Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 15, 2016 0:05:19 GMT
~~~ PLEASE NOTE ~~~
The following events occur prior to Commodore Ryat returning to Duty
ooo000ooo
*** Post by Koni T'Seng from mission thread :: "....... I intend to completely destroy the orbital facility over Anderson's Planet once repairs are completed. Thank you gentlemen.
"So, who wants to start ?" he asked the two sat opposite. Karka and Koni looked at each other then T'Seng then by some unspoken agreement, the Chief elected to speak first:
"Sir, with all due respect, and despite my feelings for the mans Family, I believe giving Admiral Connolly a full Military funeral will be somewhat, hypocritical of our beliefs within Star Fleet. The man is, after all, a traitor, this alas is undeniable given the actions we have witnessed thus far ... While I am not advocating the man being pilloried throughout the Federation, I do not believe his previous record outweighs his actions over the last weeks, months, possibly years, we would have no way of knowing the length or depth of his involvement without extensive investigation, which is not within our our purview ..... As to our 'situation' regarding the remaining Augments and their vessels, we should attempt to eradicate them completely with all due haste. Should they be allowed to escape, it is obvious that they will regroup, rebuild, and at some point return. We may not be as 'fortunate' on that occasion, they will be better prepared."
"So you are for being rid once and for all, regardless of consequences ?" Daniel asked, eyeing the Chief, who's resolution he admired, "Would taking them in to face charges not be preferable ?"
"Consequences Commander ? .... I'm not sure what you could be referring to."
"Charges of culpib ....."
"Pardon me Sir, but we would be 'saving' the quadrant from a menace that, if allowed to rise unchecked, could come back stronger, faster, more resilient, and a damn-sight more willing to kill for killings sake ! ... Sir." Daniel glanced at Karka, who had sat passively watching the exchange, then back at the Chief as she continued, "You should remove them, before they extend the compliment to us."
"I'm not sure if I have the author ....." Dan began, but again the Chief interrupted him:
"You are in Command." she said simply, leaning back, obviously finished with her 'opinion' of matters .......... ooooo00000ooooo *** Post by Karka Psonoir from mission thread :: Karka touched his clammy hands together, still suffering from the EPS grid's backwash through the tips of his fingers in the moment of his manipulation of the console to generate the multiphasic shield. He looked from Dan to T'Seng, realising that it was expected of him to add something at this juncture. He'd barely been listening, the exchange having seemed distant but not through choice or through reflection but due to a cold feeling that seemed to grip him by the temples. He focussed on the blurry image of Schirra and spoke, maintaining professionalism as best as he was able despite the sickly aura that was with him and in his skin, "I do not disagree, I would have spoken if I did," he lied, then changed tack to what he knew to be true at least for the present, "We know Talavi is out there somewhere. Unfortunately we know not where... but robbing him of the augments he may wish to recruit will avert another potential strike on the Federation and minimise the threat from him to virtually nothing." "But should we kill the augments or capture them, Mr Psonoir? Your opinion is sought in this matter considering..." He lost focus again, the words falling into an indistinct background whose colour seemed to be grey, the voice or voices showing up as a brighter shade until it felt to him as if they were shouting colours, the peak of one such wave breaking through his field of vision now as if it were splintering a pane of glass, everything in an instant returning to normal. The clamminess and cold remained however. "With the death of Connolly, Sulin and the destruction of the Massachusetts, we have been distanced from our chain of command. If it is decided here that the augments should die, then die they must," he said simply. "The people of Triaud, while being blocked from entry to the Federation due to their recent behaviour, will be consoled by our actions here in that they will be free from the augment threat, and we will be free from any danger of the two combining forces again." "Elections are underway on Triaud II to replace Horace McNulty," T'Seng put in, "Communications detected a planet-wide broadcast announcing the candidates and condemning the actions of McNulty and his administration." Psonoir and Schirra nodded, Karka adding almost offhand that debris consistent with the USS Charon had been detected strung out in a long line in low orbit of the gas giant Andersen's Planet. The others were rightly caught off guard, "What?" "The fragments do not make up the entire mass of the Charon," he explained, "However it seems both nacelles and a substantial portion of the engineering section were at some point shorn loose of the rest of the vessel. I haven't yet completed scans for biological material, but it seems so far that those sections of the ship had been entirely vacated by the time of the destruction. Why didn't I mention this before," he anticipated a possible question, "I..." The fuzziness descended over him again and he frowned deeply, "I... don't know." He stared at the table, eyes wide but glassed over. "If that will be all, Commander?" he enquired distantly. Returning to the bridge they set about tracking down the last manned augment/Triaud ships... Very few of them were active and well crewed, most still stranded amongst the wreckage at the five-spoked shipyard where they'd been refitting their now permanently crippled invasion fleet. Far below it the remnants of half the USS Charon circled, and the Excalibur arrived, dropping out of warp a hundred kilometres above the station .......
