Carl Torek
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on Dec 17, 2016 16:10:34 GMT
=^= You clearly want Dr Rozil or you wouldn't have mentioned him right away by name .. .. He is on his way to the transporter room .. Once you have him do not try to follow us once we leave here or more ships than you will know how to deal with will come after you and you won't be able to touch this ship .. .. If you follow any closer than a million kilometres .. You will be under automatic suspicion regardless of your intent =^=
Carl sat silently regarding the oxygen-starved man on the screen until the communication was cut at their end.
"They're not really in any sort of position to dictate terms." Blakus resisted the urge to chuckle.
"No,they're not." Calli said, glancing at the ship on screen, "But I think he knows that and is trying to appear in a position of authority in front of his own people. I don't think he would be in that center seat if he simply acquiesced."
"OK, Lysia, go to Transporter room Three and await our guests arrival. Once he's aboard get him in the Brig. i want level four force-fields erected on all sides, above, and below his, accommodation. I don't want them pulling the proverbial 'fast one' and snatching him back as soon as they have control again. Andae, Marionette, let's make sure we have the majority of control over their systems, at least for the time being." he too looked at the stationary vessel, a mere one hundred meters away, wondering how long it would take the second ship to double-back.
~~~~~
"Welcome aboard Doctor." Lysia said without preamble as Rozil materialised. she tapped her comm badge and confirmed they had their Doctor.
"Helm ... Move us away from that ship. Fifty thousand kilometers should suffice ... Comms, open a channel to that ship."
=^= Captain .. I want to thank you for your cooperation in sending the doctor over to us =^=
=^= Then you will relinquish all hold over my ship immediately .. furthermore we sha .. .. .. =^=
=^= Let me stop you there Captain .. .. .. I'm afraid I need to amend your terms and conditions somewhat .. You see .. While we do indeed have the Doctor to question I feel there is more to his involvement and yours .. .. Therefore we shall be restoring your life support but nothing else at this point in time .. Please be aware 'Captain' .. Any attempt to move your vessel or contact your sister ship will result in the immediate cessation of 'ALL' systems aboard your ship .. Do not test me on this Captain .. It will not bode well if you do .. Once we have spoken to the doctor and are satisfied he has told us everything he can your systems will be restored in full and you will be free depart =^=
=^= You will suffer for this =^= the man wheezed, but Carl just nodded to the Communications Officer who closed the comm down mid-rant.
"Right, we won't have much time, so we need to speak to Rozil and quickly. Harry, keep a close eye on them ..." he said, pointing at the ship still diminishing in size, "If it makes any move fire on it. don't wait for my confirmation."
In the turbo-lift en-route to Deck Eight and the Main Brig, they discussed the Greenland angle Carl had yet to comment on:
"Personally, I can't believe the Terrellians went to so much trouble duplicating regions of the Arctic just to make tests." Calli commented, "We've had three attacks thus far, that we are aware of that is, each attack on a larger scale than the previous on. Granted, the three we know about were all on isolated platforms, but what's to say they are not working on the duplicats to establish what they need to do to make the attack a successful one, and by what scale would they consider said attack to 'be' successful ?"
"So it could all be as we first speculated, a prelude to an attack on Earth itself ?" Carl asked.
"I'd be inclined to believe so, yes." Calli answered.
"We should consider the 'whys' too ..... Did the Terrellian Empire intend going to war with the Federation ? ... Personally, I don't see how they could expect to be successful, at least on their own. Starfleet Intelligence have picked up absolutely nothing on their activities, which in itself is highly unusual. This again points to someone else pulling the strings, either with the cooperation of the Terrellian Empire, or possible using duress to attain what they require, which at this stage seems to be a pointless war." Calli informed the group as they stepped from the turbo-lift and headed for the Main Brig, and their ... 'Guest' ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Dec 31, 2016 20:35:40 GMT
Entering the brig, the officers came to stand before Rozil's cell, seeing the man inside leaning forward with elbows positioned on his knees and his head slumped by its chin in his hands. "My executioners have come to torment me before the gallows," he commented darkly, eyes not moving from a point on the floor in front of him.
"No one's executed in the Federation any more, you know that, Rozil," Blakus blurted, and Rozil looked at him, now evidently glad to have his former captive in front of him, roles now reversed.
"Commander... It's brave for you to come here, after all we put you through..."
"I barely remember any of it," he replied. It was the truth for the most part. He could recall seeing Rozil only once, hovering over the shoulder of the now deceased Starbase CMO Dr Myrox as the latter injected some heavy sedative into him, using its soporific effects to make insidious suggestions to Blakus's mind, have him reveal something... something he couldn't recall.
It seemed that Myrox was to be the subject of the first line of questioning, as if Carl had been reading his mind, "Were you involved in the murder of Dr Myrox in his cell on Starbase 47, in the time shortly after the destruction of the Terrellian vessel, the USS Raven and the USS Potemkin?"
Rozil's eyes shifted back and forth, once meeting Torek's gaze but averting his sight almost immediately, "An interesting question, Admiral. If I confessed to it, would you treat me well, would you give me concessions." None of them had any time to be play games with the doctor, considering their time was running out if they wished to remain in the nebula to properly survey all routes the other two vessels could've taken from the area - not absolutely essential that they do so; it was also clear the doctor wasn't exactly in the position to respond to them like this, when putting the exchange in perspective with what'd just happened to him - being kicked off the ship that'd been harbouring him, which he'd perhaps even been in command of (of their mission, if not the vessel itself)... It seemed he was very much out of favour with whoever was the ultimate authority behind or within the Terrellian Empire.
Rozil seemed to realise this after a few moments of silence, "Yes, I did it," he said brusquely, "Along with Pearson, who's disappeared. Not even I know where she's gone." That didn't seem much of a claim considering how brilliantly regarded with the enemy Rozil seemed to be at the moment. "Helping us were three Terrellians, whom would very much like to be interviewed by you I'm sure, and would also be able to answer your questions much better than I."
"I doubt that's possible," Wedlerson spoke, "Considering we found three Terrellians - whose DNA matched cellular tissue found in the vicinity of Myrox's cell around the time of his death, skin cells - floating asphyxiated in space. Killed before being transported off the third Terrellian ship at Starbase 47." The same cell tissue had revealed the presence of two humans (now confirmed to be Rozil and Pearson, they'd be unable to discern before) who'd carried out the kill of the compromised Myrox.
Rozil dropped his head again upon hearing this news - it hadn't been a bad tactic, to try and divert attention away from him and perhaps gain his freedom when the Raven learnt better sources of information in the Terrellians were available. But Andae doubted the Terrellians had known much at all... "As your authorities hate you, perhaps you'd be willing to tell us some more about who they are," he said, building up courage again to speak to the doctor after recalling more instants of seeing Rozil in the 'base sickbay.
"Pearson's the ringleader, or so it seems to me. There are others around her who are almost as powerful, or maybe just as powerful as her." Curiously there was still defiance and an air of superiority in Rozil's voice, despite what he'd said. He managed to look up again, "You were a great experiment, Commander Blakus... to accustom a human mind to accept the personality alteration chip, to make it receptive to my - and Pearson's - commands would've been a crucial breakthrough."
"A chip? Controlling the Terrellians, through their Empire, and then the Benzites, adapting the species through Zavial?"
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Carl Torek
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Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 9, 2017 14:50:41 GMT
"A great experiment, what the hell are you talking about !" Carl repeated, almost dumbfounded at the relative ease the man revealed this information, "What 'RIGHT' do you have to do such things, which by the way are contrary to numerous moral, and Federation regulations ?"
Rozil simply shrugged, in his silent opinion, the deed was done, so why explain the reasoning. He sat back, presenting an air of someone who had the upper hand in the situation, though knowing the reality was anything but.
Calli had been stood off to one side, obviously listening to someone on Comms. She glanced at Torek and Blakus a couple of times during the conversation then finally approached the cell. she remained quiet as she listened to the conversation and could see Rozil's demeanour changing as his outward confidence grew. When there was a lull in the questioning she asked a question herself:
"Who are the Valsor ?"
She could see both the Admiral and the Acting Exec' looking at her but both remained silent, obviously allowing her to pursue her line of questioning. She returned her gaze to Rozil, who was doing a oscar-winning rendition of someone who had no clue as to what he was being asked, but Calli wasn't letting it go.
"It's a simple question, Doctor .... Who, are the Valsor ?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about young lady." the man said defiantly.
"Well, let me enlighten you a little to maybe 'jog' that suddenly unreliable memory of yours shall I ...." she said, retrieving a PADD off the Duty Brig Officer before returning to the cell, "..... Starfleet Intelligence picked up a transmission six hours ago on our Dark Range Array. It originated in the Valsor Kal System and was directed at four 'very specific' locations, two of which were identified as the Terrellian and Benzite home-worlds. The third, was the vessel currently holding position at the edge of this System ....."
"I fail to see why you are continuing with this line of questioning young lady." Rozil said, "Given my previ ......"
"You can drop the ignorance angle doctor, we 'KNOW' you are deeply involved and are possibly diminishing your true worth to save your sorry skin. I'm going to ask you again, then, with the permission of Admiral Torek, I am going to request our Chief Medical Officer attend with something that will make you more, compliant, to answering my questions." she knew full well that she should have spoken to Carl and Andae 'before' facing Rozil, but there simply wasn't time. She didn't look at Carl as she made this threat, knowing he would be against it. But she knew she needed to get the information quickly, should that require her to use her 'position' within Intelligence over Carl's head, she may well need to do so given the possible importance of the information she had received.
"You speak to me of morals, then openly threaten to invade my privacy !" the doctor said, almost leaping from his seat stopping a fraction from the force field. Calli tapped her Comm badge, eyes locked on Rozil's:
=^= Chief Medical Officer to the Brig immediately =^=
=^= Confirmed =^= Doctor roach said, closing the Comm. Carl asked both Andae, Calli, and T'Seng to move away from the cell with him so he could talk.
