Hydaransz Mission Briefing Part 1

Posted on 17 Oct 2022 @ 5:48pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers

3,996 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: Diplomatic Incident/Hydaransz Again (Main)
Location: USS Tomcat Conference Room
Timeline: MD: 00

https://wiki.pegasusfleet.net/index.php/Hydaransz_System THIS IS THE SYSTEM I AM DESCRIBING

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[ON]

With the rest gone, Jasmine looked up to see a young Lieutenant JG enter the conference room, he looked sort of lost, giving him a friendly smile "relax Lieutenant, I know this is your first time here, but none of us bites" the Fleet Captain said, "Please have a seat" she added and waited till he was seated, the Colonel sat also.

After inhaling to get some oxygen the Fleet Captain began "Okay, for your part of the mission we have a temporary ship assigned to us for our use, it is a second-generation Nebula class, she was equipped to fight in the Dominion War so her weapon and defences are the latest we have, the difference lies inside the ship" *inhales* the inside of the ship has been highly modified, the ship has quarters enough for a skeleton ships crew, one science lab, one holodeck. The ship has enlarged shuttle bays and modified two-man bunk rooms for the assault troops. *pause* Commander Cahill, you will be in command of this vessel, you will also act as the ship's CMO and Lieutenant Thompson your acting XO and Chief Science officer. Lieutenant Benson will be your acting CSec/CTac for the mission, Lieutenant Hewitt is acting CEO, and Lieutenant Donovan will get a replacement Second before I continue are there any questions?" the Fleet Captain asked.

"Not particularly on my end. That leaves a lot of space we can power off. I mean a lot of space to have forwarded to other systems. I also like the Nebula, it seems like an upgraded Miranda class. Though I still prefer a Constitution II class." Faith gave a grin. "Can I have one of those for my personal use?"

The Fleet Captain looked at Benson and simply raised an eyebrow "no you cannot" she said, with a grim smile in return.

"But but..." Faith pouted a little bit, crossing her arms under her bust a little in protest.

Hewitt nodded as he was briefed. Todd looked at his wristwatch and then thought to himself. A Modified Nebula class for Dominion War. The ship was all essentials and stripped down to be mission specific. Todd needed Hawksley now more than ever, his ever-pressing Chief. Now he was an acting Chief of Engineering. The thought glowed; the thought thrived in him. Now was his chance to show that he, Todd Hewitt, was more than the sum of just another engineer in the department.

“Captain.” Todd addressed the Captain, who was frail yet had all the fight in the world left with her. “We will not let you down. I will not let you down. How much staff and when will my staffing arrive? I have much to study Nebula class variant EPS and CNS cores?” Hewitt scratched at the side of his head and bit his lower lip. This was happening!

Looking at Hewitt "as I said Lieutenant, a skeleton crew, enough to operate a Nebula class efficiently" the Captain said.

Mazal pulled her thoughts back to what was going on, as XO of the Marines with Jackson not being here, she had to step in. It was starting to filter into Mazal's mind that she would be Acting CO of the marines for this mission. This was going to be her trial by fire, even more so than what she had done in the past.

"Fleet Captian Somers and LTC Somers. I am honoured to be given this chance. And understand the orders. I will not bring dishonour to the Tomcat. I am ready to do what is next" Mazal said.

Both the Colonel and Fleet Captain looked at each other then at Falk and one person raised their left eyebrow and said at the same time "Indeed" and smiled as they both looked at the final two.

"I know that the Nebula class does not, or is rather not readily made for fighters but*draws a breath* but in this case are we angling to carry a group or am I to just fly the starship?" Serina queried.

Mazal's cheeks coloured just a bit, getting that attention from both the Colonel and the Fleet Captain. She felt confident in accomplishing what was needed, just, it was going to be an adjustment. She also realized she sounded like a Klingon when she spoke of honour.

Cahill listened to what was being said. "The problem with fighters being used is we cannot communicate with them and also it is hard to get a transporter lock to beam the pilot out if it is necessary to save them. That is a safety issue we do have here for instance if the fighter is being destroyed. And would put fighter pilots at unnecessary risk."

Mazal raised up a hand and then addressed the group. "Sirs, why wouldn't we be able to communicate with the fighters, they would be able to connect to main communications on a closed and secure channel this way we can keep track of them."

"It's not a technical issue apparently what is required is a communications blackout. It's for stealth purposes." Matt Replied.

