Arrival at Hydaransz

Posted on 16 Feb 2017 @ 8:22pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Major S'arila Donovan & Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Sheela Swiftpaws & Lieutenant Solan Jekkar & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant JG Akuhl K'Tel

5,009 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Main Story)
Location: USS Tomcat/Various
Timeline: Mission Day 14

[ON]

Two weeks later at maximum speed, the USS Tomcat arrives in orbit of Starbase Omega, starting the defending ships, picture if you will a fully armed Heavy Cruiser dropping from warp right on top of the defending ships, the surprise that would have been rife. What Jasmine did not know was her ships sudden arrival had slowed down the defending ship crew reactions. In this instance, the Tomcat was lucky that its IFF was active, on the bridge of the Tomcat Jasmine looked at the viewscreen at the sudden panic as the defending ships adjusted their aim.

Smiling "Nice one El-tee, you put us right on top of them, I would love to see the faces of those Captain's," Jasmine said.

"Thank you, ma'am," Akuhl said, trying to sound casual.

"Perhaps next time drop from warp earlier to give any defenders a chance to scan us huh! Okay secure from warp *looks over at Sheela* okay Commander get on the comms to the Starbase and get us updated information on the current events, I want to know as much as we can before we enter the inner system"

"Squeak," Sheela's only reply as she was busy making contact with the stations CIO.

Looking at Sterling "Commander begin science scans let's update our science computers too, then coordinate with Omega base Sciences I want to know if there be any anomalies that we do not know about since our last visit."

"Aye Captain, scanning," Maia said. "No good Captain. There is a Tachyon field up and running around the system or at least the relevant parts of it. Long range sensors cannot penetrate the system from this distance," Maia reported.

Not liking the sound of that Jasmine cursed rapidly in Gaelic "Oh great, I just hope the casualties are lighter this time around!" she commented, "Thank you, Maia."

With that she turns her chair to face her Security Chief and Engineer "Lieutenant Jekkar coordinate with Omega on security updates and begin running boarding drills with Major Donovan, she runs Bravo Unit, they are my personal guard but in this instance, they will act as extra personnel, while K'Muss does things with the other hundred and one marines you have 24 extra marines to use with security and all of these marines wear the white cord, so they are the best of the best."

Solan chuckled. "Yes Ma'am." The Andorian Officer had been meticulous in his approach to these Drills. "I'll certainly make use of them."

Turning to the Engineer "Lieutenant Dodd, get down to engineering and I want you to work up every counter-workaround and safety back-up for warp and the main computer, I want systems protection on my ship," Jasmine said.

"On it ma'am," Dodd replied and he signed out of the engineering terminal on the bridge and prepared to go to work in engineering with Taggert and the rest of his staff. He was thinking it was about time to get to Engineering and he was sensing tension building upon the ship.

As those officers went about their duties she opened a Comms channel to Donovan.

=/\= Somers to Donovan =/\=

In her quarters Donovan was doing some pushups and paused as she tapped her Commbadge =/\= Donovan here Captain =/\=

=/\= You and Bravo Unit will be working with Lieutenant Jekkar, I want you to take your cues from him =/\=

=/\= Understood, Captain I will meet him in Security =/\=

=/\= Acknowledged, Somers out =/\=

As she closed the line she looked at Jekkar "okay El-tee the Major is on board" she said with a smile and watched him leave the bridge, Dodd had already left, now she turned to Cahill "Lieutenant Cahill get medical ready and set up emergency triage centers in cargo bays one and two, if this is anything like the last time we are going to have casualties."

Cahill smiled, "Understood Captain, due to a large amount of the supplies in Cargo Bays 1 and 2. Have also overstocked the Sick Bay too. I had a third bunch of supplies in Cargo bay 3 as an emergency triage in case it is needed should be necessary. I have personnel assigned to each area when the time comes also. I like to prepare for the worst outcome and hope for the best outcome.

