Lt. jg James Colquhoun - The (Relative) Calm Before the Storm (Columbia)

[Dustin Kirkpatrick]

(part 1 of 2)

((Bridge - Deck 1, USS Columbia))

Duyzer: Owens and Kano, I know I’ve barely given you any time, but have you been able to make progress with the virus? Do you know what is possible and what is not?

Owens: ?

Kano: :: Nodding along:: In short it should work, I still think the best try would be from inside, but if the first try doesn't work we can still fall back with that.

Duyzer: =/\= Commander Duyzer to Captain Whittaker. =/\=

Whittaker: =/\= Go ahead. =/\=

Duyzer: =/\= Sorry to interrupt. The Ya-Grhan have entered the system and are slowly closing in on us. We haven’t been able to break their phase cloak, but we have everything planned out. How is the situation down there? =/\=

Whittaker: =/\= Not at all what we were expecting, Commander. They appear to be rather peaceful, although worryingly unconcerned about the impending Ya-Grhan threat. =/\=

:: James nodded at the revelation, he was not surprised they were unworried.  By all accounts, they were more powerful than anyone else he had encountered. He hoped their hubris would not endanger his crew. ::

Duyzer: =/\= Please stay stafe down there, captain. These people… =/\= ::he paused, wondering if he should continue:: =/\= These people have deceived us before, we cannot forget that. =/=

Whittaker: =/= I understand your concerns, Commander but I truly believe that the espers will allow no harm to come to us. The Governor of Safe Harbor has been incredibly accommodating. =/= ::beat:: =/= Commander, I want you to move the Columbia into a high polar orbit. With any luck the planet’s magnetic field will hide you from the Ya-Grhan’s sensors. =/=

Duyzer: =/= We’ve actually been considering a tundr- =/= ::he stopped::

Duyzer: Why did we get cut off? Are we being jammed?

G’Renn: ?

Colquhoun: I can’t find the origin yet, but I think the Ya-Grhan may be aware that we’re here, sir.

Kano: Its definitely not coming from the planet. ::Her hands danced over the console trying to pinpoint the origin of the jamming signal.::

Owens: ?

Duyzer: Hmm… ::he said, unsure what to think of the jamming::

Kano: At least we know that they've got not nothing to do with the Ya-Grhan. And despite the threat, first contact seems to be going well.

Horn: Let's hope it goes as well out here.  

:: The lieutenant paused for a second. ::

 Horn: Commander.  What if we sent a communication via the scanning we've been doing?  A message to the Ya-Grhan, effectively broadly sent out to them so it wouldn't reveal anything... but they might respond. 

Colquhoun: It might tip them off that we have some idea they’re in the system, but we might be able to configure it to look like it’s a repeater broadcast.

Duyzer: It seems risky, ::he said, the interested clearly noticeable from his voice:: what would there be to gain for us? 

G’Renn: ?

Kano: ::She smiled.:: Sir, if we did it that way, we could potentially make it look like we are aware of how they phase, making it look like we have a tactical advantage against them.

Owens: ?

Horn:  :: He grinned a touch mischievously as he replied. :: Well, it's not without other benefits.  Any response would include information on the variance in the communication waveform.  

Duyzer:  Now you’re talking… ::beat:: What would we be sending? We want a response, of course, but we really don’t want to be the aggressors.

Kano: How about sending out the basic Starfleet first contact communication. That we are on a mission of exploration.

G’Renn/Owens: ?

Horn:  I could have it ready before they get into weapons range.  In fact.. :: He tapped a couple commands into the console:: it's ready now if desired. 

:: Impatience started to buzz in the back of the tactical officer’s head.  They were sitting ducks right now discussing instead of acting. ::

Colquhoun: Sir, I’d suggest we make our move to orbit now.  We’re quickly losing the edge here.

Duyzer: Good… – any objections? Now’s your last chance. ::he looked around the bridge slowly and somewhat unsure::

Any: ?

:: The console pinged again, updating the viewscreen with the newest intel.  This ping looked different from the previous ones. James checked the data. ::

Colquhoun: Sir, it looks like they’ve shifted their phase variance up by 0.2 degrees.  That might indicate that they can only shift in small increments. I think we can send Lieutenant Horn’s message in roughly a 0.8 degree spectrum and be reasonably sure they’ll receive it.  ::beat:: I think this also means they’ve left warp, sir.

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Lt. jg James Colquhoun

Tactical Officer

USS Columbia

C239510TG0