Mission 07: Prelude
Dec 18, 2011 15:46:20 GMT
Post by David Tan on Dec 18, 2011 15:46:20 GMT
They had no luck finding the man who had been found leaving the Admiral's quarters, so reluctantly Tan and Ellison headed back to the Command Center ...
"This is becoming a bloody nightmare !" Tan said, frustrated at their lack of progress. He was about to continue when the Olympia contacted Commander Rose.
=^= We're entering orbit now .. No signs of anything leaving the surface in the last forty eight hours so the Admiral must still be on the surface Commander =^=
"The old launch facility." Vance said quietly, as if thinking out-loud.
=^= Commander .. We are picking up a signal mainly static white moise which is unusual in itself .... We are trying to clean it up now .. It's is mixed with some other background clutter =^=
Crystal and David didn't know which to answer first, Rose nodded in Vance's direction and David went to him.
"What are you talking about ?" he asked, trying to keep one ear on what the Olympia was telling the Exec'.
"Before the new radiation sealed cargo containers were developed, we needed to ship the ore up to the orbital station for manual loading to the transport vessels .... The stuff is damned unstable and tended to blow up if transporters were used ... We had a launch facility, some twenty kilometers away where the ore was loaded and shuttled to the station. It's derelict now though, hasn't been used in about thirty five maybe forty years." the man finished.
"How did you normally reach it .... Hold on a minute." Tan said, listening to the ships' report, "Did he say the signal was an emergency beacon !"
"Yes ..." Crystal said, a puzzled look on her face, but she continued before Tan could get a word in, "Apparently there's a ship on the outer rim of the nebula. Well hidden. It was pure dumb luck that the signal was spotted. But it's not Smiths ... It belongs to Vice Admiral Ning-Na ... She went missing from her retreat about nine days ago."
"So there's a possibility the Admiral is om a ship that is waiting to pick up Smith !" Tan said, running permutations through his head quickly before continuing, "I would be surprised if the Admiral is still alive to be honest. They have killed the others inside a week normally ... Could someone else have activated the signal ?"
=^= Sirs .. I can hear your comments and need to point something out .. The signal can't be delay activated and was well hidden inside the Comms static that would normally bleed from the deflector dish .. Whoever did this has knowledge of Comms systems and is pretty handy and her job .. The signal has been dampened too or it would have been picked up by the ships own sensors as an anomaly =^= The Lieutenant reporting from the Olympia interjected.
=^= Keep the Comm open Lieutenant =^=
=^= Yes Ma'am =^= The man replied. Crysta frowned at the Ma'am, but let it go ...
"So ... We have a tunnel leading to a disused facility, and a ship hiding at the outer edge of the system waiting to come in .... They have 'GOT' to be waiting for us to leave thinking we've missed Admiral Smith." Crystal said.
"OK ... Tan said, turning to Vance, "How would you get to the launch facility ?"
"In good weather, the maintenance rovers, in this weather, the tunnel."
"I think we should look at both options here." Tan said, "One take the tunnel, the other the ship."
=^= We can't transport in this storm, but I could beam down pattern enhancers to get one of you back to the ship Sirs =^= the Lieutenat offered.
Crystal made her mind up quickly.
=^= Send the enhancers Lieutenant .. Commander Tan will be coming back up to the ship =^= she said, and watched as the three metallic tubes materialized a few feet away. Ellison immediately set the the in a triangle and activated them in turn.
"Leave Security with me. Mister Vance will provide the help I need, won't you." she said, satisfied Vance's nervous nod was genuine, "Be careful David ... If there really is someone on that ship helping us we'll need to get him or her back before stopping the ship from reaching here."
Tan nodded, stepping into the triangle formed by the pattern enhancers.
=^= Transport now Olympia =^= Crystal said, then watched the Second Officer vanish from sight.
A few seconds later .....
=^= Tan to Commander Rose .. I'm back on board .. We have scanned the tunnels as best we can through the storm .. You should have a clear passage .. We are picking up five faint life-signs at the site .. All deep underground at present =^=
=^= Thank you Commander .. We'll be leaving shortly .. Find that ship .. Under NO circumstances must it be allowed to make orbit .. Do we fully understand each other ? =^=
=^= Fully Commander .. Olympia out =^=
Tan got out of the Command seat and went to the Science Station.
"Right, show me what you have." ..........
"This is becoming a bloody nightmare !" Tan said, frustrated at their lack of progress. He was about to continue when the Olympia contacted Commander Rose.
