving for their assignment; he'd had his son taken away from him and given into the care of, of all people, the Negotiator. That son remained aboard the Enzio. Ghes remembered Admiral Basirov had been quite agitated just before the Enzio's departure, but clearly he'd been able, at least to some degree, to keep himself reined in.
"Yes, you may approach," Ghes answered calmly, "Keep in mind however that we are currently playing a foolish game with four Alarodian vessels. We aren't sure if they're trying to ram us or whether they wish the protection of the Ireukens' antigrav technology. They may need to be disabled if they continue to risk their lives and ours."
"Admiral Lemond and myself aren't particularly pleased to hear that."
Ghes spread his hands and exhaled, "There's not much we can do about it."
"Do something now, Gheskori, that is final." Basirov's demeanour changed, "How is my son?"
Ghes took a breath, he thought it would not do the admiral any good to mention that Basirov junior's legal guardian was a frightening alien who'd adopted human form, "He is well. He is in his quarters sleeping through all of this."
A weight seemed to lift from Basirov's shoulders before his expression again hardened, Ghes believed the expression was 'blowing a fuse', whatever a fuse was, "We'll approach the vicinity of the wormhole at full impulse. Fix this situation immediately, Gheskori, Basirov out!!" He virtually slammed the control to deactivate the comm.
Ghes sighed, "Well, enough with such pleasantries," he rose and dusted off his hands and returned to the bridge, "Helm, turn to protect Starbase 47 as it approaches. Once it enters within a 100,000 kilometres of the wormhole, half-impulse power to rendezvous with it and we'll escort it the rest of the way."
<Tag Starbase, All>
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Nia Lemond
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Aug 11, 2019 20:06:27 GMT
Posts: 240
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Post by Nia Lemond on May 7, 2020 20:34:32 GMT
Twenty Four Hours Earlier :: "..... So you suggest mild medication could alleviate his combative tendencies?" =^= If he is willing to take it, then yes .. We can release him in the morning .. .. =^= the Doctor said, referring to Admiral Basirov's condition, =^= .. .. As to whether he will comply is anyone's guess =^= the man shrugged. =^= We could make it a compliance thing .. Have him report to you or one of your staff on a daily basis or have someone attend his quarters to administer the medication =^= Nia suggested, seeing the doctor mull the idea over before nodding. =^= Let's have him attend the Medical Center at zero nine hundred on a daily basis .. If all seems to be going well we can look at allowing him to self-medicate until we decide on a more permanent solution =^= =^= OK .. Thank you, Doctor .. I'll inform the Admiral of our decision myself =^= Nia said, reaching to close the Comm, but the doctor spoke again: =^= I would like the 'honor' .. .. If you don't mind =^= =^= Payback? =^= Lemond said with a grin, knowing how uncooperative the old Admiral had been during the myriad of tests he had been forced to endure, some of which he had questioned enormously, as she finally closed the Comm then turned toward her Aide's office, the door always open, "Erin ....." Commander Paquin came into her office. "Admiral," "Just a head's up, I have the distinct feeling our ever-friendly Admiral will be paying us a visit in due course. Can we make sure there is noting combustible within reach," the two laughed despite the seriousness of the man's illness. "They're not keeping him in the old 'buckle-up-the-back' jacket then," Erin said as she returned to her office ..... SD: 2406.04.0506 ... Command Center Main Floor :: Nia had been heading back to her office after speaking to the Starbase Chief Engineer regarding readiness to move the structure into the aCen System, she was halfway up the curved walkway to the Mezzanine Level when Admiral Basirov stepped from a nearby turbo lift. She turned, leaning on the railing to see what he was up to, part of her wondering how he'd taken the medication order from the Doctor and wondering why he hadn't been up to complain. 'maybe he's been sedated' she thought wryly as the man strode across the floor like Napoleon. He spied the Chief engineer and headed for the man: "Commander, I wish the Impulse Engines be brought online immediately. We will begin our move to the wormhole." "Excuse me?" Commander Campbell said, clearly confused. "I assume you are not hard of hearing Commander, so please, carry out my orders ....." Basirov stood facing the man over half a meter taller than him, staring him down as if defying the Engineer to refuse. "Admiral, may I see you in my office?" Nia said calmly from the walkway. "I have 'suggested' to Admiral Gheskori that we should enter the System immediately. He agrees with my analysis and has ordered me to move the Starbase. If you have any difficulty understanding my orders I am sure the Section Admiral will explain himself to you, in due course. no doubt at you Courts-Martial..." he returned his attention to the Australian Engineer, who had not moved, "... Commander, may I ask who is your Deputy at present?" "Erm, Lieutenant Commander Atkinson is ....." as Basirov held up a finger to silence the man before tapping his comm badge: =^= Lieutenant Commander Atkinson .. Please report to the Command Center immediately =^= he glanced at Lemond then returned his gaze to Campbell, "You are relieved of duty Commander, please lea ....." " ADMIRAL BASIROV ... MY OFFICE IF YOU PLEASE! .... As you were Commander Campbell," she strode off, anger boiling within her as she stormed into her office and dropped into her seat. It took a further long minute before the man entered, looking the two civilian-garbed Security Officers assigned to the Director by Admiral Reynolds up and down with clear distaste. As luck or fate would have it, the Chief Medical Officer was in Admiral Reynolds' office on the Main Floor when the two heard the commotion. Both followed the irate Admiral to Lemond's office. "You're done Lemond, the Section Admiral gave me specific instructions, which I intend to carry out. If I need to shoot you to do so, then I will," the man said darkly. It was the final piece that proved the man was mentally disturbed, but even though he had no weapon, she could still take the threat as a warning of future intent but decided for the moment to let him have his say. "You managed to contact the Enzio, very industrious of you Admiral, and what did Gheskori say may I ask?" "That I take the Starbase into the aCen System pending traverse of the Wormhole," Basirov said elatedly. "..... And I assume he didn't feel it necessary to relay these orders to the current commanding Officer?" "It would appear not," the man said, unable to hide his pleasure as he accessed a verbal transcript of their conversation, clearly heavily abridged: =^= You wish us to approach now then? =^=
=^= Yes .. .. Keep in mind however that we are currently playing a foolish game with four Alarodian vessels .. We aren't sure if they're trying to ram us or whether they wish the protection of the Ireukens' antigrav technology .. They may need to be disabled if they continue to risk their lives and ours =^=
=^= Admiral Lemond and I aren't particularly pleased to hear that =^=
=^= There is not much we can do about it =^=
=^= We will approach the vicinity of the wormhole at full impulse .. Be ready .. Basirov out =^= "Did he ask about your well being at all?" Nia asked, "Or did you omit the details of your recent hospitalization?" "My personal issues were required for what needs to be done, so, if that is all, I will get on with my assigned orders." he turned away, not seeing Nia nod at the two Security Officers at the door, neither moved aside as Basirov approached and he spun to face Lemond instructing her to move them out of his path. Nodding reluctantly, the Doctor stepped forward: "I'm sorry Admiral, but it's clear that the medication prescribed is having little or no effect on your condition. The fact that yet 'AGAIN' you managed to override the restrictions set in place and contact the Fleet, is further testament to your dangerousness, not only to personnel but to the Starbase herself, and pending a formal investigation into your competence, I have no option but to remove you from duty..." He stopped speaking while the man ranted, then in a break from his tirade he continued, "... I will, however, agree that Admiral Lemond carries out the order you were given to move the Starbase into the System, at which time I will request the Section Admiral return to oversee your situation personally." So with three ranking Officers in agreement, the result of Basirov's confrontation was somewhat of a foregone conclusion. Erin had called for additional Security from her office and these arrived now. Nia instructed them to accompany the Admiral to Primary Medical where he was to be kept under sedation. As the newcomers walked Basirov out, Nia came from behind her desk and asked them to wait a moment. She walked up to the man, stood close enough that he could easily hit her before any of his minders could react: "Admiral..." she began quietly, almost a whisper, "... I don't know why you have taken such a dislike, hatred, of me. Clearly something in your past has had a continual detrimental effect on your mental wellbeing, something I hope, with treatment, can be overcome, but for now, you need to rest. If I am wrong about all this, I will be the first to tender my resignation from Intelligence and Starfleet. I wish you only well Admiral, and I hope that one day you will realize I wanted to help you, not usurp you in your efforts to succeed," Basirov leaned very close, close enough that Nia had to hold up a hand to stop him from being pulled away. "I'm going to see you dead, Admiral," he whispered, before standing up straight and walking away, Security Officers in close attendance. Nia, Matthew Reynolds, and the Medical Officer followed them onto the Mezzanine walkway, the two Admiral's watching as Basirov was escorted into a turbo-lift, the Doctor close behind, then she looked down to find Commander Campbell and his Deputy, who had clearly been apprised of the situation. "Commander, let's begin our traverse into the aCen System, one-quarter impulse please," "Yes Ma'am... the Aussie confirmed with a grin, then asked if Commander Atkinson could be dismissed. "Yes, sorry for getting you up here under false pretenses Commander, you're dismissed," She stood leaning on the railing as Campbell gave orders to rotate the Starbase and then activate the Impulse Engines, the stars didn't seem to change as they were traveling relatively slowly by astronomical measurements, "Thank you Admiral Reynolds, I know that couldn't have been easy," Matt nodded then headed back to his own office, he like everyone had work to do. "Admiral, We're picking up the USS Enzio on an intercept course, they will rendezvous with us in six hours eighteen minutes at their present velocity," one of the Officers informed her. "Thank you ..... Carry on everyone," she said, leaving the railing before going back to her office, her ever-present Security detail close behind. Erin handed her a scalding hot cup of coffee, which despite the heat she caressed in her palms. Paquin took two cups out to the civilian-garbed Security Officers who took the drinks gratefully. Joking aside, they both wondered if they would see Admiral Basirov again before he underwent much-needed treatment, but now they were heading into the aCen Star System, home of a means, hopefully, of them all, save for the almost three hundred thousand men, women, and children of all races, who lost their lives, returning to the Sol system, and home ..........
