Ensign S'Raga - Deadlock

[S'Raga]

((Type-14 Shuttle Quimby, Idrustix Atmosphere, above large ocean))

When Nathan's console indicated a successful probe deployment, S'Raga brought the shuttle back around. That's when they caught sight of the enemy drone though the viewport. It definitely wasn't the same kind of drone that shot S'Raga with an energy beam back at the campsite in the valley. This one was much bigger, about as large as the Quimby, and had menacingly black armour plating.

Carter: Hello big brother...

S'Raga's ears swung backwards and flat against his head as he faced their aggressor. He felt a growl creep its way from the back of his throat.

Ukinix(H): What sort of a vessel is that.

Iovianus: ::shaking his head:: Unknown, but the design markers match those probes.

Nathan looked up from his console and looked out the viewport.

Richards: What the…

Carter: I believe that's who has been shooting at us...

Ukinix(H): Let’s not be intimidated by it. Fire some warning shots back.

Iovianus: Aye, sir.

In a blink of an eye, the drone dashed underneath the shuttle and swung back up behind them. In response, S'Raga accelerated the shuttle, punching through the sound barrier. 

Richards: I don’t know if the relays can take much more of this…

S'Raga: I know, Richards, but if it takes another burnt out relay to get away from this thing, that seems like the best deal we're gonna get right now!

Richards: That ‘one more burnt relay’ could be the difference between us getting out of this fight, and meeting our aquatic friend face to face earlier than expected.

Ukinix(H): Divert systems to cater for engines until we get an idea of what we’re facing.

Carter: Copy that!

S'Raga tried to evade the drone's line of fire, but it managed to land another two shots on them. S'Raga had to brace himself against his console to avoid falling out of his chair.

Richards: That’s about all I can give you. Make it count.

Iovianus: Ready to fire.

Carter: Phasers ready and locked on target!

Ukinix(H): Evasive Maneuvers!

S'Raga: Alright, hold on to your tails everyone, things are about to get rough!

S'Raga pitched the nose of the shuttle up as sharply as it would let him, letting the atmosphere slow them back down to subsonic speeds. The drone sped past them from below, but slowed down to match speeds with them before it got too far ahead. The two craft spun around each other in a double-helix pattern before breaking off. The drone had more maneuverability, which S'Raga could counter by being as unpredictable as possible.

Richards: Structural integrity holding. We are well beyond the threshold for the inertial dampeners. This is flying!

S'Raga smirked at Nathan's excitement. He made a mental note to schedule some holodeck time with him when they're back on Amity so they can exchange aviation programs with each other.

Iovianus: Still got a clear shot.

Carter: Phasers ready but I need more power to make a difference…

Ukinix(H): Ensign Richards, set priority to weapons systems.

S'Raga kept his focus on trying to get a good angle on the drone while staying out of its sights.

S'Raga: C'mon, c'mon, c'mon...

An alert suddenly came up on everybody's consoles, warning them about a concerning signal the shuttle's sensors were picking up from the drone.

Ukinix(H): It’s… *cloaking*?

Iovianus: I can’t maintain a clear lock on it.

S'Raga peeked at his nav readout and also saw the drone blinking in and out of existence.

S'Raga: That doesn't sound good.

Richards: What the hell is it doing?

Ukinix(H): It’s cloaking in and out deliberately. It’s matching our randomness with its own.

Carter: He’s coming around behind us! Evasive!

S'Raga: Initiating evasive pattern beta four!

As S'Raga took the shuttle into another round of sharp maneuvers, he heard a loud bang from a console somewhere behind him followed by the cabin lights flickering and the smell of smoke.

Richards: I think we are in a bit of a pickle here!

Carter: I know. Compensate!

S'Raga didn't dare take his eyes away from his console and the viewport to see what Nathan was up to behind them, but whatever he was doing seemed to stabilize the shuttle's systems. And then a voice came over comms.

Iko: =/\= Wil. … ::Smiling:: Dammit you bastard, respond… =/\=

It was Bec! S'Raga hadn't seen or spoken with her since she was relived by Grurg and beamed back up to the Kitty Hawk. S'Raga wanted to know how they were able to get a signal through from orbit, but he was a bit too preoccupied with a killer drone to speculate on it at the moment.

