Mission 1 - Klingon Neutral Zone - Part 1

[Amanda Rose]

Postby KendleRJ » Sun May 18, 2014 10:13 am

The plasma ball headed directly at Legacy. Unfortunately, Legacy's phaser banks overloaded and no further phaser fire headed out in the general direction of the uncloaked ship that now faded back into obscurity, having fired its weapon.

Cindy called out, "I need phasers! NOW! A phaser burst should disrupt it!"

Relays sparked in a rapidly expanding series of flashes as fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to shunt the power, and ground it out before the entire phaser array had fused in one solid metallic slag heap. The plasma had done its damage, and Frankie was virtually toothless. Engineering responded in an uncomfortably difficult manner to the urgent request of its Captain.

"Sorry, Captain Cindy, but phasers are non responsive." A large crackling sound could be heard over the communicator. "The plasma seems to have impacted our weapons array... badly."

Cindy was not happy with the news. With phasers unavailable there was only one thing left to do. "Luke, reverse course, emergency warp! Now!"

tag - Luke

"I need an estimate of when phasers will be back on line, Nav! I also need to know when the plasma burst is calculated to overtake us."

Assessing the damage and deploying damage control teams, Nav reviewed the relay outputs, and grinned widely. They'd managed to minimise some of the damage to the right phaser array allowing for three of the six turrets to function relatively quickly, but the left one had been fused and required an overhaul. She looked at the others and verified the inventory listing; relays could be replaced, but it would take far longer than the Legacy might have. The approaching plasma ball rolled closer as she waited impatiently for the calculations.

They could shunt power to run through one set of relays to allow for all six turrets to fire, but could end up completely crippling the weapons' system and they would be without phasers for quite some time. It would shave some time off of the availability of the system, but as the computer spit out the numbers, they simply didn't add up.

"Captain Cindy," Nav said calmly despite her white-knuckled grip on either side of her station, "Estimated time for repair of the phaser array is..." she swallowed audibly but continued, her voice still steady, "...We can get the right bank of phasers up and running in approximately..." Too long. "1.3 minutes longer than it will take for the burst to reach the ship." Her shoulders sagged, but her voice remained calm, and her face was serene. She had shaved as much as she could from the repairs, but it was still not enough. Relays had to be replaced; cables laid, and burned out wiring removed. There was still a point to the repairs, so she didn't relay the information to the repair teams. More people wouldn't help... there simply wasn't enough time.

But she'd rather be actively trying to get them some weapons back online than standing at her station, shaking. Leaning forward, she scooped her tool kits up and hauled it toward the left phaser array. They were in worse shape, but, as long as she was thinking positively, they might require all phasers in working order. They would need all available Engineering crew to complete the repairs.

There was nothing to it. Cindy's first command was going to end in the death of everyone on Legacy. The plasma burst was going to overtake them before the phasers could be repaired. She ordered for an emergency space recorder to be jettisoned and watched as the plasma ball got nearer to the ship. As it came closer, she noticed something amazing. The plasma torpedo was starting to break up.

tag - all on bridge for reactions

Cindy's heart leapt for joy. Maybe they would survive. She knew that she would not make the same mistake twice if they survived! The weakened plasma blast rocked the Legacy. People and instruments were thrown about. Cindy called out, "Status report. Damage report. Sickbay," she finally called, "injuries?"

Nav stumbled once as she rushed across the catwalks, her forehead tapping the hand rail lightly as she attempted to slide over one level. Lifting her hand gingerly to it, she found no dampness, and sighed in some relief. It would be a lovely bruise, most probably, but she would live, and wouldn't have to go to Sickbay immediately. That could wait until after the repairs, as long as she didn't hit it again. Besides, Khangura's were known for their determined natures and hard heads...

Sliding into a hold in the left array, she nodded curtly at the others. Adrenaline and necessity overrode the rising wave of dizzy nausea, and she turned her attention to the phaser relays. Every little bit helped.

"Khangura to Engineering, how close are we on the right phaser banks?" She huffed a little and said before a response, "Let the Bridge know, and tell them we're on the left array as well."

She whispered under her breath, "He'll hold together." They were going to be overrun with reports sooner or later, and she tapped Frankie's hull without thinking and murmured, "Hear me baby? Hold together." The Damage Repair Crew might be needed elsewhere for life support, but if they couldn't respond to the attack, or offset the next one, then no one was going to need to breathe much. That would spread their team thin, but they would just have to cope.

Wouldn't they just?

Tags Everyone

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Lucasausems » Mon May 19, 2014 5:28 pm

The ship pulled along side the comet's tail. Legacy waited and the Romulan ship did not double back as Williams predicted. After some time, Cindy called out, "Find me that ship!"