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Post by Savot on May 14, 2020 1:20:23 GMT
[El Salvador: Bridge]
Savot sat composed, hands steepled over his waist with his right leg resting atop his left, looking for all the world as though there wasn't a team of his people attempting something severely dangerous in literally-alien enemy territory. These Halanan were a largely unknown quantity beyond what precious little Savot had gleaned in his mental encounter with the Negotiator and that battle had been of sufficient intensity as not to allow for much delving into its species' technologies. Fortunately, they were at least behind current Starfleet standard with regards to their communications hardware, but that was no guarantee that boarder-repelling gear would be as considerately behind-the-times. Still, despite his vulcan discipline being strained by his recent meld encounter, Savot was fortunate to also have confidence in his crew as something he could shore up his discipline with in just such times as this.
********************************************************************** [Halanan Vessel: Shuttle Bay]
Zakryn longed to spring and charge and leap upon their opponents, but with all the unknowns in play and the simple scope of their mission the Gorn security chief knew the right thing to do was stay tight knit with the unit and follow Irae's lead. Laying covering fire with his rifle when opportunity presented itself, his role was mainly support and he did that in spades. Catching the stunned Away Team guard before his tazed body had hit the deck, Zak hefted him over his left shoulder and slung his rifle, firing instead with the hand phaser pulled from the stunned guard's tightened grip. Belting the hand phaser as they neared the lowered rear hatch of the stolen Starfleet shuttle, Zakryn had grabbed up the top of a cargo crate in his free arm wielding it as a riot shield to give himself cover as he got the unconscious guard seated and slapped the panel to activate the seat's safety harnesses.
As soon as this was accomplish the Gorn had turned back to hear Irae order the tranqed prisoners loaded up as well, but as he'd bent to lift them he saw the enemy guard catch Irae with a point blank shot. "COMMANDER!", the roar comes from the Gorn's lizard-like throat even as he's leaping towards the shooter, landing to one side of the target, pivoting on one unbooted taloned foot to let both his momentum and body mass put him into a spin as he grabs the shooter in both arms and finishes his spin by hurling the being brutally into the last remaining sliver of force field blocking the bay from vacuum as the shuttlebay doors were nearly finished closing in an attempt to trap the invaders inside the Halanan vessel. As the enemy guard slid down the thinning field to the deck, his oddly colored blood unnervingly slid down the force field as well, spark-sizzling on its way down until pooling on the deck as the force field disappeared in favor of the now fully closed shuttlebay doors.
Zakryn scooped up the First Officer as carefully as the situation permitted, used his feet to grab and toss the tranqed Negotiator and Scober back into the shuttlecraft and slapped the rear hatch closed on his way to seat Irae in the pilot's station. After sitting her down, the Gorn had gone immediately to more properly secure the prisoners in seats with security harnesses activated to hold them in place and left the remaining conscious guard to watch them as he returned to Irae, who was in the process of losing consciousness from blood loss as she slurred the orders, "Zak... shuttle weapons... blow out that dorrrrr...", her mouth kept moving but whatever else she thought she was saying was unknown to the rest of the world. With a hiss that served his culture as a form of profanity, Zakryn wasted no time activating the weapons and blasting open the shuttlebay doors of the Halanan ship and activating an evasive course out and away towards where the El Salvador would intercept them. Though it was difficult with his hand structure, the Gorn managed to fumble out a hypospray to slow human blood flow and press-hissed it to Irae's neck to slow her blood loss. Slapping a derma-plast patch on the wound to further hinder loss of blood was the best he could do as he had to focus on piloting at that point. He started to open a comm channel to report their success, but then was treated to a grin despite the severity of the situation as his captain proved stoically reliable once again, the El Salvador immediately opening fire on the Halanan ship as the shuttle departed their bay.
****************************************************************** [El Salvador: Bridge]
As soon as the shuttle's weapons activated, Savot and his people were on top of it, "Tactical, establish computer link to the shuttle's system and match our weapons to their shield frequency as they're departing the Halanan vessel's shields, target their engines and fire immediately to disable. Cadet Karysta, sensor scan of the Halanans' trajectory once they're disabled and plot their path to confirm their drift will not take them into any lethal object's course for a minimum of 5 hours." As the recovered shuttlecraft flashed through the enemy's shield grid, the El Salvador's phasers and a single torpedo lanced out from the Excalibur-class ship to carve into their engines and deliver a solid torpedo punch to their power systems so they'd have to prioritize life support and gravity over things like weapons, and even with weapons it would take them a long time to repair their engines sufficiently as to even approach threat range of any of the Starfleet vessels again. They were an easy target for destruction if the El Salvador so wished, but Commodore Savot wanted to leave the Section Admiral as many potential diplomatic avenues open as possible as this hectic situation continued to develop.
Moving in between the shuttle and the Halanan vessel as per the plan, the El Salvador dropped their belly shields and Zakryn brought the shuttle to a full stop so the entire craft could be beamed into the shuttlebay via cargo transporter. Commander Irae was beamed separately, directly to sickbay where Iris and the El Sal's intrepid EMH started to work on evaluating the nature and extent of her injuries. Zakryn had already ordered security teams standing by at the shuttlebay to take custody of and escort the Negotiator and Scober to 2 separate cells, each one covered by a video feed that was routed to both the main security office and the Master Situation Assessment screen at the rear of the Main Bridge. Each prisoner was covered by 6 guards, Zakryn himself watching Scober's cell as he was the most recently revealed threat. All ship transporters were locked so that they required code-release from both Chief Zakryn and Commodore Savot before they could be used, and a combination of security and engineering personnel began carefully taking apart and diagnosing the recovered shuttlecraft to ensure no sabotage had been performed upon it that might try to sneak up on them at an inopportune moment to come.
Seeing for himself that the Halanan ship had begun its anticipated, uncontrolled listing into the nebula's nothingness, harmless for the near future at least, Savot gave new orders as he heard reports of Alarodian ships coming near to ramming into the Raven but not acting aggressively beyond that yet. The Raven having the most information regarding the situation, Savot wanted to be prepared to offer her support without taking outright action that might interfere with the Raven's own strategy, "Helm, bring us equidistant between the Raven and the Enzio, report to both vessels that the Negotiator and the Scober imposter have been recovered and the Halanan vessel temporarily disabled and El Salvador is prepared for further orders wherever we may be of most aid. Send that in text only, to each ship's comms officer; I don't want to interrupt Admirals Gheskori or Torek if they are in the middle of critical maneuvers, their comm officers can relay the update when an opening presents itself. Maintain shields and weapon readiness."
The vulcan wanted nothing more than to already be in Sickbay looking in on Deis' condition but the captain's place was on the bridge in a hostile situation, and he could potentially do more to aid their fellow starships out there than he could do for his wounded First Officer... no matter the potency of his concern for her.