=^= We're entering orbit now .. No signs of anything leaving the surface in the last forty eight hours so the Admiral must still be on the surface Commander =^=
"The old launch facility." Vance said quietly, as if thinking out-loud.
=^= Commander .. We are picking up a signal mainly static white moise which is unusual in itself .... We are trying to clean it up now .. It's is mixed with some other background clutter =^=
Crystal and David didn't know which to answer first, Rose nodded in Vance's direction and David went to him.
"What are you talking about ?" he asked, trying to keep one ear on what the Olympia was telling the Exec'.
"Before the new radiation sealed cargo containers were developed, we needed to ship the ore up to the orbital station for manual loading to the transport vessels .... The stuff is damned unstable and tended to blow up if transporters were used ... We had a launch facility, some twenty kilometers away where the ore was loaded and shuttled to the station. It's derelict now though, hasn't been used in about thirty five maybe forty years." the man finished.
"How did you normally reach it .... Hold on a minute." Tan said, listening to the ships' report, "Did he say the signal was an emergency beacon !"
"Yes ..." Crystal said, a puzzled look on her face, but she continued before Tan could get a word in, "Apparently there's a ship on the outer rim of the nebula. Well hidden. It was pure dumb luck that the signal was spotted. But it's not Smiths ... It belongs to Vice Admiral Ning-Na ... She went missing from her retreat about nine days ago."
"So there's a possibility the Admiral is om a ship that is waiting to pick up Smith !" Tan said, running permutations through his head quickly before continuing, "I would be surprised if the Admiral is still alive to be honest. They have killed the others inside a week normally ... Could someone else have activated the signal ?"
=^= Sirs .. I can hear your comments and need to point something out .. The signal can't be delay activated and was well hidden inside the Comms static that would normally bleed from the deflector dish .. Whoever did this has knowledge of Comms systems and is pretty handy and her job .. The signal has been dampened too or it would have been picked up by the ships own sensors as an anomaly =^= The Lieutenant reporting from the Olympia interjected.
=^= Keep the Comm open Lieutenant =^=
=^= Yes Ma'am =^= The man replied. Crysta frowned at the Ma'am, but let it go ...
"So ... We have a tunnel leading to a disused facility, and a ship hiding at the outer edge of the system waiting to come in .... They have 'GOT' to be waiting for us to leave thinking we've missed Admiral Smith." Crystal said.
"OK ... Tan said, turning to Vance, "How would you get to the launch facility ?"
"In good weather, the maintenance rovers, in this weather, the tunnel."
"I think we should look at both options here." Tan said, "One take the tunnel, the other the ship."
=^= We can't transport in this storm, but I could beam down pattern enhancers to get one of you back to the ship Sirs =^= the Lieutenat offered.
Crystal made her mind up quickly.
=^= Send the enhancers Lieutenant .. Commander Tan will be coming back up to the ship =^= she said, and watched as the three metallic tubes materialized a few feet away. Ellison immediately set the the in a triangle and activated them in turn.
"Leave Security with me. Mister Vance will provide the help I need, won't you." she said, satisfied Vance's nervous nod was genuine, "Be careful David ... If there really is someone on that ship helping us we'll need to get him or her back before stopping the ship from reaching here."
Tan nodded, stepping into the triangle formed by the pattern enhancers.
=^= Transport now Olympia =^= Crystal said, then watched the Second Officer vanish from sight.
A few seconds later .....
=^= Tan to Commander Rose .. I'm back on board .. We have scanned the tunnels as best we can through the storm .. You should have a clear passage .. We are picking up five faint life-signs at the site .. All deep underground at present =^=
=^= Thank you Commander .. We'll be leaving shortly .. Find that ship .. Under NO circumstances must it be allowed to make orbit .. Do we fully understand each other ? =^=
=^= Fully Commander .. Olympia out =^=
Tan got out of the Command seat and went to the Science Station.
"Right, show me what you have." ..........
OOC: Firstly Crystal, I hope you are OK with this post and us splitting up. I am thinking Tan will go after the ship, getting Elena De Luca (from my 'Sub Rosa' thread on SB47) back before dealing with the Davori leadership, while you work your way to the Launch Facility through the tunnel ... I think you can find Admiral Smith safe but beaten (suit yourself on 'how' badly beaten LOL), you will proceed to rescue him at your leisure, then we'll go from there.
Steve.