Lt. JG Alidar Raedai - This doesn't make sense... or we have a huge problem

[Alidar Raedai]

((Stellar Cartography, Science Lab Complex, Decks 10-11, USS Ronin, Outside the J-0922A System))

Alidar's second assignment in Starfleet and Ronin, his first as a Junior Grade Lieutenant, yet he was still a Lower Deck. He had heard of an association called JOPA but, it didn't seem like his place, he'd had enough of secret societies.

For the moment he had not been able to enjoy his most immediate advantage, his own quarters. Recently, the necessary resources had arrived that were needed to get the Ronin up to 100%. He had worked very hard together with the rest of the department and with the engineering people to get everything ready. It had been a lot of work and with barely enough time to rest and get everything ready for that moment, a preemptive strike against the Lattice Alliance.

They were not going to have the latest of the latest for that attack, the Ronin still needed a proper refit to be properly updated. For example, it did not have Fleet Formation Mode installed.

Alidar was working on a plan to circumvent the Lattice Alliance's cloaking system to some extent. Their technology created a subspace bubble that would not detect anything inside it, the only disadvantage was that the bubbles themselves were detectable because they generated a nothingness that was detectable. The idea was to use probes hidden among the escape capsules they were launching as bait.

Alieth: Any change, Miss Lorana?

Lorana : Response

The corner of one of the Vulcan's sloping eyebrows twitched slightly, but the slight disturbance in her mood did not translate into her voice.

Alieth: Watch for markers on the Sencha cloaking devices, and the emergence of space-time fracture ribbons.

Lorana: Response

Alieth: Lieutenant Raedai, any update on the status and readiness of the exploration probes?

Raedai was working next to Lorana in the lower part of the room, which in a way had been transformed into an Astrometrics laboratory. And the voice of the Vulcan commander did not stop him from typing.

Raedai: Not yet, we have to wait for better positioning of the probes. More radiation is needed to hide the ion traces of the probes.

He would have liked to have modified the probes to make them harder to detect, but he should have done it with things Starfleet should not use.
The answer obviously failed to please her either, and even less so when she noticed the expression on that face that should have none.

Alieth: Look for alternatives, Lieutenant, we may need them soon.

Raedai: Not at the moment, unless you want to bust our trap.

He said with a shrug.

Alieth: That's not what I -

She never finished the sentence, as the room's loudspeakers let out an upbeat beep, followed shortly after by the gruff voice of their Commanding Officer.

Niac: =/\= Bridge to Stellar Cartography...what's your status, Lt. Cmdr. Alieth? =/\=

Alieth: =/\= Unchanged from the last half hour, Sencha radiation fluctuations are still consistent with the occlusion field generator we found in Olidra system, but we have not detected any Sencha radiation surges or radiation derived from the use of the Alliance's weapons. We will need to go past the cloacking threshold in order to gather more information, sir. =/\=

Niac: =/\= Once we get inside the system, we'll need you to build up a picture of priority targets as quickly as you can, especially any S-Wave generators. The faster you can pass that information up to us, the quicker we can be in and out of the system. =/\=

Alieth: =/\= We are ready for it, sir, my terminal is directly connected to the main screen, to the tactical console and to the one in your chair. You will receive real-time feedback as soon as we have something to report. =/\=

Niac: =/\= Very well. Mr. Raedai is there to coordinate any sudden resource needs or probe operations, and I believe he'll have a good eye for finding the things we want to eliminate. Give his insights weight, Commander. =/\=

The Romulan smiled for a moment. He still didn't know why the little Vulcan didn't like him, but at some point he would find out, for the moment he was still amused by that fact. Making a Vulcan show feelings was tremendously entertaining.

Alieth: =/\= I will take your suggestion into account, Captain. =/\=

Niac: =/\= Very well, standby. I suspect it'll be any time now. Niac out. =/\=

The console let out a discouraged whistle that signalled the disconnection of the comms with the bridge. Alieth leaned over to address the other two officers present.

Alieth: You have heard the captain, we are in standby, but keep your attention on the passive scans.

Raedai: Yes, Commander.

He said to know that he heard her.

Lorana: Response (optional)

The Romulan took advantage of the time to use the passive sensor data from both the ship and the probes to calculate the best courses for the probes to head into the subspace field. And of course keeping an eye out to see if the sensors showed any of the Sencha radiation. As he thought about the two things, an idea began to form in his mind, but he had to test it at least in simulation.

Their work was interrupted by the signal from one enemy ship and then another. They had taken the bait.

Alieth: Analyse the ships, search for signs of Sencha Radiation Generators.

Alieth's hands moved quickly across her console, summarizing and forwarding the information to the bridge: size, trajectories, velocity and estimated ship types based on their previous encounters, as her crewmates sorted through the different data they were receiving.

The dim light in the lab suddenly switched to red, and the consoles all veered their hues to the same tones.

Lorana: Response

Raedai: The escape pods have been launched, I put the probes in position.

It wasn't going to be easy, he had to put them relatively close to hide them, but far enough away so they wouldn't be affected by the explosions. Then his work would really begin.

Alieth: How are the probes' status? Have we been able to penetrate inside the system?

Raedai: not yet, Until the scape pods explode, I can't hide the probes trail.

He used a neutral, almost Vulcan tone, he was concentrating on positioning them correctly. Now that he had the position and bearing of the enemy ships, he could better adjust the course of the probes for when it was his window.

Lorana: Response

From the bridge, they detonated the Scape Pods when the two enemy ships were in position. Both were damaged, especially the one that appeared to be Sheliak.

Raedai: moving the probes into the subspace field.

Taking advantage of the explosion, the probes made a strong impulse that should bring them closer to the cloaking field, I would make several of them enter it moving only by inertia by the first impulse, to try that they were not detected once they were inside. He would leave another one at the end of the field to function as a repeater of those that entered, and others would not even enter to reinforce the signal and as spares in case he lost any of the others.

Alieth/Lorana: response

The probes were placed where he had calculated, just to have them in that position and receive data would give them possibilities to better circumvent that type of technology later. But that's not what they needed at that moment, they had to see how many ships they were up against.

Raedai: first data arrives...:: Alidar was silent for a moment and reviewed the data coming into the console, did a quick check of the probe systems before saying anything. :: This doesn't make sense... or we have a huge problem.

Alieth/Lorana: response

[[Tags! TBC]]

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Liutenant Junior Grade Alidar Raedai
Ops Officer
USS Ronin (NCC-34523)
Cpt. Karrod Niac Commanding
E239702S10