{Tag: All}
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on May 16, 2020 10:48:01 GMT
Despite her size in comparison to the much smaller Alarodian vessels, the Raven easily evaded ... The whole nonsensical episode had taken only minutes and now there seemed to be an uneasy stalemate throughout the amassed ships escorting the Ireuken facility, Carl couldn't understand why either side, now possibly working together, would want to intimidate the Federation vessels into open conflict ..... Carl and Andae were informed that an explosion had been detected, possibly on the Halanan vessel, he shook his head in dismay: "If either the Halanan or Alarodians, who seem to be allied, make a move, we must take firm action," "Sir, I'm picking up something..." the Comms officer said, frowning, Lysia too said her sensors were detecting an anomalous reading, "It looks like someone is trying to communicate subversively Admiral," "Can we get it on screen?" Blakus asked, rising from his seat to head over to the Communications station. A moment later the viewscreen displayed a mass of static, almost migraine-inducing flashes of light, "Clean it up," Andae ordered, but almost nothing could be done. "It's being piggybacked on a minor carrier wave Commander and with almost zero output at source, It could originate on the Alarodian Commissioners vessel, I might be able to reduce the stat ....." =^= .. .. .. miral .. Must spea .. .. .. ith you in .. vate =^= Carl got up informing Lysia that she had the Con while motioning for Andae and Harry Wedlerson to accompany him into his ready room. The screen on the wall burst to life with the same erratic maelstrom of light but slowly began to clear: =^= Admir .. orek .. .. You must listen to wha .. .. to say .. .. There are factio .. .. within the Ireuk .. .. Alarodian Millit .. trying to usurp the governin .. bodies of oth Systems .. There is a weapo .. .. .. the far side of the mining facil .. .. You must invesigate befo .. too late for all .. If the weapon is used on Civili .. .. ill be los .. .. =^= Another voice suddenly joined the one-way conversation! =^= What ar .. ou doing in here? =^=
=^= WAIT .. Dont shoo .. .. =^= Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a weapon discharging and the agonizing cry of the man who had tried to communicate! =^= Identi .. .. urself! =^= Carl almost bolted from his chair but the comm vanished before he could speak, the Comms officer informed Blakus she had cut the communication on T'Sen's orders, Andae acknowledged and turned to the others: "Weapon?" Harry queried as the three returned to the Bridge. "Has any of the ships altered their position relative to us?" he asked Lysia. "No Admiral, in fact, they could be playing happy families out there it's so cordial," "What do you make of it Andae?" Carl asked, but the Exec' was as much in the proverbial 'dark' as Torek was, "We need to find an excuse to get around the far side of that facility, but, whoever shot or erstwhile informant will have surely reported his actions to a superior, any attempt at moving will undoubtedly confirm we were contacted," "We could ask the Maracanda to reposition," Wedlerson suggested, but again the likelihood that their actions would be cause for action on their part was pointed out. "Shuttle?" Blakus suggested, "We could be, hold on, Calli is still aboard the Enzio, have her return by shuttle and have the shuttle come at us from the far side of the facility. They could get a full visual scan without hopefully alarming our nervous friends out there. If there is something we'll at least be able to confirm that the informer was right," The Enzio was almost at the Starbase now and it would take almost a full day for a shuttle to get back here, the trajectory wasn't right either, there would be no viable reason why a shuttle would take a long way round to reach the Raven when it could approach directly, no, for the time being, a shuttle was out. "We 'could' send a probe..." Lysia suggested, running her fingers over her panel then returning her gaze to Torek and Blakus, "... We still have four of those solid fuel probes we used to investigate the binary nebula before we ended up out here, they should still be operational, given a little tweaking here and there," "We would still need to release it, and it would be detected immediately," Wedlerson argued. "I believe that with a bit of modification, we could drop it from the launch tube completely inert, set it to activate once it has dropped behind us. The power from the solid fuel thrusters would be negligible, and no-one is looking 'behind' us. If it's picked up they would likely ignore it as an anomalous reading, that facility is giving out all kinds of exotic radiation so who knows. It could be fitted with a camera, no sensors, it would go around the far side, take a burst of images and flash them back to the Raven. If we set the frequency to one of the Maracanda's Comm carriers, even if picked up it would look like we were talking, nothing more sinister?" "Andae?" Carl said, turning to his Executive Officer for his opinion. "The thing is barely a meter long, if we gut it, fit a camera and transmission equipment, hell, they may fly right past the thing without even realizing it's there," he said with a shrug. "Lysia, you and Andae get down to Engineering, I'll have one of the probes sent there," .......... < Tag : Andae >
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on May 17, 2020 16:09:08 GMT
As the others continued discussing possible methods for investigating what lay the other side of the Ireuken outpost, Blakus was informed that they'd been contacted by the El Salvador, the communications officer passing the information of the recent text only comm. The El Sal was now positioned midway between the Raven and the Enzio, the latter now nearing the Starbase. The El Sal had been successful in recovering both Scober and the Negotiator, the Maracanda XO to be investigated and the Halanan probably to be repatriated at a later date once they knew what'd happened to the original Negotiator.
"Andae?" Carl said, turning to his Executive Officer for his opinion.
He turned his attention to the matter and nodded thoughtfully, "The thing is barely a meter long, if we gut it, fit a camera and transmission equipment, hell, they may fly right past the thing without even realizing it's there," he said with a shrug.
"Lysia, you and Andae get down to Engineering, I'll have one of the probes sent there,"
"Aye, sir," Andae nodded, and moved to the turbolift, gesturing to T'Seng when she didn't immediately join him. It seemed it would be difficult to drag her away - she worked her console, deep in focus before clenching a fist unobtrusively in triumph.
"I believe I've discovered the coordinates on the Alarodian vessel from which our informer's comm originated... The Commissioner's ward room."
Andae frowned, "Saspari? But didn't we hear the killer demanding to know why his victim was in the room. Wouldn't the Commissioner be the room's natural occupant?"
"Unless someone else was using the room, another senior officer perhaps," T'Seng said. The bridge officers who had heard nodded pensively, it stood to reason then, though it was far from confirmed, that Commissioner Saspari himself had been the killer, having discovered one of his own people using his ward room for clandestine purposes.
Blakus headed to engineering, the place he still considered his true domain, T'Seng in tow and Milyanov joining them from deflector control en route. "What do we have?" the Russian asked, and Blakus told him about the plan to modify a probe to take shots of the far side of the replacement mining outpost. Milyanov rubbed his hands together and laughed, "Some old-fashioned space probe work!"
"Yes, well, let's not allow any giddiness to distract us." They entered engineering and took to the pool table, the probe having already been beamed in, now nestling in an EM-suspension cradle. Painstakingly they transported out individual components too sensitive to be moved by hand before opening the casing and taking out the larger pieces of hardware. A 4.4 teraquad camera was inserted along with a bank of isolinear circuitry allowing for trillions of photographs to be taken - for all that that would be needed - along with software that would allow the probe to change its orientation automatically in case it began taking shots of deep space.
Andae tapped his commbadge as Milyanov and T'Seng confirmed that the last panel was locked in place, =/\=We're ready, sir,=/\= he listened to the response, =/\=Acknowledged, beaming probe to launch tube now.=/\=
A minute later the probe was away, being dropped in the wake of the ship like a depth charge. The Alarodian ships streamed past, largely unaware of the device as it powered up, the sudden thrust arresting its slow rotation and pointing it in the general direction of the Ireuken outpost which it would steer about in order to take pictures of any potential weapon on the farther side. One controller on Commissioner Saspari's vessel detected a slight disturbance in the near-visual EM band in its scans of the Ireuken base but disregarded it, assuming that it was a by-product of the exotic radiation output from the outpost.
"We're receiving telemetry," Wedlerson reported on the probe as it emerged from behind the outpost, Andae stepping back onto the bridge at the same time. He took the XO's seat. "Data now uplinked to the computer, feeding images onto the viewscreen." Torek nodded and the photos captured by the solid fuel probe appeared on the screen.
What at first seemed to be an inconspicuous section of the Ireuken base, owing to the identical colour scheme and the way it was joined with the rest of the outpost, soon showed itself to be something much more, and somewhat in line with what their informer had suggested. It was cylindrical, almost like a barrel of an old-fashioned projectile weapon, a shotgun; the sequence of rapidly captured stills showed in time-lapse how the cylinder was lit up intermittently by deep blue and turquoise lights along its length. Zooming the ultra high resolution images revealed hundreds of humanoid figures in EVA suits gravitating to the cylinder or clustered round it and its surrounding machinery in groups, seemingly working to complete it or integrate it with the rest of the outpost, or perhaps to separate it, Blakus considered.
Some groups and one group in particular were much closer to the probe, situated in the foreground of the thousands of images; zooming in on the nearest cluster and seeing through the EVA personnel's visors showed them to be Alarodians rather than Ireukens. If the person who'd communicated with them had told the truth, these may be those Alarodians who were apparently wishing to overthrow their own government; they could well be working with their opposite numbers amongst the Ireuken Confederacy to use the replacement outpost as a transport for this cylindrical construction and possible weapon.
Blakus tapped at his left temple and spoke, "Perhaps it doesn't matter if we're discovered to have received the message now, whoever may have communicated with us. The cylinder could pose a threat, perhaps it would be best to destroy it, or if the mining outpost would be placed at risk to disable it."
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on May 17, 2020 21:05:54 GMT
The Enzio approached to within a kilometre of the Starbase, setting its trajectory to match with the station so that both objects were carried into the system at a quarter impulse. Gheskori didn't want to dock the ship just yet, feeling that once the moorings were fastened he would subconsciously believe he was no longer on mission - he could head to the Starbase, but the ship for the moment could not.
