All Hands To Stations!
Posted on Mon Dec 3rd, 2018 @ 1:31am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Seamus MacDonald Jr & Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Simon Stevens & Lieutenant Jaton Alyl & Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri & Lieutenant JG Jordan Posey
Mission: Convoy of the Damned
=A=RED ALERT! All crew to actions stations! Captain and First Officer to the Bridge!=A=
The klaxon cut across the evening like a cold wave. They had been in orbit of Trill for less than a full day, and were secure in the safety of their position. The clarion call was misplaced and confusing. Surely it was a drill? What could happen in this area of space? They were in the heart of Federation territory.
Mordin's quarters
The blaring red alert tore awake Hel's consciousness screaming and struggling. Still in a haze she fell out of bed, staggered to her feet, turned right and planted her face into the wall she did not expect to be there so hard that she fell down to the ground again. "Ow - what the - oof. Oh. Right. Not my quarters." she murmured, pulling herself to her feet and stumbling for the replicator.
It was then that the greatest secret of the Daughter of Ts'usu was made known to Hel as she woke in Mordin's quarters: The rabbitess' beauty and perfectly kept fur was NOT something she woke up with. Almost literally hopping from her bed, Valeria arrived in the middle of putting on her uniform top to join Hel by the replicator. "Not the morning we expected." she joked once her ears and head popped through and joined Hel for a quick nibble on the move. Red alert took priority, this was a 'butter on toast' morning.
Engineering
It was only a few moments later that the resident assistant chief engineer, now wearing her uniform but with carmine red around her nose where she slammed into the wall, wandered inside. "Report!" she called out, taking charge until Cor was here, heading to the Pool Table. She'd care for her nose later, when she knew what was going on.
To her credit, and perhaps delight, she saw a familiar blue fuzzball by the Pool Table. Mug of coffee in his prosthetic hand, and already calling up points on a schematic on a table. To Hel, he gave a nod and a smile. "No news yet on what's going on, but Engineering is probably gonna be hit hard. Fresh pot brewing in the office. Help yourself."
A bleary eyed Hel just looked at Cor for a moment. She was not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination. "Probably a good idea." she eventually managed, unceremoniously and inelegantly lumbering her way to Cor's office, returning a few moments later looking considerably better, with a half dunk mug of coffee in her hands.
Medical
Walking out into sickbay, Bertrand began to bark orders.
"Attention people, we may have a rather difficult situation on our hands. I want everyone prepared for long rotating shifts. make sure all biobeds are operational and ready for use. restock any medications we are currently running low on. any you cannot replicate, use sparingly. Allright, let us get to it," he said, looking around and the bemused faces before him.
The medical staff stood there confused. Although it was true that he was the XO, why was he running sickbay in a red alert situation rather than Doctor T'eseri? A little hesitant at first, some of the senior staff began to move off to follow the instructions they had been given. It took a little more persuasion to get the junior personnel to move.
Science
The Daughter of Ts'usu arrived in excellent time to her station, her light jog causing her hair and ears to bob with each step. various stations were brought to life, and long term experiments were logged and noted. She wasn't sure what the nature of the situation was, but the one thing she knew was Sciences would be ready. A quick visual account of the readiness of her department, and then she tapped her comm badge. "This is Mordin in Sciences. Standing by."
Jaton looked up at Mordin as he took to his alert station. "Ready and waiting. But for what?"
"To be truthful I'm not entirely certain." Valeria replied, "We may be called upon to supplement Medical, or assist in deciphering navigational warp trails. I trust that we'll be ready for most things, and when the call comes we can adapt as needed."
Ts'usugi had such an elegant way of saying 'I don't know'.
10 Forward
Having not long had the operation, Simon sat in Ten Forward getting used to his new eyes, as he now was in the recovery phase and having been pulled off duty by the CMO and no stress. Suddenly the klaxon sounded and this was not what he wanted to hear. He tapped his combadge.
=/\= Lieutenant Stevens to the Captain, Am I to return to duty?=/\= he asked.
"Simon have the computer set up an interactive display link, it can be described to you until the procedure takes place." Elijah said to him through the comm.
Having handled a lot of paperwork and managed a long trans-spacial meeting with the Authority on Health and Well-Being back home, Dr. Telar Orin was enjoying some much deserved time off. If only in his own mind. Sitting back with a pair of well prepared meals and a pair of long awaited drinks, the Dalacari psychologist had felt confident that Val Seran was fit to return to duty. Oh, she still had a few sessions to go for a full clean bill, but he felt that she was confident and repaired enough to function in her task. He'd evaluate her further after a few days in the field, to ensure there wasn't any reversion.
But now, that steak was calling to him. As civilized and as evolved as they were, Dr. Orin wrote a paper in his youth about the primal connection to the predator mind, and how a well prepared steak could remind even the most civil of Dalacari that they evolved from predator stock.
That first bite was paradise. The second bite was rudely interrupted by a clarion klaxon. Red lights streaked across the room and the vast majority of the occupants of the lounge started to scramble and hustle out. It was a very orderly and well rehearsed sight, watching forty people file through two doors. It reminded him a little of the parades they'd do back home, though it was slightly more impressive to watch living creatures perform so well.
Any fool can program a drone. It took dedication to react like this. To them, he had nothing but the highest respects.
"Who me? I'm a civilian here." Dr. Orin mentioned to the lady behind the bar. "Retired recently, don't let the grey fur fool you." he said with a pair of smirks. Flirting was the furthest thing from the Dalacari's skill set, though he was at least gentle and humorous with the other races of the cosmos. Single though they may be. The cane he used to assist was a dead giveaway as to his 'youth'. Not to mention the drone assistant that sat next to him, empty glass before him. Cypruss related that it helped dispel the fear of a robot uprising in other species.
