LtCmdr Jovenan – It was so close…
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
A small fleet emerged from the moon and sailed past. Jovenan looked their journey on the viewscreen, knowing that her love and her friends were on one of the ships, the one that stood out by its design, run-down appearance and behaviour. They had survived their imprisonment, the Moonbase’s decompression and destruction, and they were now on the move, executing a plan she could only guess. From despair and desperation, Jovenan’s mood had changed. All of a sudden, there was a point to the battle, they had a cause to turn around and win it. She did so, pointing straight to the Ensign behind the Engineering consoles.
Jovenan: Ensign Tho’Bi, we have to keep the Orions’ attention to us and not the away team’s ship. If that means we have to take a bounding, then we take it. Make sure the ship is ready for that!
((OOC: Bounding? I meant pounding.))
Tho’Bi: ::quiet but deliberate:: With respect Lieutenant Commander, you can not change the laws of physics.
Jovenan knew the laws of physics just as well as any natural scientist would, and she was aware of how impossible it was to change or break them. But just as the laws written by people, gods or devils, one didn’t need to break a law to bend it.
Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan:: But I will do my best ::bows slightly::
oO That’ll do just fine. Oo
Having received the confirmation from the Engineer, Jovenan started walking towards the Tactical station. Before reaching it, she turned towards the Science station, her own, safe, little corner of the bridge currently occupied by Lieutenant Gnai. She extended her arm towards the station, pointing at the bobbing Scientist. A thought had occurred to her which, while unproven, could explain some of the coincidences.
Jovenan: Lieutenant Gnai, earlier my team discovered a relationship between an Orion drug, nanoparticles and a transceiver. If the Klingon party’s behaviour is in any way influenced by the Orions or anyone else, find it, block it or use it!
Gnai: Aye, sir!
Happy that Gnai didn’t question the request that Jovenan herself realised was quite a lot to ask, she turned to the Tactical. She leaned closer to the goldshirt stationed there. The duties of being in command of a ship were weighting on the Chief Scientist, but she was aware that she was placing a lot of pressure to the junior officers. Gnai at least had several missions behind it; Tho’Bi and Cole were on their first on the Artemis. Jovenan wasn’t sure if she had performed this well straight out of the Academy.
Jovenan: Ensign Cole, about your earlier suggestion. What would it require to make the Orions think we’ve got backups coming?
Cole: We could seed the idea over open comms, something like, ‘Acknowledged, Athena. We’ll hold the line until reinforcements arrive, two minutes out.’ At the same time, we spoof warp signatures and bounce transponder pings off local relays to make it look like ships are inbound. Once they start scanning, we hail them and lean into the performance. Confidence is key. If we make them doubt what’s real, they’ll hesitate and that wins us time.
Jovenan nodded. In the ship’s current state, they couldn’t begin to fight the Orions without the odds turning against them. Spoofing warp signatures took some of their energy, but as far as the communications went, she supposed it was a simple yet elegant method of fakery. There was the risk that the Orions reacted poorly if they discovered the cheat, but she had reasons to hope for a less grim ending for them. A mild tremor travelled through the ship.
Jovenan: It’s a gamble, but I don’t think they’re looking for a direct confrontation. They could have destroyed us already, but instead they are relying on subterfuge, provocation and intimidation. We have to remind them that there’s no playing with the entirety of Starfleet. If they don’t know that already, we give them a reason to think so.
Cole: Orion’s aren’t dumb. Just used to being the biggest threat in the room. Their opening moves are calculated, fast, overwhelming, but they don’t follow through with finesse. They assume once they’ve kicked the door in and have you surprised, the fight’s over.”
Tho’Bi: ::to the bridge:: we have limited Auxiliary Power ::to Jovenan:: Shields are up but… ::shakes head:: only twelve percent.
Twelve per cent wasn’t much, but with it, they could defend themselves at least for a few extra minutes should the Orions turn aggressive; it was much better than no shields at all. Ensign Cole was in full speed preparing to execute the plan, setting up “ships” with whom they could communicate and hopefully intimidate the Orions. Soon, the Ensign turned to Jovenan and gave her a permission to proceed. While reading the list of ship transponder signals the Ensign had chosen to emulate, she had a quick breather; Jovenan and confidence rarely went hand in hand, but now she had to become an actress.
Jovenan: =/\= Confirmation received, Athena. Your arrival to our location will happen after the Ithaca and the Mercury, while the taskforce of the Paladin, Thor and Zephyr will secure the planet. Please note that the Victory and the Challenger will close off the system once they arrive. =/\=
An eyebrow raised, Jovenan looked at Ensign Cole. She had heard of some of the ships mentioned in the Ensign’s list, although she was fairly certain that none of them were anywhere near, some of them maybe not in active service any more. She hoped that the Orions didn’t know that either and that the Ensign’s technical tricks fooled them better than Jovenan’s attempt of a performance.
Cole: ::tapping commands:: Echoes are bouncing, comms are seeded, and our imaginary cavalry is on its way. Let’s see if they blink first.
Jovenan: Good. Hopefully their panic reaction is to run first and ask questions later, not shoot first.
Before she could even finish the sentence, the Artemis shook violently. Jovenan took support from the Tactical station chair so she wouldn’t be thrown to the floor or across the room. It seemed that the Orions had chosen the less fortunate alternative of the available reactions. The damage was very visible on the bridge, as conduits burst and even the viewscreen gained a crack to it.
Tho’Bi: ::shouting over the explosions:: It’s taking all we have just to maintain the fake warp signatures.
Gnai: Sir, this can’t seem to find the precise signal that the Orions are sending, the power just isn’t there for the sensors!