A split-screen image of the bridges of the El Salvador and Maracanda was on the viewscreen, while the Raven was incommunicado as a precaution as it launched a probe towards the new Ireuken outpost. Ghes finished his situation report to Commodore Savot and Captain Manley, "We're heading in system now, escorting the Starbase. Are Scober and the Negotiator secure, Commodore?" Savot replied affirmative and gave his own report. Ghes replied, "If it's safe to do so run genetic tests on Commander Scober and conduct questioning. I'll have Starbase personnel begin a search in the event Scober never left for the aCen system. Please also assist the Raven if required."
<Tag Savot, Starbase>
"I'm still struggling to come to terms with this, Admiral," Manley said from the Maracanda's bridge, "Frank wasn't behaving in any unusual manner, though he was spending a good deal more time in his quarters and the holodeck when off duty. Normally he's found in the mess hall. In any case, I have Commander Wilkes in the role of Acting First Officer."
Ghes acknowledged and minutes later saw off Commander Valente who boarded the shuttle Bahlcas to return to the Raven, wondering as the craft took flight and headed through the forcefield when he would have the return of it, as well as of the shuttle that'd been recovered by the El Salvador from the Halanan ship. He hadn't before run out of shuttlecraft on a mission and determined not to lose another if he could help it, not before regaining one of them.
Leaving V'Maz to take charge he transported over to the Starbase and took the turbolift to Ops, an aide falling in alongside and relating what'd happened to some of his staff. His mouth falling ajar in shock, he had time to compose himself as the lift deposited him and Aide Commander Barton on the level below Ops. He entered the command hub and headed to his office, deciding not to sit and instead standing over his desk sorting the numerous PADDs into small piles. The discard tray, now full of PADDs, he placed in the replicator, beaming at the machine as it dematerialised back into the matter reserve the many weeks-old reports; he'd either had no time to study or had been unable to read them due to the Starbase being at its former coordinates. He made a survey of his available personal staff, the current status of the Starbase, of the El Alamein's recon, of the USS Oxford, the current assignments of senior officers and the public timetables of the admirals.
Before long Admiral Lemond entered and he listened to her report. He nodded, "I have Admiral Basirov's status here. My new chief aide Commander Barton has passed orders to the Medical Centre that Basirov is to be kept in quarters until we can run an investigation, as you and Paquin have decided."
"Then you will take charge of the investigation?"
"Yes, hopefully once we've returned to the Alpha Quadrant," Ghes smiled, "Via the Beta Quadrant first. Indeed, the Ireuken Confederacy's information seemed to confirm Anna Lindqvist's belief that the wormhole exits in Yattho space in the Beta Quadrant. We will emerge there first, if we're able to travel through, and the Starbase will have to traverse space to its previous berth in the neighbourhood of the late Betreka Nebula."
He'd transported over with the son of Basirov - previously the charge of the terrifying Negotiator - and had left the boy in crew quarters; the boy knew he couldn't see his father at present, he knew he'd been given into the care of a guardian, but Ghes wondered if taking him to see his father might not help - if only in a small way - to bring Basirov to his senses. Basirov was an old antagonist of his but Gheskori felt he should do the best he could for the man.
If only he could show himself as knowledgeable of the situation of Burr and Adams. "What happened to them, are they in confinement? I wouldn't need to ask but..." he glanced at the replicator where he'd accidentally deposited the report on the two aides.
<Tag Lemond, All>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on May 19, 2020 16:09:34 GMT
SD: 2406.04.0519 .. 14:00 hrs :: Carl had studied the initial elementary from the probe ..... The structure reminded him of one of those oversized cannons attached to a cartoon vehicle, overdesigned, almost bizarre in appearance, but that said, it was there for a reason, one which the Federation Officers had no means of establishing without more information ..... Or, of course, access to the structure itself, which he silently doubted would be forthcoming. "Admiral, the facility is slowing and changing heading," Wedlerson informed him. "Can we extrapolate its final heading?" "Looks like it's coming to a heading to bring it in line with the wormhole, presumably readying for insertion..." Harry replied, "... Got to love how these people keep us in the loop." "Helm, adjust speed and heading to compensate, keep us ahead of the facility unless it continues approach to its final holding position," Torek ordered. They watched the viewscreen as the facility, almost half the size of Starbase Forty-Seven continued to change course, coming around in an almost lazy curve, presumably following the course of the original structure. He was somewhat surprised that neither the Ireuken nor the Alarodian had commented on their less than covert surveillance of the facility, maybe they deemed it inconsequential, or had other things on their minds if the messenger was to be believed ..... Slowing all the time, the mining facility began to rotate, alas, Marionette, following orders, was moving the Raven off to Port of the structure slowing to a relative stationary position. Carl was admittedly annoyed that they had chosen to rotate to ensure the mysterious structure remained on the far side and thus out of sight. Maybe it was always going to rotate clockwise, maybe not, again something he doubted anyone would enlighten him on. He asked for a tactical view on screen and watched as the Ireuken facility moved closer to the beyond the threshold and into its final position. He had to marvel at the engineering that allowed such a thing, given any free-falling object would suffer inevitable destruction down to the atomic level. Shaking his head he decided it would have to be him who broached the subject of the unknown structure... As the First Viceroy's vessel took up position less than one hundred kilometers from the facility Carl contacted the ship and asked Tor'ng to join him for a celebratory drink. USS Raven-C Conference Room :: "You see how I would be curious?" Carl was saying as the First viceroy and three of his Aides' were joined by several of Raven's Senior Officers. "I don't think it is something that needs concern you greatly Admiral, especially as it will have no bearing on your attempt to return to your own region of space..." one of the Aide's commented, "... But to ease your fears, the structure is to aid in gathering numerous recently discovered elements present deep within the wormhole, we hope to be able to capture and utilize those elements in due course. Early days, but we have hopes," "So... There were several elongated structures extending from the facility around the new structure, these would be for?" Lieutenant Commander T'Seng asked casually. "Targeting only..." the First viceroy replied with a smile, but a little too quickly for the Raven Officers' liking, "... This is excellent Admiral, I wonder if you might be able to extend a bottle for my private collection?" "Not a weapon then?" Lysia asked. "I'll make sure there is a supply ready for when you depart Viceroy," Carl said, seemingly ignoring his Tactical Officers' comment before motioning to his Steward to see to it. "When do you think we will be able to begin studies?" Jor Svensson asked. "I believe we shall need a short time to establish that the facility is functioning within parameters, at that point we shall begin at maybe twenty percent production..." the viceroy glanced at his Aide, who nodded almost imperceptibly, then he continued, "... I believe we could begin allowing you access within seven days, providing our Alarodian friends are happy of course," he said, the sickening grin returning. "Alarodian friends?" Wedledson whispered to Lysia. "I have to say Viceroy, I do have some, concerns, regarding the structure and would like the opportunity to visit the facility," Carl said as neutrally as possible. No-one could miss the sudden stiffening of the Aidea's at his request, but the seasoned Diplomat merely smiled, saying it would be impossible at this time, alas he didn't feel inclined to expand on his decision, and Torek didn't want to push the matter too hard, but it was clear now that the structure was designed for more than monitoring, or the capture of some as yet unknown exotic particles and he feared it could be used to pierce the wormhole for their own reasons, or even destroy it as a last resort. One thing was certain, they had to get a look at that new structure somehow because one thing was evident, the Ireuken 'DID NOT' want them over there ..... Why! ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on May 26, 2020 13:22:40 GMT
They had been in position five thousand meters from the Ireuken Mining Facility for several days now, all vessels apart from the Enzio, which was close to the Starbase were holding station, neither the Ireuken nor the Alarodian were making any adverse maneuvers, both races seemingly content to play the long game. Despite his wariness, Carl had no real reasons to doubt what they had been told so he was reluctant to upset either race by sending a covert team over to investigate the new apparatus. There were still several days of testing before production could begin again so ha had time. "Sir..." the Comms Officer got his attention, "We're receiving a transmission from the mining facility... It appears to be schematics, sent with the compliments of First Viceroy Tor'ng," Andae got up and moved to Science station one and began accessing the massive data file, he looked over to Torek: "It's full schematics of the facility, including the suspect apparatus," "Send it down to Commander Milyanov in Engineering..." Carl said, wondering about the sudden openness, he paused, then continued, "... Andae, let's get down there and look at these schematics ourselves. Harry, you have the Conn," Deck Eleven Main Engineering Upper Level :: Milyanov was leaving his office as the turbo-lift doors openedBlakus, Valente, and Torek stepping out, the three followed the Engineer: "Well, if we can believe the validity of these schematics, the additional mechanism on the far side of the facility is just what they say it is," Milyanov confirmed with a shrug. "So why the need for targetting array's?" Calli asked, pointing out the three, hundred twenty meters long protrudes spaced equidistantly around the circumference, "... Here, here, and here... They could be used to accurately focus something like an energy beam if it was to be emitted from the structure?" "They could, yes..." the Chief Engineer agreed, "... But then so could our deflector array," "What makes you think these couldn't be what they appear to be Commander?" "Well, nothing, the only thing I have an issue with is the way we received them, maybe it's just my suspicious mind working overtime. To be honest, in the time I've had to study them I can't find anything out of place, power requirements being fed to the new structure are within parameters, or at least appear to be, there doesn't appear to be any means of channeling substantial power quickly to a level capable of transforming that thing into some doomsday weapon. It 'could' transmit energy as well as receive, but not enough to cause damage to say, a ship. Those do look like targetting arrays, but they could be part of the operation if they're looking for these rare exotic particles as they say," again he shrugged, not sure what was being asked of him. "OK, thank you Commander. But I want these schematics gone over with a fine-toothed comb. If there is a much as a conduit out of place I want to know," Carl said, turning and heading for the turbo-lift, Andae and Calli following ..... Bridge :: Back on the Bridge Carl instructed the Comms Officer to send his compliments to the First Viceroy, then transmit their reports to both the Flagship and the Enzio. "Maybe we've been over-cautious," Calli said with a frown. "There's been a 'lot' of Comm chatter between Tor'ng and Saspari, maybe they are content playing happy families for the time being," Wedlerson said from Ops. "I have the feeling both sides would like to see the back of us," Calli added, looking at the viewscreen. "Well, that should encourage them to help us if nothing else," Blakus said with a wry grin. "You would think so," Carl said, watching the enormous mining facility on screen ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on May 27, 2020 13:37:37 GMT
Another two days had passed and the Starbase was now at a distance from the wormhole and Raven of about the closest approach of Earth and Venus; the El Salvador and Maracanda were now closer to the base than they were to the Raven. Blakus sat on the bridge watching the image of the slowly rotating Ireuken facility - as he contemplated, an alert sounded from the Ops console and onscreen a small light began building up near or within the mining station.
