LtCmdr Azura Ada - but I don't want to go to Intel

[Lazuli Davis]

(( Bridge, USS Constitution-B ))

The bigger ship took a second dive and fired a full volley at Hermes. Some of that actually missed but some torpedos hit full on. Luckily it was at the edges of the outpost but there could still have been people there.

Rajel: Dammit, I said to get between them!

Lystra: I don’t think we can, their ship is smaller and those adjustments she’s making I’d say she definitely got us on agility too.

Ch'Nilmani: I don't think the Commodore gave an option, Lieutenant!

Zaka: Structural damage on the Outpost, they appear to be down to backup power. Shields on the main compounds are critical.

Ch'Nilmani: Re-calibrate a firing solution!

Right they were big and slow and heavy while the other ship was smaller and with that also faster. They could react much quicker.

Rajel: T'Seva, fire all you got at that ship. Disable their weapon system. Commander, tell Rachel to hurry with the shuttle prep, load some explosive into the shuttle as well, if they blow it up we might as well cause some damage. ::She looked at the Engineer. What was his name again? She had seen that file... right.:: Jiroo, we need you here. But have Engineering prepare worker drones with some supplies and send them down to help until we can send someone down. And keep your eyes on the screens, I don't want us to fall apart until we have the chance to do that.

Zaka: I can do that, sir.

Ch'Nilmani: Got it, Commodore.

T'Seva: On it!

Diz'mim turned around to talk with Flores and Jalana focused on her own job.

Rajel: Azura, anything on the ships or surroundings we can use to knock their lights out?

Ada: We could--we could send out a series of phased wideband EM pulses. We'll be lit up like a flare, but it might also blind their sensors until they figure out the trick.

Jalana nodded, and Azura began to prepare the EM pulses in case ordered.

Rajel: You got any ideas Ba'el? See any pattern in those attacks we can use against them?

Ba'el: The way these ships are being employed suggests that they are being handled by experienced crews, and not by simple raiders.

Lystra: I agree, they clearly care more about destroying Hermes outpost than engaging us. Which means they either don’t view us as enough of a threat or consider their objective so important they aren’t worried about their own safety. Which is equally dangerous.

T'Seva: And their objective is, I suspect, intelligence-related. *Our* intelligence. They want to blind us in this sector.

Rajel: And pirates can't hone in one one thing?

Ba'el: It should have turned to engage us, but it didn't. It's letting the smaller ships screen it from our fire.  I suggest we ignore the smaller craft and focus on disabling the larger ship. How it, and the other ships react will tell us what kind of skill they have.

Lystra: Based on their attack patterns they’re definitely skilled, but something feels…disparate.

T'Seva: I agree with Ba'el. The small ships are a problem, but the mother ship is more of one.

Ba'el: If the smaller ships press their attacks harder, then we will have identified the command ship.  If they all break off and run, the initiative is then ours.

Lystra: They haven’t run yet, so I’m inclined to think that bigger ship is their C&C.

Rajel: I would agree with Lystra. Just going by them being bigger than the others stands to assume that this is the mothership, the carrier. Alright, keep your fire on that one, maybe if we damage it enough they'll decide it isn't worth it.

Zaka: =/\= Zaka to Shimisi =/\=

Shimisi: =/\= Shimisi here, what's it? =/\=

Zaka: =/\= The Commodore suggested we beam worker drones to the outpost and get them started on emergency repairs. Ca... =/\=

Another hit shook the ship as Azura grasped at her console.

Lystra: Intense power drain. Shields dropped by five percent from whatever they just hit us with.  
Zaka: Shields now 40%. We can't take too much hits like that.

T'Seva: We can't. They have some nasty torpedos over there.

Rajel: That wasn't a normal torpedo, what was that?

Zaka: It looks like they hit us with very high yield quantum torpedos. =/\= Lt. Shimisi, what do you make of this? =/\=

Shimisi: =/\= The residual plasmic energy is causing trouble for the shields to recover. We must avoid being hit by that again.=/\=

Azura had a deep preference to not be blown up on her first mission back from Daystrom. Or any mission, for that matter.

Shimisi: =/\= I'll try to reinforce them... =/\=

Ba'el: Commodore, I think there is more going on here than we are seeing.

Rajel: In what way?

Ba'el: If these were simply raiders, or pirates looking for an easy target to plunder, why this outpost?  Why here?  

Rajel: Mhm Depends on what they want. You can trade with literally anything these days, including information.

And this outpost had a lot of that.

Ba'el: And once the Constitution arrived, why didn't they break off and escape? Pirates tend to avoid pitched battles to conserve their limited numbers and resources.

Rajel: While I agree with that being usually the case, we had several incidents with pirates where they opened fire to fight instead. In theory is always a bit different from reality. After all pirates are also all individuals with their own motives and personalities.

Ba'el: This seems to coordinated for simple pirates. If we can locate and put pressure on the ship commanding this group, their response will give us a better idea of their goals and intentions.

Rajel: ::gestures to the screen::: We have the mothership right there. And they seem to care about attacking Hermes outpost and us and that attack on us was the direct reaction to the pressure of our attacks.

Ch'Nilmani: Bring forward phaser arrays to bear. We need to bite them and buy us some distance until the shuttle is ready.

T'Seva: On it.

Rajel: I wonder how far Rachel is along with the shutt-

Flores: =/\= Flores to Bridge, anybody got a scan of the ship we’re fighting? =/\=

T'Seva: =/\= Lystra has it and can send it over. =/\=

Apparently Lystra sent the info over as Rachel spoke again a moment later.

Flores: =/\= It’s ready now. One Type-9 shuttle set to mimic our signature and set to autopilot. =/\=

Ch'Nilmani: Deploy it. Now!

