Lt. JG Natasha Cole - False Positives, Real Fire
Natasha Schell
(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))
K’Wara: All systems green, ETA at Luxasi in twenty minutes.
Natasha was sitting behind Lieutenant K’Wara, who was in the pilot’s seat. She looked over the briefing over her PADD. The task before them seemed pretty straight forward. Test and try to either breach or break the station's Security network. The nearby rift added an interesting complication.
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: Yeah. I went over the tactical upgrades before we left, but I’ve continued reviewing the entire security profile on the trip over. As for what we should note, they’ve encountered a series of false positives - of a possible attack - have occurred at a regular rate. We should definitely see if we can figure out why and find a way to filter them out. But for the moment, they’ve moved the station further away from the rift since the growth has been unpredictable.
Natasha glanced up to listen to Lieutenant Storm. False positives could be caused by several different things ranging from faulty wiring resulting from poor installation to any number of environmental reasons.
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: Should do, I can adjust the shield modulation and match the harmonics of the rift which will provide a nice boost.
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.
Natasha got up and swapped places with K’Wara, so they could continue addressing the rest of the away team.
Cole: ::smiling:: Got it, if the rift starts acting squarely, I’ll get us out of there.
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: While that may be true, if the station is under observation by anyone hoping to take advantage of the situation, a Starfleet shuttle could raise some eyebrows, so we should keep on our toes.
Vailani: Allocating reserved power to weapons in case we need to use them in a pinch, experience tells me it's best to be prepared :: to K'Wara :: ‘On our toes’ as Lt. Storm said.
Cole: Good idea, we don’t need any uninvited guests.
As they approached the station, Natasha couldn’t help but note the simplicity of its design. Clearly more function then form, but then again the personnel were more focused on research then flash.
The Rift looked like nothing she had seen before. Like someone had cut a tear into the fabric of space itself, there was a strange beauty about it. As Natasha was appreciating the view, they were being hailed.
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: =/\= Lieutenant Alex Storm, Tactical Officer.=/\=
Cole: =/\= Lieutenant Natasha Cole, Security Officer.=/\=
Natasha noticed Lieutenant Vailani was focused on her scans.
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? =/\=
Storm: ::To K’Wara:: If we’re supposed to be trying to break through the system, I think it would be better for us to remain out here and keep the pleasantries for later.
Cole: ::glancing to Storm:: I was thinking something similar. Better to start outside and work our way inside.
K’Wara: =/\= Let’s sling spacerocks at your station first, and then we’ll hop on over for tea, Researcher. ::easy smile:: Gets the rocky patch out of the way. =/\=
Vailani/ =/\= I'm receiving data from the rift now. It would be good to have a basis for cross referencing. A baseline would be a good start? =/\=
Cole: It would make it easier to know if the rift is getting angry too.
Storm: =/\= I want to know how often you’re getting these false positives. Can you transmit that data over to the shuttle. There may be a pattern in those that could tell us something.=/\=
Researcher Zurah: =/\= Of course. ::Nods to someone off the viewscreen, and watches until someone indicated that it was done.:: You should have that information now.=/\=
Storm: Thank you.
Natasha glanced to storm as she worked her console. She couldn’t help but feel an all too familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. She kept an eye out towards the rift, not sure if that was causing her to feel like a shoe was going to drop or if it was something else.
Storm: Thank you. I’ll work on analyzing this.
K’Wara: =/\= Disregarding the false positives, has the station been able to respond to actual debris properly? =/\=
Researcher Zurah: =/\= Oh, yes, every time more debris slips through the rift, it alerts us in time for the station to move to alert status and activate the proximity defenses. Thus far, there’s been no, uhhh... ‘False negatives’, so to speak. =/\=
Cole: oO no that wasn’t it, what was her gut trying to warn her about? Oo
Natasha kept her focus between their approach, the rift and the station, outwardly she had a furrowed brow, probably appearing annoyed.
Storm: Response
Researcher Zurah: =/\= Of course. We have prepared some testing material - it’s waiting to be ejected from the Sector 24-A9 airlock - that I believe should fit the specifications. =/\=
K’Wara: =/\= We should start from verifying response times, and then we can move to stress testing afterwards. =/\= ::to Storm:: Alex, is the Acheron’s tractor beam souped up for Operation Slingshot?
Storm: Response
K’Wara: Good. ::to Cole:: Take us in, Ensign, but mind that rift. We want to stay clear of the threshold that flirts too much with the other side. ::to Vailani:: You’re on target calls. ::to Storm:: When Lieutenant Vailani calls it, hurl the biggest piece of debris you can at the station. =/\= Let’s get this rodeo started. =/\=
Vailani: :: nods :: Scanners ready.
Cole: Taking us in. ::smiling:: This should be interesting.
Natasha toggled autopilot off and arced the runabout towards the station approaching the aforementioned airlock for their testing purposes.
Storm: Response
From one of the outermost sections of Luxasi station, a stream of large debris - not quite 'spacerocks', but large hulking pieces of testing material large enough to count for small meteoroids - was released into space, and the kinetic force from their ejection kept them going towards the Ebers Rift's gravitational pull.
Vailani: First set of debris heading on a trajectory to the rift. Targeting debris field.
Cole: Let's get you closer. ::tapping the controls
Seeing Lieutenant Vailani highlight a section of debris, Natasha plotted a path for the runabout so Lieutenant Storm could scoop her ‘Space rocks’.
Storm/K'Wara: Response
Vailani: Target locked. Over to you Lieutenant.
Storm: Response
Natasha watched as Lieutenant Storm used the tractor beam to throw the debris at the station.
Cole: Nice throw, wonder if it’ll be called a hailstorm maneuver someday. ::offering a coy smile::
There that feeling was again, something nagging at her, now in the back of her mind. She glanced from the sensors towards the rift, but didn’t get the impression that it was giving her the feeling of a shoe about to drop.
Storm/K'Wara: Response
Vailani: Stations defenses are activating.
The debris field was taken out surprisingly fast for a research station. Check that off their list.
Vailani: Defenses have a new target.
Natasha turned her head slightly at that while maintaining focus fully infront of them.
Vailani: They've targeted the Acheron.
Cole: ::sigh:: of course they are. ::beat:: Hold onto something.
Natasha had to think fast as the station's weapons glowed hot as they started firing at them. She didn’t think, or hesitate and worked the controls taking the runabout into the equivalent of a corkscrew nosedive as she brought their ‘belly’ to bear towards the station she whipped the runabout controls bringing the nose up aiming them away from the station.
Cole: Storm, can you or Vailani project their weapons area of attack and range onto the display? I’d prefer not to have to try running that mental math while flying for our lives.
Storm/ Vailani/K'Wara: Response
Alerts continued to sound as the station began peppering their area with weapons fire. Natasha did her best to keep them moving, as the asked for information started to display in front of her.
Cole: Thanks, I can keep us moving, but does anyone have any ideas why they're firing at us?
Storm/ Vailani/K'Wara: Response
Natasha did her best to keep them out of range and in the shifting dead pockets of their defenses. Suddenly the runabout was clipped by amore targeted attack.
Cole: Either their automated defenses are getting smarter, or someone is actively targeting us. ::forcing the Acheron towards the port sharply::
Storm/K’Wara/Vailani: Response
Tags/TBC
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Lt. JG
Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
Writer ID A240205NC4