"Report," he ordered, and called Carl to the bridge from the ready room.
"The Ireuken facility is powering its array, Commander," Wedlerson said, "They're aiming it into the event horizon... An energy discharge is taking place." Onscreen they saw how a thin turquoise beam silently shot out from the facility towards the invisible event horizon. The wormhole splayed open on a sudden in its cerulean perfection.
"Yellow alert," Torek directed, settling in his seat.
"Reading a trickle of particles from the wormhole along the array's beam," Wedlerson said after half a minute. "Exotic constituents, some heavy elements, inert and volatile gases common to L-class atmospheres, and unknown matter. They're being collected by the facility."
"They didn't inform us they were operational," Andae commented, resisting the urge to stand. As he spoke a hail was received, it was Tor'ng.
"Admiral, may I invite to this conference Administrator Marp'el of our mining station?" The Raven officer nodded and the image became splitscreen to show both Tor'ng (along with his bodyguard Nij'or) and who they presumed was Marp'el on the station. Andae involuntarily repeated what he'd said about the lack of information about the array's completion. Tor'ng nodded, "Apologies, Commander...? Never mind. We apologise, we're far from being fully operational, that was only a test run and we didn't feel obliged to inform you in advance. Let me tell you it was entirely successful. Marp'el?" The administrator bowed and went into a long, more or less boring discussion of the results of their matter grab.
As the comm began to close, Tinsley started signalling from the engineering console, Svensson also turning to claim their attention. The assistant engineer pointed out to them the miniscule reduction in size of the wormhole and a number of other mysterious coefficients. "What do these signify?"
"It seems the Ireuken authorities cannot detect it with their sensor equipment, which seems somewhat behind our own..." Tinsley squinted at the console, "The wormhole's stability index has decreased by 0.17 to a value of 1.72. Anything below a value of 1 and the wormhole becomes unsafe or altogether unusable. They surely do not know they're doing it, why would they slowly destabilise and collapse this wormhole which is such a source of profit for them?"
Andae looked at the other officers who'd gravitated around the station, "If the Ireuken sensors are not up to the task of detecting the change, perhaps the Alarodians' are? Our messenger warned us about the device attached to the mining station, we believed he'd been talking about a weapon, but he merely meant some form of particle collector. Still, he warned us, so the Alarodians are aware of the potential for loss of wormhole stability."
"It has an important resource which the Alarodians purchase from the Ireuken harvesters, so of course one of them would attempt to tell us about it."
"But that man was shot in Commissioner Saspari's ward room as he tried to inform us, perhaps by Saspari himself. Why? Other Alarodians including Saspari want the Ireukens to remain ignorant? They want the wormhole destabilised by this array?"
It drew towards 1800 hours ship time, the Starbase now at roughly the equivalent of the Earth-Moon distance from the wormhole's coordinates and closing. They'd learnt the Enzio and now Maracanda had closed to prepare for docking with the base. Communication had been reestablished with Tor'ng, the Viceroy had alarmingly shrugged off the warning that the array had the potential to destabilise and collapse the wormhole. They continued to press him, perhaps the array could be modified, perhaps it didn't have to be abandoned altogether, but neither side was hopeful. As the latest round of comms ended, the Alarodians who'd been holding the line made contact. Saspari's bridge appeared, the Commissioner there with two battered Alarodians who'd evidently been injured in the fight with the Raven, alongside surprisingly an Ireuken who looked strangely familiar...
"Admiral Torek," Saspari began with a thin-lipped smile, "Allow me to introduce Tor'majar, the enlightened son of First Viceroy Tor'ng. He has turned his back on his own species, plied with a certain amount of money to give him the necessary encouragement."
Tor'majar, perhaps in the Ireuken equivalent of his mid-twenties, grinned sardonically and bowed; he spoke, his voice was sonorous like his father's, "We and our associates, whom you call the Halanan, whose ship another of your vessels has disabled, demand recompense."
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Deis Irae
Commander
Savot: "Doctor, put down the hypospray." Deis: "No way pointy, this ship's mine!" [2003]
Registered: Sept 27, 2013 3:30:12 GMT
Posts: 116
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Post by Deis Irae on Jun 8, 2020 11:18:28 GMT
::For the nurse, Iris, the time had been tense. Watching the Doctor gear up with "that" expression. Then the wait. Sickbay isnt exactly copied on whats going on. At least not as swiftly as other departments. As soon as the call came in to prep a biobed, Iris knew exactly who the injured was even before the preliminary med tricorder readings were sent in. A bed had already been cleared just in case, so it is with a scowl and a "damnit" that the patient is recieved by direct transport. The EMH is called up as Iris, herself, is not technically a doctor. Stating the nature of the medical emergency, Iris steps in and begins to assist. It isnt pretty. Nor is this a time for modesty that the Doctor wouldnt much care about in any case. It is very strange for the Nurse to be cutting and stripping away bits of uniform tank shirt from a woman she still, periodically, thought of as a girl. She had been nursing on the last El Salvador when this doctor first arrived, back in the days of Captain Vreenak. The young Doctor had been a very different person then. The smiling and gentle type. Things had changed. Between then and now, the Doctor had become a very different and wholly darker figure. She had gone grim but fresh faced...and returned all these years later far grimmer, scarred, and lacking in the old smiles almost entirely.::
EMH: Bicaridine, Nurse. Also prep a sedative. I will now begin the dermal excision.
::Iris does as the EMH orders, administering said medications and then helping to pull back hard charred flesh for excision. Somehwere in the midst of this, the Doctor blinks her eyes wide open. Whatever it is she says is muffled by the pressurized oxygen mouthpiece they had affixed to her face. Thats when Iris hits her with the sedative. And thus, the real work begins. While scanning for deeper damage, the charred dermis is peeled away. Very little bleeding due to already cauterized vessels. And each one of them has to be reabraided and connected to the new that begin to form beneath the healing beams of the regenerator. Unpleasant points fix firmly in mind to add to the eventual report. 1st degree burns to the lower lobes of each lung. Heat damaged sternum treated with osteoregenerator. Cartiliginous reconnection of 2 ribs to said sternum. Standard dermal regeneration. Major influx of fluids with steroidal additives to promote swiftened normal healing. These all go in the report, but its a different experience entirely to be working on this particular person. They never lost "blip"...but for a bit there the vitals hadnt looked good at all. It makes the nurse wonder...if this chest wound could put the doctor down, how in the hell did she survive the original burns that scarred her right hand side? Especially considering that whatever medical staff that saved her life didnt have the technology to repair the widespread scarring.::
====================
::For Deis the trip home, though brief, had been surreal and uncomfortable. The black had closed in, whilst in the shuttle, before her nerve endings could really take stock of what was happening. Things came to her in little bursts of light before her brain shut her back down to avoid the pain and physical trauma. Flickers of consiousness. Not quickly enough to see the shuttle bay get its doors blown off. But quickly enough to realize that we were out in open space...then dark. Flicker...the tingle of transporter waking up the nerves that are just so very displeased by this affront to their function. Dark. Flicker...intense pain and the feeling of being totally confined in the biobeds field and the mask on her face. Iris. The EMH. Dark.::
::Its only a few hours later that Deis returns to herself. There is still vague discomfort, but shes at least clothed again...still held in place by the biobed field. Oh man one shouldnt feel this wrecked after a procedure...but then again the last time she was in a biobed was years ago and they do say that doctors make the worst patients:: Iris...iris...get me out o this bleedin thing.