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 15, 2016 0:29:48 GMT
"With all due respect Commander ..." Koni T'Seng ventured as they returned to the Bridge, "You are in Command of the Excalibur pending the return of Commodore Ryat from Sick-bay .. She is, she may, not be able to comprehend the 'scope' of our mission given her time with the Triaud. I am in no way saying her ability to Command has been compromised, but I would be negligent in my role if I didn't point out the possibility. Sir."
With both Karka and Daniel back aboard the Excalibur, Lieutenant Unwin, who had assumed command in their absence was about to leave the Bridge to return to Engineering, but Dan stopped him:
"Lieutenant. I appreciate your efforts under exceptionally difficult circumstances. You had Command thrust upon you and coped admirably in my opinion, and I will reflect as such in my report. I will also be recommending you for a commendation as well as an immediate promotion. I am sure there are vessels out there that are desperate for someone of you abilities."
"You plan, to ... Replace me ?" Unwin said, obviously misunderstanding Dan's comments.
"No, nothing of the sort Lieutenant. Oh, and I would like you to remain on the Bridge unless matters in Engineering require your attention ?" Dan said, seeing Karka nod in approval.
"No Sir, my sta, Commander Psonoir's Staff, can cope without my hand-holding." he replied, returning to the Engineering station.
"OK ...." Dan said, looking out through the 'window' at the battered orbital facility below them, "We need to make some hard decisions, and quickly ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 19, 2016 12:30:42 GMT
Karka looked through the scope showing the schematic and current status of the orbital shipyard, "Four of the Triaud ships are still operational... 84 augments spread amongst them, with a further 92 on the shipyard itself. The rest of the Triaud vessels and the two Constitution classes have been abandoned. The shipyard's shields are being regenerated, current capacity 49%. The three spokes still with atmosphere have been evacuated, almost all of the augments aboard are in the central section."
The obvious issue of contention was whether or not they destroyed the shipyard, finished the augments off, and chased down the others who may have escaped in smaller vessels, shuttles and the like - how far these latter may have got away from Andersen's Planet could hinder them in their efforts to eliminate all of Talavi's supporters, it was likely they'd have to consider these lost as it would use up too many resources to track them all down. There was also the inevitable call from Command to return to Starbase, whenever that may be, to consider.
The decision as far as Karka was aware from his hazy recollection of the meeting was that they would destroy the rest of the augment presence, being cut off temporarily from their chain of command. The haze refused to lift, the Hybrudean still suffering from the strange side effect the jolt he'd received from his console on creating the metaphasic shield had given him, an overload of a plasma relay shouldn't cause such a disturbance, though it was possible something in his pseudo-human physiology had reacted strangely to the burst.
"One of the augment vessels is closing, sir," tactical reported, then paused before continuing in a voice etched with surprise, "They're offering to surrender. Apparently they're doing this of their own accord, but they state they have the agreement of the other augment ships."
"And what about the orbital station?" Karka asked, looking away from the blue scope for a moment.
"No mention of the station, sir." He paused and added, "They're also dictating terms under which they will surrender."
Karka frowned, peering back at the scope, "That's not how it usually works."
What the stubborn augments aboard the limping Triaud ship really meant was that they were presenting conditions which would facilitate the immediate surrender of their vessels and their being placed at the disposal of the USS Excalibur. The first condition was that the Excalibur leave the shipyard intact, the second condition was the surrender of the crippled hulks of the USS Menelaus and USS Fuji (presumably as war prizes, these having been taken out of action by the augments after Connolly's abortive attack on the shipyard, when the Excalibur had been forced to hide in a gas cloud), and the third was the coordinates of the rest of the Charon's wreckage (that other than the engineering section fragments in orbit of Andersen's Planet), when the Excalibur could provide them.
<Tag Dan>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 22, 2016 2:55:06 GMT
"They want to surrender, but are stipulating terms ?" Dan asked, almost laughing out loud at the guile, not to mention the 'list' of conditions. If they thought they held any sort of bargaining leverage, they were about to realise they were phenomenally wrong !
"The vessel wishing to surrender is still closing on us Sir."
Daniel stood, moving to the 'window' and looking out across the unfathomable vastness of space, but importantly, at the speck of silver white that was the approaching Augment vessel. He wondered why they were so eager to end things between them. 'Surely if they believed in what they were doing, then surrender would be the last thing on their minds, would it not ?' he thought as light once again reflected off the hull of the nearing ship. Was it possible that they knew they were beaten, and had realised they had little option but to rid themselves of the meddlesome Excalibur. He continued to look at the ship coming ever closer, the orbital facility behind and below. He turned to face the others:
"I don't think they want to surrender." he said, matter-of-factly before returning to the center seat and dropping into it, "Distance to the approaching vessel ?"
"Two thousand three hundred meters."
