Ensign Natasha Cole - The Truth is Tactical
Natasha Schell
(( Bridge – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
Having been given the order to open fire on the Orion fighters and transports, Natasha used a clever tactic to funnel them straight into their phaser arrays, destroying two of the transports and several fighters. Though she was pleased with her handiwork, a transport did manage to make it through the defenses.
Cole: Could we use the EPS to overload the lighting where their boarding to go off like a flash bang? The disorientation might make it easier to contain them.
Gnai: That would also disorient and blind the security teams fighting them off…
The transport latched onto one of the exposed airlocks with just enough force that it felt like a small tremor. This was it, hopefully the extra security she dispatched would buy them time.
Jovenan: Unless they take cover before the overload and use the opportunity to stun the confused attackers. Ensign Cole, coordinate with the security teams. Use forcefields, EPS overloads and isolation barriers to split up the attackers to manageable pockets.
Cole: Aye Sir, raising security force fields and iso barriers. Waiting to disorient them.
Braga: =/\= Security team to Bridge… Sir, I.. I don’t know what to make of this. =/\=
As the security officer’s spoke, Natasha cocked her head slightly, the officer sounded … confused. Something wasn’t right. She immediately started reviewing internal scans.
Jovenan: =/\= Bridge. What’s your status, security team? =/\=
Cole: Sir, I’m reading minimal weapon’s fire at the point of egress on Deck 5.
Katerina 'Kat' Udesky: ::tapping inputs:: Remaining Orion Fighters have bugged out ::to Jovenan:: They’ve formed up with the destroyer ::confused::
Cole: oO that’s odd Oo ::looking at Jovenan:: =/\= Bridge to security team, what is your status, report? =/\=
Eren th'Chaorhith: ::looking at the MSD:: Shields, eighty-one percent and rising.
Natasha could feel a knot starting to develop in her stomach, something about this wasn’t sitting right.
Tho’Bi: Woah.
Braga: =/\= We’ve managed to subdue the Orions. There were only a handful of them that were armed… Commander, I can’t exactly understand what’s being said, they’re all talking too fast… but most of these “boarders” aren’t even Orion! =/\=
What does that even mean? Did the Orion’s have a bunch of freelancers working for them? What the heck was going on down there.
Jovenan: =/\= What are they then? Security team, report, who are they? =/\= ::to bridge crew:: Check the internal sensors, see what’s happening down there.
Cole: Checking now Sir ::tapping away at the security console reviewing data:: Internal sensors show that there were six armed Orion’s ::her eyebrows were furrowed:: and the rest have now signs of weapons.
Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan:: The probe. It wasn’t shot down.
Braga: =/\= ::background noise on comms:: Oh… Oh no. Commander, one of the aliens speaks Klingon… They’re not here to attack us at all, but prisoners that they had aboard the D’Kall’s Revenge. This is just a distraction! =/\=
Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan:: …it hit something.
Gnai: He’s right, sir!
Natasha’s ear’s started to ring, the space around her simultaneously expanded away from her and closed in around her. That knot had taken shape and felt more like a pit. She could feel her breath become shallow, her stomach clenched. In the back of her mind she could hear and see her father calling her a disgrace and failure. She leaned forward taking her head in her left hand while holding on to the console with her right. She slowly breathed in and out, trying her best to maintain her composure as the gravity of the last several moments hit her.
Shotiri: =/\= Federation Starship Artemis, once again, you demonstrate an extraordinarily callous disregard for the lives of non-Federation individuals as you eradicated transports that were fleeing from the wanton destruction of their ship at your hands. Is this show of force supposed to intimidate the inhabitants of this system into joining your ranks, lest they suffer the same fate? ::scoff:: As defenders of neutrality, we Orions will not stand for it. The Shotiri demands you power down your phasers, and retreat from this moon. =/\=
Tho’Bi: ::nodding to the cat:: okay.
Eren th'Chaorhith: ::looking at the MSD:: Shields at eighty-four percent and rising.
Tho'Bi: Confirmed.
They used me. Not just me, Starfleet, the Artemis. Everything we stand for. They packed unarmed people into transports and hurled them at us like meat through a phaser grid. And I fired. It was the right call but the wrong intel. That’s what they were counting on. No hesitation, no time to question… and now they get to frame us as butchers. This wasn’t a mistake. It was a setup. And the worst part, It worked.
Tho'Bi and Eren th'Chaorhith: ::in unison:: Hroas shre'lexi, Hroas zash'lu'xia, Hroas lex'thu'laan.
The Andorian chant started to bring Natasha out of her fog. Her throat felt dry, but her stomach turned like she’d just come off a zero G roller coaster. Yes she was ordered to, but she still pulled the trigger. They gave her the target, and she’d hit it dead-on. But the target hadn’t been soldiers, they were innocents. Was this to be her legacy … to be a war criminal?
Cole: ::solemnly:: May whatever gods they seek welcome them with open arms.
Gnai: Response
Jovenan: How… Lieutenant Gnai, how many people were on the other transports, and what were their species?
Gnai: Response
That was a number Natasha would carry for the rest of her life. Everything still sounded like she was under water. She noticed the Commander was doing something at one of her chair’s consoles. She was quite engrossed in what she was reading.
Jovenan: Spoofed. The lifesigns weren’t real, the other transports didn’t have a single Klingon prisoner aboard. ::sigh:: We’ll have to figure this out later. Ensign Cole, have the security move the Klingons to quarters somewhere and confine them there. We’ll sort them out when we’re out of danger.
As Commander Jovenan spoke, she was breaking through the fog Natasha had found herself in. They lied, of course they did. They wanted to paint them and Starfleet as the Villains
Cole: Aye, sir. =/\= Cole to Braga, Relocate our guests to suitable quarters, and post a security detail =/\=
Braga: =/\= Acknowledged, Braga out. =/\=
The relief that hit Natasha felt like an immense weight had been lifted from her.
oO take that Dad! Oo
Jovenan: Ensign Tho’Bi, what did you say about the probe? What’s happening on the moon?
Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan nodded to the new Orion ship on the viewscreen and looked at each person on the bridge, the cat included. Natasha started to think of different options or tactics that might work considering their current predicament.
Jovenan: Options, please. I should welcome your insight into what course of action gives us the best chances.
Cole: Could we use their tactic against them and spoof Starfleet transmissions or transponders to make them think we have help on the way?
Gnai/Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan: Response?
Natasha listened as the other officers tossed idea’s around. She hoped her next idea wasn’t too drastic. She appreciated that no one suggested abandoning their crew on the moon.
Cole: Another option, we could load their transport up with a few photon torpedos and return it Trojan horse style.
Jovenan: Response
Gnai/Tho’Bi: Response
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Ens. Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
Writer ID A240205NC4