LtJg Lera Michaels - Damn. The Torpedoes
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steve...@yahoo.com
Dec 7, 2025, 9:08:57 PM (4 days ago) Dec 7
to USS Khitomer – StarBase 118 Star Trek PBEM RPG
((Deck 2, Shuttlebay, USS Khitomer))
Kael: Because if we don’t, all of this has been for nothing.
Michaels: And there are no alternatives? This piece should do nicely. :: She handed Kael the component and tilted her head slightly in his direction.:: If we could identify him and move him to the far side of the galaxy, would that not achieve the ultimate goal? Understand that I am not suggesting that solution. I am merely illustrating that there are alternatives. Alternatives must exist that do not involve terminating the lives of every creature, every man, woman, child, pet and house plant on this planet.
Kael: You really want to play dabo with not just your future but everybody else’s?
Michaels: No doubt the three of you, and whoever was supporting you, discussed a number of possible courses of action before settling on this one. Yet you have not shared your reasoning behind this particular choice. You begrudge us the fact we are going through much the same process you went through. :: pointing at a component inside the emitter:: Should we replace this as well?
Kael: :removing the emitter and refitting it: Hurt feelings much? :beat: We don’t begrudge you anything. To you it’s an intellectual exercise, an interesting puzzle. : turning his face to hers: To us we’ve seen so many people die we’ve lost count. Our history is covered in destruction and death so yeah we’ve looked at possibilities. Tori and the Admiral are sure.
Michaels: I understand the urgency you see and your impatience. But you appear to not understand a fundamental difficulty of your position.
Kael's hydrospanner clattered to the floor.
Kael: Oh and I’m sure you’re going to tell me aren’t you?
Michaels: If we're building a handheld device, we will not require the positioning and aiming mechanisms. A straightforward trigger should be sufficient. Most of the cabling will no longer be necessary. :: She stopped for a moment. :: The three of you have adequately presented the dire consequences of inaction. We understand that. There remains the issue of whether the future you are from is the same as our future. Are you "simply" time travelers or are you time and trans-dimensional travelers? We lack sufficient information to make that determination. And there is the suspicion that there is still much you are holding back from us.
Kael: You get that you don’t exist in the future? Your precious Starfleet, the Federation are just pale shadows of what you are now. Is it 100% definite that this will work? No especially not now that I helped :emphasising helped: you disarm those torpedos. But it’s our bet shot, but sure worry about whether we can be trusted or not.
Michaels: I have offered to give you a handheld device which can do great damage. Provided we can come up with a manageable and adequate power source. :: Lera turned and smiled broadly at Kael.:: That may have been foolish but it should also say something significant about whether I trust you or not.
Kael sat and stared at her. It was clear to her that he was annoyed. Lera would have been tempted to say that whether he was annoyed or not was not relevant. But there was something he had said that set off minor alarm bells in her head.
Kael: :calming himself: Listen I’ve been nothing but truthful with you. I get it you’re a Starfleet officer and you’re doing your best to follow your captain’s orders, but at some point you either believe that we are here to save billions of lives and know more about the future than you do or you don’t. You either help us or you don’t.
Michaels: I believe that you know more about "your" past that you believe is "my" future. I believe that "I" do not exist in "your" future...Your past... my alleged future... oO Damn. Keeping the tenses and the language straight. The overlap between his near past and my near future is making what should be a simple conversation awkward. Oo
Lera settled back against the bulkhead, her chin in her right hand with the index finger touching the tip of her nose. At last she knew what had been bothering her about the time traveler's plea. Killing the Tholian janitor was all important. Literally billions of lives depended on it. Virtually the entirety of Khitomer's crew would die if they did not kill him. Though now that they knew that their deaths would be the result of searching for the Alliance staging area, all they had to do to survive was to not go there. What the time travelers had not told them was exactly how they were going to do it. She had speculated on a number of methods that would kill all the Tholians but she had never been certain about it.
Until now. Had she over interpreted what he had said about the torpedoes being their best shot? Perhaps. But torpedoes would certainly do the job. Ob the other hand, one did not need four extremely high powered torpedoes to kill a single individual. No. But you could easily destroy the entire base with those torpedoes. It still qualified as speculation but it seemed obvious to Lera that mass destruction was the trio's answer.
Kael: I’m a good guy in an impossible situation. Are there any guarantees? No, but we can’t spend what precious time we have talking about solutions. We have to act, and we have to act now.
Michaels: I never said you were a bad guy and I never intended to imply that. Guarantees? There are no guarantees in life. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. :: beat :: Is the matter as urgent as you suggest? Khitomer has enough fire power to reduce the entire prison complex to melted rubble in a matter of seconds. If we have even a single minute, we can prevent the outcome you fear. The key question is not the timing but how we do it without losing our own souls.
Kael: I need to speak with Tori. See if she has come up with a solution and how mad she is that I disarmed the torpedos.
oO Definitely the torpedoes. Oo
Michaels: I do not believe I can allow you to roam unaccompanied on the ship. We are at e a logical stopping point. :: turning to Kael who still showed a mixture of emotions ranging for anger to fear.:: I will accompany you.