She turned to the viewer and smile. "Starbase Omega looks beautiful and it is a same we are here for reasons we cannot enjoy it. I plan to run some tasks in the Holodeck to help prepare the Medical section for the worst case problems we may have to occur. I hope for a better outcome this time Captain.

Looking over at Cahill "so do I, Lieutenant, so do I, now get down to Medical and sort what you have to do out," Jasmine said and watched Cahill leave the bridge.

- Engineering -

Dodd arrived in engineering and wanted to talk to Taggert in his office. So he tapped his commbadge.

=/\= Dodd to Taggert =/\= he stated as he was heading for his office.

=/\= Taggert here, Lieutenant=/\= she replied, tapping her commbadge. She strained a little reaching, as she was on her belly, reaching down inside a Jeffries tube, as the deck plating wasn't very comfortable for really any period of time. She was almost done replacing a faulty conduit, and she'd rather do it herself than get a crewman to do it. The work was therapeutic, really. A way of bringing a little order to the world, in her eyes.

=/\= I hope you are able to meet me in my office. I would like to discuss the orders given for engineering. =/\= Dodd replied.

=/\=I can be there in about five minutes, sir=/\= she replied, looked as she reached back and tightened the conduit. All done. =/\=What's the situation?=/\= she asked, as she crawled out, taking her toolbelt with her, and wiped her brow. She passed off her tools to Tjaansz, as she listened to the Lieutenant.

=/\= We need to get all systems on counter workarounds as well as a backup method for warp and the main computer. So as soon as you can, please come to my office and we can start to figure out the best way to go about this as I have several ideas and I am sure you will have some ways to improve them that I have not thought of yet.=/\= Dodd replied and then ordered a triple chocolate hot cocoa from his replicator and started to work up the plan to get all the workarounds started.

=/\=Understood, Lieutenant =/\= replied the ensign, as she looked down at the commbadge, an old habit of hers, though now the badge was at a different angle on her new body. =/\=I'm on my way now.=/\=

Dodd was starting to work out the workaround scenarios for Taggert and him to get accomplished. He was reviewing a PADD with some ways to backdoor the computer core as he took a swig of his hot chocolate. When there was a beep from his office door.

"Enter," Dodd stated as he set his mug down. "Greetings, Ensign. So glad we can finally sit together to go over the orders the captain wants Engineering to accomplish. Go ahead and help yourself to something from the replicator and have a seat." Dodd was giving her a chance to relax because he knew she was on the go since she came aboard the ship.

"Thank you, sir," she said with a smile and a nod, as she walked over to the replicator unit. She pulled out an isolinear chip from her pocket, and inserted it into the terminal, and tapped a few commands as the menu selection came up, and a steaming cup of coffee came up in a left-handed mug. She closed her eyes and smelled, taking in the aroma.

She then took the chip out and put it in her pocket. She carried her own recipes since she had some particular tastes, and hadn't had a chance to put them into the computer just yet.

"I see you have kept yourself so busy you have not had time to set up the replicators for your tastes," Dodd stated to what he just observed. "I know you have been very busy tweaking all the minor issues to keep a major issue from happening. I appreciate that. Now I would like to run over my plans for how to get workaround access for all ships functions in case of any scenario that should arise on this mission. The captain wants to be able to access any system remotely from any terminal on the ship in any event especially if the bridge must be evacuated or we are boarded. All senior officers will need access to any remote systems. I feel you can lead the team to handle about half of these while I direct another team on the other half. I will do Warp Drive, Computer Core, Medical systems and all the systems that are used for shuttle control. I know you will rock in getting Life Support, tractor beam, weapons and Impulse Drive systems all set up for workaround access. Then we can regroup and move forward with the remaining systems. How does that sound to you?" Dodd stated and then finally stopped to get Taggert's two cents worth.

"Are we really expecting to be boarded on this mission?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in an almost Vulcan-like manner.

"I was ordered to prepare all systems with workaround counter access for any scenario," Dodd replied. "I hope that we are proactive enough to keep from getting boarded."