"Lock phasers onto that ship and hail them !" he ordered quickly, seeing Karka and Koni glance at each other. The Comms Officer nodded:
=^= Excalibur to Augment vessel .. .. You will halt all forward momentum .. NOW .. Failure to comply will result in our immediate and strongest response =^= he waited, watching as the tiny speck that was the Augment vessel seemed to 'hang' in the middle of the 'window' ... Given it was impossible to visually check the ships status visually, he was obviously relying on ships sensors, T'Seng informed him that there had been no reply, or reaction, to his demand. He lost patience:
"Fire phasers." he said, watching as the two beams of almost pure energy lanced across space and slammed into the saucer section of the Augment vessel.
"They've sustained damage Commander. Their shields must have been weakened from a prior engagement. No change in momentum." Chief Tactical Officer T'Seng confirmed.
"Target their Engineering Section and fire again."
Again two threads of light took less than two seconds to traverse the distance. Daniel ordered the image magnified and he could see the ship was suffering now. While it was making no effort to slow, or alter course, it was listing to Port visibly. He asked for a Comm link:
=^= Augment vessel .. Cease your approach .. We are aware that your shields have failed .. I am targeting your Warp core as we speak .. If you make no effort to comply I will have no opti .. .. .. =^=
"SIR ... They are increasing speed !" Koni interrupted his ultimatum. Dan reacted instantly.
"Photon torpedoes ... Fire ... Now." he ordered. T'Seng did as ordered and the Augment vessel exploded in spectacular fashion. It was so close that the Excalibur shuddered as the shock-wave rolled over her shields. As they stabilised, Dan now knew what the Augment vessel was attempting. Had they managed by some twist of fate, to get beside the Excalibur, he was convinced they would have destroyed their own vessel in order to do likewise to the Excalibur. He had never know of any Augment ever being willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause, so what had changed with them ?
"Sir, one of the Augment ships previously docked at the orbital facility is now backing away from her berth." Koni informed him ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 24, 2016 4:39:14 GMT
The second ship was approaching in much the same manner as the first had, straight for them, shields raised, except this time the augments weren't sending any messages - no notice of surrender, no 'terms' under which they would surrender, just silence and the suggestion they didn't have the Excalibur's best interests at heart.
"They're firing something," Karka spoke, worked his console rapidly before sitting back, "Extraordinary," he murmured.
T'Seng spoke, having seen the readout on Karka's panel, "Commander. The augment vessel has come to a full stop. I recommend we back off from it, full impulse or if necessary warp speed."
"Explain."
Karka spoke, voice betraying his disbelief, "They're deploying what seems to be a few-atoms thick sheet of pure neutronium, gradually unfolding it from what I'd surmise is their cargo bay and creating a network of neutronium nuclei that if it were to hit us would cause an instant collapse of structural integrity... estimates have it that once fully unfolded the sheet will be 0.2 lightyears across. Shields would be useless, nor could we fire our way through it - neutronium even when that thin can't have its molecular bonds severed by Starfleet weaponry. It's closing with us at half impulse and is possibly capable of greater speeds."
How they had such capabilities, Karka didn't know. Perhaps Connolly (or even Kurio, who he knew from his research at Escude's behest on the Charon had infiltrated core worlds of the Federation, even on one occasion finding his way into Starfleet HQ) had instructed the augments on how to counter Federation vessels, and had up to the time of their deaths been providing the augments with the necessary materiel.
Whatever had caused them to end up with such tech, this was starting to feel like an academy training program for prospective bridge officers, being forced to face off against successively more challenging or bewildering opposition, almost like they were being tested... or perhaps the augments thought if they were to meet their demise here then they were going to go out in the strangest way possible.
"Photon torpedoes fired in a particular pattern will shatter neutronium," Unwin said from the port side, "On a small scale at least, not on the scale of tenths of lightyears. Let's not give them a chance to fully unfold the thing. Think of it as analogous to finding a resonant frequency of a pane of glass; we fire the torpedoes according to a certain pattern and frequency based on the Poisson distribution."
Karka was experiencing déjà vu, or it was possibly a premonition. The latter wasn't unheard of; different instances of the same Hybrudean, each following a different worldline after the split in their timelines, their personal chronologies, could on occasion transmit information to each other. It was never done on purpose, it was merely the effect of being in a spacetime where information was very susceptible to being transmitted - quantum tunnelled - through the barrier between parallel realities; it was also a consequence of having minds, courtesy of Hybrudean spacetime-transit-configured neural architecture, receptive to such streams of data. Perhaps another Karka in a future time, perhaps even at the end of this very outing in a timeline where the Excal crew succeeded in avoiding destruction, was unwittingly dictating to him this prophecy:
[OOC: Karka's recalled memory on SL thread, post of 19 July] "Nothing! Nothing!!" the navigator bashed the console, Schirra calming the man by means of talking over him to T'Seng, having her reload the torpedoes and then instructing the navigator to bring the ship about. Karka held on, fingers gripped - knuckles white - against the edge of the science console; the ship veered away from the object (the millions of kilometres wide invisible sheet of neutronium), unseen though it was, artificial gravity and inertial dampeners - already weakened - straining to keep them on the floor and in one piece.