Luke furiously tapped the controls at his console. With some tweaks and turns he was able to widen the range of Frankie's whiskers a little bit more.

*BEEEEEEEEEP!*

It seemed he had found the ship.
Way too close for comfort.
How had it avoided detection?!

Cindy growled, wishing she had trusted her instincts. She snapped at Williams, knowing phasers had no chance of locking, now, "Lieutenant, fire phasers at will. I don't want that ship leaving our space! Hopefully we can get their attention without destroying them!"

This was getting out of hand, Luke thought. Forgetting about all the tensions from earlier, he was fully concentrated on flying the ship, ready for anything the other ship might do...

Captain Cindy didn't even have the word 'fire' out of her mouth before a barrage of phaser fire lanced out of the port emmitters and hit something unseen at the anomoly's position. Then it exploded.

That was far too easy.

"Helm! Evade to port!"

No sooner had TK shouted the warning did a plasma ball erupt from the obscuring tail of the comet.

Even while TK shouted directions Luke was already on it. The cloaked ship was so close the backlash from the explosion grazed the Legacy's port side, rocking the ship, almost throwing Luke out of his seat and taking out its phaser banks.

With phasers unavailable there was only one thing left to do. "Luke, reverse course, emergency warp! Now!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" Luke shouted, forgetting pleasantries and nicknames. With one smooth U-Turn the Legacy came about and entered warp, the plasma ball right behind them. Having averted disaster for the moment, Luke went through his options. The plasma ball went in a straight line, so if he diverted course by a few degrees the plasma ball might speed past them. Unfortunately there was no way of telling whether the plasma ball was able to track the Legacy, which would in that case only have it collide sooner. The best option available was to try and outrun it, but how long would that take, and were they fast enough???

Luke didn't dare think about what the what ifs... But miraculously the plasma burst started to break up. As it hit the Legacy the weakened force rocked the ship considerably and Luke was thrown out of his chair this time. Getting back up he evaluated the damage to the helm controls and propulsion systems. They had dropped out of warp, something about overheated engines...

Cindy called out, "Status report. Damage report. Sickbay," she finally called, "injuries?"

"Warp engines offline! Impulse only Captain.."

If that ship were to pursue they'd have no where to go now...

Even worse, they'd lost the whiskers, how were they going to protect themselves from what they could not see?

Tags

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Amanda Rose » Thu May 22, 2014 3:45 pm

Cindy listened calmly as all the reports came in. Warp off line. Whiskers off line. Right phaser banks online and left being worked on by Nav. At least there were only minor cuts and bruises. She was grateful that nobody was more seriously injured. Cindy silently vowed, her eyes growing darker, that nobody was going to suffer again as a result of a mistake. She was going to make the decisions from now on. She was not going to try to placate her tactical officer further. He would just have to deal with her decisions. If he wanted a battle with her, he would have to take it up in a dinner meeting after her dinner with Nav.

Cindy gave a quiet but audible sigh and stated, "Lieutenant Williams, you have to be able to see the ship and get a lock on someplace in the ship to actually board it. That is quite impossible at the moment. Even so, you underestimate Legacy. It may have a more powerful weapon but the Romulans cannot fire without becoming visible. If we had phasers online at the time of this attack, we could have detonated the plasma torpedo without harm to ourselves. We overheated. I am more than certain that Engineering will fix that problem shortly. Furthermore, they do not have warp which gives us much greater maneuverability and tactical abilities. I am surprised that a tactical officer of your caliber has overlooked those important advantages."

tag - Williams

She hit the comm and asked, "Engineering, when will we have warp?"

Whitney got on the comm and said, "Should be coming back online any moment now. Just a coolant leak."

Cindy smiled at nobody in particular but seemed to be looking in Phil's direction.

tag - Phil

"Seems our friends have not come looking for us. Seems they are rather single minded to get to the neutral zone. They only fired when they could not shake us. I think that means they're low on energy and need to get somewhere quickly."

tag - Phil

Cindy's voice took on a confident and commanding tone. "Let's get those whiskers back on line after those phaser banks. Aislinn, please help Nav."

tag - Aislinn, Nav

She looked at Luke and told him, "Luke, project the Romulan vessel's course and its time to the neutral zone if it stayed on the same path as when we were shadowing it. I have a feeling it may be close to the neutral zone now and I'd like to try and intercept it before it gets there."

tag - Luke

[Amanda Rose]

Postby T-Prime » Thu May 22, 2014 7:01 pm

Cindy gave a quiet but audible sigh and stated, "Lieutenant Williams, you have to be able to see the ship and get a lock on someplace in the ship to actually board it. That is quite impossible at the moment. Even so, you underestimate Legacy. It may have a more powerful weapon but the Romulans cannot fire without becoming visible. If we had phasers online at the time of this attack, we could have detonated the plasma torpedo without harm to ourselves. We overheated. I am more than certain that Engineering will fix that problem shortly. Furthermore, they do not have warp which gives us much greater maneuverability and tactical abilities. I am surprised that a tactical officer of your caliber has overlooked those important advantages."


