Lt. Commander Foster - You Need a WHAT?
Jamie LeBlanc
((Showdown at the Asteroid Corral, Outside the Temurian Outpost.))
Wyn was not a Betazoid. Not by a long shot.
But he was a doctor for well over a decade and one of the first thing he learned as a fourth year cadet on a training cruise was that people generally didn’t – or couldn’t – tell you when they were hurting.
He had always been extremely good at picking up the small things – changes in posture, tone of voice, facial expressions. He didn’t know if that was his sensitive – almost hyperactive when he was younger – senses or if it was something to do with his Aenar genetics. And if he thought hard about it he quickly decided that he didn’t care either.
What did matter was that he picked up things. Which was very useful as a doctor.
And suddenly he found it was very useful as a commanding officer as well. His antennae tracked Ensign Ysatch’s return with a keen note on the details, the discomfort, the winning smile.
Foster: If you can get those mines moving all the better. Let’s bring another hazard into play.
sh’Sonora: I hope you’re as brilliant at cracking military grade ordinance encryption as I am at flying this tub, Ensign! Let’s gather some mines!
Ysatch: We're just starting to get acquainted.
Wyn was good at creative tactics, Mi’sh was good at enacting flight maneuvers that would make ace pilots jealous, and Tori was good at getting systems into place accurately to ensure the creative tactics worked. Together, in a fair fight, they would have dominated the Corsair.
This was not a fair fight. The Corsair had superior shields, size and weaponry. The only disadvantage they had was a lack of torpedoes, but the MTF had a limited stock and that was hardly an equalizer.
The only way they could even the playing field was to change the field itself.
sh’Sonora: Please say we can flip the IFF on those mines, ‘cause I don’t know how long I can keep this up!
Ysatch: I'm not sure I can do that. The mines are Tzenkethi-made and they have beef with everyone. The Foe list is very long and the Friend list is very short.
And the MTF was on the foe list. Actually, that explanation sounded a lot like the MTF’s situation.
Their bit of experimentation came to an end as one of the probes they had launched – which felt like a million years ago, back when they were parked on the Temurian asteroid – was destroyed in a puff of plasma fire.
Foster: Did we get anything from that?
He locked his eyes on Tori, trying to get a new emotional read on him while listening to his explanation.
Ysatch: ::shouting in realization:: They're not networked! They can see each other, but they can't talk to each other. One mine doesn't know what any other mine is gonna do! They're just relying on sensors and collision detection to avoid setting each other off!
Oh now that was interesting – and potentially exploitable.
sh'Sonora: ?
Foster: How much did you get – how much control can we enact on them?
Ysatch: We now know their collision subroutine logic. We have multiple remaining probes and our probes CAN talk to each other, and to us. This means we can set up a bait-and-switch protocol on the probes that leads the mines into collisions with each other. And since we know how they'll seek to avoid a collision, we can basically manipulate them to go anywhere we want.
Alright. Wyn steepled his fingers for a moment in thought, picking up what Tori was laying out.
sh'Sonora: ?
Foster: And how does that effect the Corsair?
Ysatch: The mines probably do have the Orion ship on their collision list to avoid. It would be pretty dumb if they didn't. But the Orion ship isn't being piloted autonomously. If we flood the space around them with their own mines, it's gonna become very tough for them to maneuver. They might even blunder into a hit or two. ::He looked back at Foster. He was smiling.:: Where do you want the mines?
For a moment Wyn locked eyes with Tori, wondering if that smile was a mask or genuine, and then he decided it didn’t matter. Deep therapy sessions could happen after they were alive, safe and back on StarBase 118.
Foster: Do you see that trio of asteroids the Corsair keeps hiding behind?
He tapped the tactical view, to show the Orion ship in relation to the MTF. The Corsair was vicious, but it was also staying in that ‘safe area’ – within disruptor reach of the mines (and the Pigeon), which forced the MTF to stay within reach of the Corsair rather than forcing the Corsair to chase the MTF.
That, too, was an advantage for the Corsair – until now.
sh'Sonora/Ysatch: ?
Foster: Cluster the mines all around that trio of asteroids.
That would make their little ‘safe space’ into a very dangerous space. They would either have to maneuver out of it to chase the MTF so the MTF would get to choose the playing field, or stay put, risking the chance of detonating the mines.
sh'Sonora/Ysatch: ?
Foster: Even if they do move, then they have to follow us – that lets us choose the field, not them. Also it puts distance between them and the mine so its one less ting to worry about.
Wyn had hoped his bantering might be effective at focusing all hostility on the MTF, but whoever was flying the Corsair was smart enough to try to keep the MTF focusing on two fights at once.
sh'Sonora/Ysatch: ?
Foster: Also, if they move…
His thought was cut short by the commline.
Voss/Ross/A’Mayri: =/\= ( Any?)
Foster: =/\=You need a what?=/\=
Voss/Ross/A’Mayri: =/\= ( Any?)
sh'Sonora/Ysatch: ?
Oh, well, he did remember that. If they had stayed put that would be a lot easier.
Foster: =/\= We’re kind of in a fight right now, protecting the Pidgeon and trying not to get blown apart… can you hang on for a few minutes?=/\=
He looked towards the bridge crew.
Foster: Get those mines into position. Mi’sh, get us behind that bigger asteroid, I’m not too proud to hide to block some of those blasts.
Voss/Ross/A’Mayri: =/\= ( Any?)
sh'Sonora/Ysatch: ?
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
Lt. Commander Shar’Wyn Foster
Acting Commanding Officer
~Julian Beck
E239010ST0