"OK, before the doctor gets here and I have to make a difficult decision ... What's going on ?" he asked without preamble.
"Intel' picked up a transmission as I said, most was in a code we have yet to decipher, but a fraction that came over sub-space was in both Terrellian and Benzite." she said, bringing up the relevant information on the screen out of line of sight of Rozil's cell, "Unbelievably ... They were asking for a report on progress !"
"Progress ?" Carl asked, admittedly puzzled.
"Intelligence had suspected that the Terrellian and Benzites were not going to war with the Federation of their own volition, and that someone was as the saying goes 'pulling strings' ... They are convinced that the Valsor Kal are the ones behind all this. They received the information some six hours ago but due to having to relay the information through countless stations we are only just getting hold of it now. If that ship out there replies, they may well be told to cut ther losses and run, or worst case, come back here on some suicide mission to rid themselves of this delay, the 'delay' being us of course."
".... and the remainder of the message ?" Koni asked.
"They are working on it, but at this point, the only thing they can confirm is that sol or more specifically 'Earth' was mentioned in both the open and encoded segments."
"Which could mean that Earth is a genuine target rather than a practice site." T'Seng said, turning to look at Rozil, who had sat back down a neutral expression on his face as he watched the doors.
"We have to get this information from him Admiral." Calli said quietly. Carl too looked back at the cell as Doctor Roach entered the Brig and with a brief glance towards the cell approached the group ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 10, 2017 10:59:42 GMT
Blakus watched Roach enter, who'd had foresight to bring a small tray of hypospray contents doubtlessly including one or more truth serums, and likely other medicines to cause the prisoner physical and/or mental discomfort. The prisoner sat back and folded his arms, eyes glinting as he smiled grimly at Torek, "Do your worst, Admiral..."
That almost made it easier, Blakus thought; Rozil inviting them to break down his mental defences using medicine - while it still wasn't technically right doing so - would massage the Starfleet conscience sufficiently to make it possible at least pseudo-morally, and would allow Blakus to sleep at night. He wasn't one for revenge, but the thought did occur to him that in a twisted way this was recompense for his own neurological tortures in the Starbase's sickbay...
Carl nodded near-imperceptibly and the brig officer lowered the field, stepping past Roach and securing Rozil's wrists in binds as the doctor deposited the cool hiss of an injection into his neck. After a space of about a minute and a half, Dr Roach nodded to the Admiral and Commanders that Rozil could've now been rendered somewhat susceptible.
"Who are the Valsor Kal?" Calli repeated without preamble.
Already they could observe something remarkable: sweat was lacquered over Rozil's features, rivulets beginning to run down his temples and over his cheekbones, and patches of dampness were materialising in his flanks and along the forearms; his face was beginning to glow red, he said nothing.
"Doctor?" Andae asked Roach. The CMO confirmed the dose was certainly not lethal, hardly even neurologically dangerous, and for the most part this was normal. Hardly even, and for the most part, he thought grimly.
Five minutes went by and Rozil hadn't yet spoken a word; he'd shaken his head brusquely a few times, refusing to answer their questions. The three officers came to a decision and consented reluctantly to administering a further dose of Roach's truth serum/sensorial distortion composite.
Shortly after the 'booster', their captive let out an uncertain yelp, his voice quivering and frame visibly shivering. He turned deathly pale, then blotches of red, maroon, indigo flashed across his skin as if he was a fast camouflaging chamaeleon, the colour now shooting towards his extremities and fading, pulsing, re-emerging... Rozil shook, his eyes fixing on Blakus's, who winced and tried to dissociate the man from his natural rights as a human being... "Well, Blakus? You're on the other side of the... Myrox, Myrox? Is that you?" He climbed to his feet, looking around and seeming not to recognise his surroundings, in fact as if he believed he was in the Starbase sickbay again.
"The Valsor Kal, doctor," Calli said again.
He jumped at the voice, staring at her and as he turned, leaping back in shock as he accidentally made contact with the forcefield, "They're here? Already?" His eyes roamed as if searching out the recesses of his own skull, "She told us they wouldn't come for another 17 stardates... Not until the initial Terra operation had been conducted."
"The Terra operation. Are they planning to attack Earth?"
"Not for 17 stardates!" He flushed red again - under normal conditions he'd seem embarrassed - and collapsed to his knees, but the situation wasn't as dangerous as first supposed - he remained conscious, "The Terrellians... I told the Terrellians the Valsor weren't to be trusted, but I couldn't stop myself, Myrox!" He thought he was still talking to the deceased SB47 CMO, "The Terrellians fell to the same technology the Valsor had used on me, me, simply a vessel for their perfidy! Now the Federation will be destroyed, at the hands of some of those who once protected it..." He was no longer aware of their presence, only their disembodied voices; from the depths of his delusion he gazed searchingly at the ceiling lights, bound hands clasped together in a fist. Blakus realised with unexpected pity that the doctor was crying; the unnatural colours now shimmered over his body almost continuously.
It was all Blakus could do not to shout to Roach to administer an antidote; he asked, "The Valsor Kal have been altering human, Terrellian, Benzite minds with these chips you're talking about? That's how they got you?" He thought he understood, "They're controlling you now?"
"Of course not! Only when they want us to do something do they activate us... When we go off the path... You know that, doctor!!"
"When are you... 'they' attacking Earth? How, and by what means?" Carl asked.
Rozil was now alternately screaming and retching; he fell on his side, "Mock-up of Greenland on their planet!" he yelped between convulsions. Blakus implored Carl to make it stop, but did they have enough information?
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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: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 14, 2017 14:51:05 GMT
"When are you ... 'They' attacking Earth ? ... How, and by what means ?" Carl asked.
"Mock-up of Greenland on their planet!" Rozil yelped between convulsions.
"Admiral, I am reluctant to put this mans life at risk further." Doctor Roach said after listening to Commander Blakus' plea, "It could kill him !"
Carl looked at the man, curled into a foetal position on the vomit-strewn floor. He almost felt sorry for Rozil's predicament, but they needed information they could get back to Earth. If what Doctor Rozil was saying was correct, an attack on Earth was imminent. Seventeen star-dates, which equated to seventeen days before whatever the Valsor Kal were planning would be initiated.
He tapped his comm badge:
=^= Torek to Raven =^=
=^= Raven .. Commander Wedlerson =^=
=^= Harry .. Time to the Valsor Kal System at our maximum speed ? =^= there was a slight delay then.
=^= Valsor Kal is five hundred four light years .. A total of one hundred thirty one hours at transwarp five with seventy two hours at impulse to allow cool down of the cores .. .. Eight days eleven hours Admiral =^=
=^= OK .. Stand by Raven .. .. .. =^= He looked down at Rozil who was now being treated by Doctor Roach.
"We have to make a decision ... We would need to completely disable the two vessels in our area then risk damaging the warp engines to travel to the Valsor Kal System at maximum sustainable transwarp." He could see Andae looking at him in his peripheral vision and knew that while Harry's figures were correct, it would depend on the ships drive systems running concurrently without issue for over a week, not something any vessel was expected to do, let alone one of the fleets most modern and sophisticated. but what other options did they have, there were no other star ships within a month of their location, and certainly none closer to their intended location, it would be on them. So go and attempt to prevent the invasion at their end, or contact Earth and get every available vessel back to the Sol System in the next two weeks !
=^= .. .. .. Harry whats our current status ? =^=
=^= Good to go Admiral =^=
"Is he going to be fit enough to be questioned further anytime soon Doctor ?" Carl said, aiming the question at the kneeling Roach.
"Frankly ..." the doctor said, evidently feeling antipathy for her actions thus far, "Moving him from the deck could kill him, but you need answers so ......"
"Thank you Doctor." Carl said, allowing her obvious disrespect to go, "Get a bio-bed in here. I don't want him left alone at anytime, is that understood." he said, heading out of the Brig, his Senior Staff following .....
Bridge ::
normally, he would have gathered his Staff and discussed optons, but they had neither time nor options:
"Andae, can you send the virus to the ship on the outer edge of the System ?"
"No, the distance is too great, but if we can get within say, one million kilometers ...."
"OK ... Begin moving past Rozil's former ship. Restore their life support ... But ensure that there is no possibility of they getting comms or drive systems online for the foreseeable future. The last thing we need is them coming after us, or worse, informing the Valsor to have a welcoming committee waiting." he said, the decision made, "We need to get close to that second ship before they react, thoughts ?" ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 15, 2017 16:27:24 GMT
Andae took the forward-facing engineering console, "We could execute a warp jump - say factor 3 - into their midst... They would see us powering our drive and might think we plan to escape."
Wedlerson latched onto his idea,"Perhaps we could make them believe we're warping to the Terrellian homeworld immediately, or even the Valsor Kal system... setting our course for there so they'd be tricked into making ready to pursue -"
Blakus nodded, "Then while they're distracted in making their preparations, we catch them off guard and set course for them, then engaging engines for a fraction of a second drop out just within a million km."
Marionette was more than able to perform the required task, however there was the inevitable anxiety connected with such a daring manoeuvre, therefore Blakus did his best to reassure,
"I'll program in the necessary adaptations I'll be making to their systems; then when we come within range, all I'll have to do is press the send button. Additionally, we needn't aim exactly for their ship... Setting an offset of a few arcseconds then - should the Navigation Officer's calculations contain any error and we overshoot - ..." Marionette rose an eyebrow, "... we'd safely miss the ship. It should mean we'll be close enough to take control of their systems."
The plan was agreed upon. Blakus prepared the viral code that would disable the enemy ship's systems insofar as its crew would no longer have control of them, while the Navigation Officer did the calculations for the duration of warp travel required - a tiny fraction of a second - that would put the Raven just inside the required million km.
Warp engines beginning to glow - a feint in the direction of the Terrellian homeworld - the image on the Raven's viewscreen was blown up to show the enemy vessel, drifting in the darkness seemingly unaware of their action, though surely inside they would be making preparations to jump to warp after them... It was that the Raven officers were counting on in order to create their surprise - the Sovereign class leapt into the supraluminal...