TK's teeth grinding could be probably be heard two consoles over.

"We already have positive tracking of the enemy ship, that's all I need to get aboard." TK replied with as much poise as he could muster; and he was really scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

"As for my tactical oversights;" He began counting on his fingers, "Our warp drive is out, and if the enemy felt like it they would be here and we'd be dead already. We got lucky. Even when we get warp capability back, maneuverability is inversely proportional to speed. There is nothing in any Starfleet tactical analysis resembling this weapon, I've read them all, so there's no guarantee that a phaser burst would detonate it. That's a big gamble to take with the lives of everyone on this ship. Not to mention that these are the phaser banks that crapped out on us after just a few shots, so they're unreliable at best. So if you want to disagree with my analysis, fine. If you want to ignore my recommendations, fine. That's your prerogative, but don't ever question my competency. And don't even think of trying to pin the blame on me for the piss poor state we're currently in."

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Melissa Richards » Thu May 22, 2014 8:20 pm

Lt. Cmdr Jill Vodden
CMO



TK's teeth grinding could be probably be heard two consoles over.

"We already have positive tracking of the enemy ship, that's all I need to get aboard." TK replied with as much poise as he could muster; and he was really scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

"As for my tactical oversights;" He began counting on his fingers, "Our warp drive is out, and if the enemy felt like it they would be here and we'd be dead already. We got lucky. Even when we get warp capability back, maneuverability is inversely proportional to speed. There is nothing in any Starfleet tactical analysis resembling this weapon, I've read them all, so there's no guarantee that a phaser burst would detonate it. That's a big gamble to take with the lives of everyone on this ship. Not to mention that these are the phaser banks that crapped out on us after just a few shots, so they're unreliable at best. So if you want to disagree with my analysis, fine. If you want to ignore my recommendations, fine. That's your prerogative, but don't ever question my competency. And don't even think of trying to pin the blame on me for the piss poor state we're currently in."

Vodden listening over the open link to the bridge shook her head sadly. A talk with captain cindy was now imminent as clearly she didn't understand the needs of her crew. If you're going to counter someone, at least do it with courtesy. She was for all intents and purposes at war with her tactical officer right now, and that was a bad place to be when in a situation like this. She debated keying the intercom and putting her two cents in, but that wouldn't help and would likely turn the CO against her. No, this had to be handled a bit differently. The problem was, nothing could be done till they were out of this situation. Still, opinion was called for.

~Sickbay to bridge. Captain, assuming we get through this in one piece, I need to meet with you asap about some concerns I have regarding...health of the crew. Specifically, their...mental state.~

There, she'd said it. Sometimes a doctor had to play counselor as well.


tags

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Iar Edra » Fri May 23, 2014 12:05 am

"Move the whiskers to the following coordinates to give a full sensor picture around the comet. Feed any data indicating a spike in plasma density to myself and the helm." TK 'requested' from the science station.

"I'm on it, Lieutenant." Her fingers flew over the console, fulfilling the Tactical Officer's request. She organized the whiskers in such a way as to get the most coverage with minimal overlap. She then programmed them to send all data to the Tactical and Helm consoles, as well as those it was already going to.

<snip>

Cindy's heart leapt for joy. Maybe they would survive. She knew that she would not make the same mistake twice if they survived! The weakened plasma blast rocked the Legacy. People and instruments were thrown about. Cindy called out, "Status report. Damage report. Sickbay," she finally called, "injuries?"

Aislinn tried to hold on as the ship listed, but lost her grip and found herself on the ground. Thankfully, the toss-up seemed to be over rather quickly. She rolled with her feet under her into an upright position, then stood up. She didn't even feel bruised anywhere.
She returned to her console, getting a report from the Science department. "Science is reporting no injuries, Captain." She also sent that information to Sickbay as she reported her findings. "Also no damage to most Science operations critical to this mission. Stellar Cartography will have some minor orienteering calibrations to do when things have calmed down."

