Lieutenant Marty Tucker - In Need Of A Nap
Martin Tucker
((Main Conference Room, Deck 3, U.S.S. Ronin, Back at High Warp.))
Marty wasn’t sitting down; he was leaning up against a viewport. Legs out and crossed in front of him, using a rag to wipe his hands off as the stars behind him showed they were at Warp. He could feel the vibrations through the deck plates, and the Raktajino beside him threatened to slosh right out of the cup. He started at the Captain, tired; they had been working round-the-clock shifts to get the old girl ready for another round in the ring.
And it took him the better part of a day to get back into the engineering and weapons systems that the Changeling had locked him out of.
Niac: Before we get into it I'd like a status from each one of you. Mr. O'Connor, what's our ETA to the station?
O'Connor: We are still a couple hours out. I’ve tried a number of different ways but so far this is best course and as far as speed, we are certainly pushing beyond, well…, beyond pretty much anything recommended..
Karrod Niac sighed.
Niac: I know you're doing your best...we're going to make the trip back in nearly a third of the time it took us to get out to J-0922A. Do whatever tuning you can on the impulse reactors while we're at warp...we won't have time to do any after we get there.
O'Connor: ;;nodding:: Aye Captain. We’ll be in as good of shape as we can be.
The Captain turned carefully toward Marty, steepling his hands slightly and leaning into the question.
Niac: Chief Tucker, how's the ship holding up? Are we going to be in condition to fight once we get to DS33?
Tucker: ::a half grin tugged at his lips:: After I got the runaround, we got back up and running thanks to our uninvited guest. Luckily, the Changeling didn’t account for the extra programming I put in as a precaution. I was able to end his hacks and restore all the affected systems. As a precaution, I sent the details to Commander Dewitt, the Khitomer's Chief Engineer.
Marty finished wiping his hands on a rag, trying to get whatever it was on his hands off. The double and triple shifts were starting to show on the engineering staff. He knew that they had to tough it out and see it through to the other side. The old gal was hanging together thanks to duct tape and bailing wire.
Niac: Very well, Chief, for what it's worth, I've put a citation in the ships log for you and your whole team. A cursory glance through the library computer suggests you've just set a new upper-speed record for this hull. Well done. If we survive, I'm sure the folks at Utopia Planitia will have a few questions for you.
Tucker: ::he let loose with a Cheshire grin::Those gearheads? Most likely, but I’m outing my bag of tricks if I tell them. And as a mystical Starfleet engineer, I cannot have my trade secrets exposed.
Marty could hear the small chuckle from Commander Carpenter. It seemed the Captain was now interested in what the Security Chief had to say. Couldn’t have been easy to track down a changeling. But she had done it, not that Marty thought she wouldn’t.
Niac: What's the status on our prisoner, Lt. Cmdr. Carpenter? Did they say anything useful before you incapacitated them?
Carpenter: Useful, yes, but not entirely heartening, sir. Transport into the Brig filtered out a sabotage kit and a number of illicit substances Medical tells me were taken in large quantities to fool biofilters. But these same substances made the Agent wildly unstable, which led to their discovery by Ensign Syrex. After they reformed and we got them stabilized under status, they admitted to the sabotage of our ship. ::she took a slight pause:: And to being a deep-cover informant for the Lattice Alliance.
Barely an expression crossed The Captain's face and she was somewhat quietly grateful for that.
Niac: At least we know how we got played so badly...they've been feeding information to the Alliance. They knew our exact time table, our deployment route...everything they needed to turn our plan to their advantage. Any idea how long they've been creeping around?
This she had a somewhat better answer for. It wasn't a great answer, but it was something. That was always better than nothing.
Carpenter: After reviewing security feed and cross-checking it against biometric data, it seems they came aboard shortly before our deployment to J-0922A. I'm guessin' joinin' up with us was a secondary objective and the main infiltration was for DS33. But I warned the Kitty's Security crew of the possibility they might have a mole all the same. This L.A....they just keep addin' new reasons to give them a smack.
Marty was happy they’d found the infiltrator; if he’d actually been able to completely shut them out of main systems, they’d be in a world of hurt;
Niac: Thank you, Commander. Before the day is over you'll have your chance to even up the score and that's a promise. What's the status of our tactical systems?
Carpenter: Green across the board now, Captain, thanks to Mar-...to Mister Tucker's people. All bays are launch capable and full beam functionality restored. When we stop, we will be ready for whatever's there.
Marty grinned at the almost slip.
Niac: Thank you Commander...I want those torpedo bays loaded with our entire stockpile of tri-colbalt ordinance before we drop out of warp. I want our arrival to draw as much attention off DS33 as possible and there's nothing more attention getting than a few hundred thousand isotons exploding in your face. Doctor Beck, well done getting those innoculations distributed. How's the crew?
Sipping his raktajino, Marty half-listened to the reports still coming in. His head was in engineering, where they worked to keep the ship from flying apart at the seams. The voice of the Captain brought him out of his thoughts as the Captain of the Khitomer appeared on the viewscreen in the middle of the table.
Niac: =/\= Captain Shayne, what's your ETA to DS33? =/\=
Shayne: =/\= Call it another twenty, give or take an eddy, Captain Niac. =/\=
Niac: =/\= Sounds like you'll get there a few minutes before we do. Any chance you got an update on the Excalibur? =/\=
Shayne: =/\= Not a whiff- but I’d like to think the commodore’s slipping through subspace like spit through a goose. =/\=
Marty about spit out his raktajino at the Khitomers Captain's analogy.
