Maj. Didrik Stennes — The menace
Yogan Yalu
(( Sim Center, Deck 6, CIC Desdemona ))
Didrik brought home the goods, but he couldn’t help wondering what else he could have taken from Overdone if he’d had even another 30 seconds to spare. Despite having known nothing but the futility and hopelessness of war since he was a boy, Didrik still had a brain cell or two capable of “what if.” Thankfully, Harry’s original suggestion of making the Shint blink fused with the smattering of other half-formed ideas on offer until a proverbial lightbulb appeared over Ares’ head.
Dakora: What if we combined the two ideas? Hide out in a debris field AND try to employ the echoes.
MacKenzie: More cover than not – better safe than sorry.
Didrik nodded his assent. Everyone in the room had a different area of expertise and together, they’d come up with the best possible plan. Strength in diversity was a Commonwealth ideal, albeit one that grew harder and harder to espouse when a hegemonic extragalactic superpower systematically unraveled your society over a span of decades.
Sato: Not the best odds, but they're better than 50:50.
Savel seemed unconvinced. It was hard for Didrik to imagine Savel, or any Vulcan, for that matter, as a robe-wearing, split-finger-saluting, peace-and-long-life-wishing logician. If that sort of Vulcan still existed, Didrik had never met one. Just as well. The Commonwealth had wasted valuable time—and countless planets—trying to negotiate a peace with the Shint before they realized the only options were fight or forfeit.
Savel: I may have an idea that could improve our odds of getting close to the Shint cruiser. Even if it may be slight. I do not imagine you all will like it.
Ares gestured toward the model, encouraging Savel to elucidate.
Dakora: By all means, Mister Savel, share it with the class.
Savel punched some commands into a console and a virtual representation of Desdemona, the shuttlepod, and a Shint cruiser appeared. They were all in relative scale to each other, and Didrik took a step back, as if to get out of the Shint ship’s shadow.
Savel: I propose that we use the Desdemona to make the Shint think the shuttle has been destroyed. The Shint will likely have no regard for a defeated CIC vessel the size of our shuttle. Not with the Desdemona close by.
Dakora: Are you thinking we make it look like the Shuttle is full of separatists or deserters and we make it look like the Des shoots it down? ::He frowned.:: It could work. Maybe.
MacKenzie: ::shaking her head:: I don’t know. I can guarantee they’ll pick up the power from the engines.
Didrik mulled it over.
Stennes: Personal prismic shields might help mask life signs. ::beat:: That’s a big might. Regardless, all it would take is one clean shot to blow the shuttlepod out of the sky.
Sato: response
Savel manipulated the models, moving the shuttlepod closer to one of the Shint cruiser’s sensor nodules.
Savel: Your concerns are valid. We will indeed have to power down the ship to minimal levels and likely drift toward the Shint cruiser. A longer period of exposure, however they should not detect us until the last minute. At which point, our shields and systems will be active and we will be in place to breach the hull.
Ares shrugged, the universal sign for, “I’m skeptical, but not closed off.”
Dakora: It’s possible. If we time our breach with a barrage from the Desdemona they might just take the damage in stride. Then we’d just have to get in and steal the prisma-whatevers and wreck things inside bad enough on our way out that we can get back to the Des and get away before the Cruiser can kill us.
MacKenzie nodded slowly. Didrik scratched his stubbly chin in contemplation and eyed the Shint cruiser.
Stennes: Famous last words, “Let’s split up and double our chances.” Who among us hasn’t been cautioned against making that old chestnut of a tactical error? ::beat, traces a line along the exterior of the Shint ship:: Still, with multiple prismagons aboard, it’s tempting.
Sato: response
Savel: Response
Dakora: Let’s run it back from the beginning. We go loud with the Des’ sensors and wait for a Shint Cruiser to pick up the trail. Once they’re in sensor range, we deploy the pod of ::He made quotation marks with his fingers:: deserters and make it look like the Des’ shoots them dead. Then what?
Stennes: The shuttlepod drifts into position on low power and Desdemona volleys some fire at the Shint. ::to Harry:: Make them blink so they don’t notice the speck of grit in their eye.
Sato / Savel: response
MacKenzie: Then we get in and get out as quickly as possible.
Stennes: If anyone can make a quick exit and keep our weapons hot, it’s Kader and Vik.
Savel / Sato / Dakora: response
MacKenzie nodded, tacitly giving the ol’ “Colonel’s approval” to the idea.
MacKenzie: That’s the plan. It’s time to put it into motion – we don’t have much time.
Stennes: ::to Dakora:: Who do you want with you in the shuttlepod and who do you want watching your back ship side?
Dakora / Savel / Sato: response
Didrik hooked a finger in his uniform collar.
Stennes: I don’t know about that Edo mediator. Part of me thinks she’s just gathering intelligence on us to use later. The Holier-Than-Thou Fleet on Rubicun III has been hedging its bets against the Commonwealth for years.
Dakora / Sato / Savel / MacKenzie: response
Stennes: As soon as we’ve got some working prismics and a target ship, we go. ::beat:: In the meantime, uh——::beat:: Harry, could I bend your ear for a few minutes? Maybe take a walk to the soup dispensers and back?
Sato: response
Dakora / Sato / MacKenzie: response
Tag / End scene for Stennes
Major Didrik Stennes
Acting Executive Officer
CIC Desdemona RNS-601
D238804DS0