Captain Liam Frost - You'll Probably Get Used To It. Maybe.

[Liam Frost (Steve Cox)]

(OOC - Just a reminder, I'm gone for the next few days. If you need anything, Jeremy can help you out.)

:: With the message from the Klingons received, they could confirm that there was at least one Klingon ship out there watching them. And if there was any kind of creditbility to the message, then there was at least one more. And from what he had learned from his experiences with Klingons, it seemed fairly likely that there probably was at least one waiting out there. But what they had planned was something entirely different. They could be here to simply observe and report on what was going on here. Or they couldbe here to stir up trouble, to claim that this was some sort of invasion of their sovereign territory as a pretense to start a conflict. Or, and this was the option that really frightened him, they could have something to so with what was happening. He had never heard of the idea of Klingons using control of weather to wage war, at least not outside of some sort of holonovel. But there was a first time for everything. Hopefully that time wasn't now.::

Frost: Where ore we on a comm link. Can we talk to anyone down there?

Morgan: Not yet. Not approaching reliably anyways.

Riel: The electromagnetic interference from the storms is jamming our frequencies. I'm trying to filter it out as much as I can, but that will just work for the baseline. Expect fragmented transmissions.

:: Fragmented was still better than nothing but not by a whole lot. He hated to admit it, and he probably would not admit as much, but the brick solution was starting to sound more and more appealing. At least there was a chance that it would actually make it to the surface. But he knew that the best thing for him to do was to let his people work. If there was a way, they would find it.::

Frost: We can always try a short message on repeat, like an old fashioned telegraph call.

Morgan: It's something for now, with the promise of more as we work.

:: He took a moment to consider his options, The idea of a short repeating message seemed like their best bet at the moment. if they kept it relatively short,they could piece it together. And they would at least know that they were trying. But that was a moot point. Of course they knew they were trying to reach them. Oliver didn't need to hear them to know that they would do everything they could do to solve the problem they were facing. They needed to get more useful information to them. And that meant a more reliable form of communication.::

:: But his plans were cut short by the very sudden sound of a very loud and very urgent sounding alarm. Again, it was an alarm that he was very familiar with. And unlike the last time, this was absolutely never a good thing. He didn't need to ask to know exactly what was about to happen.::

Es-Aleh: Ship just dropped out of warp. Looks Klingon - she's firing.

:: Before he even had the chance to give the order, the Gemini went to Red Alert, strips of red lights flashing around the contours of the bridge, and throughout the ship, as well as an indicator on each console. The shields instantly rose, surrounding the ship in it's protective layer of energy in anticipation of hostile activity. He wished that he didn't have to make that assumption, but nearly every time he had dealt with Klingons, it had come to something like that. And it appeared that his worries were about to be confirmed.::

Es-Aleh: Four torpedoes, divergent vectors.

Frost: Lock weapons.

Morgan: We aren't four locations, where are they headed?

:: He wasn't sure, and he was afraid to find out. The last thing that he wanted to happen was to be caught wondering what was going on as the Klingons blasted them to vapour. Depending on what kind of ship it was, and what their intentions were, it might not make a whole lot of difference, but at least if he was going down, he was going down fighting. But he wasn't going to be te one to shoot first, not this time, He wasn't going to be the one to start a war.::

Es-Aleh: Confirmed lock on the Klingon ship, weapons ready. Torpedoes are-

Riel: Incoming transmission from the unknown ship!

Frost: Put it up.

:: He was expecting to see a face come across the main viewer, a gruff and angry looking Klingon there to say something pompous and threatening. Something about honour, and battle, and vanquishing the enemies of the empire. And all of it would be crap, and he knew it. But what he got was something that was very much different than what he was expecting.::

Morgan: ::At her screen.:: What is that? 

Riel: Just a string of numbers and letters, and a message asking these funds to be given to the Thracians as war reparations... What funds?

