Lt Commander T'Ama - Behind Enemy Lines
Melissa Jackson
(( Bridge, Deck 1, USS Valkyrie-A ))
T’Ama: Perhaps we should do some maneuvers to see how responsive they are?
Lennai: I could do that, certainly.
Aleron: Agree, Number One. Ensign Lennai, exercise tactical maneuvers at your discretion. Is’Kah, monitor their responses and report.
Is’Kah: Roger that, Captain.
Lennai: Entering limited manual-assisted controls.
Ensign Lennai ran the Valkyrie through a standard array of tactical maneuvers. Everywhere they turned - except towards Stillwater or the Par’tha Expanse - new ships appeared in their way, and where they weren’t already there, they moved to be in the way.
Aleron: Number One, does it appear to you that they are blocking our progress deeper into the sector, but not toward Stillwater or the Par’tha Expanse?
T’Ama: Yes. That would be a logical conclusion.
Lennai: Leaving manual controls, resuming previous course and making small adjustments to avoid collision with unidentified vessels.
Aleron: Recommendations?
She took the amount of time it took her to inhale deeply and exhale audibly to calculate her recommendation.
T’Ama: Leave.
Lennai: Captain, if I may. The sensor readings on the new algorithm we implemented are showing additional datasets. ::Typing on console.:: If you look at this isolated scan I pulled up, you can clearly see that the energy runoff from the cloaking device they are using is using an incredible amount of energy. I don't think it's possible for them to stay in pursuit of us and stay cloaked for as long as they have been.
Is’Kah: Captain, it appears Ensign Lennai is correct.
Aleron: Responses
Lennai: Yes, of course. That is to say, I think it is right to assume that every ship we have seen up until this point has been a completely unique and different vessel. We already know we've been outnumbered, but to this extent is.. ::Trailing off.:: Intense.
Is’Kah: I concur with Ensign Lennai.
Aleron: Responses
Lennai: Understood. I will commit to that now.
Aleron: Responses
Is’Kah: ::whispered:: Fascinating. ::Beat:: Captain, it is my belief that smaller vessels are unable to sustain cloaking for prolonged durations, whereas larger ships are capable of maintaining concealment for significantly longer periods. An analogy can be drawn to 20th-century Earth diesel submarines. Instead of expelling air, they must vent heat. Such thermal signatures would be detectable if heat were released while cloaked. I hypothesize that, ultimately, they will need to “surface,” so to speak.
T’Ama: Well at least they have a weakness.
Aleron: Responses
Is’Kah: It is conceivable to await the natural resolution of the situation and to monitor subsequent developments.
T’Ama: They are already revealing themselves to us, I’m not sure what there is to gain by just waiting for all of them to need to do so.
Aleron / Lennai: Response
Is’Kah: I wonder what they are trying to hide from us. There has to be a reason for the blockade.
T’Ama: Could be anything. Could be nothing and they just don’t want us in their territory.
Aleron / Lennai: Response
Is’Kah: Captain, is there a reason why we must traverse this system to go deeper into the sector? Space is vast, meaning we could just go around. We also have the Quantum Slipstream Drive, which can easily bypass this place. Regardless of whether we use distance or the QSD, it would be impossible to blockade the sector.
T’Ama: That is why my recommendation is to leave. Running the blockade at this point would be an escalation, and there is no emergent matter that would compel us to do so at this time. As the Lieutenant said, we could go around at a later date. Once their guard has dropped.
Aleron / Is’Kah / Lennai: Response
T’Ama: If they are not speaking to us, and they do not want the people we rescued from the containers back, we could claim ignorance if we met them again further in.
Aleron / Is’Kah / Lennai: Response
T’Ama: Logically just because there is this show of force in this location does not mean there are this many ships all the way through. This is the only way through for most ships so it is a natural choke point to amass forces. It is highly likely further in would be less well defended.
Aleron / Is’Kah / Lennai: Response
USS Valkyrie-A
C240004T11