Ukinix(H): =/\= ::Furrowing brow:: Bec? Lieutenant! It’s great to hear your voice. Your timing isn’t great though. =/\= ::To others in shuttle:: Keep engaging the drone. =/\=

Iovianus: High on the priorities sir.

Carter: Have zero interest in going swimming....

S’Raga: oO Ugh! Swimming... Oo My sentiments exactly, Commander.

Richards: ::Gritted teeth:: Hangin in there…

S'Raga thought Nathan's voice was starting to sound a little haggard, but still couldn't take his eyes off the viewport to see how he was doing.

oO What's going on back there? Oo

Iko: =/\= Mate… What’s happening down there?... =/\=

Ukinix(H): =/\= We’re being a dogfight with an oversized bowling ball that’s armed to the teeth and cloaking more than a magician in Vegas. =/\=

S’Raga: =/\= You're missing all the fun, Bec! =/\=

Richards: Power transfers complete. Lets make this count!

Rahman: =/\= Response =/\=

Ukinix(H): =/\= Captain, tell the Trenvonn to call off their drone, or we’re going to down it. We’ve already downed four of their other drones, and we’re going to keep going to ensure our safety. They’re not dictating terms down here like they think they might be. =/\=

Rahman/Iko: =/\= Response =/\=

Ukinix(H): =/\= Everyone is safe, in an undisclosed location which I won’t share right now in case the Trenvonn exploit it. Suffice it to say we’ve taken matters into our own hands. We also have some people being treated medically as a result of attacks by the drones and they’ll need to get to sickbay soon, so can you please tell the Trenvonn to #@%@ !#@@$ !@#$@#$ &#%$#% @#$%**# for me? That’s my diplomatic contribution for today. Thanks, Captain. =/\=

Iovianus: =/\= That is the official security opinion as well Lieutenant. =/\=

Rahman/Iko: =/\= Response =/\=

S'Raga continued to cycle through evasive maneuvers. He was starting to get frustrated at just how much this drone was keeping them on the defensive.

Carter: =/\= Captain, as a Counselor, these guys are @#%^&&* and ^&^*(@#%$. That is my professional opinion!!! =/\=

Richards: =/\= Give them a nice !$#@ you from me!  =/\=

S'Raga was well within his rights to join in on the profanity session, considering he'd been shot by one of the Trenvonn drones. He made sure not to hold back:

S'Raga: =/\= And you can tell them the Caitian thinks they're a bunch of dimple-rumpies! =/\=

Ukinix: =/\= Understood. Ukinix out. =/\=

Ukinix: Right, we’re not going to play their game anymore, I’ve had enough of their crap. Ensign Richards, divert everything you can to shields. Cassian, ready a torpedo. S’Raga?

S’Raga: Sir?

Ukinix: Full stop. ::To John:: Commander Carter, open a channel.

S'Raga immediately did as he was ordered and brought the shuttle to a full stop, hovering several hundred meters above the ocean surface.

Carter: Channel open, Commander...

Ukinix: =/\= Attention Trenvonn Drone. This jockeying is pointless. We can disengage until our people and your people have had a chance to sort this out diplomatically. Or, we can drop you in the ocean with the torpedo we’ve just armed, especially now that our computers have determined your navigational algorithm. So the torpedo we’ve just armed won’t care if you’re cloaked or not. =/\=

S'Raga held his breath, waiting to see how the drone would respond. Not only did Commander Ukinix try communicating with an autonomous drone, he tried bluffing it.

oO This'll be interesting... Oo

Pariah: =/\= Defense P-P-P-Protoco-o-o-ols…ZzzzZZzzt…L-L-Let-t-thal f-f-f-for-r-rce authorizzzzZzzZzzt… =/\=

S'Raga instinctively glanced at the comms readout. Nothing was wrong with the transmission, it really was the drone that seemed to be having a hard time. 

Carter: Maybe the probe is considering. Maybe it wants to live...

S’Raga: That's a new development...

