[5960.0] Patrol

[Leitz]

Thelin sat in the main chair. Everyone knew "Uncle Hiram" liked to nap. A lot. Spirits were high on the bridge; Fearghal was on helm and Ensigns Salazar, Henri, and Mercier were on station.

"Sir, incoming message from the Fatgut," Salazar said. "Voice only, and a set of coordinates."

"Commodore, we intercepted a rogue trader, it seems to be a lost pirate ship. Our phasers disabled it's main drive, but we respect your ownership of the problem. Farragut out." The tone dripped of sarcasm; obviously the captain of the Farragut considered the pirate ship to be nothing more than taking out the trash. The coordiantes require a course change, but are within Prakziz space.

[gurusql]

Thelin

"Ensign Salazar, please raise the Commodore and let him know that the Farragut has left us a pirate ship to clean-up and we are changing course to reach the pirates before they repair their ship."

[Leitz]

Bridge


"The Commodore acknowledges and agrees," Salazar replied. A short time later, she turned to Thelin. "Sir, incoming transmission. I believe from the pirate ship. Voice only, and very broken. It could be damaged comms, but we see this interference with wisps of the cloud."

"y crew...please.....surrender...grave danger...trade....your ship...my crew"

[gurusql]

Thelin

"Lt Fearghal best possible speed to the pirate ship coordinates. Noted Ensign Salazar, please keep trying to see if you can clean that message up."

[The Bindoner]

Lt. Runyon

Best possible speed it is, Sir. Get there before the Spanner Monkeys twist their nuts enough to make them jump, shall we?

[Leitz]

Bridge

The Hussy is almost upon the so called pirate ship; a large hauler with slow engines. There was evidence of multiple phaser blasts, and a stream of small debries in her drifting wake.

"Sir, we are being hailed," Salazar said as she nodded to the main view screen.

The distorted scene was chaotic; a commercial ship's bridge with reinforcement stays askew, boiling smoke, and sparking consoles. A form moved near one console; it helped another crewperson stand, pulled the injured crewperson's arm over the form's shoulders, and walked the crewperson to the hatch.

"My crew is injured, please, please! I surrender. We wanted to trade, but were attacked." The form moved through the smoke, toward the captain's chair. Salazar worked on the video resolution. "Your other ship is in grave danger. Please, I surrender; I'll do anything to save my crew."

The voice was strong, passionate. The form sat in the captain's chair and looked hopefully at the screen. "My crew were loyal to me and I ran a fool's errand. Please help them."

The young male Klingon waited for your response.


We're using the concept of "High" and "Low" Klingons. The former are like Worf from ST:TNG, the later are Klingons from ST:TOS. The young captain is the latter.

[gurusql]

Thelin

"Yellow alert! Mute the view screen. Please send a security team and medical team to the main transporter room. Once the teams are in place the transporter room can begin beaming the crew on-board. Please remove any weapons and place the healthy crew in the brig and the injured in sick-bay under restraints and guard. We will need security teams two and three to complete this order. Once the situation under control, I will meet with the captain in the conference room.

Ensign Salazar let us talk to the so-called pirates. Captain we are going to begin beaming over your crew now, what else do you wish to tell me now that will allow me to protect your ship and crew."

[Leitz]

Engineering

LT T'See gave Andrhonal the in depth tour; it was very discouraging. As they walked over conduits and crawled through openings, she also gave him a rundown on each of the crew. "ENS Zelda Haynes is rated as an apprentice. The others seem to take her direction, and she reads the manual. Often."

As they made it to the warp console to inspect the alignments and adjustments they had done, Yellow Alert sounded. The other engineers gaped and gawked at the speakers.

"Highly unusual," T'See said, and then looked at Andrhonal. "The Commodore tends to go from nothing to Battle Stations. Perhaps the new bridge officer is having an effect. I suggest we treat this as real; would you care to discuss it with Haynes?"

The tall ENS stepped up behind Andrhonal, "Discuss what?"