"920,000 km range," Blakus confirmed, astounded at Marionette's accuracy that'd had the Raven drop out of warp in the exact place - to the micron - predicted by her equations. "Well, that wasn't too difficult," he wiped his brow and slammed a hand on the console to send the virus, soon confirming to Torek that he'd taken control of the ship's primary systems, the Admiral now ordering that they jump to transwarp towards the Valsor Kal system.
Finally Blakus was able to return his gaze to the viewscreen, and he saw the streamers of the false-stars, those luminous phenomena that were smeared and distorted across the Alcubierre surface of the warp bubble, giving the impression of parsecs-distant stellar objects being bent around the ship. "Call it the Passive Picard Manoeuvre," he said.
They were now on course for the Valsor Kal system and had been able to verify the Terrellian ship, or ships if they were still concerned about Rozil's former vessel, weren't following them. The virus would infest the Terrellians' systems for another three days at least, before they could even begin to think about flushing the affected software out without doing irreparable harm to their vessels' functioning.
Blakus returned to engineering for a short time, then stopped by to see Rozil who'd now recovered enough to be able to be in his cell without constant medical supervision. He was lying on his bench and had been asleep for about half an hour, according to the brig officer. A medic remained outside the cell, ready should she be needed and acting as an extra pair of eyes when the brig officer was not at his station. As Andae was about to leave the brig and opened the door, the medic got his attention - Rozil had awoken.
He called the Admiral and the others, then found himself forced to listen as Rozil told him about the main planet in the Valsor Kal system - he would've preferred the man wait until the others arrived, but it wouldn't do to shut him up now when he was feeling talkative. In amongst the stream of information of which he couldn't hope to catch all, he heard these fragments, "... The Greenland replica is 11,000 m2, a faithful reproduction of a substantial part of the island's land mass... 1700 guards are employed on the perimeter and on the plains... 8 HQs are interspersed across its area, disguised amongst the rock formations... The settlement which is the primary target has been destroyed by quantum weaponry five times in total... Rebuilt using near-exhausted replicator matter reserves... Centralised weaponry processing centre..."
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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: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 22, 2017 20:38:36 GMT
ETA Vasor Kal System :: 1 hr : 19 min : 48 sec ... Carl and the Senior Staff were sat around the table in the conference room ..... "... and he didn't specify any one of the Headquarters as the primary ?" Calli was asking Andae. "Only what I have told you unfortunately." Blakus said, a hint of frustration in his voice. "Do you think there is any chance he would open up to you again if you went in there alone ?" Lysia asked, but all Andae could do was shrug, "There's no chance we could attempt to get the information using drugs ?" she continued, aiming the comment at the Chief Medical Officer. "It would kill him." Doctor Roach replied. "So, we need a plan of action." Carl said, standing and approaching the large screen on which a tactical schematic of the Vasor Kal system was being displayed, "I have the distinct feeling that if we simply go flying in there will be immediate repercussions, so, could we do this with a shuttle, keep the Raven outside the System and on stand-by ?" "What about altering our warp signature ?" Harry offered. but he was told that it would only be viable at long-range. Anything coming close and scanning the ship would see through the deception instantly, and if they were on the surface when that happened they were in trouble, to say the least. No, it seemed that their only option was to enter the System in a shuttle, they had no choice, They would still need to find a way to disguise the emissions, or at least corrupt them enough so the shuttle wasn't recognisably Federation in origin, and it would need to look anything but pristine, given they were going to openly land. "We could fake a malfunction." Calli suggested, ".... and if we drop from warp outside the system, take a shuttle and put distance between us then let our Tactical Officer here have some firing practice ?" Lysia grinned. "Wouldn't work." Harry said reluctantly, "If these people are observant they will see the damage, that's not at question, but if they decide to check a little 'too' closely they would quickly realise that the scorch marks were Federation weaponry. We would need an outside agent, a 'foreign' firing source." "NO, that would work to our advantage !" Calli said, suddenly realising they had an option, "If Lysia shoots the hell out of one of the shuttles, making sure not to damage anything vital obviously, we can go in there on the pretext that we're running .... We could pose as escapees, come up with a back-story to explain how we got the shuttle while en-route to a penal colony maybe ? ... We could ask for their help." "That could work, but given the Vasor are possibly about to start a massive war against the Federation, why would they not simply kill us on sight and repair the shuttle for their own use ?" Colonel Burwell, silent thus far, asked. "We have Rozil ....." she replied, quickly realising that no-one was latching on to her train of thought, "We drug him, not for information, but to ensure that he can't dispute anything we say once we're snatched, which we will inevitably be. If the Vasor thing we're sympathetic to their cause, or even if we're just not inclined to aid the Federation given our recent liberty, they might be willing to forego an immediate death sentence. We would need to look the part, tattered clothing, prison issue, and we'd need to look as if we've been in a fight, a hard one !" she finished, waiting to see what the others had to say. "Cuts and bruising is easy enough, I have a metal bar under my desk." Doctor roach said, a grin on her face, realising everyone was looking at her with shock, "Or, I could use a laser scalpel and induce server bruising on a sub-dermal level .... If we begin now, the bruising should be well established by the time you land." she said, her professionalism returning. "We have no options here, we can't prevent them from carrying out their plans with an all-out attack on their surface facilities. We know they have more combined firepower than even this ship could overcome, so ... I'm willing to entertain any other idea's anyone has." Carl said, looking around the table ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 24, 2017 16:56:21 GMT
Blakus pitched himself forward, "For me, there's still a risk that the inhabitants will assume from the moment they detect us - before we have a chance to communicate something to the contrary - that we, a mixture of humans and other Federation species in a Federation shuttle, have come to hinder them before they can launch their operation against Earth.
"It seems too farfetched that the Valsor would consider this a coincidence, unless we don't just disable, but destroy or leave so extensively damaged the engines of the shuttle, that we couldn't repair them easily to change heading within the system." There was some uncomfortable shifting but also obvious concurrence.
He continued, "We should make it appear that our getaway from the Raven as prisoners was so fraught that the ship actually managed to fully disable our craft as it left the shuttlebay, and that we only just had enough time to set a rough course for the Valsor Kal homeworld before the engines, or perhaps the entire power grid had to be shut down before there was a deadly chain reaction in our warp core... We decide to seek asylum."
To make such a power loss, and their whole story convincing, it was best to actually create the conditions of the failure. With genuine damage and apparently injured - the Valsor wouldn't look too closely at the hurt suffered by the people if they found the craft genuinely crocked - shuttle occupants, their chances to get onto the Valsor homeworld increased dramatically, or so Blakus thought and hoped.
"It's agreed then," Carl said, standing.
Blakus stood also and looked around at prospective away team members, "We go in with engines offline and power grid dangerously compromised, drifting roughly for an insertion point into orbit of their homeworld."
They entered the bay and climbed aboard the shuttle, Blakus sporting an arm with cosmetic second and third degree burns lacquering most of its length, his mock prisoner clothes ripped to shreds. Taking his seat, he studied the forward viewer, looking at precisely nothing and thinking about the task ahead: if their true motives were discovered, there was no easy way to get out, he knew; their shuttle, called the Gazelle, was about to thrown into the Lion enclosure, where it would attempt to engender sympathy by virtue of its broken leg; he thought again over his story: he was a polygamous homicide, resident alien at Risa, picked up by the Raven last month.
One of Blakus assistant's, Tinsley, jumped aboard and sat beside the CEO, while Milyanov from outside informed them that the power grid had been set for automatic shutdown for when it registered damage, having done something akin to removing a key structural component of a building so that it's demolition would be more easily facilitated. Now they were ready for Teng's surgically incisive work. He watched Milyanov leave the bay and the outer bay door retracted to show glittering darkness - they were under way.
"150 km from Raven... mark," the helmsman called. Torek acknowledged and a comm was opened to Teng on the Raven's bridge. The phaser fire to create real damage to the Gazelle - hopefully judged perfectly - began, and they were soon drifting powerlessly towards the homeworld. Points in space seemed infinitely distant from one another when one operated without thruster/impulse control. They drifted helplessly into the den of Lions.
<Tag Torek>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 27, 2017 13:09:06 GMT
Their plan formed, Carl, Calli, Andae, and Tinsley, and the heavily sedated Rozil, climbed aboard the shuttle Gazelle and departed the shuttle-bay ... Tinsley piloted the craft to a prearranged location one hundred and fifty kilometers off the Raven's Starboard quarter. They sat in silence for several seconds, each coming to terms that should the phaser-fire actually hit something extremely serious, it could cause a cascade failure that would destroy the small craft before any of them could rise from their seats.
The first hit spun the shuttle counterclockwise before the second and third forced them to tumble end over end. Carl knew that Lysia was only using sixty percent of the phasers' capacity, but even so it was crippling the shuttle quickly. Six more bolts of almost pure energy slammed into the shuttle before the firing finally ceased ... They were in complete darkness now, most of the minor systems already beyond repair, they were still tumbling, but at least it was in the right direction, towards the Vasor Kal Homeworld !
"Comms are down, all drive systems off-line, life support at forty three percent but holding." Tinsley informed them. Carl rubbed his shoulder, this genuinely injured during the bombardment. Emergency lighting spluttered to life as Tinsley and Blakus attempted to slow of halt the tumbling. They managed to slow it significantly but not completely before the emergency solid fuel boosters finally gave out. They were now completely adrift ...
Vasor Kal ::
They had drifted into the system on a rough heading that would have them passing reasonably close to the Homeworld, but they were intercepted long before they were close !
Calli pointed at the plexi-glass window ... There, matching their velocity and heading were three Vasor Kal warships ... Large, intimidating, seemingly bristling with weaponry, some of which they had no doubt was locked onto the shuttle. The scene didn't alter for almost an hour, if they had tried to contact the shuttle the occupants would never have known.
