Ensign Nolen Hobart - Scrounging
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((Deck One, Bridge, USS Arrow))
Niac: Guess I should've brought a deck of cards.
This caused Nolen to turn around, his face finally under control and un-blushed. Out the main viewscreen he saw the vast surface of their shelter against prying Sheliak sensors, a slash of barren rock against the dark void of space, and felt for a moment as if he was back home. An Engineer on the Bridge, he realized, if nothing else, got a real good look.
Commander Collins crossed upward, leaning heavily on the center railing.
Collins: I could always pop down to my quarters, Commander...
Jacin: I would relish the opportunity to beat you at poker. One of the cadets suggested we play something called strip poker. I take it has something to do with latinum.
Ayemet looked around at the response to her comment, and pretended to be busy with an imaginary readout at her console. Her face turned a bright shade of red as the ship’s Executive Officer stifled a laugh. Niac stood and turned to Lieutenant Jacin.
Niac: I'd relish an opportunity to play when we're off duty but I'll be keeping my uniform on, Lieutenant.
With his eyes finally filled, Hobart turns back to his station, focused on making sure things stayed good and quiet. He tapped, rhythmically, cycling through the different powered down systems, arranging them for reactivation in the most efficient sequence possible. Somewhere from the dark recesses of his mind, antiquated cultural artifacts echoed. He felt the glare of Lieutenant Jacin’s embarrassment, and felt glad he wasn’t the only one making a fool of himself on the Bridge.
Perim: Response?
Hobart: ::whispering absentmindedly, with a Scottish lisp:: One… ping… only…
Karrod turned towards Ensign Hobart, continuing his impromptu wander around the bridge.
Niac: Lets hope it doesn't come to that, Mr. Hobart.
Quentin grinned wolfishly at the Ensign's comment, and Nolen felt the brief reflection of recognition from somewhere in the room. Before he could pinpoint the sense, the Science console screeched and the Commander let out an audible “huh” as he returned to the console. Nolen craned his neck to look.
Niac: Problem, Mr. Collins?
Collins: No, sorry, it's just...ever since the scopes clocked those turrets, I've been trying to get a closer scan on them. I assumed they were just anti-orbital emplacements or something...
If Nolen had been able to turn off his empathic abilities, he might have gone back to his station and tuned the conversation out. But because he wasn’t, he stared from afar at the screen that was generating such infectious concern from the ship’s Chief Science Officer.
Niac: But you have reason to think that's not what they are? Did your scans make things any clearer?
Collins: Weirder, Commander. Thanks to the Helm, we finally got close enough for an internal construction analysis. They are ion cannons! Great bloody ion cannons. Isn't that insane?!
Jacin: And they appear to be fully capable of firing.
“Insane” is not the word Nolen would have chosen, but the Ensign did not immediately appreciate the strategic significance. Everything they were saying seemed perfectly plausible to him. Ion cannons were ingenious weapons, and, if one actually cared to rescue or capture the folks subject to them, more humane. Less humane if you just left someone floating in space without power. He wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. If a ship were disabled by them and its engineers couldn’t figure a way to get up and running, it was a sentence of a slow death. If those cannons took the Arrow out of commission, Hobart knew they would be indistinguishable from any thoroughly metallic asteroid to anyone mounting a rescue.
oO Or coming back from one. Oo
Niac: Surprising, but I wouldn't say insane. This is some kind of holding facility that seems to employ manual labor. Ion canons could neutralize the systems of a ship passing nearby without killing the crew and then you've got new members of your workforce. ::Karrod felt his teeth grinding together in anger.:: The Sheliak probably consider that an efficient use of resources.
It only then occurred to Nolen that there might be a fate worse than suffocation or freezing to death on a ship lost and adrift. Strange to say, as that was the reason they were there.
Perim: Response?
Quentin shook his head.
Collins: No, no, think about it! Shooting to disable...that's totally antithetical to everything we've seen from the Sheliak so far!
Niac: Mr. Collins, I appreciate your obvious zeal but I'm going to need more of an explanation than that.
Collins: What I mean is, when we've stumbled upon illicit Sheliak operations before, they've every time moved to destroy us. It's cleaner for them. So why are THESE Sheliak set up to shoot to disable? And specifically to disable ship systems? What's different about THIS particular illicit Sheliak operation? I don't get it.
As Lieutenant Jacin swiveled at her station to face the Commander, it suddenly clicked for Nolen.
Jacin: We know that there is at the very least dissent within the Sheliak, perhaps even a ‘civil war’ of sorts. Perhaps this is one of the opposing forces to the incumbent command structure?
Commander Niac nodded. Hobart finally felt confident enough to speak up, unaddressed, among the more senior officers.
Niac: That's one possibility. Another is that this group are working independently - a criminal enterprise or something otherwise acting without the consent of their political authority. I'm not sure which possibility I like less, to be honest.
Hobart finally felt confident enough to speak up, unaddressed, among the more senior officers.
Hobart: ::nodding:: Dissolution, maybe? Ion cannons would make sense if what you want is technology, warm bodies, or both. Salvage the disabled ships, enslave the crews. And if you’re way out on the fringes, cut off from a central authority too busy trying to look like a central authority than be one, you gotta scrounge. Maybe this is them scrounging…?
He remembered, then, the long, loud, energized talks into the night between his father and the station’s commander. Demands for tools, equipment, components. Complaints about delays and “making do.” Relva VIII was a high-enough priority rock of a world to set up a permanent mine, but not so high as to be working with the latest or most reliable technology. And if the Federation had suddenly ceased to be coherent, he imagined, piracy might have seemed a pretty effective way to stay alive.
Jacin/Perim/Collins: Response?
Niac: Either way, this is all more evidence that the Sheliak Corporate authority that had a treaty with the Federation may not really exist anymore. The implications for the security of this entire sector are enormous. ::Karrod turned back to the viewscreen just as the shuttles launched:: Lets hope our team learns more once they get in there. Any unusual activity at the facility? Probe picking up anything? Any sign the shuttles have been detected?
Collins/Jacin: Response?
Karrod returned to the center chair and nodded towards their engineer.
Niac: Mr. Hobart, those ion canons are starting to concern me. If the shuttles come under fire from them on the way out we'll be in a very difficult situation. I'd like you to work with our science team, work up some defensive options for the ship. I have no interest in becoming a miner, Ensign.
Hobart’s face turned a strange combination of defensive and surprised as his mouth moved faster than his brain.
Hobart: Mining is honest work, sir. ::a gasp of self-shock, then apologetically:: I mean “Aye, Commander.”
Avoiding eye contact with the XO, Nolen sheepishly shifted toward the science console. Besides destroying the emplacements, he wasn’t immediately sure what could be done, but he was certain he needed a better answer than that, and quick.
Perim: Response?
Niac: Sorry Cadet Perim, for the moment I don't need a single lateral roll or evasive manuever. I realize this kind of waiting is difficult for a helmsman but consider this all part of your training.
Collins/Perim/Jacin/Niac: Response?
Tags/TBC
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Ensign Nolen Hobart
Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Arrow (NCC-69829)
A240001NH3