Ensign Delphina Wren- Godspeed Little Probe
Grace McDermott
((Bridge, Deck 3, USS Ronin))
Wren: ::nodding:: It’s audio-only. Playing it now.
Delphina sat back, listening to the unusual voice as it echoed through the bridge, tapping her fingers quietly against the side of her console.
B’hab: =/\= Attention, Federation starship Ronin, you are currently trespassing. =/\=
Even with the staticky interference, the voice sounded harsh and aggressive, and Wren frowned a little as she digested the words. Trespassing? This wasn’t part of the Alliance’s territory, unless she’d been gravely misinformed.
Nicolau: Attempting to boost the signal gain, should improve the stability of the channel...can't do anything about the voice.
Kel: ::shrugging his shoulders:: =/\= This is Captain Kel of the USS Ronin, this system is in unclaimed territory. I have personal attempting to provide aid to the damaged facility on the surface. =/\=
Wren: They’re reaching out again, this time there’s a visual ::pulling it up on the viewer::
Delphina watched as the commander of the other ship appeared, feeling a mix of curiosity and nerves spark from the crew like static. She leaned forward a little, curious to see the owner of the strange voice, despite herself, but he was completely covered, and the lights of the ship were harsh enough to make her eyes ache a little. oO What purpose do those lights even serve? I’m fairly sure the mysterious darkness and harsh lighting would be some sort of coding violation on a Starfleet ship. Oo
B’hab: =/\= To put it simply, you have ten minutes to gather your crew and leave this system, and you will leave intact. You stay a minute over your welcome, and they’ll be salvaging your ship all over the system, piece by piece. And you are not the great Captain Niac, I take it you’re his wet nurse. =/\=
Nicolau: That won't give us a great deal of time, sir, whatever you decide to do.
T'Fearne: ::quietly:: They seem to know us, or know of the Ronin and Captain Niac at least.
Kel: =/\= There is a reactor on the surface that is highly unstable, if we cannot get it back under control it will decimate the quadrant. =/\=
Wren: oO Did he say ten minutes? That’s nowhere near enough time, even if we sent the call out right now. Surely he has to realize that?..... Although it could be that he just doesn’t care about the specifics. What could he be so desperate to hide that we haven’t already seen? Oo
Delphina reached into the bag that she’d dropped next to her station, pulling out her PADD, surreptitiously pulling up the research she’d gathered from her trip to the surface. There were still parts of it that were incomplete, but there was a surprising amount of data about the alternate universe that they’d tapped into, as well as multiple records of the testing they’d done involving the Sencha radiation. But none of that was new to anyone who’d been on the surface, aside from the scientific merit of seeing the steps. Part of her almost wanted to talk to the Jem’Hadar they’d brought aboard to learn more about her process…
B’hab: =/\= Do not test me Captain. =/\=
Kel: =/\= The radiation is extreme on the surface. I need 30 minutes at least to get my people out. =/\= ::turning to T'Fearne:: Mute the channel.
Nicolau: Channel muted sir. Do you think he'll do what he says Captain? I mean...can he? The destruction would be...enormous.
Wren: Sir, it’s entirely possible he doesn’t know the scope of the damage that’s been done yet. I’m not picking up any transporter energy on the surface of the planet since ours, and no one’s mentioned anything yet. Perhaps he doesn’t know that we’ve been here for quite some time now.
T'Fearne: ::arms folded:: They’re granting us time to evacuate. That suggests they prefer compliance without expending unnecessary munitions. Either their ordinance is limited… or they wish to avoid collateral damage to the moon’s infrastructure. ::brows knit slightly:: But they must realise evacuation would take longer than ten minutes. Sensors alone would confirm that. It’s not a realistic timeline.
Kel: Perhaps they're trying to determine what we've done to get the system under control. Administrator tr'Kharis suggested that the generator was an asset to the Alliance.
Wren: If they’ve only just arrived, their intel on the situation must be limited.
Nicolau: Response
T'Fearne: Did you notice the cloak? The movement beneath it? I saw no ocular glow, no thermal distortion typical of Tholians. It read more… Sheliak. ::glancing toward the engineering officer:: Wren, can we still pull telemetry from the probe? Any indication of life-sign type aboard their vessel?
Wren: Well, they still haven’t let go of it, but I can do a quick scan that they shouldn’t notice if they’re busy talking to us.