:: The Thracian Alliance. A name that he had not heard in a long time. He had been there for the creation of the Alliance, another event that had been strongly opposed to by at least one faction of the Klingon Empire It would later be revealed that that faction had been cast out by the High Council. But that didn't mean it hadn't almost come to war over the matter. he was there to witness it, and something that he was very proud to have been a part of.::

Frost: Reparations? Who the hell are we dealing with?

:: There were only so many people that would have known about what had happened in those few days. And to think that there was someone who was so concerned with what had happened that they were willing to make reparations, then they must have felt strongly about it, to put it mildly.::

Morgan: The numbers and letters are an account, perhaps?

:: It was an interesting situation, but it still didn't deal with the one pressing concern that he had, which was the fact that there were still several torpedoes streaking through space that had not yet hit anything.::

Es-Aleh: Torpedoes are *not* targeting us. They're heading...

:: He watched carefully as the torpedoes from the Klingon ship streaked towards their target. As he watched, he realized that Morgan was right. None of the torpedoes appeared to be heading towards them. It took what felt like a tremendously long time, but they found their targets. If the vacuum of space had ben capable of carrying the sounds of the impact, he was certain that it would have been absolutely deafening to behold. Several blips appeared on the screen, where he had assumed there had once been ships, exactly the way that the Klingons had described. What kind of ships they were was something that would have to look into later.::

Riel: How does that even... Wait... Another transmission burst. Sending it to mainscreen.

Frost: I think it's time we found out who the hell we're dealing with here.

:: He watched the message carefully, listening to the instructions from the Klingon. Something ablut delivering a personal message to Kali. And as much as he appreciated the attempt at an explanation, it left him with more question than it answered. He imagined that Kali would probably know more about it than he did, and he would make it a point to ask her about it when she was safely back aboard the Gemini.::

Morgan: It seems we have an interesting situation on our hands here.

Riel: :: Looking skeptical :: Shooting their own ships and handing out bank accounts... Please feel free to start making sense anytime now. The part about Doctor Nicholotti sounds pretty personal, though.

Es-Aleh: A little bit, yeah.

Frost: A surprising number of things with Kali are personal. She's affected a lot of people, for better or worse.

Morgan: Well, it was under her watch that the Alliance formed. She put her ship between a Klingon and a Romulan fleet. The result sent ripples through the Trinity sector.

:: He remembered watching from the tactical station of the Victory as Kali and the Klingons stared each other down and the Alliance declared it's independence from both the the Klingons an what was left of the Romulan Empire. It had very nearly gotten them all killed, and it was a risky move to put a Federation ship in the middle of it. A move that had just as much chance of making things worse as it did to help them. She was at least a little bit lucky it had gone in her favour. But then, sh had died twice now, so luck really wasn't an issue at this point.::

Frost: I was there. I can back that up.

Riel/Es-Aleh: [Tag]

Morgan: Perhaps, but something still seems off.

Frost: a lot of things seem of. This whole part of space seems of. You'll probably get used to it. Maybe.

:: There was a lot more than he could say about the strangeness that he come to happening this particular sector of space. it would take quite some time. He could probably even write an academy course on the matter from everything that he had encountered Or at least enough for a few guest lectures. Assuming that he didn't fall into another mysterious anomaly along the way. Which he couldn't rule out. But this was less important than the very sudden crackling of static on the comm line that inserted itself into the bridge.::

Frost: What was that? Was it the Away team?

Riel/Es-Aleh: [Tag]

Morgan: Not sure it's stable, but it's better than what we had!

Frost: Keep working at it. And try a replay in case they're having better luck with their reception

Morgan/Riel/Es-Aleh: [Tag]

Frost: I just hope they managed to get down there safe. If they can get a message through, give them whatever they need There are no restrictions until our people are back.

Morgan/Riel/Es-Aleh: [Tag]

Tag/TBC

Captain Liam Frost
Commanding Officer
USS Gemini