Richards: I don’t know if it’s considering anything. It sounds like its malfunctioning…

Ukinix(H): Let’s position ourselves to fire some warning shots to show we mean business.

Iovianus: Weapons ready.

Carter: Best guess on phaser lock...

S'Raga slowly turned the shuttle to give the phaser banks a clear line of sight.

S’Raga: In position, Commander.

Pariah: =/\= Communicable responses l-l-l-l-limited…E-E-E-Er-r-r-r-ror. Cea-ea-ea-ease…zzzZzzZzZzt =/\=

Iovianus: Pattern detected it doesn’t seem like it can keep up its speed and fire at the same time. Can someone else take a look?

Carter: It might be able to cloak, but it can't hide it's heat signature as well as one would think. The trace is minute, but it's there. Richards?

Nathan sent his data over to Carter and Iovianus's consoles.

Richards: Give that a spin. It might help give us the advantage.

Iovianus: If this doesn’t work, we can trick it like we did earlier with a hard brake and get some solid work done.

S’Raga: I can definitely make that happen. I'd change the maneuver up a bit to give it less of a chance of predicting our move.

Ukinix(H): Response

Carter: Right now, my guess is our friend is about one thousand meters off our aft port quarter. To bring our tubes to bear, S'Raga will have to spin the ship in place and we snap shot by sensor readings...

Richards: We might be able to get the drone that way, but it might not end well for us, sir.

S'Raga: Richards is right. I've been pushing this shuttle pretty hard, we'd be risking the hull integrity.

Now that he wasn't taking the shuttle through a rollercoaster ride, S'Raga had a chance to swivel his seat around to face the others. As he did so, he noticed Nathan wasn't wearing his prosthetic arm anymore. But Nathan didn't seem to be drawing attention to that fact, so S'Raga stayed silent.

Iovanus/Carter/Ukinix(H): Response

Richards: The shear from spinning the shuttle so quickly could tear the nacelles from the hull. If we weren’t within the atmosphere, it wouldn’t be a problem, but as we’ve learned the shuttle is not designed to withstand these stresses within the atmosphere.

S'Raga: If I rotate us around the pitch axis instead of the yaw axis, it could reduce the strain on the nacelles. Not by a lot, but it could help.

Iovianus/Carter/Ukinix(H): Response

Richards: I’m not saying it can’t be done, I’m only saying that we might want to consider alternatives before we…

Iovianus/Carter/Ukinix(H): Response

S'Raga swiveled his chair back around to face the helm.

S'Raga: Aye sir, queuing up the maneuver now.

The console displayed several warnings about what S'Raga was about to do, but he ignored them all.

Richards: Understood.

Nathan leaned forwards, making the necessary adjustments to the shields, inertial dampeners, and structural integrity field.

Richards: She’s as ready as she is going to get.

S'Raga: Helm is ready.

Iovianus/Carter/Ukinix(H): Response

Alarms blared as S'Raga snapped the shuttle around its axis. Since he was near the front of the shuttle, his vision reddened slightly as blood rushed to his head. He hoped Nathan, being near the rear of the shuttle, didn't experience a total blackout. The hull made some very unhealthy noises and the launch of the torpedoes sent a shock through the entire vessel, but they were still in one piece. While S'Raga was still getting his bearings, he heard a splash.

The crew sat in silence for a brief moment while everyone tried to process what had just happened, which was then vocalized by Nathan:

Richards: What just happened?

Iovianus/Carter/S’Raga/Ukinix(H): Response

S'Raga gave his head a quick shake to rid the fuzziness from his vision.

S'Raga: I guess it didn't wanna play anymore...

After chasing around each other for so long, S'Raga was really hoping to see that thing explode into a thousand pieces, and he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Iovianus/Richards: Response

Ukinix(H)/Carter: Response

S'Raga: Aye, sir. Laying out a course.

S'Raga couldn't help but feel a little uneasy with how unfished their business with the drone felt. He wondered whether they'd seen the last of it.

Ukinix(H)/Carter: Response

Iovianus/Richards: Response

Tag/TBC

Ensign S’Raga

HCO Officer
Amity Outpost
A239908S11