Lt. Commander Solaris McLaren - Daring Plans.
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solarismclaren
Nov 21, 2025, 12:34:37 AM (yesterday) Nov 21
to StarBase 118 Ops a Star Trek PBEM RPG
(( Deck 1 - Main Bridge - USS Narendra - Deep within the Phaethon Nebula ))
McLaren: I don't see many internal spaces given the station's size... I wonder if this is how they've managed to keep whatever crew it needs aboard it for any meaningful length of time. Do we have any readings on lifesigns?
Voss: The station’s hull is making it difficult to read lifesigns. I’ll see if I can filter out some of the interference.
Kel: ?
McLaren: I'd be surprised if they haven't already seen us... they probably think we can't see them... and I'm happy for them to continue thinking that for the moment. Gives us time to act...
Voss: I’m running the lifesign reading again. We’ll see if we can get anything this time. If we can get a sense of how many people are actually on the station and where they’re located, at least that might help us as we try to figure out what they’re actually doing.
Kel: ?
McLaren: If we can disable the station in some way...that would be the best... but it looks like its shielding is enhanced... and its power systems are oversized for a station of its size.
Voss: The oversized power system might have the potential to be a double-edged sword - it’s easier to overload a system that’s been amped up like that. But we’d have to get through the shields somehow first. Maybe we –
Kel: ::leaning forward, voice low:: There. That pattern... those cycling energy signatures. They match the same harmonic frequency we saw in the creature’s neural entanglement. ::a steadying breath:: Whatever the Romulans are doing in there… it’s interacting directly with the entity’s nervous system.
Voss: ::with growing frustration:: I just don’t understand why they’re doing this. Intentionally hurting the creature just to ramp up the hallucinations and keep ships away from the base seems like overkill, doesn’t it? There are far easier ways to hide a base.
Sol frowned slightly. She shook her head stepping over to look at the data more closely.
McLaren: I don't think hiding the base was their main goal... its just a nice side effect.
Kel: If we can isolate the modulation source… we might be able to map exactly how the station is affecting it. ::eyes narrowing at the readout:: And more importantly... what condition the creature is actually in.
Kel: ::quietly:: Something’s destabilizing inside the station. I can’t tell if it’s deliberate or a malfunction… but whatever it is, it’s getting worse.
Sol cast a glance at the viewscreen. Right now the station was acting like it hadn't noticed them. If she moved the ship in reaction to the build up, things could change very quickly.
McLaren: Can you tell how long we have?
Kel: I don’t think we have much time before that interacts with the creature again. And the next time… we may not get a warning first.
Voss: Commander, I’m looking at the lifesign readings and… there aren’t just Romulans on the station. There are Capricalians too.
The made Sols stomach turn. Of course they would have hostages. It made sure that anyone who did find the station couldn't just destroy it. It was smart. It was cunning. It complicated things greatly. It didn't surprise her, but she didn't like it either.
McLaren: Can you tell how many, and where they might be?
Voss: I’m reading twenty-seven Romulan bio-signs, mostly in the station’s main disk, and then a dozen Capricalians in the lower part of the central spire.
McLaren: Hmmm...
Kel: ?
Voss: So, it’s a relatively new station, Romulan, with a smaller interior and a larger power supply than it should have, hiding in a planetary nebula, intentionally hurting a creature native to said nebula by overloading its nervous system with harmonic frequencies, and they’ve found some way to shield themselves from the hallucinations, presumably, or they’re swapping people in and out, or both, and those frequencies seem to be ramping up to some kind of destabilization event which could be intentional or unintentional, but will definitely harm the creature and increase the intensity of the hallucinations, and we don’t really know why they’re trying to harm the creature, and also they have hostages. Maybe. Or Capricalians loyal to the Free State? So that’s – ::suddenly recognizing what she’s doing and freezing up:: That’s bad.
Sol chuckled, with a nod.
McLaren: Bad does just about sum it up...
Kel: ?
Voss: ::clearing her throat and trying desperately to reset:: Anyway, I think we’ve gotten all we can from the probe. We’ll need something more sophisticated to locate the source of the modulating frequencies. The Narendra could do it, but that would mean getting closer. And if they can already see us, we’d need to pull off quite the disappearing act.
Sol found herself agreeing with Lyra. The probe had gotten them most of the way there, but for the rest they were going to have to make a move. She stepped over to the helm and relieved the officer sitting there, taking his seat. Iff they were going to do something that would risk the creature it would be her who did it. She assessed the ships condition. Shields were already up and holding, having proved reasonably effective in deterring the stronger hallucinations thanks to the efforts of Lieutenants Fai, T'liss and Kaya. They were holding in a less dense pocket of the nebula.
McLaren: So how can we make a 2 million ton starship just disappear?
Kel: ?
If only the Narendra had a cloaking device. That would have made things so much easier. She tapped a finger on the edge of the console, eyes tracking across the various displays. She turned to look at both Voss and Kel.
McLaren: What if we adjusted the frequency of our shields to match the resonant frequency of the nebula around us? That would make us nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding nebula wouldn't it?
Voss/Kel: Response?
McLaren: Would that risk exposing us to more of the hallucinations?
Voss/Kel: Response?
Sol frowned slightly. It would be a risk, but it might be worth it to be able to close the distance to the station.