"They're moving." Calli said. everyone looked through the window as one of the vessels began to move ahead of them, then directly into the shuttles path. It was obvious they were wary of using a tractor beam, likely having scanned the extreme damage they possibly thought the thing would self destruct in their hanger bay if they attempted to influence it in any way. The lead vessel slowed slightly allowing the shuttle close the distance between them. A large section of the hull began to move aside:
"Shuttle-bay." Tinsley said unnecessarily.
They drifted over the threshold at an estimated velocity of less than one meter per second and the larger vessel increased it's speed until the shuttle was seemingly hanging a meter off it's deck. The outer doors must have closed because they could hear the 'bay beginning to re-compress and could see one of the Vasor Kal in what must have been a control booth eyeing them with obvious disdain. The shuttle touched down much like a feather landing on a bed as the artificial gravity was raised.
"Higher gravity ? ..." Carl commented as he felt himself rest into his seat, "One point one, maybe point two."
"Yes." Blakus said, nodding toward the window. directly in front of the shuttle was a sole Vasor ! .... Standing roughly two point five meters tall, one thirty plus kilograms, maybe more, it was looking at then expressionless, the faint reptilian features immobile. They jumped, spinning around to face the rear of the shuttle as the hatch suddenly began to lower. Three more of the Vasor Kal were awaiting them, one seemingly more adorned than the others. He (?) stepped forward and again waited, as if expecting the Human's to know what to do. Carl looked at the others, whispering 'leave him' referring to Rozil as he stepped towards the rear of the shuttle and out, the others following. He was about to speak when something slammed into his temple ... He was unconscious before he hit the deck, the three others likewise ..........
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 30, 2017 1:54:03 GMT
Blakus's field of vision transitioned between darkness with fuzzy maroon patches to a blurred image of the ceiling of the shuttlebay. Lights glared piercingly onto his retinae and he winced, before a 2.5 m Vasor Kal hovered into view, its huge head, nearly filling his vision, crenellated as if it was a section of battlements. He/she spoke, the universal translator kicking in immediately,
"Guest. Can you hear me?"
Blakus nodded though it probably looked something like a convulsion; a searing pain at his temple had started up, or he'd just begun to notice it. Suddenly he was being dragged to his feet, wavering now unsteadily. He looked round - the same was being done with the others. Shadowy happenings were taking place near the rear of the shuttle, outside of his restricted vision while he still recovered from the blow; it seemed to have something to do with Rozil, Valsor Kal ducking and entering the craft. He shook his head to clear his vision.
"We must apologise, guest. You and your colleagues were struck by a swinging beam that came loose as you disembarked from your ship." He pointed a huge powerful hand at a metal girder still swinging - but in less of an arc now - through the air of the repressurised room, suspended from the ceiling by two cables. "We had meant to make your entry into our vessel as smooth as possible. Again, apologies."
The meaning of what was said, and the ludicrousness of it, gradually seeped into Blakus's consciousness. Stunned and disbelieving as he was, there was something about the Valsor Kal's gentle delivery and outward earnestness that - in any being known to be benevolent - would've given no cause for doubt as to his sincerity.
They were escorted through several very high-ceilinged corridors of grey and white colour, luminous squares making up the flooring (lightsources permeating their rays through from beneath), and sequestered in four separate, moderately-sized quarters. Blakus looked around the grey compartment, still too much in shock (he was probably also concussed) to form any coherent thoughts pertaining to what might happen, or what should happen next.
A deep voice sounded from a hidden speaker in one of the walls, "Distinguished guests. Refugees from the USS Raven-C. Your physical conditions will be seen to shortly by I, Uip, this frigate's Medical Advisor. Be ready at my door in ten of your minutes. Thank you."
Blakus tried the room's door, fully expecting to find it locked, but much to his surprise, it glided soundlessly open. Forcefield then, he thought, and touched the place where he expected it would be - nothing; he was apparently free to leave the room. He stepped into the corridor and looked down either side, turning to face his open door - to his right were the three other quarters occupied by Torek, Valenti and Tinsley.
He heard voices growing louder from the right leading off the section of the corridor to his right, saw shadows cast by the floor illumination growing longer... Valsor Kal approaching, he ducked back inside his quarters and heard them going past, apparently cracking a joke as he heard one of them laugh somewhat good-humouredly. What the hell is going on?! Den of lions, right.
Just then another voice came over the speaker, "All hands, and distinguished guests, refugees, this is the Captain. We will be entering orbit of the homeworld in 20 kreqons. That's 35.29 minutes, refugees."
Blakus surveyed his fake second and third degree-burned arm, thinking perhaps it would be a good idea to do his best to peel it away in the short time he had before seeing Dr Uip. As soon as the Valsor scanned the arm, he'd obviously discover the wounds weren't real; then, he supposed, thinking gallows humour, the veneer of goodwill shown to them by these people would disappear, and in a hurry. He decided it was best to do as requested, though not before he met the others... He went to Torek and Valenti's doors to discuss their 'predicament' and found them inside.
<Tag Carl, Calli>
Tinsley, however, was not in his quarters...
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 30, 2017 2:03:31 GMT
Thinking, why me?, the lieutenant was shown into the sparkling white room, light panels from the floor and off-white walls, with a grey desk taking up a quarter of the space. Sitting at the desk - Rozil. Tinsley regarded the man: there was a sick grin on the doctor's face; he was evidently glad of the situation he found himself in, pleased he hadn't fallen out with his commanders as much as he may have thought... He was also unnaturally pale; Tinsley got the impression the sedative was still affecting the doctor to no small degree, maybe the odd smile owed something to that.
Rozil nodded to the Valsor attendants and they left the room, Tinsley didn't waste time, "Why have you isolated me from the others? Are we really supposed to believe you're wanting to help us, considering you've probably told the Valsor Kal everything about us?"
"You misunderstand my - ... our intentions, Lieutenant. I've told them nothing about your origins. They believe you're rascals collected from all over the quadrant. Humour me. Allow me to play my game at their expense and for your benefit."
"Who's really in charge?" Tinsley asked, "If you're willing to deceive the Valsor Kal, then who're you really working for?"
"You know her name already..." Rozil swung back and forth in his chair, projecting an aura of boredom. Pearson, Tinsley assumed he meant. Rozil looked at him again, "Did you know she's utterly insane? A psychopath." Something of that affliction seemed to have possessed Rozil himself, Tinsley considered.
"Anyway." Rozil was suddenly business like, "I've invited just one of you here - your room happened to be the closest - to, 1. see my face and thus be assured I'm working in your best interests, and 2. to invite you and the others to a ceremony, on this ship when we reach low orbit. A band of Valsor Kal, brandishing their rather unique instruments, will be arriving from the surface, playing to herald your arrival and the inauguration of our Greenland replica and our Programme: Earth Subzero Terraforming, or PEST, operation." Rozil opened a drawer in his desk, pulling out small bits of plastic and offering them to Tinsley, "Tickets," he explained.
Guards re-entered and Tinsley was made to leave, being escorted as far as the stretch of corridor before their four quarters.
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 4, 2017 2:27:14 GMT
Carl too had awoken in his own room, cell, he wasn't quite sure which ...
Unlike his Chief Engineer, he had remained on the bunk, eyes closed but his senses alert to any and all input. His attempt at deception was either seen through immediately he regained consciousness, or the narration began regardless, he greatly suspected the former. Unbeknown to him at the time, he like Blakus, and presumably Valente and Tinsley, had all received identical instructions regarding their movements .... Carl had got up and moved to his door, which like Andae's had opened on his approach, but he didn't step into the corridor beyond as Andae had ...
Sitting himself back on the bunk he weighed up the complete ridiculousness of the reason they were all here, though one tiny fraction of his sarcasm did say it could be completely true, and they were simply victims of an accident.
"No." he said as he got off the bed. He was walking to the door when it opened, to his complete surprise, Calli was stood in the doorway. she stepped into the room and recounted her first waking moments, them both moved to the door. Once again it opened, this time to Blakus, but despite investigating the other room there was no sign of Tinsley, so where the hell was he !
~~~~~
"It seems we pretty much have free reign of at least this section of the ship, of course, that could be a fraction of a fraction given we have zero idea as to the size we're looking at." Carl said.
"When I first exited my room, and took a few steps 'away' from the others on the corridor, an illuminated track began to pulsate, I'm going to hazard a guess that it would lead us to our appointment with the Doctor." Calli informed them, moving to the door once again and stepping into the corridor. Tentatively, she took a few steps away from Carl's door, and the pulsating illumination returned. "Way I see it, we have only two options here for the moment, one; we obligingly follow the proverbial 'yellow brick road' to our assigned appointment with the Vasor Doctor, or two; we go explore before we enter orbit. I think we need to go on the presumption that Tinsley has gone ahead, maybe he woke first or was taken so he couldn't investigate the rooms we were in ?" she finished.
"The Vasor haven't given us any reason to think we're prisoners, or are in any immediate danger ....." Carl said, looking up and down the corridor half expecting to hear a subdued giggle, "I say let's play them at their own game. if they are genuinely concerned for our well-being, it can only mean they have examined the shuttle and the fake logs, and believe we have in fact escaped from the Raven. Unless they have some form of mind probe that they used, they have no way of knowing if we're genuine or not at this stage, so could be giving us the benefit."
"All assuming Tinsley isn't having every iota of information sucked out of his head as we speak." Calli said with a wry grin. Andae was about to reply when the Comm crackled to life:
... "Distinguished guests. Refugees from the USS Raven-C. Your presence is overdue. If you require our assistance in achieving location then state such immediate ... Thank you."
"Let's go, before the option is taken out of our hands" Carl said, walking off in the direction of the strobe indicator, the others finally following suit.
Medical Center ::
As the three entered they were completely unaware for the sight they encountered .... The room was large, much larger that the Raven's Sickbay, there was two beds in the middle of the room with a further sixteen around the circumference, numerous doors indicated rooms off the main area, but the thing that had stopped all three in their tracks was ....
"Welcome, I, am Doctor Uip, beds you are ready, please, be seated."