Flores: =/\= Tactical, I’ve set it to loop around and make an attack run on the enemy. We could use a bit of a light show to keep them busy while this sucker launches. Don’t want them noticing the shuttle until its ready to share all its spatial charges. =/\=

T'Seva: =/\= I can manage a light show! =/\=

Lystra: =/\= One Tactical rave on the way. Let’s hope the shuttle can take them out before they do any more harm. =/\=

Flores: =/\= Hope so. =/\=

Jalana's brows went up.

Flores: =/\= Sorry, inside voice got out. =/\=

Rajel: =/\= Don't worry about it. I've said worse. =/\=

T'Seva: =/\= It's fine! Give me a countdown so we can time this. =/\=

Flores: =/\= Response =/\=

As she waited for the shuttle to launch and activate, Azura felt her pulse quicken with each energy weapon barrage.

Ch'Nilmani: Wild weasel deployed. We've got it acting like another starship. We should have bought a few minutes.

The shuttle distraction seemed like it worked, even if it somehow struck Azura as not a great idea. Should they make moves that legitimize larger ships targeting shuttles? Shouldn't they be seen as non-combatants? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Shuttles were outfitted with weapons systems, and though modest in comparison to the Conny were still formidable. 

Lystra: Who said Tactical doesn’t know how to put on a party? ::She grinned::

Rajel: Can you see what's their damage?

Any: Response

Lystra: That did a number on them. I think they’re pulling back, but the sensors detected a possible transporter signal.

Rajel: Transporter signal? What it is and where to?

Any: response

Lystra: Honestly, I can’t be entirely sure. There’s too much interference from the residual radiation from the shuttle’s warp core breach. It’s dominating the scans and the computer just barely detected it because I had an alert set if they picked up anything that could be a boarding attempt.

Azura's fingers were a-flurry over her console. Perhaps her more sophisticated sensor readout at her station would be useful.

Ada: Between the existing interference and the detonation, we can't track the location. Lytstra's right.

Rajel: Damn, try to see if you can find out where it went in case it left any traces.

Any: response

Lystra: Not sure, but our shields have been up this whole time, so most likely Hermes outpost. Should I alert D’Sena?

She frowned slightly and then nodded.

Rajel: Yes, let her know to beam a team down in case that transporter signal was a boarding party.

Any: response

Shimisi: =/\= Shimisi to Zaka, if worker drones are to be sent, we better do it now. We believe we can enhance the shields with a mix of Beta Tachyon particles and antiprotons, but that will prevent us from transporting anything out. =/\=

Zaka: Response

Shimisi: =/\= After the procedure is done and once the effectiveness is off, we'll need about thirty seconds to restore shields. Just give us the order and we'll proceed =/\=

Jalana sat up a bit more straight when she saw the ship starting to move and ... collect the smaller ships.

Rajel: That may not be necessary.

Any: Response

Rajel: Looks like they are retreating. Keep the weapons on stand by in case it's a trick.

Any: Response

It took only another moment until all the smaller ship had been retrieved and then... the ship was gone to warp. Jalana looked at the screen for another moment before she slumped back in her seat.

Rajel: Stand down. Disengage red alert.

Azura breathed a silent sigh of relief as the lighting returned to normal. Out of danger, for now.

Any: Response

Rajel: I want reports from all stations. Need to know the damage. Still nothing from the outpost?

Kapoor: No Ma'am. Still can't reach them, it seems like their communication's array is completely offline.

Any: Response

Rajel: Commander, you have the bridge. Inform the ship that the battle is over and evaluate the damage reports. Keep an overview of getting things done. I'll go have a chat with the Hermes' CO.

Azura began to speak up, but then stopped herself. That was no longer her responsibility.

Ch'Nilmani: Response

Rajel: Of course I won't go alone. ::She tapped her badge.:: =/\= Rajel to Herren, Park and Zaka. Meet me in Transporterroom 1. =/\=

She knew that Zaka was on the bridge but it was easier to just include him anyway.

Any: =/\= Response =/\=

Jalana closed the line.

Rajel: We have a full Security Detail down there, so Lystra you'll stay here. Ba'el I want you to join Lystra to patrol the ship. There is bound to be some security risks, panicked or some other violent behaviour after a battle especially among civilians that do not have the proper training. Try to calm them down and get them them help they need.

Lystra/Ba'el: Response

Rajel: T'Seva and Azura, grab all sensor data that you were able to get about the ships and head down to Intel. Maybe you can manage to find out who we were dealing with.

Azura made eye contact with T'Seva and nodded to the woman slightly before returning her gaze to Jalana.

Ada: On it. 

She hurriedly loaded all the relevant data onto her trusty PADD.

T'Seva: Response

Rajel: I'll just get a first overview of what has happened down there and how much help they need. I'll let you know as soon as possible so we can prepare to help them recover.

Any: Response

Jalana nodded and then headed to the lift with the other officers.

Ada: T'Seva, are you ready?

T'Seva: ?

Ada: Commander, uh, actually, I'm sorry, I don't know how to pronounce your name, sir. 

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva: ?

Ada: Thank you. Yes, ok, we're headed to Intel.

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva/Any: ?  

Azura crossed to the turbolift and waited for it to arrive wordlessly. She didn't want to go to Intel, she wanted to go to Sciences to figure out what that interference was, and why it limited their sensors. But orders were orders.

Ch'Nilmani/T'Seva/Any: ?  

——

Lt Commander Azura Ada

Chief Science Officer

USS Constitution-B
IDIC team member
ASDB team member
C239510LD0
(she/her, character)
(she/her, writer)

 
 
“For the wise person looks into space and knows there are no limited dimensions." --Zhuangzi