A wall of death they couldn't see. If it was a premonition, a remembrance of his future self, then it was surely the right course of action, as that Karka had survived. "Commander, I second Lieutenant Unwin's suggestion."
<Tag Schirra>
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Jul 24, 2016 19:23:46 GMT
"Photon torpedoes fired in a particular pattern will shatter neutronium," Unwin said from the port side, "On a small scale at least, not on the scale of tenths of light-years. Let's not give them a chance to fully unfold the thing. Think of it as analogous to finding a resonant frequency of a pane of glass; we fire the torpedoes according to a certain pattern and frequency based on the Poisson distribution."
"Commander, I second Lieutenant Unwin's suggestion." Karka said after a long moments thought.
Daniel looked at the tactical view of the approaching 'sheet' of neutronium ... It was approaching at an almost leisurely rate given it's death-bringing nature.
"Helm, bring us about one eighty degrees, full impulse, let's give this thing a wide berth." he said, dropping into the center seat.
The Excalibur turned on her axis and moved away ... The tactical view, superimposed on the 'window' showed the Triaud vessel falling behind them but it was increasing speed to keep up. He watched as the 'sheet' now began to lessen the distance between them and Dan had no option:
"Take us to Warp Three." he ordered, the tactical view vanished as the ship jumped to faster than light flight. The Triaud vessel didn't pursue, but slowed and turned back, "Helm, remain us on this heading for thirty minutes then drop from warp. come to a stop and turn us to face the Facility."
~~~~~~~~~~
The Excalibur slowed, completing an almost lazy turn before coming to a complete stop ... Long-range scans showed the Triaud vessel now back at the Orbital Facility. He gathered several of the Senior Staff, including Psonoir, Unwin, and T'Seng into the Captains Ready Room:
"OK. We're not being driven away." he said defiantly, "We are going back and we 'WILL' destroy the Facility and any vessel that gets in our way."
"..... and the Neutronium sheet, Commander ?" T'Seng asked.
"I didn't say there wasn't issues with my seemingly 'suicidal' plan ... That's why we're in here talking and not rushing headlong to our deaths." Dan said with a grin, hopefully lightening the situation and putting everyone at ease. He figured they would work better if not having the imminent spectre of their death hanging over them. At least out here they had room to move and more importantly, time to think, though not too much. He looked at the others in turn then continued, "Going off our first, and thus far 'only' encounter with the sheet, as we're apparently calling it, the deployment was not exceptionally rapid. Sooo, could we go in at high warp and drop out right on top of them, empty what we have into that Facility and run ?"
"They are more than likely watching our every move." Koni T'Seng commented.
"What if we leave ...." Unwin said, his question making everyone turn to face him, "..... no entirely, of course, but far enough and for long enough to drop out of range, then we turn and run in at maximum speed dro ...."
"Still the same issue Lieutenant." Koni said, "They would be complete idiots not to think we would try again. They know they have the upper hand, and are willing to use it against all-comers. Our problem is, we are 'US' !. They know the Excalibur, her specs, her warp signature, we would have to disguise ourselves, and even then they would definitely attack any vessel approaching the Orbital Facility out of hand. They must know too that should we get out of jamming range we will inform Command of their actions."
"So we need a way of getting in there unannounced ?" Daniel urged.
"Exactly." Koni replied instantly, "Leave the ship here and go in via shuttle."
Dan looked at those around the table ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Jul 27, 2016 2:33:46 GMT
Karka spoke, "That's possible. In addition, I can have the shuttle generate - with a few modifications to the power grid and the shield generator - a shield that will make the craft invisible to scanners, outside of 2000 km or visual range of course."
It was settled. The Excalibur would remain at extreme range, just inside the jamming field (the leaving of which would mean the augments at Andersen's Planet would realise what they were attempting to do - contact Starfleet - and would flee the system; by the time the Federation got back the augments would be nowhere in sight, only a few rapidly fading ion trails to go by). With the Excalibur thus situated, the shuttle Montezuma would proceed towards the orbital station at half-impulse - any higher speed than that they risked detection regardless of the shield modifications.
Karka consulted Unwin in the shuttle bay, the man advising the Hybrudean that the modifications were complete. Nodding and going to the comm panel by the door, the CEO summoned the rest of the shuttle's occupants-to-be. Schirra, T'Seng, Prescott and a veritable army of security under his command (in case to eliminate the augments they had to board a Triaud ship, or the facility itself), Karka himself, and Lomond, the best available navigator given the CNO's injury in a previous engagement when Escude had the Charon ram the Excal, to pilot the shuttle.
Underway they scythed albeit slowly through this particular grain - the vacuum - towards the station. The invisible wall of death closed with them insidiously, their anxiety mitigated by the knowledge, imparted by the shuttle's sensors, that the neutronium sheet was over 70 million km distant.
"Nothing indicating movement of the Triaud vessels so far," T'Seng reported.
"Modified shield, or as Prescott calls it, invisibility cloak, operating within normal parameters," Karka added.
