Heart of Fire

Posted on Fri Jan 18, 2019 @ 8:05pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Ezekiel Stone & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Commander Kelani Tetanal & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Lieutenant JG Logan Hunter & Lieutenant JG Amira & Major Kasia S'er'in'e

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: DS 10/The Badlands
Timeline: MD 1 || 1200 Hours

With the supplies and new crew that had came aboard at the last minute, Commodore Aravan wasn't a happy man. Admiral Breckenridge assured him that the delay was acceptable and the Apolo, the ship they would be escorting, had been delayed as well but the launch wasn't causing any undue errors.

"All stations report," Michael called from the center seat.

Kasia found herself in the role of Acting Marine Commanding Officer with the Colonel off the ship, and was now standing on the bridge with her hands clasped behind her back. She'd spent the last couple of hours preparing her troops for what might await them, and given their current mission, the possibilities seemed pretty endless. Still, they would be ready for anything. "The Marines report ready, Commodore," the Russian woman said, prepared to take off at a moment's notice.

Having just ran a systems diagnostic Martha was pleased to confirm that all of the vessel's tactical systems were working as they should be and ready to go on the Commodore's command. Keeping her focus on the screen she confirmed this to her commanding officer.

"All tactical systems are fully operational Commodore." Martha reported.

Arrda had spent much of the time between the briefing and now getting his team ready. They had gone over to the transport moments ago, and the lead of the team had just reported in. He looked up from his board after confirming that his people still on the Triumphant were ready and in place. "Security is green, Commodore." he reported, his stance showing readiness but calm. Inside, he was uneasy, but that remained inside, hidden from the universe around him.

“Science reports ready, Commodore,”. Kelani reported, “All scanners at optimum and all analysis teams report ready.” Kelani felt a twinge of nervousness, but pushed it down. She concentrated on her board and the readings that would be coming in.

Alex gave a cursory look over the information and analyses that flowed in. He would keep his ear, or rather the ship's ear, open for anything that might not fit. Not to mention the other things that resulted from his post-meeting meeting with the Commodore. "Intel is ready. Nothing out of the ordinary so far."

Antonio looked around to see if everything was set, ready and able exactly as it should be. "Sickbay ready." No Doctor hoped for a busy day, a good patient was one that never had to step through those doors but no mission ever went as smoothly as one might expect.

Logan stood in the Primary Flight Control center looking at the master mission board. Color coded highlights showed the disposition of every fighter in the combat air wing. He pressed a button on the watch officer panel. "Forward CAP is deployed. Alert squadron is at standby for scramble launch. Remaining birds are secure for transit." He was slightly concerned about the operational strength of the air wing once they entered the Badlands, but an idea had come to him moments after Kelani had left his new office for the bridge. He just needed to consult with the Chief Engineer regarding the feasibility of his plan.

Ahead of them a Nebula class ship came out from behind the station and took up a position in front of the Triumphant as the Victorious separated from the main ship.

Zeke slid his hand smoothly across the paneling in front of him, even though he had sat here a few times now. ~I still can't believe I get to fly this baby.~ he thought to himself.

"Take us out, Mister Stone," Michael ordered.

The Commodore's command snapped him out of it, stone turned and nodded to the Commodore and then face forward again as he activated his holo-controls which flicked to life instantly. Zeke's finger flew across the air entering in the first set of coordinates in what would be a series of safe nav points based on the information he collected on the badlands. At his completion of combinations he struck a final key and the ship powered ahead at one third quarter impulse until clear of most station traffic and all gravity wells.

The Odyssey yawed to her starboard side effortlessly in a graceful and slow roll until she aligned with her course plotline and then with a subtle flash from her nacelles lurched forward and entered warp speed.

Michael gave the order for the Victorious to proceed them to the first nav point at warp three, then the Apollo followed behind, and finally he sat down and looked at Lieutenant Cusack. "Put up a tactical sensor display on screen, Lieutenant."

"Yes Commodore" Martha replied.

Martha tapped a few buttons on her holographic console and a few moments later a display of the tactical sensors appeared on the Triumphant's view screen.

"Operations, what's the latest status on sensor readings on the Badlands?" Michael asked.

The little Edo looked toward the Commanding Officer, she was nervous, she was new in this role. It was times like this when she wished she was still a Petty Officer hiding away in a science lab somewhere. She looked around at the others before she announced, to nobody in particular, "nothing substantial. I'd like to suggest attempting echolocation, sir," Amira said, looking to the CO now.

The Commodore turned his attention to the lithe blue eyed blonde that sat at Ops. She had had an interesting time getting to Starfleet, but was certainly proving herself. "Isn't that was the Bajorans used to hide from the Cardassians during the Occupation of Bajor?" he asked as he gave her a nod to do it.

"Yes sir, it is," she responded with a nod. It was a topic that had come up in one of her classes at the academy. "It will take a minute or two for the adjustments in the computer," she explained, as she began typing furiously on the keys on her console.

"Calibration complete, initiating active sonar," she said, which was probably a much more correct term than she'd used prior. "No return pings, sir," she announced, after a moment. "No contacts."

"Prepare to deploy the fighters, but keep them close, Lieutenant Logan," Michael ordered.

Logan opened a circuit to the launch bay. "Sortie One and Two prepare for launch. Keep within ten kilometers of Home Plate or First Base during your reconnaissance flight. How copy over?" Both Valkyrie pilots acknowledged they were ready for departure and would remain just within close sensor range of the Odyssey or Victorious. "Alpha flight prepared for launch at your command sir."