The good pair of Dalacari turned to Simon and gave a nod each, "How's your recovery coming along? Prosthetics can be difficult to come to terms with in some species." one of the forms inquired.
Tag: Simon
Marine Operations
To her credit, the twin forms of Val Seran had made very good time towards Marine Country, wearing her mottled green, brown and black woodland camouflage uniform, the form with the prosthetic arm carrying a chunky backpack and some cables, the intact form carrying an equally chunky looking scoped rifle. "Gunnery Sergeant Val Seran, - " focus switch. " - reporting for duty." She'd had a few therapy sessions with Telar Orin and felt confident enough for duty.
Officers Lounge
Sitting in the Lounge, Seamus was going over his final paperwork to submit based on the information that he had received from the away mission. He liked what he saw and while he'd only just come onboard the Victory, he already felt at home and was impressed with what he'd seen from his crewmates. He was just about to open up another report when the claxons started going off. Finishing his drink, he got up and headed to the bridge.
Bridge
The turbo lift doors opened and the Captain and chief Medical officer's strode onto the bridge. Sara walked quickly to the first officers chair and took a seat, pulling up the arm display.
"Report!" she called.
Not knowing quite how to respond, the Communications officer supplied, "We received a priority distress call. Civilian convoy under attack by pirates. They have no defensive capabilities. There are 367 people in the convoy."
Sara shook her head, "No defenses. Warp capable, but not enough brains to send an escort with their transports. How far?"
"Only fifteen minutes at maximum warp," came the reply.
"Helm, lay in course and engage at maximum warp!"
There was an uncomfortable moment when the bridge crew all looked to the Captain. This was not exactly a call the CMO was authorized to make.
Elijah looked around. "All hands this is the Captain, prepare Ship for rescue operations." He's sat in his seat. "All Medical Teams on standby, Transport Rooms ready."
Though Jordan had been under no illusions about the fact that danger could occur this deep in Federation space, he certainly hadn't thought of something like this happening. He raced onto the bridge and to his post, pulling up the tactical systems and ensuring that they were all operating within normal parameters.
The Victory swept away from Trill under full power. As they flew long range sensors began to report data back. The convoy consisted of a dozen Hasak class freighters; cheap and basic, max capability Warp 3, refitted for personnel transport, no weapons, minimal navigational shielding, maybe 30 people per ship. The species inside were humanoid, but unknown. They were being set upon by a half dozen Nausican Raiders. It looked like a standard raid; cripple engines, send in boarding parties and carry off slaves and gear. Unfortunately the convoy ships were so old that the damage to the engines was causing structural failure as well as the danger of armed Nausicans on board.
Sara leaned forward in the first officer's chair, "Asvit, you're our diplomat. See if you can talk the Nausicans into withdrawing."
"Tactical, what are our options? Are we able to get a clear shot at some of those ships without endangering the transports?"
Jordan took one look at his displays and tapped in a series of commands. "Aye sir, I can do it. Hang on, three of the raiders have peeled away from the convoy and are headed this way."
"Hold your fire until fired on. Give Asvit a chance to talk them down."
The diplomat looked up from his station, "Actually, sir, that may be WHY they are moving to engage us. Something about lacking Grumba?"
"Medical, prepare for injured!" Sara called.
"My people are prepared for anything" Bertrand's voice replied simply from Medical. This elicited a number of confused looks from bridge staff.
"Security, Coordinate with Marine teams. We need to get on those ship and engage the Nausicans."
A shower of sparks erupted from the Security terminal, throwing the CSecO back. Sara turned and looked, but did not move from her station at the XO position.
"Medical team to the bridge!" She called looking around at the rest of the crew. "Lt Stevens, you have Security training. Report to Transporter room. Take over coordinating the Security and Marine teams."
Once again people looked in confusion. Sara was only a Lieutenant herself, and certainly didn't have the authority to assign a head of department. The Captain however just gave a nod in support, and with that Stevens found himself acting head of Security.
"Engineering," Sara continued, "we are going to need repair teams to support the Security detail to repair those ships, not to mention any battle damage we receive. We are going to have to lower shields for transport, which means we are going to take some heat."
Engineering
Deep in the heart of the ship, Cordale got the call. "Alright people, this isn't a drill. We're in the thick." and he tapped his comm badge to reply, "This is Engineering, standing by for damage control. I'll have a repair team prepped and ready for action in five. Cordale out."
He then looked at the assembled masses, and began to make his selection for migrant repair shift duty.
"Already on it!" called out Hel before Cor could even speak up. "Johnston, Wellman, Jansen, G'ork, with me! EVA suits, tool belts, magnetic boots, c'mon let's hustle!" Her powerful voice rang out through engineering, even as she tore open an emergency supply closet and yanked out an EVA suit, starting to put her legs in and pulling it on.
"Be home before ten." Cordale called out, which elicited a chuckle from the others while the four singled out engineering crewhands picked up the pace and started to suit and gear up.
Bridge
"Someone, find out who those people are and why they are out here undefended" Sara looked around and frowned, "Is the bridge always this quiet? I can't hear anyone else think!"
"Alright I want all members of the Away team to be armed and weapons on stun." Elijah said in response.
"Captain," Sara said leaning over, "I think it might be useful if you granted Sara... me... temporary rank of Acting XO, at least for the duration of this encounter?"
"I don't think that's a good idea......" Elojah responded under his breath. "At least for the moment."
A medical team arrived on the bridge and quickly got to work.
OOC Bert: I will be sending out a brief to all teams so you know what to expect later today.
JUST SO ALL PLAYERS KNOW - SARA and BERT have swapped writers. You will see why if you read some of the posts.