Jovenan: Do not disengage the fake warp signatures! Get power from somewhere and move it to the shields! We have to maintain the masquerade a little longer and they might run away or start talking! ::to Gnai:: Do we have other options to stop the signal?
Cole: Response
Jovenan staggered across the bridge to the central chairs again, taking support from whichever railings and seats got in her way as the Orions kept bombarding them. She fell to her knees just in front of the Captain’s chair, but she managed to pull herself up and sat down to the seat. Each hit shook her, but the seat was much firmer than standing on the deck right now.
Tho’Bi: ::to himself:: It’s gotta be the ugliest hack I have ever done.
Gnai: ::bobbing in its tank:: This recommends trying a broadband inversion - the Klingons and other aliens that the Orions sent would be completely cut off, which would allow Security the chance to properly detain them. The only problem is… that would leave the Artemis blind momentarily.
Looking back to her Academy Com/Ops classes, she had to dig deep to remember what the implications of a broadband inversion were. The move would hinder all local subspace activity, which would make them blind but also rob them of the communications. It would massively reduce their ability to detect the Orions’ moves and to sustain the fake warp signatures. On the other hand, the effect could be extended to cover the Orion ship as well, which would be a blessing.
Jovenan: Prepare for it. Make sure the Orions are affected as well. Ensign Cole, make it look like the backups are getting closer. If we go with the broadband inversion, the Orions can’t see the signatures again and might just start panicking.
Cole: Response
The Orion destroyer was firing another volley. Jovenan braced, but instead of the disruptor fire reaching the hull and shaking them with full force again, it was met by the shields and rebounded in some peculiar way back to the Orion vessel, penetrating its shields with suspicious ease. Her eyes were nailed to the cracked viewscreen for quite a while, expecting to find an explanation to the rare phenomenon she had just witnessed.
Tho’Bi: ::quietly simply:: The weapons of every ship are synced to their shields ::beat:: so they can fire through them.
Without uttering a word, Jovenan turned on the seat towards the Engineering station.
Tho’Bi: I know Kung-Fu.
She didn’t know how Earth Chinese martial arts related to engineering, but if that was the results, she didn’t see a reason to question it.
Gnai: On second thought, sir, they might not be in a position to broadcast their signal anymore… ::tapping at its console:: This isn’t reading any further phaser fire on Deck 5.
Gnai’s report made Jovenan refocus on the threats they were facing. The lack of weapons fire indicated either that the Klingons had been freed from the signal coming from outside, or that the security teams had defeated them… or vice versa. Either way, it looked like they wouldn’t be needing the broadband inversion.
Jovenan: Ensign Cole, check if Lieutenant Udesky and the others have managed to reconnect the internal communications by now. If the security teams report the Klingons have become suddenly pacified, they can be placed to guarded quarters or a similar space. Otherwise, the brig.
Cole: Response
Tho’Bi: Uh Oh.
Jovenan closed her eyes for a few seconds after hearing Ensign Tho’Bi’s exclamation. It was one of the last things she wanted to hear from an engineer, especially in a situation where their ship was already falling apart. For a good few seconds, it had looked like they had already won. When she opened her eyes, she was faced with the image indicating the danger of a warp core breach on the Orion transport docked to the Deck 5.
Gnai: The security team and the Klingons are still near the shuttle! Maybe one of them could detach it…?
Even if they got the shuttle off the Artemis, they’d have to get away from it or it away from them. Without much power to the ship, their options were rather limited.
Jovenan: Send the message. ::to everyone:: Ideas how to not get damage from the warp core?
Cole/Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan nodded as the two Ensigns were making their suggestions. She was asking for one more miracle, and the team had certainly delivered many of those. Being so dependent on miracles was a poor tactic, but at this moment, there were few other options.
Gnai: ::quietly, trying not to interrupt the planning:: The others, they’re fighting off the smaller ships!
Jovenan checked what Gnai was reporting. Although the Artemis had managed to keep the Orion destroyers from pursuing the away team’s ship, the smaller ships hadn’t fallen to their attempt to cover the other vessel. With the other ship’s condition in mind, Jovenan wasn’t sure if it would be able to leave them behind. As much as she wanted to do something to help, the shuttle’s warp core breach threatened them all unless they figured out a way to deal with it.
Jovenan: ::to Tho’Bi and Cole:: How about sending the shuttle to a course on its own power or remotely controlling it? Would that be possible?
Tho’Bi/Cole: Response
Gnai: If-if it were possible to eject the shuttle’s warp core remotely, there’s a chance it might intersect with the smaller ships ::pointing to their paths on its console:: and perhaps destroy them instead of the Artemis. It would require some skilled flying to dodge the explosion… but this believes Lieutenant Silveira could do it. If he were at the helm.
Pressing her lips tightly together, Jovenan thought what would happen if they failed. She was about to send a massive explosion towards her boyfriend and hope he was able to dodge it. He might not even be flying, or he might be already injured. The risk of killing everyone in the process was enormous, and after thinking the drone had in some way caused the decompression of the Moonbase and killed everyone there, she didn’t want to experience that guilt again.
Jovenan: We can’t risk the away team. We don’t know if their ship is fully operational or if they have casualties. Prepare to send the shuttle away, but we have to make sure it explodes somewhere it won’t threaten us or the away team.
Cole/Tho’Bi/Gnai: Response
Jovenan: Send out the shuttle. Eject the shuttle core when at safe distance from us.
Cole/Tho’Bi/Gnai: Response
The damaged Orion transport became visible on the viewscreen as it departed from the Artemis. Jovenan looked at its flight for a moment before speaking again.
Jovenan: Do we have the inter-ship communications? We should warn the… ::sigh:: warn all ships in the proximity. Some of them may be our enemies, but they all deserve a chance to dodge.
Cole/Tho’Bi/Gnai: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11