They neared the neutronium sheet - it'd remained stationary, any sign of forward motion would of course indicate that the shuttle had been spotted. Their low energy output in combination with the altered shield was keeping them invisible, like an old stealth plane, to the augment's detection systems, and seemingly all the way in - as they were also nearing the 2000 km boundary beyond which they'd be seen regardless.
"How to get through the blasted thing?" Prescott muttered, leaning over with elbow on Karka's head rest. Psonoir explained it wouldn't be fully unfolded at present - having previously closed itself back up like an old video tape of the blossoming of a flower in rewind - thus it was only 10 kilometres in length, perpendicular to the shuttle's direction, and could be broken through in a localised manner using the photon torpedo sequence that'd been programmed in, using Poisson's natural distribution as its guide.
"It's 50 km between the neutronium sheet and the edge of the zone of detection, sir," T'Seng reported to Schirra, who nodded, steeling himself. It meant they'd have only a fraction of a second between breaking through the neutronium - in a localised area, a hole - and passing within effective visual range of the augment vessels - Karka could only hope the augments weren't looking in their direction when they shattered that pane of glass...
The Montezuma fired its torpedoes in the preset pattern at what appeared to be empty space, a mere blackness out the viewport, now disrupted by a shimmering gold-lined disturbance in the vacuum grain; they were approaching much too fast, much too soon if they were going to get through, he thought. They may even get caught in the explosions from the photons. He saw now the disturbance increasing as more of the torpedoes impacted: a roughly circular area of inundation developed in the shield, a kilometre or so high from their position at its centre - this small section of sheet was approaching resonance.
In silent space the invisible field cracked, its fault lines that should give forth a tremendous tearing muffled by the non-sound wave receptive vacuum; a small spark shot through, coursing down towards the orbital station and finding refuge in the blind spot of a Triaud augment ship coasting about the shipyard, just now turning towards it and the planet in a lazy arc. The Montezuma hugged the vessel's hull, on its dark side relative to the position of Andersen's Planet's host star, and came to a relative all stop close to its keel, the two craft now matched in velocity vector.
Karka watched the dim underside of the vessel through the viewport, it silent mass just now revealing the star as it rose over the starboard leading edge; the shipyard in the distance was picked out only by a visual overlay on the viewport, glowing blue and green against the green-grey-blue background of the mass of Andersen's Planet. "Well," he sighed, sitting back, "That was a close-run thing."
"Too close," the - as he'd just proven - outstanding navigator, Lomond said, "Our destruction of that part of the neutronium sheet has been noticed. We haven't been seen," he clarified, "They've sent one of the three remaining active vessels to look at the hole - I'd say they don't know the reason why that part of the sheet's collapsed."
They had less time than they'd thought they might have. "How do we want to do this, Commander?" Karka asked Dan. "Board this vessel? Or skip from hiding place to hiding place, head for the shipyard? From there we may stand a better chance of ending their threat immediately, though there'll be significantly less augments to defeat on the ship nearby." Prescott and his twenty security officers and enlisteds stood in the aft compartment, prepared for whatever was demanded of them.
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 4, 2016 22:34:08 GMT
"Board this vessel or skip from hiding place to hiding place, head for the shipyard ? .... From there we may stand a better chance of ending their threat immediately, though there'll be significantly less augments to defeat on the ship nearby."
"Then we go for the nearby ship." Daniel said, instantly making the decision, "Put us adjacent to the nearest airlock. We'll hold there for sixty seconds then dock. Once aboard we need to clear a path to the Bridge, once there we power up and head for the Orbital Facility."
".... and if we're challenged ?" Prescott asked.
"Then we go to 'Plan B' ......" he said, not exactly certain what that entailed, but he had the feeling it was going to be a decisive move on their part. They had to stop the Augments here, and now. If they were to beat the Excalibur and depart the system, then there would be nothing to stop them short of all-out war, and the Federation wouldn't want that, under any circumstances !
Commander Unwin piloted the Montezuma to within a meter of the ships' air-lock and shut down. The sixty second wait seemed to take an hour, but eventually he looked up at Schirra, who nodded for him to proceed. Koni T'Seng covertly accessed the 'lock controls and cycled it successfully. With the Montezuma finally docked, Daniel instructed Prescott and Lemond to take Point as they approached the inner door. T'Seng again overrode the panel and the door slid silently aside. she held a finger to her lips as the accessed the ships computer, finally informing Schirra that the internal sensors were in a loop diagnostic ... They were effectively, invisible ...
Unknown Augment Vessel ::
"Two teams of ten." Prescott, as the more Senior Lieutenant instructed, "Team One with me, Team Two you go with Lemond. We'll head for the Bridge, Team Two, you go for Engineering and Weapons control." he looked to Schirra, who nodded approval.
"Commander Unwin, your task is to ensure we have drive, shields preferably, but drive is vital, if we find ourselves with no other option, then we'll need to move this crate quickly, but not for long, understood ?" daniel instructed.
