LCDR Nolen Hobart — Sneaking Suspicions
Nolen Hobart
((Stellar Cartography, Deck 16, USS Khitomer, in orbit of Alpha Trionus II))
Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart’s dark eyes traced the paths through the stars that his intuition laid for the Alliance attack group. Fleet positions and Federation outposts dotted the sector before him. Halfway between the now-silent listening posts and the outer edge of their probe fields, Nolen spied a gleaming red pinprick of light. He raised a hand and thrust his index finger towards it.
Hobart: If they take the least circuitous route, they'll likely black-out this post here… tomorrow.
Something in the young Vulcan woman soured.
Michaels: Assuming the two stations were disabled by a single task force, your timing is correct. But... But taking out the stations would certainly attract our attention making a surprise attack impossible. :: Lera shook her head. :: Unless attracting our attention was what they intended. Getting to the prison undetected. Getting away unchallenged. The whole attack was almost like it was magic. ::beat:: Magic. That is it. That is how they did it.
Hobart: Oh, well, sure. Makes sense.
Obviously there was more to her thinking, and he turned to face her expectantly. His eyes and eyebrows screamed “Go on.” A tiny, rebellious piece of him wondered at how interesting his day could become if Lieutenant Michaels had truly gone ‘round the bend.
Michaels: Stage magic. The magician gets you to believe the illusion by getting you to look the wrong way. Misdirection. What if taking out the listening stations is not the main thrust but a feint? A diversion. There are not many things the alliance could do that would attract our attention more than launching an attack. Or pretending to launch an attack. Knocking out listening stations would be a logical first step. It would be the equivalent of shouting "Look over here!" And while Starfleet is focused on the feint, they sneak around on an alternate route over here and carry out the real surprise attack.
Hobart: It would explain why the strategy worked in the Admiral's timeline.
Something about what the Admiral had said to them had quietly gnawed at him, too, even as he urged Michaels to set it aside and focus on their task. But while the Lieutenant framed things in terms of how the Lattice Alliance could succeed in penetrating this far into Federation space, Lt. Commander Hobart was oriented around the question of how Starfleet could have failed to stop them. In the Admiral’s telling, the Crack had been hit with “overwhelming force,” and he was approaching the search for their incoming attackers with that measure in his mind. But maybe that was wrong.
Michaels: The grey shape is the Kokopelli Cloud. A dark nebula that someone Terran thought looked like the mythological character Kokopelli. I do not see the resemblance. It is dark because it obscures starlight and sensor signals and there are no stars being formed in it. It is not a perfect cloak, but it would make accurate detection and determination of the size of the force more difficult. That is the route I would take. Somewhat longer than the other alternatives but easier to maintain the element of surprise.
Hobart: Focus the probes on the cloud, then.
Michaels: Response
Nolen stared at the map, as the projected probe network shifted. His hands sat firmly on his hips, elbows jutted. If it wasn’t a feint, they’d be taking their eye off the ball, potentially. But the Lieutenant’s reasoning seemed sound, and it made a difficult puzzle fit a little bit better.
Hobart: Yeah, risky. If the Alliance takes out that listening post, we’ll know it's not a feint, but we won’t have eyes on the incoming force.
Michaels: Response
Hobart: Admiral said “overwhelming force,” but she wasn’t there. If they're using the cloud, sneaking in, maybe it's something else.
Michaels: Response
Hobart: If the system defenses go down, or offline somehow, a single, well-equipped starship would be able to destroy everything. And hiding in that cloud would make a lot more sense.
Michaels: Response
TBC
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Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3