The three Federation Officers looked at the Doctor, and the two Vasor in close attendance, obviously guards given the amount of visible weaponry on show, but it was Uip they looked at !
Far from being Vasor, he was, something else, another race yet to be included on the substantial list of first contact races. He / she, was at best one point five meters tall, heavy build, muscular, obviously from a heavy world. he could have been three hundred years old, or thirty, it was impossible to tell, and despite his 'stature' he seemingly commanded much respect from those around him, including the Vasor.
"Ahhh, Please, gentlelady and menpeople, recline your self and I shall endeavour to conclude my taskings with hastily." the three stood in the middle of the room and the pleasant demeanour of the Doctor shifted into the dark spectrum for a fraction of a second, before he stepped forward. Taking the hand of Calli he led her to a bed and asked her to disrobe. When she refused the Doctor continued his examination through the fabric, none-pulsed. He repeated his request, with the same results with Torek and Blakus ...
"Why the need for examination may I humbly ask ?" Carl said.
"Indeed, you not know this ..... The fourth world is, for want of a more suitable reply, is indeed suffering. We are but a sma ..."
"DOCTOR, What are you doing !" the group spun to see the largest, and certainly most domineering of the Vasor Kal in their presence ..........
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 8, 2017 21:55:32 GMT
"I was merely..." the doctor looked round at the Vasor who'd just entered, "Informing them of the conditions on the fourth planet, Bitar-Nors and great one." Uip backed away apologetically, before abruptly seeming able to refocus, perhaps drawing on some power he held over this Vasor, Blakus guessed.
"As marginalised as my people may be, Bitar," Uip said to the huge Vasor, "You of all people should be aware that via my connections I am far from in the position of needing to explain myself. I wish to examine these refugees..." he getured back to the Andae who was the nearest, "Perhaps within their own needy frames they have something that could alleviate our own suffering."
"Your people's own suffering," the Vasor retorted, before standing upright and acquiescing, turning to face the three 'refugees', "I've been instructed by the captain to tell you this... We hope your stay on the ship, for the remainder of its time in orbit before its landing, near the place to be inaugurated, and during your time on Vasor III, is a pleasant one. We'll find temporary settlements for you and then contact whoever you instruct us to, so you'll be able to travel to a place you consider to be of safety. Safety from the Federation and whoever else may have an interest in your capture."
This Vasor known as Bitar-Nors made a prompt exit and Blakus, Torek, Valenti lay once more at the mercy of Uip, "The Vasor system is home to more than one species, of course. I'm sure you know that," he said very off-handedly as he ran a scanner over each of them, "We're organised in a loose conglomerate whose member species, sometimes, pursue their own ends, but the majority of the time cooperate in our great venture. I'm of one of the 'lesser' species in the conglomerate, many of my people on planet 4 are suffering from congenital disorders, the fundamental cure to which we believe may exist in other humanoid species... Always best to test people such as you whenever we get the chance."
"What 'great venture', as a matter of interest?" Blakus asked, trying his best to replicate Uip's casual manner, and hoping beyond hope the compact, strange man didn't notice the remnants of the cosmetic 3rd degree burns he'd not been able to dispense from himself.
"You wouldn't be interested," he said quickly, "You do have invites, however, to the... I see you're human, then you'll know about brass bands perhaps..." He coughed, "You're invited to the Vasor homeworld's equivalent of a brass band performance when we land at the site of the Earth continent-replica constructed near the Vasor south pole. Our replica of the icy continent of Greenland is being commissioned and you're welcome to attend. Perhaps you'd choose even to remain within the territory of the Conglomerate once you've officially applied for asylum?"
Blakus looked over at Torek and Valenti, Could this get any more surreal? his eyes asked. "I don't know, Doctor Uip - we may well decide we'd like to contact friends of ours - other outcasts - who're within the Federation, and - "
"Yes, yes!" the massive doctor tittered unnervingly, "Let me put this to you: when you observe the band's performance and 'soak up the atmosphere' - as the human saying goes - of our Conglomerate's joyous homeworld, and once you have met my wife the delightful Donna Pearson, perhaps you'll change your mind..."
Blakus had almost stopped listening; now the sharp pang of surprise he felt at Uip's finishing words caused him to lose his already tenuous grip on the discourse. Pearson... well, only one link in the chain now separated the Raven officers from the woman they'd last seen in that clocktower prior to the unlikely local storm system. But what significance could she have amongst her supposed bosses the Vasor?
"All hands, and refugee guests, we will be making our landing near the southern pole of our homeworld in 5 kreqons, that's 8.82 minutes."
Uip told them he'd seen to their physical conditions - arising from the false escape from the Raven, etc. - and had taken some general information on their genomes - looking for his presumed cure - then said they were free to go. "Thank you for your help," Blakus managed, trying to sound like a grateful fugitive. They left the sickbay.
<Tag Torek, Valente>
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 10, 2017 15:07:01 GMT
Agreeing they needed to get back to quarters, they - thankfully - found Tinsley waiting just outside his own room, looking somewhat mystified. "Rozil's here and seemingly in charge," he told them without ceremony, "At least with equal authority and I suspect higher than that of the vessel's CO. He gave me these." He handed Blakus and co a plastic card each.
"If Rozil's returned to a position of standing, could Pearson have as well, accounting for what Uip said?"
"Pearson?" Tinsley said sharply, "According to Rozil she's running this place. The Vasor leaders are technically the same rank as her, forming a tight inner circle, but she apparently holds sway over them." The vessel was landing.
Outside port-side small circular portals - like those on old ocean liners - as they walked a long corridor, now under the natural 1.2g gravity of the Vasor homeworld, they could see the blinding white expanse of Vasor Kal's equivalent of Antarctica, small figures of Vasor - huge up close no doubt - lumbering about the landing site, passing in and out of a building to the left consisting of piled grey cuboids - a sort of HQ/command post perhaps - and to and from a truly gigantic domed structure situated to the right at which the nose of their craft pointed. Presumably the dome was the Greenland replica (at this planet's south pole as opposed to closer to the north as on Earth).
In the foreground before the domed complex (which looked to be something like 200-300 metres in height at its highest visible point (perhaps ascending even more out of sight in the pearlescent atmospheric haze with increasing distance)), was an array of dazzling silver objects set in a rough crescent. Whatever the arrangement of silver points in their crescent was, it was raised above the frosty ground on a maroon coloured platform. And a crowd had started to gather, individuals amongst it being stopped occasionally by towering attendants and made to hand over whatever they held in their hands - tickets, presumably, Blakus thought.
The crescent of silver objects before the Greenland-dome turned out to be the instruments of the band arrayed in formation for concert. The quartet of Torek, Blakus, Valenti and Tinsley were ushered off the ship, Blakus's feet planting on terra firma with an icy crunch.
<Tag Torek, Valente>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 11, 2017 13:29:02 GMT
"This is getting way out of hand." Calli said as they stepped off the and onto the ice ... Hundreds of what they assumed were dignitaries were already seated towards the front, while those of lesser importance were occupying the outer rings of seat surrounding the array of massive silver-like spires. They were led through the rows of seats until they reached the first of the inner rings, where they were asked to sit. It hadn't gone unnoticed to anyone that their presence seemed to cause not concern, in fact, their very appearance brokered no interest at all. After several moments the orchestra began warming up in a lowered pit, Carl could hear instruments being fine-tuned as he tried to casually take in those other guests. Calli nudged him and nodded surreptitiously towards the stage, there, in plain sight were Donna Pearson and Rozil ! ... The Vasor Kal they had met earlier, Bitar-Nors, approached them, a slight bow towards Pearson as he came to a halt. The three took their seats and an announcer explained the first pieces of music that were to be played. We he left the stage, a section, holding the orchestra, rose as the first recital began ... Carl wasn't into classical music, but what was being performed sounded more like something a boy scout band would put out during a parade .... They sat through an hour of this then the dais receded back into the massive stage and a small lectern rose. numerous speeches commenced, until finally, Donna Pearson took her place. Again, Carl and the others thought this was going to be a repeat of previous content, until almost twenty minutes into her oration, she said something that instantly got the four Starfleet Officers' attention ! "..... have planned this for many many years, and now my friends, the time of our coming has arrived. We have devoted our entire resources to achieving this one goal. We shall show the mighty Federation that we are more than some backward peoples to be discarded. The Fleets, now undergoing their final stages of construction on our second and third planets, will be ready to begin their long journey three Rraqon, or three days time ! ... The weapon now concealed beneath their Greenland is complete, and once detonated with carve their precious Earth into two. 'THIS' is when our fleets will attack, Just as every one of their worlds comes to the aid of the stricken Earth, the center of the Federations government and home of their inept President, 'THEN' we shall take them all !"
Everyone to a man stood cheering and shouting approval, the only ones seated were the Raven Officers. Calli realised they were attracting attention and she stood, clapping loudly as she looked at Carl and the others, who reluctantly followed suit ... Carl couldn't help get a chill as the woman seemed to look directly at him as she make her statement of intent to attack the Federation en-masse ... The speeches continued, one after the other, but no-one was interested, they had all head the revelation from Pearson, the revelation that the Vasor Kal were intending sending a massive force towards Federation Space, in his mind now they had only two options: They needed to return to Federation Space, prepare for the oncoming storm, or they would use the Raven to inflict as much damage to Pearson's plans as possible ! ... The Raven had formidable weaponry at her disposal, including: Mk.VIII Photon, Mk.III Quantum, Transphasic, and Tri-cobalt torpedoes, hey could decimate the surface of numerous worlds with what they carried, but would the enormous loss of life in the genocide be justifiable ? He thought they had no option open to them now. They would need their shuttle or a means to contact the Raven still out on the far edge of the System. Regardless of the looks he received, Carl dropped his hands to his sides deep in thought. If there were no other means to halt the attacking force, could he even ask the Raven to carry out the only order viable in this situation ? .... General Order 24 ..........