Niac: =/\= With any luck she'll show up in time to help the evacuees from the station. Until then it's on us, Captain. I don't suppose that ship of yours has any surprises we can throw the Alliances way when we get there? =/\=
Shayne: =/\= In a manner of speaking. The Sheliak and the Tholians are wicked bastards, but they’re not the brightest. We can use that. =/\=
He paused once more, seemingly expecting a comment from Captain Niac on the outset.
Niac: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Carpenter: =/\= We can assist as needed, Captain...s...But what's the play? =/\=
Tucker: =/\= I’ve got the Ronin running as good as she can under the circumstances, I’ve had crews running around the clock, we’ll be ready for sure. =/\=
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Shayne: =/\= By, uh… ::he cleared his throat, regretting that he’d be saying this on an open channel.:: By firing at the station. =/\=
oO He wants to do what now? Oo
It took a second to realize that Commander Dewitt was in the conversation. During shore leave the two got to know each other over several drinks, he was a good person, and an engineer to look up to.
Dewitt: =/\= Fire on our own people? =/\=
Marty was with Dewitt on this one: Why on God's green earth would we fire on our own people?
Niac: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Carpenter: =/\= To...to what end, sir? =/\=
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
The Captain across the line seemed to anticipate this too, launching in a cool and oddly collected explanation of the tactic.
Shayne: =/\= They distracted us to capture the station, which means they’re grinding down the forces over there. We come in swinging at the enemy, and it’s business as normal. But if we fire at a non-inhabited part of the station away from anything vital- a cargo bay or the like- they’ll think we’re trying to destroy a vital asset rather than let it fall to them. Guile isn’t their strong suit. They’ll divert boarding parties there to secure the “asset”, let our ground forces regroup, and if I’m right, they’ll be confused as all hell for a few minutes- long enough for Ronin to follow us in and help us take advantage of their hesitation. =/\=
The officer at Shayne's right hand picked up the vocal baton before it could drop entirely to the deck plating.
Dewitt: =/\= We buy time - both for our makeshift chroniton pulse and for the Ronin to follow. If we decrease phaser power to 50-60% we could simulate battle damage from the alliance trap and we’d have more shots and more time. =/\=
Shayne/Niac: =/\=RESPONSE=/\=
Carpenter: =/\=We're muckin' around with MORE exotic particles? Where's that gonna get us? =/\=
Tucker: =/\= I’d have to agree with Commander Dewitt on this; we limp in and play almost dead. Which, for us, isn’t much of a stretch.=/\= ::a sideways grin tugged at his lips::
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Dewitt: =/\= We know from the Ronin’s reports that the interaction between chronitons and Sencha wave radiation creates time fissures. If we can generate a chroniton pulse to interact with the Sencha radiation at its origin, we might be able to create quickly deteriorating micro-fissures that destabilize the weapon system and hopefully render it - or maybe the entire ship - inoperable. =/\=
Shayne/Niac: =/\=RESPONSE=/\=
Kirsty held up a bladed hand. She didn't know much, but she did know...
Carpenter: =/\=We'd need output harmonics first, right? In order to neutralize the wave proper, yeah? =/\=
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Dewitt: =/\= Yes, we’d need to know the exact energy build-up signal of the weapon as well as it’s phase variance. =/\=
Shayne/Niac: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Kirsty scratched her chin thoughtfully.
Carpenter: =/\= We've got plenty'a waveform scans from our previous engagements. But these would have to be real-time. We would have to take 'em during the fighting for them to be worth a cuss. =/\=
Tucker: =/\= I agree with Commander Carpenter, we’re going to have to do that on the fly. Tricky of course doing that and not trying to get your tail shot off…=/\=
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Dewitt: =/\= That might be a possibility, if Commander Alieth can provide these kinds of scans. ::looking at his PADD:: We might have 5-6 shots before this makeshift solution fries our deflector. That means 5-6 big ships… =/\=
Shayne/Niac/Ronin Bridge: =/\= Response =/\=
Of course, the problem was that Commander Alieth and her team were lightyears from the Ronin, and she wouldn’t be able to help one bit.
Shayne/Niac: =/\=RESPONSE=/\=
Carpenter: =/\= I would say, ten, twelve minutes to glean a full and clean scan of the whole area. Prolly a little less if we sync up our sensor arrays. Granted, we will have to do what we can under fire. Even with our unexpected aimin', the L.A. won't just let us sit there. =/\=
Tucker: =/\= The commander has a point, if we use both arrays in tandem with each other we should be able to do greater scanning in a lesser time, while as she put it, getting shot at. =/\=
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Dewitt: ::nodding:: =/\= Got it… We should prepare the Khitomer to fire on the station then and identify suitable targets… =/\=
Shayne/Niac: =/\=RESPONSE =/\=
Marty came a bit more to attention, no longer leaning on the ledge of the viewport, and he was sure if it was the raktajino or his eight wind, he was ready to kick some Alliance tail. And who knew exactly what was going on, aboard DS33, but his gut told him it probably wasn’t good.
His thoughts drifted to Rork, who had been a mentor to him since he came aboard the Ronin. He’d transferred departments and was now part of the Ronin’s security forces.
Carpenter: Sirs, yes, sirs. ::without one iota of irony::
Marty gave his half smile and finished wiping his fingers for what seemed the billionth time, what he needed was a shower and a nap, and that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
Tucker: You got my word. This old gal will get us through this; she hasn’t failed me…yet.
Ronin Bridge: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
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TAG/TBC