Kael: Response
Michaels: Computer. What is the location of Miss Tori Semara?
Tags/TBC
——— ○● ———
LtJg Lera Michaels
Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2
Kael: Because if we don’t, all of this has been for nothing.
Michaels: And there are no alternatives? This piece should do nicely. :: She handed Kael the component and tilted her head slightly in his direction.:: If we could identify him and move him to the far side of the galaxy, would that not achieve the ultimate goal? Understand that I am not suggesting that solution. I am merely illustrating that there are alternatives. Alternatives must exist that do not involve terminating the lives of every creature, every man, woman, child, pet and house plant on this planet.
Kael: You really want to play dabo with not just your future but everybody else’s?
Michaels: No doubt the three of you, and whoever was supporting you, discussed a number of possible courses of action before settling on this one. Yet you have not shared your reasoning behind this particular choice. You begrudge us the fact we are going through much the same process you went through. :: pointing at a component inside the emitter:: Should we replace this as well?
Kael: :removing the emitter and refitting it: Hurt feelings much? :beat: We don’t begrudge you anything. To you it’s an intellectual exercise, an interesting puzzle. : turning his face to hers: To us we’ve seen so many people die we’ve lost count. Our history is covered in destruction and death so yeah we’ve looked at possibilities. Tori and the Admiral are sure.
Michaels: I understand the urgency you see and your impatience. But you appear to not understand a fundamental difficulty of your position.
Kael's hydrospanner clattered to the floor.
Kael: Oh and I’m sure you’re going to tell me aren’t you?
Michaels: If we're building a handheld device, we will not require the positioning and aiming mechanisms. A straightforward trigger should be sufficient. Most of the cabling will no longer be necessary. :: She stopped for a moment. :: The three of you have adequately presented the dire consequences of inaction. We understand that. There remains the issue of whether the future you are from is the same as our future. Are you "simply" time travelers or are you time and trans-dimensional travelers? We lack sufficient information to make that determination. And there is the suspicion that there is still much you are holding back from us.
Kael: You get that you don’t exist in the future? Your precious Starfleet, the Federation are just pale shadows of what you are now. Is it 100% definite that this will work? No especially not now that I helped :emphasising helped: you disarm those torpedos. But it’s our bet shot, but sure worry about whether we can be trusted or not.
Michaels: I have offered to give you a handheld device which can do great damage. Provided we can come up with a manageable and adequate power source. :: Lera turned and smiled broadly at Kael.:: That may have been foolish but it should also say something significant about whether I trust you or not.
Kael sat and stared at her. It was clear to her that he was annoyed. Lera would have been tempted to say that whether he was annoyed or not was not relevant. But there was something he had said that set off minor alarm bells in her head.
Kael: :calming himself: Listen I’ve been nothing but truthful with you. I get it you’re a Starfleet officer and you’re doing your best to follow your captain’s orders, but at some point you either believe that we are here to save billions of lives and know more about the future than you do or you don’t. You either help us or you don’t.
Michaels: I believe that you know more about "your" past that you believe is "my" future. I believe that "I" do not exist in "your" future...Your past... my alleged future... oO Damn. Keeping the tenses and the language straight. The overlap between his near past and my near future is making what should be a simple conversation awkward. Oo
Lera settled back against the bulkhead, her chin in her right hand with the index finger touching the tip of her nose. At last she knew what had been bothering her about the time traveler's plea. Killing the Tholian janitor was all important. Literally billions of lives depended on it. Virtually the entirety of Khitomer's crew would die if they did not kill him. Though now that they knew that their deaths would be the result of searching for the Alliance staging area, all they had to do to survive was to not go there. What the time travelers had not told them was exactly how they were going to do it. She had speculated on a number of methods that would kill all the Tholians but she had never been certain about it.
Until now. Had she over interpreted what he had said about the torpedoes being their best shot? Perhaps. But torpedoes would certainly do the job. Ob the other hand, one did not need four extremely high powered torpedoes to kill a single individual. No. But you could easily destroy the entire base with those torpedoes. It still qualified as speculation but it seemed obvious to Lera that mass destruction was the trio's answer.
Kael: I’m a good guy in an impossible situation. Are there any guarantees? No, but we can’t spend what precious time we have talking about solutions. We have to act, and we have to act now.
Michaels: I never said you were a bad guy and I never intended to imply that. Guarantees? There are no guarantees in life. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. :: beat :: Is the matter as urgent as you suggest? Khitomer has enough fire power to reduce the entire prison complex to melted rubble in a matter of seconds. If we have even a single minute, we can prevent the outcome you fear. The key question is not the timing but how we do it without losing our own souls.
Kael: I need to speak with Tori. See if she has come up with a solution and how mad she is that I disarmed the torpedos.
oO Definitely the torpedoes. Oo
Michaels: I do not believe I can allow you to roam unaccompanied on the ship. We are at e a logical stopping point. :: turning to Kael who still showed a mixture of emotions ranging for anger to fear.:: I will accompany you.
Kael: Response
Michaels: Computer. What is the location of Miss Tori Semara?
Tags/TBC
——— ○● ———
LtJg Lera Michaels
Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2
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