"I see," she replied, trying to take it all in. "The advantage of LCARS over the older systems last century is the ability to access systems anywhere, but I do think we should work on optimising our system interfaces for quick access based on biometrics, and user functions on the ship. That way, we can use a person's comm-badge to recognise what he needs to do. For example, if Lieutenant Sarah Alice Luffmann needed to pilot the ship, and all she had was the CMO's terminal, we could use the comm badge to recognize her system access clearance, her hand prints on the terminal to verify her identity with her own unique vein patterns, then prioritize the information and controls she needed based on the size of the terminal available."

"I like your method of thinking. I think if all the senior staff and the top staff in each department were set up that way for every system the need then we would be able to get the workaround issues all settled and please the captain," Dodd stated in a surprised manner but with a firm tone of seriousness to his voice.

"Now if we're worried about being boarded, sir," she said, leaning forward in her chair, as some of her wavy blonde hair fell forward, "we should also make sure that our systems can't be accessed first, without a commbadge, and in case one gets stolen, that we verify the biometric IDs with the crewman the commbadge belongs to."

oO Wow, Taggert is a great asset and yet she may be trying to get my job. Oo Dodd thought but really hoped she was not out to take his job away from him.
"I think we have our work ahead of us, let's work each of our areas and then regroup once we have all of your suggestions in operation," Dodd stated. "So feel free to use who you feel is best to get this plan in motion."

Then Ensign Taggert and the chief departed his office and started to work on getting all the links of the chain in place to pull off the workarounds requested by the captain.

- Bridge -

With Cahill now having left the bridge she once again pressed the Comms =/\= Bridge to K'Muss =/\=

=/\= K'Muss here, Captain.=/\= He replied

=/\= El-tee, begin running your 101 marines through various insertion scenarios, do not forget to include extraction and sabotage in those practices, Bravo Unit has a different assignment to do. =/\=

=/\= On it.=/\=

=/\= Affirmative, Somers out=/\= as the Comms were closed she turned to K'Tel "So Lieutenant, how did you find your first time flying this ship?"

"Like riding a...what is it, that two-wheeled vehicle you humans operate with your feet?" Akuhl said.

She looked at the Doctor, "A bicycle El-tee, a bicycle," smiling as she spoke

- Bridge -

Back on the bridge, Jasmine looked around "Sheela, have you gotten all the information from Omega SFI Department?" Then looking over at Sterling "Maia how goes the update and is there a way we can detect those Tachyon fields, Maia? *looking over at K'Tel* Akuhl please keep my ship steady please, she will be seeing enough action soon enough."

"Keeping her steady, aye," Akuhl said.

Sheela glanced at Somers, "Looking through it now." She was reading bits and pieces as it scrolled across her screen as information was being received and stored for later full in-depth study. "I'll have something for yooz in a few moments after Iz receive the full packet. Captain. And gone through it." She paused for a second or two. "But definitely want uz to stop at the Starbase to pick up more troops. Yooz to see the Operations Commander for 'Operation Snooze'."

"Packets are one thing Captain, but we need some real time Intel. Perhaps we should send in a recon mission to reconnoitre," Maia suggested.

Jasmine thought on what she was being told and answering Sterling first "Commander prepare a stealth intel probe, one of those new ones that were brought aboard when we resupplied. They have reflective hull material, it is a little old school, but a material that is black and blocks incoming sensor scans is a bonus considering they are too small to fit a cloaking device. Prepare one and prepare to launch when we reach the inner systems asteroid field, we will see if it can get more data that way.

"Aye Captain, I can set that probe to emit Polaron bursts that may help us map their Tachyon grid and also to determine what's generating it," Maia said.

"Excellent, we will launch it the moment we approach the inner asteroid belt of this system," Jasmine said smiling, she was not going to make the same mistakes this time around as she had last time.

Nodding she looked at Sheela with a puzzled look "That is what those extra troop transports are out there for, should we need them, the Tomcat lost most of its evac capacity to accommodate the specialised fighters and what they require to function and then there are the extra marines we have, but advice noted, now what is this Operation Snooze you mentioned?" Jasmine asked.