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 14, 2017 18:56:43 GMT
Blakus looked aside at Carl, who was evidently deeply troubled by what Pearson had just announced - who wouldn't be, of course - and was able to discern also a further detail of what the Admiral was thinking. It was an order not many starship captains had had to make in their careers and hopefully wouldn't have to make in the future, but the reduction of a planet or planets to ruins was an acceptable means of combating an enemy (or other) if no other option remained.
"I know," he said, "But there might be another way." As he spoke the words, a Vasor official began breaking up the assembly of civilians, military personnel and others from the member species (Terrellians, a few outlaw Benzites, and others) of the Vasor's... alliance, or whatever they may be calling it.
Blakus stood with the others and they drifted away from the gathering, dispersing according to the pattern of random vectors the other invitees seemed to be heading along. "The general order's something we should consider," he agreed. "That said, the Vasor may be agreeable to coming to terms if we inflict a just harsh enough punishment on them for building up these forces; a lightning attack by the Raven on the second and third planets - where their ships are nearing completion, if I remember Pearson correctly - such an attack against their military capacity might be enough to bring them to the negotiating table."
Torek seemed on the verge of tentatively (or perhaps with relief) agreeing, however - they then were happening to be turning around - they now found themselves face to face with Rozil.
The man smiled, "I see you're happy to hear the news regarding your 'former' colleagues' impending demise..." Needless to say, the voice dripped with sarcasm. "Perhaps you'd like to take a walk with me."
"Where are we going," the Chief Engineer asked cautiously, knowing - besides what eventual nightmarish destination he may end up at - that one word from Rozil to the Vasor leadership and to Pearson - reminding her of her former pursuers if necessary - then their cover as refugees from the Federation would be torn to shreds.
"You'll see," Rozil said, "Suffice to say it involves what myself and Dr Myrox were after before I and others so unfortunately - but necessarily - had to kill him on your Starbase - which is soon to be dust, also, may I add." As Torek and the others attempted to follow, Rozil held up a warning hand, and several Terrellians moved to block their path, pushing disruptor rifles into their chests. Blakus had been cut off, now being led to a small building at the edge of the Greenland dome.
Forced back into the throng of civilians by the Terrellians, Tinsley, Admiral Torek and Commander Valente began hatching plans, looking back towards where the Vasor vessel they'd been brought down on (which also contained their shuttle of course) rested on the icy plain.
"Sirs, if we can lose those Terrellians, get back aboard the Vasor craft, get to the shuttle making some excuse," the engineer said, "Could we send a message to the Raven, having them unleash tri-cobalt devices against the shipyards on the second and third planets?" Of course, they were all thinking something along these lines; Tinsley was merely vocalising the question of whether or not it was possible.
"What excuse could we make? Forgotten baggage?" Calli half-joked.
A bolder idea occurred to Lieutenant Tinsley, "Perhaps we can say we want to use the shuttle to report to the Federation that we've been unduly maltreated by the Raven crew."
This, and whether or not they would go through with the whole idea, were put aside after the next few seconds, as a Benzite - looking a lot like the deceased Raven engineer Zavial (perhaps his brother, as Blakus had theorised when spotting him before on the Starbase?) grabbed a weapon from an uncommonly - 3 metres - tall Vasor, shot his head off with it, and ran towards the Vasor craft holding the Raven shuttle. Clearly someone else intended to make an escape... (had he heard the Raven was in-system?).
Taking advantage of the confusion, Tinsley dived through the crowd of civilians - who ran about in a sudden melee, wailing in fright -and ran towards the craft in effective pursuit of the Benzite. He looked back once and caught only a glimpse of the Admiral and the intelligence advisor in the mad throng, but Tinsley presumed (or hoped, rather) both senior officers were trying to follow, or perhaps one of them would be going back to find Commander Blakus. As the ramp of the ship lowered to admit the brother of Tinsley's former engineering colleague Zavial, Tinsley made it to within a few feet of the ramp; then as it started rising he dived through and on board. Were Torek, and/or Valente, close behind?
<Tag Torek, Valente>
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 16, 2017 11:16:07 GMT
Carl looked around in the confusion ...... Andae was being led away, and with those guarding him they had little or no chance of successfully extracting him from Rozil's grasp !
he sudden appearance of the Benzite changed their options greatly. They could go after Blakus, or go for the ship, it was a no contest and Carl snatched Calli and began to follow Tinsley. They were still thirty meters from the ship when the ramp began it's slow climb, all three increased their rate of speed with Tinsley reaching the ramp first. Without looking back he stepped aboard, dropping to one knee to hopefully fend off any unwanted opposition. As the ships engines began to cycle in preparation for lift off he moved further into the ship but a quick glance at the ramp showed no signs of Torek or Valente, he could only assume they didn't reach it in time, then he heard a grunt ... Spinning, he saw Calli rolling down the ramp, Carl directly behind her.
"That could have gone better." Carl said, looking at the abrasions on the palms of his hands, "We don't have much time, we need to get to the shuttle and contact the Raven."
"You're considering 'Twenty four' Sir ?" Tinsley said.
"We'll go with your suggestion first, have the Raven do some considerable damage then have Commander Wedlerson contact those in charge with an ultimatum." he said as they cautiously ran through the ship to the shuttle-bay. As they reached the 'bay they were surprised to find it empty, "Go." Carl said, eye's scanning the control cabin high above for signs they could be discovered. When Tinsley and Valente ran into the shuttle he followed, sealing the hatch behind him. Tinsley dropped into the Pilot seat with Carl beside him.
"Is there any way we can override the bay doors and drop out behind the ship ?" Calli asked.
"Won't work, the door will be overridden from the Bridge before it can rise enough for us to depart." Tinsley said, working quickly, "I've set up a micro-burst signal to the Raven Admiral. If you give instructions they should reach the ship once we transmit, but as soon as we do it will be picked up and we'll have a lot of company."
Carl dictated the instructions he wanted Harry Wedlerson, currently in command of the Raven, to carry out. They would need to be done to the letter, because the moment the Raven begin's her run the defences on the second and third planets will increase. He doubted the ship would encounter too much resistance on her first run, that would change significantly if a second was required. All they could hope was that the ship would do enough damage so as not to need another run ... Satisfied, he nodded to Tinsley, who transmitted the communication. It didn't take long for their hosts to react !
~~~~~
"There's shields have gone up, and we're about to have com ......"
The shuttle-bay doors opened and a dozen heavily armed men entered.
"You transmitted from this vessel. I will know to who your transmission was intended." Bitar-Nors asked as he stepped toward them, "I am somewhat bemused given our 'hospitality' towards you."
"We have a second shuttle, another that escaped the Raven, we were attempting to contact them with our location." Calli said, but the Vasor-Kal didn't believe her, he stepped forward and slapped her harshly, forcing her to drop to the deck as she wiped blood from her lips.
"I do not believe you." Bitar-Nor said, stepping forward until he was looking down on her, "You would have come to us openly with this, requested our help in finding your other shuttle, but you did not .... I have no knowledge of the vessel you 'escaped' from, nor do I care to know, but your actions have proved you cannot be trusted and bring into doubt your explanation for being among us. You will be taken from this vessel and executed." he turned away as Vasor-Kal grabbed hold of Torek and Tinsley roughly dragging them from the shuttle, both were kicked from behind, dropping to their knees as Valente was lifted by her hair to a standing position.
"I admit disappointment ....." Bitar-Nors said, shaking his head, "We welcomed you with trust, despite objections and concerns, and you betray that trust ..... There is no other craft of refugees, no other escapees, how do I know this ?"
"We have done nothing." Carl said, beginning to rise, but was beaten back to a kneeling position, "We only wish to escape the tyranny of the Federation and their rules."
"You have a location for this second shuttle you say is looking for a home with us ?" Bitar-Nors asked, almost too casually, grinning as he watched the expression on their faces, "surely you must know it's location, or why transmit on such a narrow frequency ? ..... No, I think you have been deceiving us all along, to what end, we shall never know, but it matters not to our plans, the Federation will cease to exist, alas, you will not be here to witness our success." he raised his weapon and placed it against Carl's temple.
"SIR, Beg pardon ... There is a vessel !" ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 20, 2017 22:21:04 GMT
The Greenland dome was an incredibly realistic representation of the south-eastern fragment of the icy continent on Earth. It included the small village whose name Blakus had forgotten (the one matching one of the three sets of co-ords they'd found in the database of Pearson's unique shuttle on Deneb). Rozil guided him round a wide, circumferential corridor, encircling the whole of the massive habitat. The external temperature and general climatic conditions suited the settlement perfectly.
"As you can see, our training for our expedition had an excellent proving ground in which to be conducted," Rozil remarked, Blakus walking behind him, Vasor guards an equal distance behind himself. Rozil led him into a small room to the right of the circumferential corridor (they'd been traversing anti-clockwise, thus they were now cut off from sight of the pseudo-Greenland expanse), and had him sit in a chair opposite a small computer. "Remember this, Commander? You should." He nodded to the guards and they set about attaching wires via suction pads to Blakus's temples and jaw-line - Andae started to become severely agitated.
A window to his left showed the open fields of the Vasor homeworld's south pole. Curiously, he noticed a ship - matching the appearance of the vessel that'd brought them down here - taking flight and disappearing through the grey-white cloud layers.
* * *
"They've hailed us!" the Vasor officer continued, "Requesting that we surrender the Federation fugitives that they believe we're harbouring..." the Vasor now read off a screen, "They say they were taking the criminals to the Rho Dracon penal colony, but they'd then escaped their cells and commandeered a shuttle. Despite the shuttle sustaining heavy damage from the prison ship, the Raven, it broke free... Then these escapees were telling the truth, Bitar-Nors."
Bitar-Nors lowered the weapon from Torek's temple and stepped back; guards still kept their rifles aimed at them from hip-level. "Good... So you were making contact with a shuttle as you claim... That's how your prison ship knew you were aboard here: they detected your attempted comm to your other shuttle. Tell me..." he bared his teeth at Torek and Tinsley, who happened to be standing close by (he'd been prepared to attack the Vasor if it should've become necessary to save the Admiral's life), "... Where is the other shuttl- "
"Bitar-Nors, master," another Vasor intoned, "The USS Raven prison ship is..." he leant closer to his screen, "Is making an attack run on the second world! They're firing tri-cobalt warheads!"