Cahill replied, "There is something about the Hydaransz Space system that does not allow our communications systems to work. It for some reason blocks our signal. One thing I plan to do is let Engineering work to find out what causes it and come up with some recommendations to prevent it in the future."

"The ship WILL be able to connect with the fighters, the Nebula class USS Roosevelt has been heavily modified to carry troops and fighters, so communications will not be a problem commander Cahill," the Colonel said unable to retain a bit of exasperation that tinted her voice.

Fleet Captain Somers continued "okay, so with the Command staff sorted and the Rifles done, *looks at Cahill* Commander Cahill with lieutenant Donovan as your CAG/Helm officer you will have the 100th and 102nd Squadrons detached to you and you will be in command of the space side of the mission Lieutenant Falk the other side and one more thing before I continue. *pauses and looks at Falk* Lieutenant Falk, for this mission I am promoting you to Brevet Captain, do you know what a Brevet is?" the Fleet Captain asked.

Cahill replied, "I do but the others may know. You can explain it to the others if you wish Fleet Captain Somers. I do understand the mission and thank you for the crew assignments as well. I will serve you and Star Fleet with honour and dignity. And will do my very best to complete my mission and also bring my ship and crew home safely."

"Yes, I do, Sir. Brevet would mean something temporary. Therefore I will be acting captain of the 95th for this mission only." Falk replied, trying to keep an impassive face, but in her eyes, there was a great amount of surprise, and shock as she looked at both Somers. She wasn't going to question the decision, what with Jackson being unavailable, it would go to the next one in line to complete this mission and this would be her.

*Smiling* "excellent, okay a little bit on your destination, the Hydaransz System used to be a small unclaimed system on the border of Federation space, the only problem was that it was also bordered by the Klingon and Romulan Empires, over fourteen years ago this ship was part of a largely assembled armada that was sent to take the system. One problem was the Pirates who were the alien versions of Trans Humans meaning they had homemade cybernetic prosthetics, which enhanced their strength and their toughness, to date there is only one other person remaining on the Tomcat that was there beside me for over 14 years ago and that is Lieutenant Commander Cahill, this is why she has been assigned command of the Roosevelt as she is familiar with the system" Captain Somers paused.

"The system would have remained neutral, except that it was a resource-rich system, that had significant amounts of all minerals and metals Starfleet uses in its ship construction and other such projects, the outer planets had plenty of deuterium, but there was also a large amount of Dilithium. The data on this system has been appended to your data Padds [See top of Post] there are two class M planets in the inner system, during the assault, there were a lot of casualties, the number of troops Starfleet supplied outdid what was used during the Dominion War and it was more costly too, if not from a major assist from the Klingon Empire it would have been a lost cause, but capturing the system took a long time" another pause.

"Now Pirates have returned to the system and are trying to steal resources, there is a suspicion that they may be buying time until they can rebuild their numbers and go to take the system back, but for that, they will need resources, the Starfleet presence there was light as up until recently there was no calls for a lot of ships, but all reports indicate the six Starfleet ships stationed there have been keeping the Pirates at bay, so Starfleet is sending heavier ships as is the Klingon's for the space side of things. After we had taken the system the Federation and the Klingons got the lion's share and the system was absorbed into the Federation, but Romulans being who they were not happy, so on one of the Class M planets there were two Embassies along with a Federation complex, the Klingon's had one Embassy and Romulan's another it was that and they were allowed 20% of the resources. They wanted more, but as they never supplied ships or troops to take the system they were denied but managed to walk away with twenty per cent, now their key contribution is intelligence and that is how we found out about the renewed attacks, are there any questions on what I said so far before I give you your target to aim for?" Captain Somers asked

Cahill replied, "No questions at this time. I am ready for this mission. And I plan to take only minimal personal items with me I keep a go bag packed for missions like this. And have some things ready for a fight if it is needed.

Lieutenant Hewitt swallowed and followed along the report with his padd. He didn’t understand Brevet Captain but understood it was welcomed. Falk was more than capable and able to lead and be a leader. Thus, he was happy that his friend had come into such rank.

“Ma'am's, I have it on the scuttle that engineering sections are a favourite target of the privateers in the region. If I have enough time, I can work through shifts and get up a working containment force field system, acting as ablative armour for inner Core Sub Systems. One or two good shots at the USS Roosevelt engineering section would put us in a serious situation.” Lt. Hewitt spoke.

The Fleet Captain looked at Hewitt with a patented look "excellent Lieutenant, you will need to work out the finer things and run them by Commander Cahill when you are on the Roosevelt" the Fleet Captain responded.