McLaren: Let's give it a try... we wont be able to move very fast... but if we can close with the station before they react to us... we stand a better chance of being able to get through this without risking damage to the creature.
Voss/Kel: Response?
McLaren: I don't see many internal spaces given the station's size... I wonder if this is how they've managed to keep whatever crew it needs aboard it for any meaningful length of time. Do we have any readings on lifesigns?
Voss: The station’s hull is making it difficult to read lifesigns. I’ll see if I can filter out some of the interference.
Kel: ?
McLaren: I'd be surprised if they haven't already seen us... they probably think we can't see them... and I'm happy for them to continue thinking that for the moment. Gives us time to act...
Voss: I’m running the lifesign reading again. We’ll see if we can get anything this time. If we can get a sense of how many people are actually on the station and where they’re located, at least that might help us as we try to figure out what they’re actually doing.
Kel: ?
McLaren: If we can disable the station in some way...that would be the best... but it looks like its shielding is enhanced... and its power systems are oversized for a station of its size.
Voss: The oversized power system might have the potential to be a double-edged sword - it’s easier to overload a system that’s been amped up like that. But we’d have to get through the shields somehow first. Maybe we –
Kel: ::leaning forward, voice low:: There. That pattern... those cycling energy signatures. They match the same harmonic frequency we saw in the creature’s neural entanglement. ::a steadying breath:: Whatever the Romulans are doing in there… it’s interacting directly with the entity’s nervous system.
Voss: ::with growing frustration:: I just don’t understand why they’re doing this. Intentionally hurting the creature just to ramp up the hallucinations and keep ships away from the base seems like overkill, doesn’t it? There are far easier ways to hide a base.
Sol frowned slightly. She shook her head stepping over to look at the data more closely.
McLaren: I don't think hiding the base was their main goal... its just a nice side effect.
Kel: If we can isolate the modulation source… we might be able to map exactly how the station is affecting it. ::eyes narrowing at the readout:: And more importantly... what condition the creature is actually in.
Kel: ::quietly:: Something’s destabilizing inside the station. I can’t tell if it’s deliberate or a malfunction… but whatever it is, it’s getting worse.
Sol cast a glance at the viewscreen. Right now the station was acting like it hadn't noticed them. If she moved the ship in reaction to the build up, things could change very quickly.
McLaren: Can you tell how long we have?
Kel: I don’t think we have much time before that interacts with the creature again. And the next time… we may not get a warning first.
Voss: Commander, I’m looking at the lifesign readings and… there aren’t just Romulans on the station. There are Capricalians too.
The made Sols stomach turn. Of course they would have hostages. It made sure that anyone who did find the station couldn't just destroy it. It was smart. It was cunning. It complicated things greatly. It didn't surprise her, but she didn't like it either.
McLaren: Can you tell how many, and where they might be?
Voss: I’m reading twenty-seven Romulan bio-signs, mostly in the station’s main disk, and then a dozen Capricalians in the lower part of the central spire.
McLaren: Hmmm...
Kel: ?
Voss: So, it’s a relatively new station, Romulan, with a smaller interior and a larger power supply than it should have, hiding in a planetary nebula, intentionally hurting a creature native to said nebula by overloading its nervous system with harmonic frequencies, and they’ve found some way to shield themselves from the hallucinations, presumably, or they’re swapping people in and out, or both, and those frequencies seem to be ramping up to some kind of destabilization event which could be intentional or unintentional, but will definitely harm the creature and increase the intensity of the hallucinations, and we don’t really know why they’re trying to harm the creature, and also they have hostages. Maybe. Or Capricalians loyal to the Free State? So that’s – ::suddenly recognizing what she’s doing and freezing up:: That’s bad.
Sol chuckled, with a nod.
McLaren: Bad does just about sum it up...
Kel: ?
Voss: ::clearing her throat and trying desperately to reset:: Anyway, I think we’ve gotten all we can from the probe. We’ll need something more sophisticated to locate the source of the modulating frequencies. The Narendra could do it, but that would mean getting closer. And if they can already see us, we’d need to pull off quite the disappearing act.
Sol found herself agreeing with Lyra. The probe had gotten them most of the way there, but for the rest they were going to have to make a move. She stepped over to the helm and relieved the officer sitting there, taking his seat. Iff they were going to do something that would risk the creature it would be her who did it. She assessed the ships condition. Shields were already up and holding, having proved reasonably effective in deterring the stronger hallucinations thanks to the efforts of Lieutenants Fai, T'liss and Kaya. They were holding in a less dense pocket of the nebula.
McLaren: So how can we make a 2 million ton starship just disappear?
Kel: ?
If only the Narendra had a cloaking device. That would have made things so much easier. She tapped a finger on the edge of the console, eyes tracking across the various displays. She turned to look at both Voss and Kel.
McLaren: What if we adjusted the frequency of our shields to match the resonant frequency of the nebula around us? That would make us nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding nebula wouldn't it?
Voss/Kel: Response?
McLaren: Would that risk exposing us to more of the hallucinations?
Voss/Kel: Response?
Sol frowned slightly. It would be a risk, but it might be worth it to be able to close the distance to the station.
McLaren: Let's give it a try... we wont be able to move very fast... but if we can close with the station before they react to us... we stand a better chance of being able to get through this without risking damage to the creature.
Voss/Kel: Response?
~~~
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