Chaos ensued. Tinsley, Torek and Valente dived for the shuttle; the engineer activated quick start-up of the warp and impulse systems, weapons being brought around to fire at the closed outer bay door. Outside the craft they could hear, "USS Raven has completed attack run on the second planet. From early reports, it seems near total damage has been done to the shipyard facilities!"
They heard Bitar-Nors' shriek of rage; Valente slammed the hatch shut as Vasor now scampered towards them. Surely they'd realise no one would want to hang around this system if a Sovereign class starship was wreaking havoc, Tinsley thought, skipping from world to world and unleashing its deadly arsenal.
The Raven shuttle obliterated the shuttlebay door, Tinsley at the tertiary console evaluating the engines' performance as they started skidding across the bay floor to the exit, now taking flight... Vasor whirled about in the sudden vacuum of the bay, twisting impressively with their remaining life to discharge rapid fire plasma weapons at the shuttle's aft - Tinsley felt the craft shudder.
Once clear of the Vasor frigate, they swung about to find the Raven, which surely by now would be approaching the third planet to continue its efforts. A quick scan by the shuttle's occupants confirmed that the Raven had taken damage during its first attack: shields were at 68%, partial failure of starboard impulse engine and loss of two phaser banks. They put distance between themselves and the Vasor craft - which surely would be torn between heading after the Raven or attacking the shuttle - and followed - at a distance - the Raven as it began lowering for an assault on the third world, which presented a sweeping arc - terminator bisecting the night from the beautiful blue-greens of its day - to the Sovereign as it descended towards low orbit altitude.
<Tag Carl, Calli, Raven>
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 20, 2017 22:27:30 GMT
Surface of Vasor Kal IV...
He awoke in a bed chamber - the place was grey and misty, as if vapour rolled in from gaps between the floor and walls. There was an ominous shrieking from a machine to his left, and he soon realised it was the same machine to which he'd been wired earlier shortly before Rozil had asked those provocative questions and started his invasive procedure... The suction pads on his face were gone, but - he realised to his horror - other wires were now plugged into his wrists, at points where the skin had been peeled back and fixed in place.
In terror, he dragged himself from the bed and instantly fell to the floor; he realised he was numb all over, including at his wrists where - if a sedative hadn't been administered - he would've been feeling considerable pain right now, particularly as in falling off the bed he'd torn the remaining four wires from the veins revealed by the peeled-back epidermis and musculature. Disbelieving at the absence of pain, he put the loose flaps of skin back in place as best as he was able.
The room's door opened and piercing white light from the Greenland plain fell over him; a lithe figure stood silhouetted in the frame, "Commander. I see you're up and about." Pearson. "We've got to get out of here. Your colleagues have carried out an attack on our shipyards. I can't stay with the Vasor any longer. I'm requesting asylum with the Federation... I was manipulated, attempted to subvert them."
Blakus opened his mouth, a dry rasp coming out before he broke down in chokes and dry heaving - he wasn't sure if he'd meant to laugh or cry. "You never... You never," he giggled, his voice like ancient papyrus cracking and disintegrating as he rolled on the floor, "You never got anything from me..."
"I didn't want it, Commander; it was Rozil. We must leave." Blakus lay there; resigned to the fact he wasn't going to get out of here no matter how much Pearson may want to save her skin, at least until the Vasor made terms with the Federation and surrendered him. He felt vindicated that their plan had worked. "Commander, we must leave... Rozil's returning soon and you'll be harmed... Andae please, I love you!" Blakus passed out.
* * *
Orbit of Vasor Kal IV...
While the rest of the spaceborne Vasor fleet was surging about the system in panic or trying to assist the 2nd and 3rd planets with the onslaught against them, a Vasor shuttle with two occupants floated in high orbit above the 4th, 'Greenland' world. Dr Pearson piloted the craft with Blakus semi-conscious in the aft compartment. Details were fuzzy for him, but what she'd said seemed, overall, to make sense...
Those procedures on Starbase 47 and the encounters with her in the forced dreams: she'd been trying to warn him, subliminally, about what the others (Rozil, Myrox and co) had been trying to do. He could recall the words she'd spoken in his mind, in those strange dreamscapes of multiple Terrellian vessels... she'd spoken a definite warning against what was to come (a warning Blakus had been unable to remember, until now) and she'd been able to do no more for fear of detection. Myrox - as it'd turned out, another conspirator against the Vasor - had been eliminated by Rozil; Pearson had been lucky and had remained in the Vasor's midst, trying her best to subvert their operations, and had even had the terrestrial shields lowered around the shipyards on the second and third worlds, ready for the Raven's attack. She'd told him - as he'd lain groggily in the aft section - that the Raven had just begun a shock assault on the third planet, the first attack already completed.
Now Blakus joined Pearson in the forward compartment, preparing - should the Raven make it through the second attack unscathed (it certainly wasn't a sure thing...) - preparing to let Pearson explain to the Raven-C her subterfuge against the Vasor, the Terrellians, the Benzites and Rozil. Subterfuge she'd been conducting since Blakus had been captured on Starbase 47.
<Tag Raven>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 25, 2017 1:34:09 GMT
OOC :: This post isn't a quick-fix but does move us forward so we can meet our completion deadline ..... Posting as Commander Harry Wedlerson - USS Raven-C ::Harry had been sat in the center seat for a considerable time now, and was frankly worried that there had been no contact with the away team since they tracked it to the Primary Vasor Homeworld, now, as he was seriously contemplating taking the ship into the system they picked up a very brief message ... After confirmation, he instructed the Duty Tactical Officer to bring weapons on-line and raise shields.
"Helm, plot a parabolic course that will give us maximum saturation of the second and third planets. I want a strafing run to attack the four main construction facilities, then hit the holding area's containing the completed vessels. We won't have a lot of time here, so let's be sure what the plan is before we move." he turned to Lieutenant Gerelo at Tactical, "Lieutenant, I want a surgical attack. I know we're all taking on roles we're not accustomed to, but let's show we can be relied on. I think we can afford to expend two tri-cobalt torpedoes per facility. We can hit the holding area with quantum's, those ships are packed so close together we could start a cascade."
"Do you want to move direct to the third planet from the second ?" Colonel Burwell, covering the Ops station while Harry was in Command asked.
"Yes ... Wait, no ... I think our attack could get their attention and give us some leverage."
"I suggest we demand our escaped prisoners be returned." Burwell suggested, seeing the Commander cotton on instantly.
"OK ... Begin our run. Once we have completed the attack on the first planet I want to contact their Command ... Make sure anything and everything that comes within range is disabled or destroyed. If we show the slightest weakness during all this we'll be sitting ducks for them and we'll still be short our away team."
The attack on the second planet in the System was carried out faultlessly, with minimal damage to the Raven. They locked weapons on the first facility of the third planet as the massive Sovereign Class vessel began to close the distance, then opened a communication channel ::
=^= Vasor-Kal Homeworld .. .. By now you will have realised the devastation we have wrought upon your second planet .. You will cede to our demands without hesita .. .. .. =^= he stopped speaking as Gerelo got his attention urgently !
"I'm picking up a Federation Shuttle. It's ours ! ... I'm also picking up at least five heavy cruiser type vessels entering the System. Vasor-Kal design. My guess, they are coming after us."
"Get that shuttle aboard ! ... Close the comm. how long before those ships reach us ?"
"Nineteen minutes. We'll have the shuttle in six." Burwell confirmed.
"Open a comm to the shuttle, now." harry ordered quickly. He was relieved to see Commander Blakus, but the relief was short-lived as Blakus told him that the Vasor-Kal intended eliminating the Federation. Harry outlined his original attack plan, Carl told him to continue the attack the second the shuttle was aboard.
"Shuttle is aboard Commander." Burwell informed Harry.
"Begin our attack run." he said, watching the large view-screen as the planet seemed to leap towards the massive Raven. torpedoes rained down on the enormous construction facilities, each covering thousands of square kilometers. The tri-cobalt torpedo was a devastating weapon and something to behold when deployed. It took only three full orbit's of the third planet to reduce their construction facilities and their completed vessels to billions of tonnes of rubble and scrap metals. The away team dove from the turbo-lift, Wedlerson jumping from the center seat as if electrified. He updated Carl and Andae quickly as the Raven climbed back into deep space fending off attacks from all sides as she did so ...... Carl dropped into his seat, seeing the relief on Harry's face as he did so:
"Open a comm to the Vasor-Kal vessel in close orbit of the fourth world. I want to speak with one Bitar-Nors." when the man appeared on screen his face was a mixture of surprise, confusion, then, as sudden realisation dawned, utter frustration and anger, but Carl didn't have time to pamper to the mans mental anguish, he needed to exploit it, quickly:
=^= You have thirty seconds to have all your vessels within the system power down to life support only .. .. ANY vessel still active after the deadlie expires will be destroyed =^=
=^= You ! .... But I .. .. .. =^=
=^= Twenty seconds =^= was all Torek said.
=^= You dare .. 'DARE' .. .. =^= the completely inconsolable Bitar-Nors stammered.
=^= Ten seconds .. .. Failure will result in the complete obliteration of 'ALL' life on your forth planet =^= Carl said, his face expressionless. Waiting out the ten seconds in silence. Finally, Harry, back at Ops, confirmed that all vessels in the system were drifting running on life support and artificial gravity only. All surface facilities were powering down completely.
=^= You cannot think that you have won =^= Bitar-Nors spat.