"Completely, Sir."
"OK, let's go. Keep comms off-line unless absolutely necessary." Dan said, then asking Prescott to take the lead, they filed out of the air-lock .... Prescott constantly referred to his Tricorder, which held a schematic of the ship obtained by T'Seng while disabling the sensors. They were approximately one hundred fifty meters from the Bridge, but worryingly, three Decks 'below' it. They had been moving forward for one minute when Prescott up ahead held up a closed fist, signifying they halt immediately. He handed the tricorder and his phaser to the Security Officer directly behind him them pointed at two others, who both stepped forward without a word being spoken. Prescott held up two fingers and pointed to their left. The three inched forward as two Augments stepped into view. The three Security Officers reacted immediately, diving on the unsuspecting enemy quickly, regardless of the surprise, the Augments reacted rapidly, knocking one Security Officer unconscious instantly before being overcome, the second dropped from a blow to his throat, and attempting to regain his footing, received a kick to the head from Prescott for his trouble. They dragged the unconscious Augments into a side-room and looked at Schirra.
"Two down, fourteen to go." Prescott said, shrugging, before continuing along the corridor. They finally found a maintenance access. Prescott pointed at the bulkhead over their heads, eyebrows raised in question. Dan looked at Karka, who silently agreed they needed to go up.
"Now is as good a time as any." he whispered ..........
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 11, 2016 22:49:23 GMT
"Now is as good a time as any." .....
With four of the Security team in front, they began the climb ..... Dan wasn't sure what they were going to come up against once they reached the Bridge, but it was a given that they wouldn't have it easy. As they reached the point half way between Decks one and two, Dan told everyone to halt:
"Listen. We don't have time for niceties here, so ... Prescott, you and your men get in quickly and hit everyone visible, we can sort out the problems once we're on the Bridge itself. I don't want anyone, most of all our 'Augment' friends, capable of re-taking control. Once we have the Bridge I want to contact Team two. We'll initiate a cascade failure of the matter/antimatter containment fields and then get the hell out."
"We're going to blow this thing up ?" Koni asked.
"Yes, but first we need to get the Augments out of the equation, stun if possible, but go to maximum setting on your phaser if necessary, understood. Once we have the Bridge we'll contact Lemond, once he has engineering we'll commence the cascade. I want to move this crate as close to the orbital facility as possible then get the hell out on the Montezuma." Daniel replied.
Climbing the last few rungs, Prescott and his men shuffled aside to allow Koni to access the maintenance hatch controls, hopefully hiding the activation from any Bridge alarms in the process. satisfied, she crabbed out of the way as Prescott and two of his men huddled around the hatch, nodding, T'seng hit the activation tab and the metallic door slid silently into it's recess. Prescott looked over the rim to see eight Augments, which left six in or around Engineering .. The exercise, as Prescott viewed it, was to hit the eight 'before' they could contact their brethren below. He used hand notifications to instruct the two Security Officers, then silently counting down from three ... Two ... One ...
Prescott first, quickly followed by the two Security, fired rapidly into the Augments, dropping five before the last two could react, but when they did it was fast, faster in fact than they had originally anticipated !
The first of the two snatched Prescott, dragging him physically out of the opening and throwing him across the Bridge, while the remaining Augment ran for the Comm Station, only to be hit by two phasers on full power, he vanished from existence instantly, while the last one was dispatched before he could kill the semi-conscious Prescott ... The remainder of the team exited the crawl-way and onto the Bridge. Daniel went immediately to the Helm controls, setting a heading for the very heart of the orbital platform. Now, they had no option but to wait ... Their plan fully depended on what happened below. IfLemond and his Security Officers could not take Engineering, then all was lost ! ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Aug 15, 2016 0:22:35 GMT
Psonoir helped Prescott to his feet, the latter grunting with the pain and holding his head, seeming dizzy and unbalanced for a moment as if he might fall. Karka made sure he was ok before sitting at what he thought was the operations console, now flipping switches and activating the internal sensor grid - having it exit its diagnostic loop - now they had full control of the bridge.
"Three augment lifesigns in the vicinity of engineering," he reported, "And one on the mid-decks... near to where we ingressed at the airlock, in fact."
T'Seng looked over, "They won't be able to release the hatch on the Montezuma, even if he or she happens across the airlock and sees signs of our entry. Prescott and I programmed the Montezuma's hatch with a code only a Starfleet officer would recognise."
"I see," Karka said, glad to see the resourcefulness of T'Seng and Prescott, veritable jacks of all trades as the expression went. "Going by the readings I'm getting of degraded biomatter in and around engineering, I believe two of the augments have been killed, with one of Lomond's security team taken down. Reading no current discharges of phaser or particle beam weaponry..." He wasn't quite sure what to make of that, "I can't believe they'd have called a cease fire, or perhaps there's some sort of stalemate..."