"That is what High Command of the Operation is calling it," Sheela looked at Somers. "Plus a personal Meet-n-Greet type of thing. To get the feel of the Ship Captains that are heading into the fray. Plus it'll give me time to get additional information that isn't transmitted."

Dr Cahill left and went to Sickbay, she got her stuff and went to Holo Deck 1 and started running several scenarios as she finished one she started another one. She continued this till the holo suite shut down letting her know we were at Star Base Omega. She came out into the corridor and was passing a porthole she looked out and saw the star base. She paused a minute to enjoy the beauty. She then continued on to her quarters to shower and change uniforms. She was finished and went to Sick Bay.

She tagged her comm badge and notified the Bridge. =/\= We have received full updates on the Sickbay computers and are ready to assume any missions necessary. All new crew members have had their physicals and are already sent to their duty sections for assignment of shifts. We are running some scans here in Sick Bay to see what we can find out assisting you Commander Sterling so far we have little information and continue to run what we can from here.=/\=

=/\= Understood Doctor, if you find anything more please inform me, Sterling out =/\= Maia replied.

While all this was going on Jasmine returned to reading a Padd, currently, she could do nothing as she had a capable crew doing their jobs well so she caught up on security reports from SFHQ. They were your standard run of the mill reports and the like and she sarcastically thought oO they are just so darn riveting Oo

When they had gotten all they had from Starbase Omega her console bleeped alerting her to all clear, she looked up "Lieutenant K'Tel, set a course out of the area to this point outside the inner asteroid belt" Jasmine said tapping something in on her chair monitor and sending it to the helm station.

"Leaving the inner asteroid belt, aye," Akuhl said, entering the commands.

With that, the ship started to move forward and it was at this moment she opened a ship-wide channel, she pressed a button on her chair arm.

=/\= All hands this is the Captain, we are leaving Starbase Omega space and will be travelling through a lightly packed small micro-asteroid field, all departments set up fail safes in secure systems. Also keep a look out for any hull breaches, Lieutenant K'Muss, I hope your teams are prepared? one more thing good luck to all of us, let's make it out of this system with all the crew we initially started with, thank you, Bridge out =/\=

She looked to Sheela and Sterling, "Not my best speech was it?"

"It was short and sweet and to the point. I take it we are going to be travelling faster than we should through such a field? Faster than a quarter impulse with full shields? Sounds like a good time to attack us. Are you laying a trap Captain?" Maia replied. "Sounds pretty dangerous," Maia added.

Maia had known and served with Captain Somers for some time now and trusted her implicitly. There must have been some tactical reasoning for this course of action.

Jasmine looked closely at Sterling, she had known Maia for some time and had come to trust and rely on her, also Maia was one of the few First Officers she had that was willing not to hold punches when she thought the Captain was in the wrong or needed to be reminded of something. Still, her thoughts and emotions on their current objective were a mixed bag, the majority of her senior staff were new to the ship so they had been spared the horrors of the first time around, they were the lucky ones. For sometimes Jasmine had noticed that K'Tel had been uneasy at manning the helm station even so far she managed to do it like a pro, but it would seem she preferred the Medical side of things. Now Jasmine had to think who would take her place as helm officer.

Sheela sat there at her station on the bridge as she listened to the speech. She stood up, turning the console over to her second. She disconnected her black storage device from the console and left the bridge with it. "Iz be in Intel Section." Then entered the turbo lift.

- Engineering -

The Engineering staff were working the final tasks in getting the biometric scanners linked with the commbadges and linking all of that to allow access to necessary ship systems that each person needed if the need should arise that anyone had to lock out the ship from any threat that could come along.

oO I feel a large level of tension within my staff. I will need to figure out a way to get my staff to think of something other than what the captain just said. Oo Dodd thought to himself. What could he do? He decided that as he started to walk around and examine all the finished tasks, he would do his very best to portray his positive thoughts and encourage every member of his staff as he reviewed their work.