=^= Unfortunately .. I don't have to think about it .. But I 'will' have to live with my actions .. Had there been alternatives I would have entertained them .. But you made your intentions clear and for that I am truly sorry .. .. .. =^= he nodded to Harry to close the communication ..... One hour later - Vasor-Kal System ::
"We're done here. Set course for home Commander Marionette." Carl said, watching the Vasor-Kal Home-world below them. "Admiral. Doctor Pearson is in the Conference Room. Bitar-Nors is insisting he speak with you." Lysia said. "I've nothing to say to him." Carl replied .......... OOC :: We can debrief / interrogate Pearson and whoever else we got en-route to Starbase Forty Seven, how's that sound ?
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 1, 2017 1:11:39 GMT
In the first interrogation of Pearson, Andae had kept silent while the CO and the Intel advisor took the lead in the questioning, with the occasional hawkish interjection from Wedlerson. Blakus had kept his eyes either on the table, half-pretending to study notes, or had looked out the window at the streaming illusory stars that coursed around the Raven-C's warp bubble.
Pearson had answered questions however they'd been put (strongly or conciliatorily), in the same neutral flat voice, betraying nothing that would indicate innocence or guilt, though Blakus didn't understand why she needed to be so protective.
He'd seen inside her mind as she'd seen inside his, and he knew (quite as well as he knew his own intentions and general, unshakeable principles) just what hers were, and none of them involved treason or the slightest hint of guilt where that guilt hadn't part of her necessary role-play amidst her (and the Raven's) enemies. Just the natural human instinct towards self-preservation - taking precautions, he supposed.
* * *
He strolled the corridor towards his quarters, the interrogation having been over for nearly 30 minutes and the next one - this was simply a recess - due in just over a 30 minutes. Reaching the door, he opened it only to pause and look inside, took a couple of steps into the dark interior and grabbed a PADD from the bedside table... He headed for Pearson's quarters, which were as close to being a cell while not actually being situated in the brig.
Nodding to the two security guards outside, he ordered the door opened and stepped inside the narrow space, seeing the bunk along one wall, the bottom bunk of which was occupied by Pearson. He sat on the stool next to the excuse for a desk and she sat up, peering at him attentively and again inscrutably.
"Why didn't you tell them everything you told me?" he asked bluntly. In the interrogation, she'd spoken of a few of the revelations she'd made to Blakus on the Vasor-Kal homeworld's surface and in orbit aboard the small Vasor shuttle, but had left out the essential points, those pertaining to her having subverted the Vasor-Kal from within, acting to try and curb their worst instincts and ultimately overthrow their attempt to destroy much of Earth's population. Why? Unless, as Blakus had originally thought, all her claims had been made in the desperation of wanting to save her life...
"You don't trust me, of course." She nodded, "Despite the linking of our minds in your forced dreams and what you remember I told you then, there's a chance, you think, that I could've tampered with your memory. It would've been within my power to do so. Rather, Rozil's."
"I trust you, up to a point," he lied. In truth, he didn't know whether he truly believed everything she'd said and imparted on his mind, or if he wasn't convinced by any of it at all. "But you haven't told them the whole 'truth'. If I could hypothesise, you dare not tell Admiral Torek everything you told me, because in a Federation court room where this evidence will be brought to bear, you know that under scrutiny it won't hold up."
She spoke in a curious way that made her voice seem soft and sharp simultaneously, "That's not true. What is true is that... there are others I'm protecting. People dragged into this who'd been forced to remain with the Vasor Kal, who now don't have anything to answer for at all, but who the Federation will track down regardless if I give their names."
Blakus stood, on this occasion annoyed by his necessary commitment to duty and to espousal of Starfleet principles, "If you really think these people are innocent and were bystanders, you have nothing to fear in telling their names to the Admiral and Intel officer Valente. They'll come under witness protection should you have to face a Federation court." Almost true, he thought. They would certainly be protected.
* * *
They returned to the conference room, and when the moment came, Pearson gave the names of seven people - former Federation citizens (4 humans, 2 Benzites, 1 Bolian) - who she stated had been on Deneb when the Raven had come after her and been caught in the micro-storm. She also told them everything she'd revealed to Andae in the forced dreams on Starbase 47 (about her subversion of the Vasor's operations, her lowering of shields around the two military installations on the 2nd and 3rd planets, etc.). Almost everything, that was, suffice to say she'd included nothing impertinent.
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Carl Torek
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 3, 2017 11:53:25 GMT
It took a week to return to Starbase Forty Seven, in which time, the 'former' Researcher, having been relieved of her position and all privileges by Star Fleet Command via sub-space, had seemingly willingly answered all the questions put to her by Commander Blakus and Commander Valente from Intelligence. Carl had purposely remained outside the interrogations, allowing his Officer's to proceed as they deemed fit. After relaying each session to Command they received further questions they were to put to the prisoner, again she was only too willing to answer ... Of course, once Intelligence got their hands on her at the Starbase, things would be very different ! ooooo00000ooooo The massive Sovereign Class USS Raven-C entered the Betreka Sector, home of Starbase Forty Seven .... If he had to admit it, Carl felt an enormous amount of relief .... The mission had not been without it's dangers, but thankfully they had prevailed and had returned home. "Admiral, there's a vessel approaching on an intercept course." harry informed him suddenly, "It's the USS William J Burns, they are instructing us to come to a complete halt and await their arrival." "Instructed." Carl repeated, eyebrows raised. He knew the Burns was an Intelligence vessel, but didn't like the idea of being told what to do. Nevertheless, he nodded to Marionette, "All stop Commander." The USS William J Burns approached almost at it's leisure, again annoying Torek. It came to a halt three hundred meters off the Raven's Port quarter and remained there for a long few moments then Harry informed Carl that two 'Officers' were to transport aboard, Donna Pearson was to be made ready to transfer to their vessel by Commander Valente on their arrival. Carl glanced at Calli, who could only shrug, getting up from her seat and heading to the Doctor's quarters ... Torek was non too happy at the proceedings but knew that Intelligence had made arrangements to take Pearson into custody, he just didn't think they would come out to met them to do so. "Harry, you have the Bridge. Andae, with me." the two left the Bridge and went to Transporter Room Two, they arrived as the two Intel Officers materialised. "Admiral." one said curtly as she handed over a PADD. Carl read the transfer order, apparently signed by Admiral Marquis of Star Fleet Security. given he couldn't dispute the orders he asked why the need to come out to get her. Frustratingly, no answer was forthcoming, in fact one of the two simply referred to the order he had received as explanation then both fell silent. Carl looked at Andae but his Chief Engineer, and Acting Exec' could only shrug almost imperceptibly as the doors opened. Pearson, accompanied by two Security Personnel and Calli walking behind entered the room. Calli eyed the two visitors but remained silent, these were relatively new to the Division, that much was obvious, they were too stiff, too aloof to be seasoned Intelligence Officers, again it stood to reason that they would be tasked with 'babysitting' a prisoner. "Hows things at home ?" she asked casually, getting an almost pre-programmed response from the female Officer, "Not the talkative types eh." Calli said wryly, making the smallest glance at Carl as the two restrained their prisoner. Carl knew something was wrong now and imperceptibly motioned to Blakus, who in turn moved to the transporter control, relieving the Junior Transporter Officer. "Admiral ...." Calli said casually, "I think we need to check that Intel' have all the answers they need before they take her away. We hadn't completed our questioning and well, you know how it is ..." it was the catalyst that was needed, both newcomers drew phasers and levelled them at the Raven Officers ! "We are leaving, anyone tries to stop us and the result will be, unfortunate. Andae had opened a one-way comm link to the Bridge and knew Harry Wedlerson and Lysia T'Seng were listening, he hoped harry was making preparations above them, "You, move away from the controls, over there !" the Officers and Security Personnal were ushered into a corner while one of the intruders set the transporter controls. "You won't get away with this, you must know that." Carl said, almost shaking his head in disbelief of their shear audacity. The second intruder stepped onto the transporter and the sequence began ... Blakus ran to the console, hoping to hold them mid-transport, but they were too clever and had disabled the system once their transport was completed. They all ran from the room, the Senior Officers diving into the turbo-lift, Carl slapped his comm badge: =^= Bridge .. Status ? =^= =^= The ship is moving away Admiral .. Am I clear to pursue ? =^= =^= YES ! .. Do so now Commander ! =^= Torek said as they burst onto the Bridge. The Raven turned, leaping to warp in pursuit of the vessel that had avoided being hit by the smallest fraction, "Once in range target their drive systems, I want that ship stopped Commander T'Seng." They caught the Defiant Class ship easily and Lysia fired the main phasers achieving a direct hit on their propulsion systems and dropping them from warp, the Raven quickly followed suit, but the intruders were not done ... They turned around and headed directly at the Raven ! ... surely they wouldn't try a suicide run, all for one former Doctor, but there they were, coming directly at the Raven and dwarfed by the sheer size of the vessel they were attacking. Lysia fired again, this time disabling their life support and impulse drive, but the ship came coming. "Move us aside Marionette." Carl ordered. "They are not answering Comms Admiral." Harry informed them. "SIR ! ...." Lysia said, instantly getting Carl's attention with her obvious urgency, "Their core is going critical. It can't have been our firing on it, they must have disabled the matter/anti-matter containment fields. If it gets any closer we'll suffer considerable damage when it goes up." "Raise shields ... Photon torpedoes Commander. Back us away maximum impulse ... Can we beam anyone off ?" Andae shook his head, informing Carl that their shields, albeit damaged, prevented them from doing so, "Fire torpedoes !" Torek ordered ...... The two torpedoes arrowed across the void, their sole purpose to detonate on impact with their assigned target, they hit seconds after being dispatched, the resulting explosion shook the Sovereign class Raven to her core and when the screen adjusted there was only stars, the William J Burns, and all aboard her were gone. Carl and the Bridge were silent. "What did she know that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for ?" Lysia asked rhetorically. It was something no-one could have answered. "Bring us about ... Lets go home." Carl said .......... ooooo00000ooooo
~~~ MISSION CONCLUDED ~~~
With the Raven having successfully completed her mission The ship and crew are en-route to Starbase Forty Seven For some well earned rest and recuperation
Little do they know of the fate that awaits them there
Regards
Fleet Admiral Carl Torek Commanding Officer
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