::Iris approaches, looking just a bit tired, shaking her head:: Doctor, you have at least 3 more hours in there to recooperate.
::Deis grunts a little annoyed:: You fixed me up already. I be needed on th bridge. Let me up, tis an order.
::Iris knew this was comming. So she gives a theatrical shrug and walks closer. But instead of freeing the beds constraints, she quickly touched a hypospray to Deis neck, just beneath the jaw. Its the sudden rush of warmth and blurring vision that tells the doctor that shes just been tranked:: You... ... ...bi...hhh...
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on Jun 10, 2020 15:14:42 GMT
"..... and the wormhole has stabilised, at least for the time being?" Carl was asking.
"It appears so..." Jor Svensson replied, picking up yet another PADD off the conference table before continuing, "It seems that they have called a halt to whatever 'exotic' particles they were mining. We know there has been a lot of chatter between the Ireuken and the Alarodian's. Maybe the proximity of the Starbase, along with our ships, has persuaded them to hold off, at least until more exploration into our problem has been done,"
"What about this Tor'majar and his demands?" Torek asked the group around the table.
"We've been holding off on any direct talks, but it's a given he's not going to sit back for long, he's clearly in league with the Halanan..." Lysia T'Seng began explaining, "... I think he's being kept on a tight leash for the moment, but scuttlebutt says he's gaining supporters, I think we should talk sooner, than later, at least before he's in a position to act on his myriad of threats,"
"He's a pain in the proverbial, but people are listening to him," Wedlerson said before falling silent.
"Anything further on the tests the Ireuken did on transmitting through the wormhole?" Carl asked.
"We 'could' snatch him ......" Harry said not realising the Admiral had asked another question.
"Let's hold off on kidnapping for the time being Harry," Torek said with a grin as Commander Milyanov began to speak.
"They managed to receive a signal, whether it's an echo of what we originally transmitted they can't say, but the probe they sent through is holding beyond the event horizon on the other side, so we're fairly confident that matter can pass through if adequately shielded. We'd need the Ireuken shield tech' before we consider going through with the Starbase,"
"They were open to allowing us access before, let's hope they still are," Blakus commented, several people, nodding in agreement.
"Has the Section Admiral decided on how we're going to transit?" Lieutenant Svensson asked.
"At this point, I think he's airing on all the ships being docked within the Starbase and going through as a single unit..." Carl confirmed, "... The El Alamein returned yesterday and has been secured within the dome. I expect the Maracanda will be ordered back in due course, the Enzio, El Salvador, and us will remain out here for now, at least until we can be assured there won't be any unforeseen issues with the Alarodian or our young agitator,"
"OK, anything else?" Carl asked, trying to surreptitiously rub the aching out of his neck.
"Sir, I have a suggestion..." Svensson began, continuing as Torek nodded, "... I had a thought that we could do one final test wit something bigger than a probe ......"
"Go on?"
"Well, we could retrofit the Dauntless with everything we'd need to log telemetry etcetera, set a transmitter to return a signal through to us, If we can remotely access visual data, it may give us an idea of what we could be in for?"
"Commander? Torek asked the Raven's Chief Engineer.
"It might be plausible... There's no way we're going to get the Dauntless spaceworthy, I doubt even Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards could, it's been cannibalised beyond repair or refit in my opinion,"
"Andae?"
"Can't hurt, It could be fitted out easily enough, it wouldn't need a warp core, just something to ensure it has power once it arrives on the other side," the Exec' said.
"OK, get your heads together, if it's easily done we'll get the impulse engines on-line and throw it into the proverbial unknown. Commander Milyanov, contact the Starbase and bring them up to speed with our idea, have the Dauntless moved close to the doors, get them to run a full status check on the ship, the superstructure and impulse drives will need to be sound, but it can do without atmosphere or internal gravity, if it's a 'no go' then at least we can through the hulk away before leaving... All this is providing the Ireuken are happy to oblige with our 'test journey' of course," Carl finished, "Right, let's call it for now. We'll get together tomorrow, hopefully our Science Officer and Engineers will have an update on progress by then. Good night Gentlemen."
He closed the meeting and stood, stretching out the knotting in his spine. Once the room cleared he too left, making his way to his quarters ..........
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Jun 11, 2020 20:22:01 GMT
OOC: Starting with the premise that the Enzio has now docked
The Denobulan and Intel Director Lemond surveyed the activities of Ops from their position on the central elevated section, evaluating the news the base had received a comm from the Raven regarding a plan to use the Dauntless as a test article. Base engineer Sasha Gordon was again working with Simon Clark, the officers previously holding the engineering station in lieu of Gordon - as part of Lemond's nominal team - now off-duty. Ghes was about to descend to their bank of consoles when a comm alert came through. It was Tor'majar.
Ghes nodded to Barton to have a channel opened and the viewscreen lit up; there was Tor'majar on the bridge of the Alarodian Commissioner's vessel, "What would you say, Admiral, if I told you thirty Alarodian and four Halanan vessels were en route to this system at this very moment?"
Well... no preamble, Ghes thought and turned from his position halfway down the steps to Gordon and Clark; he glanced at Lemond and then at the sensor controllers, they shook their head: nothing on scanners. "I would say you're lying, Mr Tor'majar. Now please, can we conduct this exchange civilly..." he'd been expecting a call from the turncoat Ireuken scion, the two sides had delayed holding discussions 'til now, Ghes knew he had to tread carefully considering Tor'majar's apparent new-found support amongst the Alarodians at large. "We the Federation would be keen to open diplomatic contacts with you and the Alarodian Coalition."
"Oh?" Tor'majar nearly sneered, though having something of his father's forebearing he was kept somehow respectable, "And what would you demand of us? You see how much we suffer from the Ireukens, from the loss of our energy resource mined from this wormhole... and in no small way is this your fault, Federation; you've destabilised our long-lasting peace."
"We ask nothing from you except to request you don't hinder us in our passing through the wormhole. We wish only to return home. And, sir," he was addressing Commissioner Saspari who stood alongside Tor'majar (Saspari alarmingly seeming somewhat like a subordinate), "We know you possess the information that the new Ireuken matter extractor will slowly shrink the wormhole if used - if you'd like to mend matters between your species, perhaps you can inform Tor'ng of this and save your energy resource."
There was a flurry at the bank of sensor consoles on the level below, the Operations Chief spoke to Barton who began whispering to the Denobulan, "Admiral. We've got a problem."
Ghes broke off the exchange with Tor'majar and Saspari as cordially as possible, making a vague chopping motion at the comms officer to suspend the channel; he turned to his aide. Barton took a breath, "We're picking up echoes on long-range sensors, 18 hours out at standard Alarodian cruising speed. it could be nothing, or it could confirm in whatever small way what Tor'ng's son has been saying. If it's anything, he's exaggerating, sir."
"Still, we may not have much time. Did we get confirmation from the Ireuken outpost that they're happy for us to use the Dauntless hulk in the test?"
"Aye, sir, though with certain qualifications. They're unsure of their probe's structural integrity, having passed through - "
"We'll get to those in a moment; a probe is much smaller than an Ournal class Starbase, Ensign. Pass message to Admiral Reynolds and the dockmaster: the Dauntless is to be tractored from its holding position to the Dome exit... Confirm its transmitter and shield grid are functioning..." Ghes received nods. "Ok, prepare to retract doors and propel the hulk towards the wormhole."
With the panoramic screen showing the Dome doors opening and the wrecked chassis of the Dauntless making its exit, he descended back down the steps to the engineering consoles, "Lieutenant Clark, I'm assigning V'Maz to the search of the base for his opposite number from the Maracanda. Commander Scober, that is. Clark, I'd like you back on the Enzio with Yarwood, exchange command duties between you and be ready to scramble should those ships arrive before we're ready."
<Tag Simon Clark>
"Keep an eye on Dauntless's telemetry," an Operations Chief advised his subordinates.
"Raven, El Salvador, scan coordinates coordinates 312 mark 5 by 28 mark 0... Sensor echoes, potential incoming and hostile," a comms officer was frantically saying as Ghes passed by his station. Lemond and Barton gave orders to various controllers, the comms officer taking the latest instructions, "Raven, protect the Dauntless hulk; El Salvador, stay near Tor'ng's capital ship and the mining facility. It could be nothing, but be on your guard."
