LCDR Nolen Hobart — Booming Bookends
Nolen Hobart
((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Khitomer, low orbit of Alpha Trionus II))
Lt. Commander Hobart listened quietly as the conversation wrapped itself up. Once the channel to Semara and friends had closed, the XO gestured at the data pouring into the Captain's command chair readout.
Hobart: ::to Shayne:: At the current pace, we should have the place cleared in less than an hour.
Stros: ::Tapping at the console:: And shortly thereafter, we will have a quite exhilarating light show.
Shayne / Bridge: Response
Nolen turned his attention towards the viewscreen, as their Tactical Officer projected his interface. After a brief shimmer, the view of the planet’s surface—now closer to a flat horizon than it had seemed earlier—faded and was replaced by a technical display of the structure of the prison. From above, it had seemed to Hobart a small affair, but he realized now how much it sprawled beneath the planet’s surface.
Stros: I have four high-yield warheads in place along what I believe to be the most structurally stressed point within the facility. ::Small red dots appeared on the map displayed on the viewscreen:: As well as smaller demolition charges placed in key areas to hopefully maximize structural damage. ::Several more blue dots appeared scattered around the map:: With one final charge placed within the vicinity of the facilities reactor. ::One last green dot appeared within the facility’s reactor control:: By my calculations, there should be more than enough munitions in place to turn the detention center into a pile of rubble.
Hobart: Overkill?
Shayne / Bridge: Response
Stros: By using Photonic warheads within the demolition, it would give the sensor residuals of some sort of ambush or attack from the outside.
He thought back to the conversation with Lieutenant Michaels and Ensign Morda. Their best guess as to why the strike force hadn't attacked and was still holding position in the Kokopelli Cloud was that they had detected Khitomer and were reevaluating their risk. The longer they lingered, however, the less likely that seemed to the First Officer.
Hobart: We still suspect that they know we're here, right? ::beat:: I suppose it would confuse the heck out of them.
Shayne / Bridge: Response
Stros: Plus, a much bigger explosion. That’s one of the main points of this, if I’m not mistaken.
Hobart: Any plans for the defense platforms further out in the system?
It was owing to the defense perimeter—a series of heavily armed, unmanned satellites distributed throughout the system in a formation of intertwined, orbiting rings—that their unscheduled arrival forced the ship to approach Alpha Trionus II at a relative crawl. With the prison beneath them destroyed, they would be left out there like some vestigial remnant. For a moment, he imagined a distant future, not quite unlike what Admiral Lacy had foretold, where the only sign of the Federation and Starfleet were abandoned facilities like these. What would people think of them, looking back? What impression would they leave on future observers?
Shayne / Bridge: Response
Hobart: Leaving them in place would be inconsistent with an ambush, but it sure would make it harder for them to get here.
Shayne / Stros / Bridge: Response
Half a smile snuck onto Hobart's face as he examined the blinking lights that indicated set explosives.
Hobart: You know, sir, it was my first mission under your command that the Arrow blew up a prison, too.
Shayne / Stros / Bridge: Response
TBC
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Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3