Secondly, Todd raised his hand so that he was not finished questioning. “Sirs, Will we set aside the warp 7.8 cruising standard for 9.998? I can have those plasma reactors working 10x fold to ensure the best manoeuvres and piloting for the fighters to work in tandem if needed.” He spoke. It was a question and approval he was seeking.

*both women inwardly sighed and pinned the Lieutenant with a look* "again Lieutenant take that up with Commander Cahill when on the ship, it will be her command and it will be up to her to say yay or nay, is that understood Lieutenant Hewitt?" Fleet Captain Somers asked while she continued to look directly at him.

"At this time, I don't have any questions, yet, but I am sure I will once more information is becoming available," Mazal stated.

"I will be taking Racine as my second as she can fly the Nebula while I lead the fighters if *breathes* if that is ok with everyone", Serina said finally.

Hewitt almost guffawed at the response. Todd only wanted to talk about engineering offerings, nothing commitment. A cold shower he needed now as he was completely confused as to this meeting. He felt the cold shoulder that the two Fleet commanders and captains had given him.

"My apologies then. Of Course, I will run them by Commander Cahill." He shut up which was all he would be told by faces.

"Captain, I have a question, Ma'am. Do we know what band of pirates we are going up against? Or is it our job to find out?" Thompson asked.

"I'm willing to bet some of those will be the Orion Syndicate. Seems right up their alley." Faith gave thought a moment, "I don't have any questions right now, but I'm sure one will come up soon enough."

The Fleet Captain looked over at Thompson "No we do not Lieutenant but assume it is a standard variety, the cyber-enhanced Pirates were eradicated years ago, so expect the usual hostiles and like mentioned possibly some Orion Pirates and they will be well armed so be warned, understood?" the Fleet Captain responded after Benson had made a comment.

"Roughnecks, Aye captain, we will meet them head-on," Matt said.

"I remember the pounding we took there to Captain Somers. We had a lot of casualties. I am hoping we don't have a repeat of that. We ran across 3 Orion Battlecruisers. And had some heavy damage but somehow got help and came out on top. My goal is to not have a repeat of that. Had we not received some help that day we may not be here today. " Replied Cahill.

"ain't that the truth Commander, ain't that the truth!" the Fleet Captain said remembering those dark days. The only worst was when the Dominion shot a ship I was on up so bad we had to abandon the ship before the warp core breached. I was a young LT straight out of the academy. Replied Cahill.

"I suppose.. it's a good thing you have me along for this then. So we have a lot going for us now. Or at least from me." Faith was not smiling necessarily. She was serious. "That's going to tell me, not only will there be those. Also, it shall mean that any pirates that we run across are going to have kit-bashed systems. Every single one will be easily compromised. The Nebula Class is not anything to mess with. Near as much as one thinks. It's not just a workhorse." Rolling her shoulders a bit. "It won't happen again. The other thing that I know." Closing her eyes a moment. "The old sections as well."

"Lieutenant Benson, I know as an El'Aurian you have many years of experience, but you do not know the System as I do, you will not have an easy time there and Hubris can get you killed and you Lieutenant strike me as someone who is all too aware of the price of hubris" the Fleet Captain Admonished she kept her tone neutral and factual, such attitude could be a good thing, but overconfidence could also be a killer too.

"Not at all what I meant, Captain. I apologize if it was taken as such. I simply meant about the ships we may come across. Also, that just because it is a Nebula class she shouldn't be seen as a hindrance." Faith gave a soft nod. "I am still fairly young by El'Aurian standards. Still much to learn, regardless of experience already. I would love to know more about the system than given in the reports."

Looking at Benson and her face softened "thank you for clarifying that Lieutenant Benson, I am not above being corrected on certain stuff nor is the Colonel" the Fleet Captain said and the Colonel nodded in agreement.

Hewitt breathed in and breathed out. He was used to working on emergency protocols, shunts, and core passivity arrangements for such barrages from pirates. Todd had been through a few similar simulations on the holodeck lately. It was almost as if he sensed this was coming, this mission.

The Colonel looked at Hewitt oO much confidence in that one, hope he learns to temper it, or else it will bring trouble Oo the Colonel thought to herself as she studied Hewitt.