<Tag Raven/Dauntless, El Salvador>
"Don't you think we're overreacting? Aide Barton asked. Ghes thought they couldn't be too careful; he had a channel reopened to Saspari's (or was that Tor'majar's?) ship. The Starbase and attendant Maracanda had their shields raised but weapons' power relays at tickover. In his mind's eye he saw Alarodian and Halanan ships knifing against the black of space towards the Starbase, but he believed this would all work out for the best and that echoes were merely echoes.
OOC: Not wanting to impede easy passage through the wormhole if a reasonably quick return is the way we think best to go.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,165
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Post by Carl Torek on Jun 13, 2020 14:34:34 GMT
With the Enzio now docked, the USS Maracanda had been instructed to position herself five million kilometres from the Starbase, on an intercept with the supposed oncoming flotilla ..... Meanwhile, following long-range scans to confirm there were indeed ships en route, the Raven had been tasked with overseeing the transition of the Steamrunner Class Dauntless into the wormhole: "Koni, transmit our long-range scans to the Maracanda and the Starbase, inform them we are moving to intercept the Dauntless," "Helm... Move us into position above the Dauntless and activate tractor beams," He sat watching as the massive USS Raven began to approach the drifting Dauntless, now released from the hold of the Starbase. At Zee plus one kilometre, the Raven passed above the derelict and began a slow turn. The Dauntless was Starboard side on to the wormhole, so the Raven came at her on the same heading, slowing as she approached until coming to a complete stop relative to the aged vessel... "Close distance to two hundred meters," Blakus ordered, silent as the Raven dropped until it was above and behind its neighbour, "Commander Marionette, move us over the Dauntless... Tactical, activate tractors," "In position and tractor's hold established," the Navigation Officer confirmed. "Rotate the ship, put us on a heading for the wormhole," Torek ordered, "Lieutenant Svensson, establish a remote link with the Dauntless' sensors... Helm stand by ......." "Sir, Starbase confirms they are receiving telemetry from Dauntless and confirm we can proceed," the Comms Officer confirmed. Carl looked at Calli then Andae, both nodded they were ready. "Helm, velocity, one hundred meters per second, now," Carl said, watching the viewscreen as the Dauntless, a second ago below and ahead, slipped from view as the Raven moved ahead. Tractor beams Fore and Aft caressed the Steamrunner Class and pulled her along beneath the Sovereign Class Starship, "Time to event horizon?" "At present velocity, two hours nineteen minutes twent ...." the Gynoid began. "Thank you... Increase to full impulse, slowly, keep a wary eye on the tractors, I don't want to end up with a bunch of hull plates where a ship should be," Torek ordered, wondering what the oncoming ships were planning. ~~~~~~~~~~ "Lysia, as soon as we release the Dauntless bring her shields on-line. I'm going to release a full minute early, that 'should' give us time to recover the ship should anything untoward occur," "Yes Sir," T'Seng confirmed from Tactical, "Release now in fifty-two seconds..." "Thirty seconds..." "Trajectory stable for wormhole insertion," Marionette confirmed. "Ten seconds..." Lysia said, hand hovering over the tractor control. "Stand by everyone," Carl said needlessly. "Three..." "Two..." "One... Tractor beams released, Dauntless is now moving under her own inertia," "Helm, drop us back to one thousand meters astern and hold there," Blakus instructed. On the viewscreen, the Steamrunner Class came into view as the Raven increased the distance between them and dropped the final two hundred meters to the Galactic Plane. Everyone sat quietly watching the vessel ahead for signs it wasn't behaving as predicted. "Shields and inertial dampers activated, manoeuvring thrusters on-line. All sensors transmitting to both the Starbase and ourselves Admiral." Svensson confirmed. A minute later their grace period had passed without incident. "Thank you, Lieutenant... Helm, begin to put some distance between us, I want to remain withing five thousand kilometres just in case, but be ready to come about on my order," "Aye Admiral." the Gynoid replied. Carl looked at his Executive Officer, then at Calli, both appeared outwardly confident, but he knew they were feeling the apprehension just as much as he himself was. Should the Dauntless be crushed under the gravitational forces of the wormhole, it could possibly put any thought of trying to transit the four-kilometre long Starbase through after it. Which in effect could strand them here for the foreseeable future ..... "Dauntless approaching event horizon," Lysia informed everyone. There was nothing more the Raven could do now but monitor sensor readings along with the Starbase. "Helm, come about, hold position at one million kilometres," Carl ordered, standing as the ship turned and powered away. moments later they turned once again before coming to a complete stop, the wormhole, now relatively small on the screen, nevertheless looked a formidable sight, as for the Dauntless, she had passed the event horizon and was falling into the cone of the Einstein–Rosen bridge wormhole. Their fate depended on what they found in the petabytes of data now streaming into the computers on the Raven and Starbase Forty-Seven ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jun 14, 2020 15:20:16 GMT
Blakus was at the science station with both Svensson and Tinsley - Merux stepping into cover the bridge engineering duties - analysing the data from the Dauntless as it came in from its wormhole transit. So far, so good... they had surmised. Structural integrity and the modified shield grid seemed to be holding, dampeners were coping with the transdimensional buffeting and sensor results seemed to indicate a normal wormhole of this type that - up to the point to which the ship had traversed thus far - seemed to be reasonably stable along its length.
Information was passed to the Starbase which was corroborated - they'd found much the same thing, though Blakus and Tinsley were able to point out to Sasha Gordon, and Anna Lindqvist's replacement as base CScO, certain things they'd missed in the telemetry. Amateurs, he thought unkindly, and turned back to the central command area and the XO's seat.
"How long until those sensor echoes are on us?" he asked.
The usage of 'sensor echoes' was becoming comical now; they all knew those ghostly images on the long-range sensor data were 10 starships. Two of the ships seemed to be of much greater displacement than the others, perhaps - at a guess - 1.5 km in length, likely heavily armed. Probably all the craft were Alarodian though potentially Halanan ships were amongst them. If it came to a fight, Andae reflected, the El Sal might be best suited to take on any Halanan craft considering how it'd disabled the Negotiator's ship.
And what of the Negotiator, or 'Scober' for that matter? He had to trust that the Scober who'd been on the Maracanda since it'd left base for aCen was indeed an impostor; the alternative would suggest Alarodians and possibly others had been infiltrating Starbase 47 from way back, perhaps even from shortly after their arrival in this farflung sector. Both Scober and the Negotiator were now in custody on the El Salvador (currently keeping formation with Tor'ng's capital ship) - had the two captives revealed anything under questioning?
<Tag El Salvador>
"Sensor echoes are 14 hours, five minutes away, sir," Marionette answered him, choosing this time to be not so specific.
Blakus nodded to himself: so they still had plenty of time; the Dauntless's traversing of the wormhole shouldn't take that long, perhaps 11 hours at most... which left them a window of approximately three hours to gather as much information as possible on the Dauntless's condition and that of its surrounding space in the Beta Quadrant before the new hostiles arrived here in Cygnus - that was assuming both the Dauntless survived the trip, and that the four Alarodian ships under Tor'majar (or Saspari) didn't present too much of an hindrance in preparation for the arrival of their compatriot vessels.
He said as much to Torek and Valente who nodded in agreement; they all knew the stakes, the fine margins of the matter. "Let's not forget that in those three hours not only do we need to learn whether the Dauntless is safe... we also have to move SB47 towards and into the wormhole," Calli said.
"That's a strain on the base's impulse engines," Andae admitted, "But it must be done... Surely we have no other choice if the wormhole's deemed safe?"
* * * * *
10 hours went by, the chrono above the viewscreen continuing its inexorable countdown 'til the time of the Dauntless's putative exit from the wormhole - until at about 10.9 hours into the hulk's transit the returned telemetry suddenly changed its character... Andae surveyed the results from his armpanel: matter-energy particular to the interior of the wormhole was no longer being detected by the Dauntless's remaining intact sensors... The bridge crew cheered mutedly, messages from the Starbase indicating things to the same effect: the hulk was out the other side. And then they lost all telemetry.
It took a few moments to evaluate what seemed to have happened; the officers gathered at the science station, Blakus pointing over Svensson's shoulder at a tentative graphic reconstructed from the last few seconds of the Dauntless's transmitted data: it represented a sensors' visual field; something eclipsed the stars that filled the periphery of the image. "The Steamrunner class collided with something, something massive, just the other side of the wormhole: we believe it may be the replica Starbase that fell through the event horizon some weeks ago."
"Was the Dauntless fully operational before the collision?" Torek asked.
"Not wholly, sir," Andae admitted, "During transit, the modified shields lost 41% of their repulsive energy. But structural integrity was uncompromised and most sensors and the transmitter remained undamaged."
"Ok, we've got to evaluate... If Starbase gives a go, we've got less than three hours to get the base into the wormhole before those ships arrive."
