Commander Ava Munro - False Trails
Ava Munro
(((Bridge - Deck 01 - USS Artemis-A))
Munro: Secretary Jetripar, is there anything about Havun’s off world activities that might help us narrow down our search?
In between the familiar noises of a starship's bridge, the hum of the deck plating and the sounds of the various alerts and systems, there was a settled tension in the air. Fingers darted across consoles with less hesitation than normal, small talk was down to a minimal. That last point may have had more to do with the figure sitting beside her, but from what she had seen the fleet captain wasn’t strictly against relaxation. Not all the time.
Storm: Did you monitor his communications enough to know who his off-world associates were?
Jetripar: Havun communicated regularly with commercial enterprises in several nearby systems. Some were no doubt... less than legitimate, but you know how these things go. I approved transactions with Federation colonies, Klingon bases, Orion ships. All coordinated by Havun, of course.
Ava nodded and inputted a request to her console on the arm of the chair to bring up the relevant information on these locations. At first she would filter any locations with appropriate docks or facilities to house a vessel of the Afalqi’s size.
Jovenan: We would struggle to go through all the approved contacts in time, and then there’s the possible contacts he might have had behind your back.
Operations Officer: Captain, we've received an alert from one of the Da'al colonies.
MacKenzie: Which one?
Operations Officer: Outer Seedea. On the edge of the neighbouring system.
Munro: Send it over to our stations.
Storm: Interesting.
MacKenzie: Worth taking a look.
Jetripar: If he wanted to stop somewhere that wouldn't ask questions but also wouldn't trigger alarms, that would be the place to stop. The colony there is only inhabited by a couple thousand.
Ava paused the list she had started to develop and brought up the information from the Federation database. Which was not that much, given the Da’al weren’t fond of sharing information that hardly surprised her.
Jovenan: Doesn’t sound like it worked the way they wanted, since they alarmed us.
Ava read over the communication again, more for herself to parse out any clues that may be hidden within the words.
Munro: An unknown vessel stopped for resupply and left in a hurry. I think we've got a lead? Outer Seedea is less than an hour away.
Storm: If it were them -- when they were there, they weren’t employing their cloak. That’s either brilliant or completely stupid. It makes sense that they might not want to call attention to themselves - especially if they were in need of supplies. But that gives us an advantage we otherwise wouldn’t have.
oO cloak? Oo
MacKenzie: Unless there's something wrong with the device…
Jetripar: It's worth noting that, unless you have new information, I must formally refute the notion that there is a cloaking device of any sort on the Afalqi. If there is, it was installed illicitly and without approval.
Jovenan: If they’re resupplying now, they might be planning to remain in space for a long while. That, or they happened to be running out of stock and took the opportunity.
Munro: So far we have no solid evidence they are using a cloak, other than potential Romulan involvement, which isn’t exactly clear. After the Hobus star supernova, Romulan tech hasn’t been too difficult to get a hold of for those that have the means :: nods towards Jetripar :: But, in the abundance of caution, let’s ensure that we scan for any indicators of cloaking technology. :: to Storm :: What do we know about Outer Seedea, Lieutenant?
Storm: According to our last intel on Outer Seedea, there are no orbital weapons in that system. Granted, a ship is a weapons platform in itself.
MacKenzie: Helm, alter course. Let's see if we can pick up the scent.
The motion of a starship course alteration was hardly noticed by most, it was something you got used to, but if you really wanted to you could feel that gentle pull almost like a small hand guiding you. Ava found it comforting, it was almost like Artemis was speaking to them directly in that little sensation.
Storm: It’ll be another thirty minutes before we can get a clear enough LRS scan to see if we can find one warp wake - and hopefully not fifteen of them.
MacKenzie: Stay on top of it. Let me know when you have something.
Jetripar: What are the odds of being able to find such a trail? You make it sound uncertain.
Jovenan: A warp trail can in good condition last for a while, but the stellar winds and the natural and artificial forces and fields from the planet might smear it. Not to mention any other traffic there might be. That is, of course, assuming the Afalqi doesn’t have the technology to mask its trail.
Munro: We have a good chance of detecting something but we won’t know until we get within scanning distance, Secretary.
Storm: I’d call it realism.
Ava stood, she moved towards the helm station and reviewed some of the information.
MacKenzie: Worse comes to worse, we check in with the local authorities and see if they're able to get us any more definitive information.
Jetripar: I'm certain you could convince the colony to share anything they know with you, if it becomes necessary.
Ava turned from her vigil over the helm officer to the Da’al politician.
Munro: Somehow that doesn’t fill me with a sense of confidence.
Her eyes flicked to the captain. Politics was a delicate game that Ava wasn’t too fond of. Her experience with the Boraxians was evidence of that.
MacKenzie: Making a pit stop is certainly something I'd like to avoid unless it's absolutely necessary. Staying on the trail while it's hot is the only lead we've got at this point, unless one of our other teams are able to come up with some more information.
Jovenan: If we don’t find the trail within the system, we might need to comb for it outside. It becomes harder to spot with time.
Storm: Especially depending on how many ships are coming and going from the planet. Unless their ship is giving off any unusual readings, it could be particularly hard to pick out from among a lot of other warp wakes.