Nicole had a series of badges on the counter, backs open, as she used a magnifying glass to insert the second chip into the upgrade socket in the communications badge with her tweezers, then closed it back up. Another tray of ten finished. She was working in one of the science labs on Deck 11

"Teela, can you return these up to science?" she asked, as the purple-skinned engineer smiled, nodded, and took the tray. Nicole had already had ten crewmen from the science department surrender their commbadges so she could make the small modification.

The door slid closed as she left, purple tail swishing as she did. Nicole chuckled a little to herself. She started working on the commbadges for the bridge crew, adding in the small extra circuit to each badge. She had the trays divided and labelled so that each person would get his own badge back. Nicole had made the circuit to disable the re-assignment feature of the badge and respond to the specific vein patterns every sentient lifeform on this ship had. Luckily, no horta were on board.

The door slid open. It was Ensign Lauren Southern. She was in a jumpsuit, as it was easier to work in the Jeffries Tubes with one on. She was breathing heavily, and she was followed by Reggy Thompson.

"Reg, Lauren," Nicole looked up and gave the two a smile. She was in her uniform pants and tank top, hair in a ponytail to get it out of the way. She'd cut it, but it grew about a foot a month, so there wasn't much point. "What's news?"

"We were over in the Jeffries Tubes," Lauren began, "and Reg and I were thinking. If the Chief wants us to stop others from accessing the life support, weapons, and impulse systems, why not manually disconnect them from other systems?"

"Manually disconnect them?" Taggert asked.

"Yes sir," Reg chimed in. "Basically, someone, let's say Starfleet, can theoretically log into our computers and upload data. That's how we normally work day today. That's how we update star charts, fleet data, crew information, and so on. But if we disable our subspace transceivers..."

"I get you," Nicole said, catching on. "If we disable the comm systems' computer line, they can't log in surreptitiously with possibly stolen codes and add, remove, or change data, like forcing us to drop shields or disable weapons!"

"Yes ma'am," Lauren said with a nod and a smile. "But, we need to add in a recorder, so that we can record all incoming data. That way, we can backtrace it to see where it's coming from, and verify if it's legit or if not, ID whoever's doing the sending."

"Reg, get Teela on it," Nicole said, pointing her thumb upwards in the direction of the main subspace transceiver assembly. "Get Marco and Roger with her. Lauren, I'm about done here. I'll get over to the Jeffries tubes and help install those hardpoint overrides on the impulse drive systems so no one without current, on-ship access codes, biometrics, and a commbadge can access those systems."

"And if someone loses his commbadge in a fight, or someone steals it?" Reg asked as he got to the door, and turned back.

"Teela and I were thinking about this one," Nicole replied. "We're doing three out of four," she said, finishing the thought. "So if you have your own access codes, biometric print, commbadge, and you're in the crew complement, you can access your specific functions only. Once the captain goes to yellow alert and then red alert, that's it. So, even if these bad guys, whoever they are, try to board, they can't access anything, since, one, the computer is shut off external access so if you're not in the crew complement, you can't access anything; two, if you don't have a listed commbadge, three, biometric print, and four, access codes, you won't get in. For the crew on the ship, we all have our access codes, we're into the computer, we have biometrics, and we have our commbadges. So, we won't have that problem. And is someone steals a badge, and their biometrics don't match the little lock-in chip I've been putting in," she help up the tray of small chips to emphasize her point, "then that commbadge is locked out, and security alerted to the person's location and that that crewman lost his badge, and might need rescue or help."

"Why don't we do all this normally?" asked Lauren, the 5'4" blonde as she walked towards her superior officer of about 9 months or so.

"Efficiency, and normally, we don't really face all this stuff every day. Most of Starfleet's opponents don't ever think to access our computers during a fight. Usually, it's phasers and torpedoes all over the place," Nicole replied, gesturing with her hands around her head. "Day to day, it's more than enough that we use quantum encryption, voiceprint access codes, commbadge voiceprint authentication, and crew complement authentication."