It could be he reasoned, that more of the augments were ensconced just outside engineering, or were in some other manner concealed... perhaps they were even in hiding within engineering, waiting to pounce. Like a building wave of terror as realisation of an unwelcome fact dawns, Karka read signals of augment weapons fire in engineering - the lifesigns of the security team under Lomond dropped from 9, to 7, to 5... Then one of the two augments present was taken out...
More firing, now nothing. The biosignature of the remaining augment - not counting the one in the mid-decks - was leaving the area of engineering and now faded off the sensor grid, into one of the many internal blind spots that were a consequence of a flaw in Triaud starship design.
He reported this to the rest of the team and Prescott readied his security officers, hoisting phaser rifles. It was obvious to all of them they'd have to go down there and help Lomond - if he was one of the five still alive... - and secure the engine room.
However if Lomond was able to activate the engines in the timeframe that the two remaining augments' absence would allow, they'd be able to get the vessel on course for the shipyard after all. Unfortunately there was no way to find out whether Lomond was able to do this in the circumstances, as communicating with Lomond or whoever survived would let either of the surviving augments know - if they were within ear-shot - that there were more intruders aboard than just Lomond's team.
Karka watched Schirra nod to Prescott who began making his way to engineering to relieve Lomond, taking the lift with all of security but one (in case the bridge had any unwelcome visitors). Two augments remaining in all the ship; Psonoir had to hope the superhumans didn't know the ship as well as they might. He looked across the control board, cracking his fingers and surveying the symbols; his eyes zeroed in on what he thought was the appropriate panel, "Closing internal bulkheads in all sectors except Prescott's route to engineering," he stated.
"I've got engines," T'Seng said suddenly, who'd taken the helm a moment ago, "Half impulse speed on your command, sir." They only needed that one burst of thrust to set them on a freefalling trajectory towards the station - they would need to stop once there though.
"Cascade failure of antimatter containment can be effected from the bridge," Karka confirmed to Schirra's enquiring look. "It can however be overrode from engineering." It would depend on whether Excalibur crew actually had control of engineering when the time came...
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Daniel Schirra
Captain
Registered: Apr 8, 2013 21:02:47 GMT
Posts: 468
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Post by Daniel Schirra on Aug 21, 2016 0:11:34 GMT
"I've got engines ..... Half impulse speed on your command." "Cascade failure of antimatter containment can be effected from the bridge ... It can however, be overrode from Engineering." Karka informed him. "Koni, take us in. Nice and slow ... I want to kiss the outer hull directly adjacent to the facilities warp cores. When that thing goes up I need to know that any and all remaining threat from the Augments has evaporated with the ship. Karka, ready the cascade failure but don't activate the sequence until we're ready. Set a forty five second delay before containment failure commences. With luck, that should allow everyone, including Prescott, Lemond, and whoever is left, to reach the Montezuma before we need to make ourselves scarce." "commander. With all due respect. I'm a Tactical Officer, not a Helm Officer. I seriously doubt the Fleets most experienced could simply 'park up' as close as you are asking without doing serious damage to both vessels." Koni said. "It's not as if the place is going to need a coat of paint when we're done, so don't worry. Get us in and nestle against the main power complex. I promise not to bill you for any scratches, OK." he said by way of encouragement .... ~~~~~Dan glanced at Karka, who was still trying to distinguish who had survived the fire-fight in and around Engineering. Prescott and his men had left minutes ago, and should now be on the Engineering Level. The remaining Augments, realising they were likely beaten, could do one of two things, they could surrender, hoping to regain the upper hand at some future point in time, or the more likely option, they would simply fight until none remained, he expected the former ..... Psonoir informed them that he had picked up phaser-fire, but at this point couldn't identi .. No, three more of ours down, the three remaining Augments obviously putting up a fight. This all depended on Lemond and Prescott getting into and holding Engineering so the Augments couldn't override what they were planning. "Five hundred meters Commander." T'Seng said. "Karka, bring your cascade on-line but hold off initiating it. Can you set a delay, say, seventy five seconds, before it commences ?" "Already done." Psonoir said. Dan nodded, knowing the Engineer would have already thought about allowing time to get Prescott et al to the Montezuma before they needed to be elsewhere but here. "One hundred meters ... I'm slowing our approach." Koni informed them, no-one argued. Daniel's comm badge chirped to life, almost making him jump: =^= Schirra .. .. =^= =^= Lieutenant Prescott .. We're in Commander .. Commander Unwin is rerouting access and override protocols .. Should make it difficult for anyone to tamper with your plans .. We have one Augment one deck above us .. Between us and the shuttle as far as we can tell given internal sensors are now disabled .. We will hold here until told otherwise =^= =^= You will have seventy five seconds once you get the word Lieutenant .. .. Stand by =^= he knew that if the Augment had picked up the Comm they were in trouble, he just had to hope that he hadn't. "Thirty meters." He looked at the viewscreen, the orbital facility looming large, the two remaining vessels still un-moving, but that wasn't to say they couldn't manage to bring weapons on-line, and if that happened they could cause no end of problems. Dan turned to the one remaining Security Officer: "Ensign. Go down to the deck above the Engineering Level. I need you to locate the remaining Augment ... 'DO NOT ENGAGE' ... Is that fully understood ?" the Officer nodded, taking his phaser, double-checking the setting, he did the same with his phaser rifle then looked back at Schirra, "IT, he, will need to use one of two turbo-lifts to get up to the Montezuma, once you are down I'll deactivate that one, so you and whoever is left down there will need to use the one designated 'lifeline' here ..." he pointed to the turbo-lift in question on the schematic. ".... What if 'he' finds 'me' first, sir ?" "Three meters." "Then do what you have to Ensign. I'm not sure if he will already know what we're up to, but he will once we make contact. He may go back to the Engineering Level to prevent our people getting out, that can't happen." "Understood." the man said, heading for the turbo-lift then out of sight. "Contact in fifteen seconds Commander. Shutting off all drive systems, gravitational attraction will do the rest." "Karka, now ... Lets go." Dan said tapping his comm badge: =^= Regroup .. .. =^= he said, closing the Comm instantly then stepped into the turbo-lift. Dropping several levels they reached the one they needed and stepped into the corridor. Koni remained for a second then she too exited, a second later the turbo-lift plummeted downwards, likely smashing itself to pieces in the depths of the vessel. They ran, ever watchful for any previously un-noticed augments, but they made the air-lock unchallenged. "Fifty seconds." Koni informed them as they waited for the others to join them ..........