Both looked at Hewitt, then at each other, both knew they had done or said something wrong, or not said something right. it was the Fleet Captain that spoke up "Lieutenant Hewitt, I apologise if we downplayed your input and hard work, but what you basically said went over our heads, what you said sounded great, perhaps you could give Acting Captain Cahill a proper brief on what you worked up for the Roosevelt and while you are at it send your modifications to Lieutenant Hawksley to see if he can adapt any of those modifications to the Tomcat" Fleet Captain Somers said with a kind smile.

"Aye Ma'ams. I was only trying to help and engage in a discussion that was supposed to be a briefing." Hewitt replied

Then the Colonel spoke up "the work you put in is tremendous Lieutenant, and I and the Fleet Captain encourage more of what you have been doing, but if something like this happens again and a similar response happens, do not take it hard, it just means we have no idea or scant little understanding of what you are saying about modifications, but I admit they sound good and they might be able to be adapted to the Tomcat too" the Colonel paused.

"There you have it, Lieutenant Hewitt, you have witnesses that the two senior officers in this room are lacking knowledge in the engineering area and we are both sorry for downplaying your contribution and did not mean to do it and nothing ill was meant of it," the Fleet Captain said.

"I wish to serve and understand that you both do not understand Engineering." Hewitt was keeping his cool. This was not going well for him.

"Okay, if all that is done, a final brief on your actual target, this will be more for the Rifles than the ship-based personnel," Captain Somers said as she took in the room from her hoverchair.

"That I am looking forward to." Mazal spoke up, "Definitely need the more nitty gritty as to who, or what we will be facing."

"I would like to stay if I may Fleet Captain Somers. Their mission may affect mine as well if something goes wrong." Replied Cahill.

*looking at the Second Officer* "It may Commander, you will be the only way the Rifles can get out of the system, the London class transports may be tough, but they are not fast" Captain Somers said.

Cahill replied, "That is why I wanted to stay Captain Somers, Knowing what their mission is will allow me to better position the ship the be a bigger help to them. And also I want to study why the Hydransz System interferes with communications systems in Starfleet. If it can be discovered, it will allow us to be more effective in the system. And better counter the attacks by pirates as well.

"You have a talented engineer and Science Officer in Hewitt and Thompson respectively, use their skills, would you be okay with that Lieutenant Hewitt?" the Captain asked the Engineer.

"Of course, Captain." Hewitt had nodded. "No issue, Ma'am with extra help. He would be happy too."

With that and a nod, she continued as she pulled up a 2D image of the system:



"Apologies for the map, forgot to render it in 3D, but for our purposes to save me saying Hydransz all the time I will speak of each planet as Hy7 as an example, this will forget about the inner asteroid belt and planets, there is a Scientific base in orbit of Hy7, Hy8 another lab in orbit of that Gas Giant plus an orbital mining station, that mines the hydrogen, Neon and Helium and 26 moons 6 are habitable and have marine training bases on three them as they have a high gravity composition ideal for strengthening leg muscles, on the other three are farms and hydroponics they will be the ones the pirates would concentrate on. Hy9 its two moons are barren of everything including minerals and ores, with nothing on them. The planet itself has a mining facility that mines gaseous Deuterium, it is a slot task and that mine is automated, there is also an Iron mining base there, manned and ironing the planet's solid iron core, its surface ice while for the most part is useless there is frozen water vapour at the poles and at each pole is an ice mining outpost, these too are manned and will have been captured as would the Iron mining outpost" the Captain paused.

"Okay Hy10 that is a different kettle of fish this is a Class C Ice planet and there is an abundance of Deuterium present and contains one of the largest mining colonies we have, expect that to be heavily occupied by hostile forces, then you have the outer asteroid belt home to many mining facilities that mine dilithium and the rare element Neutronium, yes that stuff the Doomsday machine was made of and in its powdered and solid states is very volatile so be warned, then there is the Nor class Starbase" she paused "okay before I go over the basic plan of attack and speak a bit of the station are there any questions to what I have currently said?" the Captain asked.

Cahill replied, "Not much has changed in the system Captain, looks much like it has for a long time. It is a lot like what some called Dodge City during the time on earth in the old west.

"Well study the system and all its eccentricities well Commander as this will be your first command and I would like you to bring my crew home" Captain Somers said.

Cahill replied, "Is that what all Captains plan to do Captain Somers? And to bring their ships back in one piece as well too. My goals are simple to see the mission goes well and to see the mission is a success. Bring the crew and ship back in all cases."

"Excellent" Jasmine said, she was starting to feel drained by this meeting.

[OFF]

 

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