Cindy listened calmly as all the reports came in. Warp off line. Whiskers off line. Right phaser banks online and left being worked on by Nav. At least there were only minor cuts and bruises. She was grateful that nobody was more seriously injured. Cindy silently vowed, her eyes growing darker, that nobody was going to suffer again as a result of a mistake. She was going to make the decisions from now on. She was not going to try to placate her tactical officer further. He would just have to deal with her decisions. If he wanted a battle with her, he would have to take it up in a dinner meeting after her dinner with Nav.

Cindy gave a quiet but audible sigh and stated, "Lieutenant Williams, you have to be able to see the ship and get a lock on someplace in the ship to actually board it. That is quite impossible at the moment. Even so, you underestimate Legacy. It may have a more powerful weapon but the Romulans cannot fire without becoming visible. If we had phasers online at the time of this attack, we could have detonated the plasma torpedo without harm to ourselves. We overheated. I am more than certain that Engineering will fix that problem shortly. Furthermore, they do not have warp which gives us much greater maneuverability and tactical abilities. I am surprised that a tactical officer of your caliber has overlooked those important advantages."

Aislinn listened to the speech the Captain was giving to the Tactical Officer, then chuckled to herself. Tactical...she wasn't seeing much tact from anybody, at the moment. All the arguing between the Tactical Officer, Helmsman, and the Captain was starting to make her uncomfortable. It wasn't that people didn't disagree, even in what should have been a structured environment, but this wasn't just a disagreement anymore. Insults were being hurled, and what seemed to her as logical advice was being ignored. It wasn't her place to interject her opinion here, but she hoped this was not going to be the usual working environment.

"Seems our friends have not come looking for us. Seems they are rather single minded to get to the neutral zone. They only fired when they could not shake us. I think that means they're low on energy and need to get somewhere quickly."

tag - Phil

Cindy's voice took on a confident and commanding tone. "Let's get those whiskers back on line after those phaser banks. Aislinn, please help Nav."

"Aye, Sir!"

She grabbed a small utility bag that carried a handful of tools she was likely to need at any given time and headed for the Lift, passing off her station to a secondary Science officer. She was only too glad to get off the bridge at the moment, happy to get away from the bickering. Part-way down, she tapped her comm badge +Ensign Khangura+ "I'm on my way down to join you. Captain wants me to help you get the Whiskers back online."

tag - Nav

She combed her fingers through her hair, then put it up in a ponytail with a band around her wrist. She was going to not need her hair to get in the way.

When the lift doors opened, she stepped out into Engineering. She hadn't been here yet--of course she hadn't been many places on this ship yet. But she'd seen the general lay-out of most Engineering decks during her cross-training classes at the Academy. So she didn't feel totally lost when she stepped foot into the main room. She asked a nearby Lieutenant about Nav's whereabouts, and followed the direction of the pointed finger she got. She found her still in the hold of the array still out of commission.
Aislinn leaned over, looking into the hold. "Can I be of any help?"

tag - Nav

OOC: I'd like to point out that the Science officer was the only bridge officer not mentioned in Marian's post...I'm gonna take that as a win.

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Azaria » Fri May 23, 2014 3:18 pm

Marian hustled into sickbay, assisting a crewman with a twisted ankle she'd found hobbling nearby.
She helped get him settled against the bulkhead where others with minor injuries were awaiting triage, and picked her way through the bustle of medics towards the CMO, Lieutenant Commander Vodden. That's when she had the joy to overhear Williams' loosing his marbles at the Captain.

"Sickbay to bridge. Captain, assuming we get through this in one piece, I need to meet with you asap about some concerns I have regarding...health of the crew. Specifically, their...mental state."

Eyebrows raised as high as they could go, Marian listened in disbelief as the CMO issued a ballsy censure over the comms to Jackson. Much needed and well spoken, but dang! Only in Starfleet could this situation be happening - someone would have already been bitch slapped to oblivion in the armed forces, though who would be on the receiving end depended entirely upon which service you were looking at...

Marian moved a step closer, out of the 'I'm pretending I can't hear what you're saying' range and into the 'we need to speak' zone of the CMO and made quick eye contact with her, jerking a hand over her shoulder to indicate she would lend a hand in the triage area if needed.

tags Vodden

Turning, Marian approached the large, furry feline doctor... the Manic Medic, she'd earlier tagged him, and caught his attention. "Ensign Soban, do you require assistance?"

tags Keth, et all.

{{Aislynn has been one of the few ppl behaving themselves ]]

[Amanda Rose]

Postby KendleRJ » Sat May 24, 2014 12:35 pm

She grabbed a small utility bag that carried a handful of tools she was likely to need at any given time and headed for the Lift, passing off her station to a secondary Science officer. She was only too glad to get off the bridge at the moment, happy to get away from the bickering. Part-way down, she tapped her comm badge +Ensign Khangura+ "I'm on my way down to join you. Captain wants me to help you get the Whiskers back online."

