Lieutenant Junior Grade Ben Garcia - Smooth Flight (Tags: Toni/Brodie/Pandorn/Tarren)
Ben Garcia
((Bridge - USS Thor - Romulan Territory 20 minutes before D'deridex warbird de-cloaks.))
Pandorn: :: Glancing at the screen. :: Still have the Thunder? They will be cloaked by now and running silent. Did the codes check out, Lieutenant?
:: Ben nodded and called back to the XO. ::
Garcia: Aye, we can roughly put our finger on her. :: Ben adjusted the viewscreen temporarily, so that it leapt ahead to a seemingly empty block of space. :: There she is.
:: As the XO called across his second question, the viewscreen reset to its previous view. Ben continued. ::
Garcia: Out of the five codes, I couldn’t get confirmation for one; I’ve struck that one from the list. The other four seem to be well established protocols. :: Ben paused. ::
Turner: That sounds promising.
Brodie: Local space looks clear, we’re not being watched.
:: Ben pulled out the small note book and cracked the spine, so that it would lay flat on the terminal. Tracing the digits with his eyes, Ben’s fingers etched them into the console. As Ben attempted to commit the changes, the computer immediately challenged Ben, preventing him from interfering with the transponder. ::
:: Ben turned to face the centre chairs. ::
Garcia: :: To Turner. :: Ma’am. :: To Pandorn. :: Sir. The Thor requires your authorisation before she’ll let me flip her to the dark side.
:: Toni entered her codes via her console, then looked to Krindo to enter his. ::
:: Krindo tapped his own code into the armrest console, giving Ben access to the transponder. ::
Pandorn: There you go. Change our flag, Ben. Make us Romulan.
:: Ben finalised the sequence, and the computer chirped affirmatively as the code was committed. ::
Garcia: Standby. :: There was a brief, tense pause. :: Ok, we’ve just entered Romulan space … under their flag.
Brodie: Just like that…
Pandorn: :: Grim look. :: And that's that. We are now technically at war. Let's hope those codes hold up.
Garcia: With you on that one, sir.
Pandorn: :: Tilts head. :: A well placed shot to their Engineering section could make their singularity collapse on itself leaving little trace behind. It would have to be by surprise, so I hope they buy our virus story.
Turner: Let's get in our places. Would someone tie my hands loosely at the tactical station? If anything goes wrong I can always give them something to keep them busy.
Garcia: I’ll stay with Helm – don’t want to lose the Thunder now.
:: Alex took two straps from a supply cabinet and bound the ends of both tightly around the Admirals wrists, he then loosely looped the other ends together in a hooped knot. Krindo looked at them incredulously. ::
:: Amidst this, Ben focused on the Helm as the Bridge discussed tactics. There was a lot for Ben to juggle. The main priority was keeping the Thor on course with the Thunder. That required constant scanning of sub-space, with adjustments to their course here and there. Not a typical automated procedure. ::
:: The Counsellor briefed the Admiral on her status as a prisoner. ::
Brodie: Okay, this is a highwayman's cutaway. The legend says that it was used by Dick Turpin for tying up horses ready for a quick getaway…I’ve no idea if that’s true but it’s a nice story. The binds on your writs will make it look tighter then it is. Pull here and here ::He gestured to two loose ends hidden by the console.:: and they’ll come away freely.
Turner: Hopefully, I won't have to pull them at all, because that means they are buying our story.
Pandorn: As for the Red Star...We can try to plant a charge on the QSSD. Make it look like any tampering triggered it.
Garcia: Bit of scuffing could add to the drama. :: Pausing to consider. :: Careful scuffing mind you, eh?
Pandorn: I could act like I was broken and agreed to show them how to operate the Red Star's QSSD. Shouldn't be too hard considering I'm supposed to have been 'interviewed'. It's your decision, Admiral.
Turner: I would rather you didn't. The makeup works from afar, but that would put you in a position that would put you in too much danger. Let's just play things by ear for the time being and see where that takes us.
Brodie: Hopefully it won’t be much of an issue…once we’ve dealt with the cruisers, we should have more freedom.
:: Krindo nodded in understanding. ::
Pandorn: Understood, ma'am. Just keeping options open.
Turner: :: Softly. :: I know, Krindo. I'm just trying to keep everyone alive.
Pandorn: :: to Ben:: Any ships Republic or otherwise nearby, Ben? It is a little quiet for my liking.
Garcia: Negative on that. Comms are scanning for shadow signals from sentry devices, and I’m not picking up any indicators to suggest the presence of cloaked Romulan ships. So far, so good.
Turner: Are we still in range of the Thunder?
Garcia: Yep, we’re within spitting distance of the Thunder.
Brodie: Excellent…so, we have some captives, a ship with a QSSD and a hope that everyone comes out the other side okay.
Pandorn: Amen to that, Councillor. Amen.
Turner: :: Nodding:: My sentiments exactly.
Brodie: I was talking about us. Hopefully, the rogue Tal Shiar will appreciate this wondrous bounty.
Pandorn: I'm betting they will, Alex, I'm betting they will. Too good to pass up, and firing on their own flag and destroying us won't sit well with those on Rator III.
Turner: I'm just hoping it's the Tal Shiar who finds us as I doubt if the Republic will know what we are talking about. For all we know, the Tal Shiar could be planning to use it on the Republic too.
Garcia: :: Calling back to the senior officers. :: Here’s hoping our smooth ride holds out.
:: Alex sat in the Captain's Chair. ::
Brodie: Okay, Let’s see how long it takes them to find us.
Pandorn: Aye, 'Captain'. :: Winks. ::
Turner: Aye, Sir.
Garcia: Navigational scans show plain sailing. How are scans your end Ensign Tarren?
Turner/Pandorn/Brodie/Tarren: Response?
Garcia: Mid-range at the minute. We could push the range a bit harder, it’d need a bit of power diverting from non-essential systems.
:: Instinctively, Ben turned to face the central chair, where Brodie was now seated as Romulan Captain. ::
Garcia: Sir? :: Ben caught himself, and cleared his throat, as his face flushed red, not sure who to address the request to – the Admiral or the Counsellor. ::
:: Ben decided to let the request hang there. ::
Toni/Brodie/Pandorn/Tarren: Response?
Garcia: Diverting power now from systems designated as non-essential; distributing demand to mitigate impact. :: Ben checked his terminal, and then continued, turning to Tarren. :: Additional capacity for Tactical and Sensors now available.
Toni/Brodie/Pandorn/Tarren: Response?
Tag and TBC!
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Lieutenant Junior Grade Ben Garcia
HCO Officer
Embassy Duronis II - USS Thor NCC-82607
Author ID number: G239102MR0