LT Tamio K'Wara - Arrival of the Huntresses (and Tamio)

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

// Internal Starfleet Communiqué

FROM: Bajor Sector Command

FORWARDED FROM: Lead Researcher Zurah, Luxasi Station

SUBJECT: Sitrep on Tactical Adjustments on Luxasi Observatory Station \\

1. Situation

Luxasi Observatory Station, located in the Ebers System, has resided at 0.003 AU from the spatial anomaly known as the Ebers Rift. The station’s mission profile is to complete routine scientific inquiries while supplying sensor monitoring of the anomalous activity. Recent scans show unprecedented growth in the Rift and Luxasi Station requested Starfleet assistance to install countermeasures.

2. Action / Upgrade Summary

Starfleet engineering teams have completed installation and system integration of tactical upgrades to station defensive and survivability systems. Furthermore, Station Leadership has decided to move Luxasi Station to a safety distance of 0.07 AU in preparation for further anomalous growth.

3. Current Status

Tactical systems installed and functional in isolation, but further testing required. Incidents of false positives as a result of space noise emissions from the rift have been logged and marked as problematic.

4. Request for Tactical Exercise

To validate operational effectiveness and confirm defensive capacity under realistic conditions, we formally request a tactical visit and exercised engagement by a small team of operatives aboard a Starfleet runabout.

Preferred timing is-

(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))

The mission profile listed on the PADD that had been passed onto Tamio’s desk was interesting. Luxasi Observatory Station had, thus far, been an entirely civilian project, but unprecedented growth in the Ebers Rift - a spatial rift that, until now, had been the smallest visible rift recorded - had started growing and the station researcher had gotten concerned enough to request Starfleet’s assistance. Ordinarily, a good portion of the Science Department’s astrophysicists would’ve jumped at the opportunity to join an excursion to Luxasi, but the mission profile for this excursion was specifically for a tactical exercise to test the defensive upgrades (and the researchers’ ability to utilize them).

This was why Tamio now took the USS Acheron out of warp as they crossed the system border in the Ebers system, on approach to Luxasi Observatory Station.

K’Wara: All systems green, ETA at Luxasi in twenty minutes. 

Tamio did some final adjustments to the Acheron’s autopilot, before turning the chair slightly and looking at the team they’d picked.

Lieutenant Alexandra Storm, Tactical Officer. Tamio hadn’t had the chance to meet Alexandra before, but she had the confidence of her Department Chief, and on a tactical mission, it would be daft to not bring along one of the most talented tactical officers the Artemis-A could offer.

K’Wara: Did you have time to go over the tactical upgrades to the station, Alex? Anything particularly noteworthy for us to focus on?

Storm: Response

Lieutenant Vailani Zoyara, Mission Specialist. Considering the unknown aspects of the Ebers Rift’s size increase along with the close distance to the Bajoran wormhole and the political situation with the Gamma Quadrant powers, it had seemed a good idea to bring someone along whose entire job was ‘seeing the bigger picture’.

K’Wara: Sounds viable... Makes sense that Luxasi would move further away from the rift if we’ve got stuff coming through. ::to Vailani:: Will our shielding hold up to the rift’s influence? We’ll have to fly pretty close to it at times.

Vailani: Response

Lieutenant JG Natasha Cole, Security Officer. The redheaded woman had proven herself a quick thinker, great at improvising when the universe gave her lemons and with enough wit to swindle a Nausicaan raider out of all his latinum. While a tactical exercise like this was slightly out of her wheelhouse, Tamio had no doubt it would prove a good learning experience for her.

K’Wara: Nat, I want you on the conn. Considering how unstable the rift is, we can’t all be focused on Luxasi. I want us prepared to react to the slightest rift-twitch.

Cole: Response

K’Wara: Mmh, nothing in Zurah’s original request mentioned any concerning political or criminal elements in the vicinity, so the main issue will likely be the unpredictability of the rift.

Storm/Vailani/Cole: Response

The runabout approached the bulky Observatory Station up ahead, and Tamio focused on it. Luxasi Observatory Station was a classic example of the ‘designed for practicality’ design philosophy. There was little aesthetically pleasing about the large block of viewing platforms, telescopic attachments and sensor dishes, but aesthetics were a hopeless goal when compared to the space anomaly it hovered around.

The Ebers Rift looked like a two-dimensional tear in space, tendrils of almost imperceptible noise blurring the space immediately on either side of the tear. It always felt weird to think of blackness in the blackness of space, but as someone growing up on a space station, the subtle differences were not lost on Tamio, and the rift was almost hypnotic in its inky deviations.

Then, a familiar sound. A hail.

Tamio let the hail through and the face of a Nuvian female with long blue-tinted hair looked at them with a welcoming expression from the viewscreen.

Researcher Zurah: =/\= Welcome to the Ebers system, Officers. I am Researcher Zurah, the Chief of this station. Thank you for responding to my request so quickly. =/\=

K’Wara: =/\= You’re welcome, Chief Zurah. We’re more than happy to ensure the continued safety of your team here at Luxasi. I’m Lieutenant Tamio K’Wara with the USS Artemis-A. =/\=

Storm/Cole/Vailani: Responses?

Researcher Zurah: =/\= It is good to meet you. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have, or perhaps you’d like to come aboard? Meet the team? =/\=

It seemed clear to Tamio that Researcher Zurah had never participated in anything like this before. Not a surprise, given her career thus far.

Storm/Cole/Vailani: Responses

((( OOC: Again, thank you all for volunteering for this! Researcher Zurah may be considered a General NPC for our purposes, and feel free to use her to add parameters or complications to the upcoming exercise as you please : D )))

TAG/TBC

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A
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