Nav lifted her tousled head from beneath the phaser array, helping calibrate the final adjustments, and verifying that the cabling had been firmly and completely attached and correctly. No need in losing any more time or effort in restoring something that would simply blow apart again. Nodding at the rest of the team, she grinned and gave them a thumbs up. There was fresh grease on her face from which part of the repair process she couldn't know, but just like moths to a flame, she would wear it like a badge of honour. At least until she could get to a sonic shower.

"Khangura to Engineering," Nav said crisply. "Glad to report that left and right phaser banks are now up and operational, Sir. I received a call from Ensign Norson from the Bridge about the whiskers needing repair."

When the lift doors opened, she stepped out into Engineering. She hadn't been here yet--of course she hadn't been many places on this ship yet. But she'd seen the general lay-out of most Engineering decks during her cross-training classes at the Academy. So she didn't feel totally lost when she stepped foot into the main room. She asked a nearby Lieutenant about Nav's whereabouts, and followed the direction of the pointed finger she got. She found her still in the hold of the array still out of commission.
Aislinn leaned over, looking into the hold. "Can I be of any help?"

"Give me a hand onto that catwalk?" Nav asked, wiping it down the legs of her uniform which was probably why they were a darker colour in the first place. "Just finishing up this repair, and confirmed that Engineering knew about the whiskers." Biting her lip she thought about what they could do.

~Tag Norson

"Are the ones already out there completely gone, or can we perform a diagnostic and reinitialise it for the original purpose?" she asked. "We did have twelve initially in the original design, but only managed to get a couple ready before they had to launch. If we can't salvage the ones out there, we can always set up two more that are nearly ready to go. Do you think worrying about the ones we've lost will be worth the effort? Or can we accomplish both simultaneously?"

~Tag Aislinn / Everybody

[Amanda Rose]

Postby Foxy » Sat May 24, 2014 12:43 pm

Cindy smiled at nobody in particular but seemed to be looking in Phil's direction.

"Seems our friends have not come looking for us. Seems they are rather single minded to get to the neutral zone. They only fired when they could not shake us. I think that means they're low on energy and need to get somewhere quickly."

Phil winced at Williams' outburst. Cindy was going to have to make some changes if she wanted a crew capable of working together. There was no point going into a battle with a mini battle of its own raging on the inside of the bridge as well.

“With no warp capability, there's not much we can do about it...” Phil shrugged. It was a pity – whoever they were, they were about to get away with intel on the strength, or potentially lack thereof, of this region. And knowing what they were up against, would likely come back for more...

“Perhaps we should turn our attention to prevention. Can we extend Ensign Khangura's innovations to the local communication satellite system, so they can get some warning of any future visits? Or...” Yes, it was pushing their luck, but surely worth a go, “can we extend that to an offensive capability? It needn't be big enough to actually fight the ship, but anything that distracts them buys us time and might be able to overload their systems – like being slowed by running through cobwebs or shooting the invisible man with a paintball gun...?”

[Amanda Rose]

Postby T-Prime » Sat May 24, 2014 3:33 pm

“Perhaps we should turn our attention to prevention. Can we extend Ensign Khangura's innovations to the local communication satellite system, so they can get some warning of any future visits? Or...” Yes, it was pushing their luck, but surely worth a go, “can we extend that to an offensive capability? It needn't be big enough to actually fight the ship, but anything that distracts them buys us time and might be able to overload their systems – like being slowed by running through cobwebs or shooting the invisible man with a paintball gun...?”


"An early warning system would be easy enough to implement. And we can fit the satellites with small sub-space beacon launchers. It would light them up like a Christmas tree on any standard federation sensors." TK replied with far more respect than he was showing the Captain. "But any system we implement is only viable until they figure out how we've been tracking them and correct the oversight. I suspect they've been devoting most of their engineering staff to that task since we started shadowing them."

TK still didn't understand why they had practically threw away that particular advantage without getting as much as a single byte of intel in return.

"If I may suggest another option; We haven't failed this mission quite yet." TK offered as he put a star chart up on the main viewscreen, "A weapon of this magnitude is of little use hobbling across the quadrant at impulse speed. So it stands to reason, they must have some sort of independent drive mechanism to get it from target to target. Some sort of mothership or modular system that's mostly engine. Now, based on the location of the targets, and an estimated 'tactically optimal' travel distance between the drive section and the targets. the drive section should be in this area."

A large red dot appeared on the map just on the other side of the border between Federation space and the Klingon Neutral Zone.

"It probably goes without saying, but I think we should get there first and blow the damn thing to hell and back."