Bridge

ENS Henri signaled Yellow Alert, and then motioned to ENS Salazar to hold off on unmuting the comms. Henri turned to Thelin, and said, "Sir, we don't actually have-"

"Incoming message from the Fatgut, emergency channel," Salazar called out. The main screen changed to a damaged and fearful Star Fleet captain. "...too many of them. We've locked engine and weapon protocols but they are going corridor to corridor and-"

The screen went blank. Salazar turned to Thelin. "They're gone. Sir?"

The door to Commodore Ganbaatar's ready room opened, and the old man stepped out. He looked at Thelin. "Status report?"

[gurusql]

Thelin

"Ensign Salazar if you mean the Farragut was destroyed, now would be a time for details."

The Lt Commander clears his throat and turns to face the Commodore, with his antenna standing straight up and says "Responding to the so-called pirate vessel which is reporting critical damage. I believe that Ensign Henri was about to tell what this ship does not have. Just moments ago, it appears the Farragut was destroyed by an unknown armada of some kind. Orders Commodore."

[cybersavant]

Engineering

LT T'See gave Andrhonal the in depth tour; it was very discouraging. As they walked over conduits and crawled through openings, she also gave him a rundown on each of the crew. "ENS Zelda Haynes is rated as an apprentice. The others seem to take her direction, and she reads the manual. Often."

As they made it to the warp console to inspect the alignments and adjustments they had done, Yellow Alert sounded. The other engineers gaped and gawked at the speakers.

"Highly unusual," T'See said, and then looked at Andrhonal. "The Commodore tends to go from nothing to Battle Stations. Perhaps the new bridge officer is having an effect. I suggest we treat this as real; would you care to discuss it with Haynes?"

The tall ENS stepped up behind Andrhonal, "Discuss what?"

Lt Jg Andrhonal B'Aarr turns to Ens Haynes. "Ensign, since a yellow alert is in progress, please ensure the engineering staff are at battle stations, ready to receive instructions as dictated by the Bridge." Andrhonal preps the drives in anticipation of maneuvers.

[Leitz]

Engineering

Haynes scowled. "Who put you in charge?"


Bridge

"Sir, the way the communications dropped, I do not believe the ship itself was destroyed. However, if they are under attack, stopping communications would be a primary enemy objective." Salazar sat up straight.



Commodore Ganbaatan looked Thelin up and down, and then huffed. "Since you have the bridge, I recommend sending the young captain's communication to my quarters, and you will join me as well. Please ask Comms to immediately recall Franks, and we'll have a senior staff briefing in thirty minutes."

He turned towards his ready room, and then turned back. "Some tea would help, I believe."


Commodore's Ready Room

Thelin understood the motions; get the senior officer's tea to break the stress cycle. Standard Fleet procedure and it took scant minutes to do so. A carafe was always ready for the Commodore, and the tray held three cups.

In the ready room, Ganbaatar had a muted comm open to the Klingon captain. Ganbaatar looked up at Thelin, and then smiled. "I hear you've dealt with Klingons before, and survived. One more-"

The door opened, and the spiritualist entered. He nodded at Thelin, Ganbaatar, and then stared at the comm screen.

"Let's start the party, shall we? Mvot says there are at least two cruisers, possibly three." Ganbaatar sighed, "I'm not sure we can win this one."

"Salazar sent me the Farragut's comm," the spiritualist said. "Fleet procedure is to lock down the data, weapons, and drives. That's probably why they are taking the crew, they can't move the ship itself. They know there will be a response, but probably don't know what the response will be. Their plan will be to escape; it will bring them glory."

Ganbaatar nodded, and looked at Thelin. "What do you think?"

[cybersavant]

Engineering

Haynes scowled. "Who put you in charge?"

Andhronal B'Aarr "For starters, I outrank you. That upsets you, and that is a problem we must deal with. But, to answer your question, apparently i am here to replace Lt. T'see. So, shall we continue the hostile attitude now, or put it aside until the crisis is over and arrange a later time to come to some agreement over the operations of this department?"