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Karka Psonoir
Commander
Registered: Apr 9, 2013 19:55:13 GMT
Posts: 422
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Post by Karka Psonoir on Oct 5, 2016 14:41:44 GMT
Karka waited for T'Seng to pass in the airlock into the shuttle Montezuma - to begin starting up the drive and take the helm of a vessel once again - and reached for his communicator, daring to attempt contact with Prescott and the others, whispering, "Psonoir to all Excalibur officers, report."
40 seconds to go... One reply crackled through the audio interface. It was Prescott, pinned in a junction two decks below them with one, possibly two augments positioned down a corridor with lines of sight to fire at the whole team. There was nothing from the Ensign who'd been given the duty of blocking the remaining lift to the shuttle's level, and incapacitating the mid-decks augment - or whichever one came near by.
Informing Daniel of the situation, Karka was given leave - and he felt a reasonable amount of trepidation regarding it - to take that same lift down to hurry Prescott along. "I've programmed a failsafe, you could call it, into the detonation sequence," Karka said, "A useful addition to the handiwork... A specific rewiring of a turbolift's circuitry - that's heading down through the ship - will cause the countdown til containment failure to hold for two full minutes, no more."
The XO nodded and tried to have Koni go along, however Psonoir refused, backing towards the lift, tearing out three blue wires behind the panel and pressing the Triaud starship's manual button to have it close, not quick enough for Dan himself to get an arm in the closing door and clamber through - they descended.
They reached the intersection where the - as it turned out - 'two' augments were positioned such as to have the 8 Excalibur officers (6 security, the shuttle's nominal pilot and CEO in-waiting Unwin) pinned down behind tumbled stacks of cuboidic crates. The augments had their backs turned, weapons held at rest and peering down the corridor to the hidden, mostly scarlet forms of Starfleet personnel.
"20 seconds to resumption of countdown, Commanders," T'Seng murmured, the sound barely audible - over the still open comm - however... clearly not posing any difficulty for the advanced hearing of the augments... One of them spun round, shouting a clipped warning to his colleague and firing his disruptor, rolling away to his right into cover. Karka advanced down the right wall of the corridor, skittering forwards to find line of sight to the superhuman and getting off a quick burst of his phaser rifle.
Schirra had crept forward from the left flank and added his fire to Karka's in its short duration, the augment seizing with the impacts and slumping to the floor. The other leapt over his crate towards Prescott and Unwin's group, aiming a flying kick at Lomond - Karka finally saw the man now; still alive - and following up by striking a security officer with the butt of his weapon, wielding it as if he was hitting loosely with the back of his hand.
"That's 35 seconds to detonation of the core!" Karka grimaced; indeed, there was no need to keep quiet any longer.
The security tumbled past the now fallen augment, Lomond recovering and being dragged by the others, firing at the augment as he was pulled along to complete the rendering of him unconscious.
Making it into the non-turbo propelled lift, the now 7 members of the Excalibur boarding party - 3 eliminated en route from engineering to their present location - had 25 seconds to make it up two decks and along two short passages into the shuttle. Meanwhile, the remaining Constitution class of the enemy - the Singh, built from spare parts and quite incomplete, 79 augments aboard - was powering up, gliding out of its crippled docking berth and pushing its impulse engines to put distance between it and the ill-fated shipyard. As humanoid figures began to fill the glowing cockpit of the Montezuma the nacelles of the Singh likewise began to glow, the ship preparing to jump to warp towards the Gorn Confederacy border...
A spark of gold began to shine at the heart of the Triaud starship.
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