"Sir, Tor'majar's four Alarodian vessels are withdrawing at warp 1," Wedlerson reported; the officers at Science turned, "They're positioning themselves the opposite side of the wormhole from the incoming 10 ships." Blakus surveyed the situation from the Mission Ops console - the 10 incoming craft and Tor'majar's four were now respectively at either end of an axis, with the wormhole, mining station, Starbase and Federation starships at a point along it.
A pincer movement? he thought, as Torek hailed the Starbase to confer on defensive measures, the Dauntless's condition and whether the Starbase should make the attempt - the answer would have to be quick.
<Tag Starbase and all ships>
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Nia Lemond
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Aug 11, 2019 20:06:27 GMT
Posts: 240
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Post by Nia Lemond on Jun 18, 2020 12:18:21 GMT
Situation Briefing ... Main Conference Room Mezzanine Level - Command Center Starbase Forty-Seven :: "We still have no way of knowing if the Dauntless indeed collided with the other Starbase, it is speculation at best..." One of those present was saying, "... Therefore, our priority must be making sure that 'this' Starbase isn't going to suffer the same fate as the Starship. Given our limited timeframe, I believe it prudent to deal with the oncoming vessels before attempting to traverse the wormhole at all," "All the data we received from the Dauntless indicated we should be able to transit, but as the Commodore pointed out, our issue is what is waiting on the other side," Commander Campbell, the Starbase Chief Engineer commented. "So we send a volley of photon torpedoes ahead of us..." Commander Lek, the Operations Chief said, "... That way, whatever is out there will be so much background radiation by the time we emerge," "We cannot be assured of that Commander," Gheskori' Executive Officer replied. "One thing we can agree on is the fact that the Starbase is four kilometres in height, there is no way we can transit vertically, we will need to reorient and pass through keel first, go in tail first if you will..." the Australian Engineer began, "... Even then, the Dome is three point five kilometres in diameter, it will be touch and go if we sustain any damage to our outer sections during transit ..... We will need to reinforce forcefields on the undermost side of the Starbase and around the dome. With the Maracanda and the Raven still outside, it will be touch and go if we can them both in 'and' install the additional support gantries in time. We need to make a decision on when we make the call Admiral," Gheskori nodded, he knew time was short, but they couldn't blunder through the wormhole blind. "Reorienting the Starbase isn't an issue, we could do that now in fact," Lek suggested. "We are convinced that the oncoming vessels are hostile?" Nia asked. "For reasons known only to themselves, neither the Ireuken nor the Alarodian is acknowledging our communications, so we must assume that they are hostile Admiral," Matt Reynolds confirmed. "So we have two options open to us..." Lemond began, seeing Ghekori nod for her to continue, "... We bite the proverbial bullet, reorient the Starbase, then head into the wormhole, sending photon torpedoes ahead to 'hopefully' clear the way ..... Or, we move the Starbase back from the wormhole, send everything we have to intercept the oncoming vessels and hope we still have a wormhole to go through once we're done," The room was completely silent as everyone around the table ingested the options. "We know that at least two of the ships are much larger than even the Raven, so it must be assumed that their armament is likewise superior. We 'could' lose all our Starships in a fight we could avoid, why even risk it?" Lieutenant Commander Atkinson, the Deputy Chief Engineer commented quickly. "Time to the arrival of the hostile vessels?" Gheskori enquired. "Three hours fifty-one minutes at their present speed," Admiral Reynolds confirmed after checking with Starbase Tactical. On the large viewscreen, Carl Torek and Grant Manley had been listening in on the meeting via sub-space: =^= Reorienting the Starbase should be carried out immediately .. The Raven and Maracanda can dock in time to secure the external support gantries as we approach the wormhole .. .. Grant Manley said from the Maracanda Bridge. =^= I have to agree with Commander Manley Admiral .. .. .. We're outnumbered and have no means of assessing their fire-power .. We could program drive systems aboard the Starbase to fire as we emerge from the event horizon .. It may be enough to push the Starbase onto a trajectory which will allow us to pass whatever obstacle is waiting on the other side =^= Torek said from the Raven. "Admiral, If we decide to go through, laying the Starbase on her side now will cut time once we begin our approach. A moment please..." Campbell said, pausing to speak quietly to Matt before continuing, "... Admiral Reynolds assures me that from our current location, we will require thirty-six minutes to fully enter the wormhole, with a further twenty-nine to be sufficiently into our transit to avoid any backlash of their deciding to collapse the wormhole on arrival. That gives us... Two hours fifty-seven minutes before we'd be caught on this side," "Then, Ladies and Gentlemen, we should endeavour to make some prudent decisions, Commander Campbell, please lay the Starbase on her side if you will," the Section Admiral said decisively. "Admiral, we should take a small recess, get a bite to eat, we may not have the luxury once a decision is made," Nia suggested quietly. "Agreed," Gheskori said. Nia picked up then tapped the small gavel on the long table to call for order: "We are going to take a thirty-minute recess for refreshments, please remain in here or the anteroom ready to resume... Meeting adjourned ......" she tapped the gavel again and everyone present rose slowly to their feet, she looked at the viewscreen and told Carl and Grant they would contact them in twenty-five minutes. Both Officers nodded then the screen changed to a tactical view of the region. The oncoming vessels highlighted, along with the USS Raven-C, the USS Maracanda, and in the centre, Starbase Forty-Seven .......... Deadline to Commencement of Transit decision ::
.. 02:57:21 .. .. 02:57:20 .. .. 02:57:19 ..
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Gheskori
Command Staff ..
Commanding Officer Personnel Officer Trivia Officer
Section Admiral
USS Enzio
Registered: May 2, 2008 23:32:36 GMT
Posts: 1,538
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Post by Gheskori on Jun 23, 2020 14:34:06 GMT
Conference Room, mezzanine, Ops, Starbase 47
Gheskori stood in the anteroom helping himself to a chocolate mousse; he finished and set the glass container down before tucking into another as Commander Paquin approached, she looked perplexed for a moment before politely clearing her throat. "Ah! Commander," Gheskori dropped the half-finished mousse which clunked off the table and took to the floor.
"Admiral Lemond requests your presence, sir, the meeting is ready to resume."
"Yes, yes, of course," Ghes smoothed his uniform down, noticing to his displeasure a few specks of chocolate covering his thorax and shins, "I'll be through shortly." Paquin hid a smile behind a hand and left the room, Gheskori exiting through another door into the conference room and approaching the empty seat at the head of the table.
"Please be seated," he said to the officers after a moment and sat himself, clearing his throat. "Resume."
Commander Campbell took it upon himself to begin, with a glance at his PADD, "We've reoriented the Starbase, we are now in position."
The starfield had indeed stopped turning about a minute ago, Ghes noted; the still open wormhole - from the Ireuken ally's experiments with matter extraction - was no longer visible, obscured by the mass of the base beneath them.
Lek nodded, "We've further analysed the data returned from the Dauntless before its destruction. It emerges the object that caused its destruction is, in all likelihood, an asteroid with dimensions of approximately 470 x 460 x 425 km, rather than the alternate Starbase encountered by the Maracanda shortly after arrival here. However, we can't be certain of this, there may be distortions in the data... We can't rule out that by using torpedoes to clear the way we would be destroying something inhabited... A torpedo strike may not even be enough to destroy it," he warned.
"I see," Ghes nodded, "Then," he turned to the screen on which the audiovisual communique to the Raven, El Salvador and Maracanda was displayed, "Your suggestion of altering our trajectory once we're through the other side remains the most viable, Admiral Torek." Torek and Lemond at the table seemed to agree with his course of action; he nodded, "Everyone, we'll proceed with the plan to change our course the other side. Of course, the Dauntless could not adjust its heading," he reasoned.
"It could've easily done so if it'd been able, sir," the Chief Engineering Officer confirmed, "Of course, a base is much larger and less manoeuvrable." Still, they believed they had enough space.
"That leaves us with the Alarodian ships then."
The Starbase was soon drawn into position, and as it did so Tor'majar's four Alarodian vessels began drawing near once again, while across the stars the 10 other ships marched inexorably closer. Hurriedly in the end, the Maracanda was able to dock, while the Raven and El Salvador hung back, the former watching to potentially fence with the incoming craft and the latter keeping near their ally Tor'ng's vessel.
* * *
Ops, Starbase 47
"Perhaps it won't be long now," Ghes wondered musingly in main Ops, the wormhole displayed on the panoramic viewscreen before them all. He had to wonder at the fortune in finding this wormhole - inaccessible though it'd at first been, it wasn't prohibitively distant from the Starbase's stopping place. Perhaps something about the properties of the Betreka nebula and whatever had caused its explosion had synced with something about the wormhole, meaning the trajectory the base had been propelled upon hadn't been quite so random and without plan - if not completely by design. Perhaps research would be in order once, or if, they returned.
He wished he could bring his two wives to Ops, they would appreciate this moment... Something deterred him from doing so, and he let himself believe it was due to scruples over regulation so as to mask the real reason: all of this may go wrong.
The 10 Alarodian craft were half an hour out.
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