[gurusql]

Thelin

"Yes, I did spend three years on the Klingon border and watched and learned from their tactics. They like to be the tough bullies in the neighborhood and they tend to come right up to you and they build their ships to focus their shields to the front. As a result we has the expression on the Lexington that "Klingons have a Glass A$$". I given that they have three ships they will tend to fly in a triangle formation to have the second and third ship support the first and not allow them to be out flanked. The key here is to pick a side go after the support craft first, this will tend to reduce the odds in our favor.

I also think we should get the Klingon Captain on board ASAP and get intel on what is going on."

[Leitz]

Engineering

Haynes scowled in pure hatred, turned, and knocked a short male human over as she stormed off.

"Squeeze you?" The man said, smiling, as he stood and faced Andrhonal. He winked conspiratorially, and held up four fingers on one hand. "A new record, even for her. Most of us get dumped once or twice a month, things are always lively aboard the Hussy. Herself, however, seems to set a new standard. In one week!"

The man extended his hand to Andrhonal, a common human gesture. "Engineer Second Kyle Harris, sir. I like what you did to warm the old girl up, and wouldn't mind watching you in action again. I mean, this old girl, not Herself. Her engines run hot but she's got on one at the helm."

T'See had mentioned ENG2 Harris; like much of the department he was energetic but unskilled.

"So, what can you tell me about what you did?" Harris asked.

[Leitz]

Commodore's Ready Room

The spiritualist nodded as Thelin spoke, and poured tea for each of them. "Mvot is a political up and comer; young, brilliant, and not without potential as an enemy or as an ally. If he surrenders then his word is good. If we treat him well and send him home, his political future would be dangerous, but we would have an opening into their Imperial doings."

"We can attempt a rescue, fail boldly, and go down in the history books as both brave and dead. Or, we can cheat like mad and maybe have a chance of living long enough to rescue the hostages. Maybe even getting some of us back home alive." The spiritualist sipped his tea, and then lowered his voice. "Probably not all of us, sir, but I think we have a chance."

Ganbataar looked at the spiritualist, and then at Thelin. "My grand-nephew has a penchant for wild schemes and risky ventures. It got him kicked out of Star Fleet; if you're willing to take orders, and risk your life, stay here. Otherwise, you're detailed to escort Captain Mvot to Prakziz. There's the hatch, which will it be?"

Assuming Thelin stays

Ganbaatar called up the star map on the wall, and the spiritualist stepped forward. "Best guess is that the Farragut is here, and we are here. The Klingon cruisers will have to take a long route to use the cloud for cover, and they must enforce comm silence. They do have passive systems, and that works to our advantage. We have a comm station to send messages, and they order three or four constellation class cruisers and a small support flotilla on an intercept course. That will slow the Klingons down, they must hide."

"With the Farragut's recent autodefense upgrades, I doubt even three D7s came off unscathed." The spiritualist looked at Thelin, and then back to Ganbataar. "We have a small Fleet contingent who are conversant in the latest technologies and capabilities. I recommend dropping LT T'See, myself, and a couple of others off with Mvot, and then dropping LTCMDR Thelin and a few others off on the Farragut. Each of our teams will do our best to bring engines and weapons back on line while the Hussy locates the enemy. With luck, we'll have even odds."

Ganbataar nodded, his brow furrowed. His eyes were alive, though, and he looked at Thelin. "Think you can command a cruiser?"

[gurusql]

Thelin

Thelin stands-up a little taller and says "I think it would shock most people if they really knew what we have each survived by the time we have been in star fleet for a few years. Yes, I am ready to command her."

[cybersavant]

Engineering

The man extended his hand to Andrhonal, a common human gesture. "Engineer Second Kyle Harris, sir. I like what you did to warm the old girl up, and wouldn't mind watching you in action again. I mean, this old girl, not Herself. Her engines run hot but she's got on one at the helm."

"So, what can you tell me about what you did?" Harris asked.

Andrhonal B'Aarr

"My experience wt humans is .... .hmmmm .... i need to work on my ... communication skills. However, we need a crew that can respond in a timely manner with skill during times of crisis. I would be more than happy to share what i learned in the Academy, however, now is not the time. Stick close and watch what i do. Doing is the best way to learn." Andrhonal moves to the main control panel and checks on the status of the engines, glancing around as he does so to see to reactions of those that remain at their posts.