"I got ya," Lauren said with a smile and a nod.

"Come on, Dixie," Nicole said, putting a friendly hand on her co-worker's shoulder. She used the playful nickname Lauren earned by being named 'Southern' and being from deep Georgia, over in Montezuma, and being a farmer to boot before joining Starfleet. "Let's get up to the impulse drive on deck 3 and get started on that."

The main computer core was updated and ready for the new adjustments that would have it disconnected per the ideas that Engineering was putting into place to protect the ship and the computer. Dodd was working on the warp core and all the related relays to prepare them from unauthorised access. Young engineering technician Nelson was working on all the back-ups for the Medical systems and preparing those for the new adaptions. He was nervous but happy that he was assigned the task.

"Everything going okay?" Dodd asked of Nelson as he walked past him to get some tools he needed.

"I am almost done with all the vital systems for sickbay. I just have the EMH program to work on." Nelson replied.

"Great. However, we may need to make that program accessible to all the holodecks and holo suites on the ship if we take on heavy causalities. We may not be able to get all the wounded to sickbay and if the doctors are busy we can have the EMH activated in any of those locations to assist in triage and emergency services." Dodd replied.

"Aren't there holo-emitters on the bridge as well?" Nelson asked.

"Yes, there are holo-emitters on the bridge as they are standard on all ships since Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant. However, we can send the EMH program from a holo-suite to those emitters if needed." Dodd replied back to Nelson. "We need to focus on getting everything synced up with what Taggert's ideas are."

"Sir, I just want to say that I am now finished with all the medical systems for Sickbay and the EMH," Nelson stated as he closed the access panel he was working in.

"Great, now go to the Science Lab on Deck 11 and see if Ensign Taggert needs any assistance. If she has nothing, then please return to engineering and run a full diagnostic on the anti-matter injectors and the antimatter storage pods." Dodd command fo the young technician.

- Bridge -

It was slow going, but their way out was well guarded by extra defence turrets that watched a set route out of the micro-asteroid field, it took a day to get passed the small space rocks, but eventually the ship had exited the field and made Goodtime to the jump off point, she hoped that Sheela could do something with the intel omega has sent over, Jasmine now looked at K'Tel.

"Lieutenant K'Tel when we get to the jump off location have Ensign Wright take over from you, I am sure you have Medical duties to attend to and I think I have kept you long enough away from your main job. But know this *raises finger with a smile* there may be times in an emergency when you may be called upon to fly my ship"

"Yes ma'am," Akuhl said, trying not to sound too relieved.

Dr Cahill left Sick Bay and went to the Science section. once there she continued to check her findings. She tagged her communications badge. =/\= Cahill to Bridge, Captain I am sending you some information now. I have found some signs of weakness in the Orions shields we may be able to exploit to our advantage and also have found there are some weakness' we can use against the Orion too. Their anatomy cannot stand a large amount of radiation and their shields do not protect them from it the way our shields do. Radiation causes them severe burns on their derma and can be fatal it exposed for long periods as well. This means we can limit our searches in areas of large radiation levels looking for them. Also, their shields show weakness' in the following areas. This may give us something to disable or destroy their ships in a fight. =/\=

Turning in her chair to look at Sterling, she tapped her Commbadge =/\= Understood Lieutenant Commander Sterling is getting right on that and thank you for the information. Somers out =/\= With that, she closed the link and watched Sterling get to work.

[OFF]

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

Commander Maia Sterling
First Officer/CSO
USS Tomcat

Lt. Cmdr Sheela Swiftpaws
Chief Intelligence Officer/2XO
USS Tomcat

Major S'arila Donovan [PNPC: Somers]
Bravo Unit Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Alexanderia Cahill MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Solan Jekkar
Chief Security Officer/Tactical
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Akhul K'Tel MD
Medical Officer/Helm Officer(P/T)
USS Tomcat

Ensign Nicole Taggert
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Tomcat

Second Lieutenant K'Muss
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

 

RSS Feed