Nicolau: Response
Delphina activated the probe’s sensors again, frowning as she imagined the newly aged technology frying a little at the effort. Poor thing. After a moment, the data sluggishly began to appear onscreen. oO Come on, little guy, you’ve almost got it…. There you go. Oo
Wren: I’m reading that the crew seems to be made up almost exclusively of R-3 classified species, most likely Sheliak due to being silicate-based. I won’t be able to know more unless I do a deeper scan, which might trigger their systems.
T'Fearne: If it’s Sheliak in charge onboard, they are precision-obsessed. Notoriously legalistic isolationists who treat territory and contracts as their way of life. They rarely bluff. ::a beat:: We could stall? Ask for time to review their legal claim to the system and the moon research base. We do have a JAG officer onboard. Lieutenant Morrow. If we also have access to any of the base’s personnel perhaps they could provide information useful for buying more time.
Kel: Good thinking. =/\= Kel to Lieutenant Marrow, I'm in need of some legal advice. =/\=
Wren: ::reluctantly:: It’s possible that, since they’re precision….based, they’re giving us such a short window as a mere formality. Perhaps they know that it isn’t enough time, but have offered it to us regardless just so that they can say they did? oO That’s not a kind thought to have, but we should prepare ourselves for the worst while hoping for the best Oo
Marrow/Nicolau: Response
T'Fearne: If they value the base or its research, they won’t risk destroying it outright. They would have to send a force to the surface to eliminate or capture our people and secure any projects or data. ::highlighting an area above the base one the screen:: If we position ourselves tactically between their ship and the moon base, they may hesitate to fire on us for caution of hitting the moon base.
V'Len sat down in the command seat once more.
Kel: Move us to 100km above the habitat module. Keep us clear of the radiation stream coming from the lid.
Wren: We’re almost in position, sir.
Nicolau/Kel: Response
tr’Kharis: ::clipped, cool tone, almost matter-of-fact:: =/\= This is Administrator tr’Kharis to this vessel's security! You are about to have a Tholian intruder onboard at my present location. Reinforcements would be… prudent. =/\=
oO Wait, what? Oo Delphina turned her seat around, flummoxed, oO I didn’t pick up anything, how did- Oh never mind. At least someone got evacuated. Oo ::continues downloading the data::
Kel: =/\= Security! Intruder alert in the transporter room ::glancing at his data screen:: Deck 6.
T'Fearne/Nicolau: Response
Kel: Ensign Wren any new information from our probe?
Wren: I’m not- ::noticing a change:: Yes, they’ve activated their transporter, we might want to tell our team on the ground to expect visitors soon.
Morrow/T'Fearne/Nicolau: Response
Kel: Ok. Let's open a channel. ::waiting:: =/\= Alliance vessel. As this is unclaimed territory, I require an additional 20 minutes to determine our legal requirements in this situation. Please stand by. =/\=
Delphina returned her focus to the probe. It wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, and that was assuming the other ship didn’t decide it was taking up too much energy to hold it in place and just destroy it. She still wanted to recall it if she was able, but something was telling her that wouldn’t be an option. It wasn’t as much a question of if the probe would end up destroyed as much as it was ‘when’ the probe would be destroyed. As she thought about it, however, she remembered something that caught her attention as well.
Wren: Sir, regarding that data…. I actually do have a copy of it. It’s a little incomplete, but I downloaded a copy of it while we were on the surface. I can upload it to our ship’s computer so that we have a more permanent copy.
Kel/Morrow/T'Fearne/Nicolau: Response
Wren: Of course, I can do that now ::starts making a copy::. It’s surprisingly informative considering the state of the base when we found it, but-
Delphina stiffened in surprise as the opposing ship fired off a sudden, short burst, and her heart sank as the little probe exploded. oO Well…. Thank you for coming back anyway, little probe… Oo
Wren: ::quickly:: They’ve powered their weapons back down, but the probe is destroyed. We’re close enough now that normal communication is possible, but we’ve lost any ability to see what’s going on inside the other ship. ::allows herself a small moment of sadness for the loss of the probe, before continuing her work::
Kel/Morrow/T'Fearne/Nicolau: Response
Wren: I’ve almost finished downloading the information to our main memory system. No response from the other ship thus far. I think that was more of a warning shot than anything else oO And a passive-aggressive one at that Oo.
Kel/Morrow/T'Fearne/Nicolau: Response
Tags/TBC
((OOC: B’hab can add to this if he’d like to reach out again))