"Mister Rho, what's the latest intelligence reports on the Badlands?" The Commodore asked as the Triumphant headed past the first marker.

Alex pulled up on a holo-screen what was necessary to answer the Commodore's question. "The Badlands may not be that big of a section of space, but it's always been a perfect hiding place. The Maquis once used it as a staging ground and a variety of groups have been in and out since then. Any derelict or abandoned structures or stations have been re-purposed time and again. Despite whatever we may have going on in here, I'd be cautious that others might, too."

Amira's mind began to drift a little as she watched her panel and listened to the ongoings of the bridge. She thought about the fighters launching into space and flying around the pings of her sonar hitting them and bouncing back home. She made little fighter noises and the occasional "b-b-bong" sound under her breath as she watched the lack of return from her sonar pings.

"Helm, keep up on course behind the Apollo," Michael ordered as the Victorious made a minor course change and lined up directly in front of the ship they were escorting. "All stations, yellow alert. Shields to full."

Amira pressed some buttons on her console, "pew pew pew," she said, under her breath as she watched the systems of the ship change to meet the requirements of the yellow alert.

Arrda slid deft fingers over his panel, then reported. "Yellow Alert. Shields at maximum." His eyes flicked over to the lady making odd noises, and an eyebrow rose. He could not really understand her behavior considering that they were on duty. Such antics belonged in holodecks or personal quarters, not on the bridge during a mission. Still, he said nothing, merely raised the one eyebrow then returned his gaze to his console in silence.

As instructed Martha brought the ship to yellow alert - with the alert indicator lighting around the bridge going from their normal colour to flashing yellow.

"Yellow alert and weapons are on standby" Martha reported.

Kelani monitored the intermittent scrambled sensor readings and suppressed a sigh. "As expected, sensor readings are unreliable at best, Commodore," she reported. "With your permission, I will attempt to develop an algorithm to help compensate."

"Excellent, Lieutenant," Michael said to his Science Chief. "Make it happen."

"Aye, sir," Kelani replied, turning back to her console to begin her task, murmuring softy to herself as she began her calculations.

Kasia, who had been quiet up until this point, turned toward Michael. "Commodore, with your permission, I'd like to return to my Marines."

"Granted, Major," Michael told the Marine Executive Officer.

The Major nodded her head and made her way off of the bridge.

[USS Apollo]

On the USS Apollo, the Captain sat in his center seat and checked with the helmsman that everything was on track and confirmed the limited sensor readings. In the Astrometrics lab, a crewman made a few changes and sat back, ready for the next stage.

[USS Triumphant]

In Stellar Cartography, a Chief Petty Officer removed an isolinear chip from a board and replaced it with another, then headed off to do his normal duties.

"Time to the last navigation marker?" Michael asked.

"At our present course and speed, about five minutes, sir." Zeke replied in an even tone while he focused on making subtle alterations to keep the ship on course in the mess of eddies that was the badlands.

Michael opened a shipwide com. "Attention all hands. This is Commodore Aravan. Please report to your assigned areas immediately. Civilians please exit the Promenade and report to the Bunker. We are about to enter the Badlands."

"Status report, Mister Arda?" the Commodore asked.

tag Arda/all

Martha checked over the tactical systems before noticing something slightly amiss with the phasers.

"There is currently a slight variance in the phaser algorithms Commodore - so we might end up with a bit less phaser power than normal. I will keep an eye on it and keep you informed" Martha reported.

Michael looked concerned and turned to his Chief of Tactical. "What kind of variance?" he asked.

"It's currently...2.1%" Martha responded - double checking the figure before answering the Commodore's question.

"Lieutenant Amira, please check on that and run a diagnostic," Michael ordered.

"Diagnostic in progress, sir," Amira said, beginning the diagnostic. She took care to insure the level of diagnostic she ran did not disable the functionality of the phasers.

"Victorious is signalling, Commodore," a junior officer reported.

"Patch it through."

"Triumphant this is Victorious, our systems have been compromised, weapons and shields are offline, computer systems have also been effected. Cause is unknown but I have initiated a security sweep of the ship. Possible sabotage." The Marine Colonel explained quickly. "Systems cleared prior and just after launch, so whoever or what ever is responsible may still be on board. Would suggest you commence security measures and system sweeps. If they can get to the Victorious, they have had opportunity on the Triumphant."

"Helm, all stop," Michael ordered. "Open a channel to the Apollo."

"Yes, Sir." The communications officer said. "No response. They're passing the Victorious, Sir."

"Belay that, Helm. Tactical, fire a warning shot past the helm of the Apollo," Michael ordered.

"Colonel, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Apollo isn't responding," Michael told S'er'in'e.

The helm seemed to respond to Zeke's commands and the large vessel slowed to a halt, though the buffering from the badlands was going to mean some he'd need to do some recalculations to get them back on course later.

"Diagnostic complete on the phaser banks, sir," Amira announced. "We have some correction to a 1.6% variance but I can't lock down the exact cause."

Kelani’s lips tightened as she heard the report from Victorious. She turned to her station and began to work at her station, checking as many systems systems as she could. She frowned. “Commodore, there is an oddity in the programs that I am able to access.....they are becoming sluggish....”

"Head to Science and see what you can do, Lieutenant," Michael ordered as a junior Science officer came to take her place.

“Aye, sir,” Kelani replied, rising. After surrendering her station to the junior science officer, she hurried out.

TBC