Munro: We know that they may be using an adapted Da’al fusion generator with a star drive. That’s going to give off a sizable quantum energy trail. The only issue is, it tends to degrade quickly. If we can pick up that trail, we just follow the breadcrumbs.
Jetripar: I agree that the first priority is trailing my ship. Please, please. Proceed.
Storm: I’m running a resonance scan for warp signature variations. If we can find anything out of the ordinary, it might give us an advantage as we go fishing.
Ava nodded towards Storm, that was good thinking.
Munro: Secretary Jetripar, you mentioned several locations that Havun had been in communication with. Is there any that stand out to you?
MacKenzie: Response
Jetripar emerged from the seat beside MacKenzie and began to walk to the back of the ship, towards the Master System Display. Ava followed along from the opposite side of the bridge until she stood beside him.
Jetripar: Would someone be able to pull up a map of the sector, with special focus on the most likely direction that the asset is moving?
Jovenan: I have it right here.
Ava turned to the science station, on the display was a detailed map of the sector. As well as systems, planets, stars, celestial objects, moons, planetoids etc. A sector of space was filled with thousands of details. Ava pushed a few commands on the MSD to bring up the same map for the secretary. The layout display of the Artemis disappeared and was replaced with the same map of the sector.
Storm: What are you looking for specifically, Secretary?
A good question. Ava took a step back to take in th
Munro: It would help us to narrow it down.
MacKenzie: Response
Jetripar: Yes, ::pointing:: there and there. The Barol system, and ngeb Base, a Klingon station. Both of those have shown up on trade communications logs many times. Could he be heading to either of those?
Jovenan: Barol system has an unaffiliated colony world, no significant plurality in any one species. Some mining and other industry presence on other planets. It grew in prominence after the Khitomer Accords and the expulsion of the Orion Syndicate pacified the area. The ngeb Base is officially categorised as a trading post.
Storm: Either of those would be good places to hide people, but we’re talking about a ship. Even cloaked, ships are harder to hide - especially if anyone is going down to a planet or a trading post. Its complement could be tracked. Speaking of which, do we have a list of people believed to be aboard the Afalqi?
((OOC: that information was provided in Act 1 by Jetripar))
Munro: We have that on file index #78.
She had studied it so often she had memorised the file index.
Her focus had been drawn to the file on the Barolians.
Munro: Interesting. The Barolians were considered subjects of the Romulan Star Empire up until the supernova. That infrastructure was central to the Romulans' technological base but after the fall of the empire, that relationship ended :: beat :: Sounds like a good place to get your hands on some Romulan tech?
It could be nothing, another distraction in a carefully laid plan or it could be a crucial detail.
MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Jovenan: There are only a few other inhabitable worlds in the neighbouring sectors. Further out, we have factions such as the Nascaik and the Thama, and the Celendi Nebula. Plenty of opportunities to hide if they head straight to one.
Anyone deployed to the Borderlands, particularly to a command position, was familiar with the Nascaik and the Thama. In recent years things appeared to have been quiet between the long warring species. If the Afalqi headed towards that territory, it had the potential to start a prolonged conflict between the Nascaik Defence Coalition and the Thama Scientific Sovereignty.
Storm: Can we eliminate any of those planets because of location or other factors?
Munro: Without knowing the full capability of the Afalqi or who is helping them, it’s hard to say.
MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Jovenan: I have the Outer Seedea’s system on sensors. No vessels currently detected in there.
Storm: That doesn’t mean much.
True, they were quickly discovering how easy it was for a ship to disguise itself and evade capture. Storm glanced at Jetripar.
Storm: I mean, in the case that they do have a cloaking device.
Ava crossed her arms as she studied the map carefully.
Munro: We can probably assume that they know by now that Starfleet is involved? Our presence did not go unnoticed on Meranuge IV. That rules out any location that has positive ties to the Federation. It makes sense that they would avoid those sectors or they risk being detected?
MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Storm: Let’s see if we can detect any warp wakes yet.
Ava slipped a hand to push her natural curls behind her ear as she focused on the sector map. Various locations had been eliminated but there was just too much to go on.
Munro: If you can do that, lieutenant, I’ll give you my holodeck privileges for a month.
Mackenzie/Jetripar/Jovenan: Response
Storm: I’m picking up three warp wakes…Permission to put them on the viewscreen?
Storm glanced toward the command team.
MacKenzie: Response
Jetripar/Jovenan: Response
Ava moved away from the MSD and turned to look towards the viewscreen from the back of the bridge.
The Seedea system was displayed on it. From Seedea, three warp wakes were visible. Each heading off in a different direction.
Storm: If I zoom out and put the other locations given to us by Secretary Jetripar, we have something interesting.
One of the wakes headed in the direction of the Barol system, another in the general vicinity of ngeb Base, and a third went off in a completely different direction.
Munro: :: incredulous laugh :: They left false trails for us.
Mackenzie/Jetripar/Jovenan/Storm: Response
Munro: That third trail? Where does it go? Can we extrapolate with known data a likely destination?
As the map swirled around and zoomed to focus solely on that trail, as the screen moved along the potential trajectory a growing sense of trepidation grew across the bridge crew.
Mackenzie/Jetripar/Jovenan/Storm: Response
Munro: That’s Nascaik territory :: beat :: If they reach that border, we won’t be able to follow them.
Mackenzie/Jetripar/Jovenan/Storm: Response
Tags/TBC
