Cascade – It starts with a ...Recon (Starfleet Mission thread) - Part IIa
by Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & UFP Ambassador Valtek & Lieutenant JG Juliet Dallis
Post Details
ON:
The wing of Valkyrie Space Superiority Fighters came out of their short warp jump in a scattered boomerang like formation. Starlight glistened off their vulture arrow tipped hulls as a familiar blue light shot up around them as they activated their shields.
Ahead of them Ivor Prime hung in the inky blackness of space like a grey marble. The fighter wing banked to starboard and arched towards its target as their impulse engines left a slight hazy ion trail in their wake.
=^= This is Red One to all pilots. Approach vector six. Pattern Delta Nine, come to co-ordinates on the navi comm, full sensor sweep. Break. =^=
=^= Aye, sir. =^= A young Trill officer, Jaret, flicked off the overhead monitor of his carrier, falling into sync with those alongside him and turning to match their speed and pattern. =^= Ivor Prime within range. Sending scan radius now. =^=
Sitting in the cockpit the young woman gave the hand control on her right a slight adjustment as she felt the ship respond. =^= Aye Sir.=^= Came the voice of Lieutenant JG Juliet 'Radar' Dallis. The dark haired woman moved her left hand up and across the flat LCARS screen before her to lightly touch the needed controls. Her gaze went to the gray sphere before them and she found a tug at the corner of her lips. It never ceased to amaze her how it felt to come out of a jump.
=^="Well ain't that just the party planet."=^= "Lt William "Rowdy" Redbrooke fell into position at the bottom of the formation. =^="I'm getting a couple of minor hotspots on the southern hemisphere but apart from that. I don't think anyone's home. ITs practically the stone age down there."=^=
=^= Ok Red Wing =^= said Rick as he looked down at the planet from out of cockpit window. =^= split into two squads north and south pole patrols geo-synchronise orbits =^= The LCARS display in his helmet lighted up as a knew course was outlayed and a new tactical heads up was added.
=^= Soooo, who is taking the top and who gets the bottom? =^= Turning her head slightly Dallis gazed over in the direction that the CAG was in, directly to her back right, as he had given her the point spot in the formation. As she waited for a response she considered her co-pilot, Falson, he had been doing a fine job on this run and she would make sure to make mention of the guy when they returned to the ship.
~Ok~ thought Rick to himself. ~How to divide them up~ =^= Ok red squad! Red one through four take the north peninsular. Red Five through eight take the south peninsular. Keep your wing men close and move into delta omega dispersal patter =^=
Jaret nodded, to himself than anything else as he was alone in the carrier. The backseater he'd been assigned failed to show up, so he leaned forward and adjusted the controls on the other side of the wall before pulling up on the throttle, tipping the carrier jet downward, easing in front of Redbrooke. =^= Position locked. Ready when you are. =^=
The fighters split away into their 'packs' to scout the north and south hemispheres of the dreary looking planet which had all the warmth and welcome of a smack in the face. Rick wondered what the Apollo astronauts felt when they traveled to the moon, did they think it was grey and miserable like this place, or a new frontier? Rick was stirred from his thoughts by a blip on his sensors. =^= is anyone getting a weird signal from that debris field? =^=
Jaret looked up at the blinking light in his HUD and flicked the comm signal once more. =^= Affirmative, =^= he responded, keying his reply to go out to the rest of the squad as well. =^= They appear to resemble... life-signs, =^= the Trill said somewhat surprised.
Blue was concentrating on flying and not making any mistakes. She had been told she was a talented cadet but she was still not a fully fledged pilot by the traditions of the squad. She'd also been in a whole load of trouble of late, especially with the Chief so she was watching her tail carefully.
To make matters worse she was now following the CAG himself and her heart was in her mouth to think that if she fouled up, it would be in front of the BIG boss this time! Concentrating as if her life depended on it, which of course it did, Blue took in all the details and readings. She too had readings but she was reluctant to speak up.
The CAG's brow furrowed deeper into a worried frown. He did not like the readings he was getting from that debris field. =^= All fighters re-form up on me =^= he swore to himself for having split the wing up before getting a clearer picture of the situation. What had his old man used to say? Never split the party? And now the readings from the sensors were coming up as, but not quite like, Borg! =^= Everyone on high alert I'm reading borg tech from that field? can anyone else confirm? =^=
Blue got up the courage to speak - she had never goofed in front of the CAG before but then again, if she kept quiet when it was her job to support then *that* would be more of a mess up.
=^= Red Four to Red One - Affirmative on that confirmation Sir - I have readings that have confused me because there are borg elements but the debris it's mixed with and apparently even in some cases actually *fitted to* - well it just doesn't seem to match. I was thinking I was maybe messing up my identification readings. =^= she explained.
In general Anais wasn't a shy person, in fact she had a record that said she had been something of a wild-child at the Academy but since she arrived on DS5 she had been initiated into life on the sharp edge of the known sectors of the Federation and she had been mentored by her Wing Leader, Will Highland who hadn't gone easy on her because, as he had said in no uncertain terms, this wasn't a place for kids who needed their noses wiped. Lives were at stake out here. Many lives.
=^="Boss?"=^= Rowdy kept the channel just between him and the CAG. =^="I see what you see, the question is if it is borg, how close do we all need to get? Even a small Borg cube could take a ship out in one shot. I'm having a thought that maybe one or two of us do a flyby, and the rest run if we don't come out. Naturally, I volunteer."=^=
Listening intently to the conversations which were occurring and that could be heard by her, Juliet watched her own sensors, they were pretty much spot on feeding back the same information that everyone else was getting. Which left her really very little that she could contribute at this point other that to confirm what was already being said. When they call to regroup came, she turned her ship and headed back. =^= On my way back. =^=
Rick looked at his sensors again, there seemed to be a collection of thirty so life forms near the debris field. Sudden;y there was a bright green light, as a ball of plasma like energy came shooting up from the planets surface, flaring as it passed through the atmosphere and careering into space towards the space fighter force.
=^="Incoming! Bearing...."=^= There was a pause, =^="...Zero-Niner-Seven"=^= As Juliet banked her ship away from the approaching orb of energy headed for the squadron she worked quickly to compensate for the emergency correction. =^="This is NOT good!"=^=
=^= No kidding! =^= Jaret sent a comm formation-wide, bringing his craft closer. He broke formation, swerving off to the side a little to avoid a jet of green energy, and barely avoided getting knicked. =^= What the hell was that! =^= the Trill grumbled as he reoriented himself, checking his sensors.
=^= Unknown! =^= said Rick as he looked at his sensor read out =^= maybe some sort of fixed position anti space craft gun....what ever it is the read out says its got enough kick to blow us out of the sky. All craft fall back to secondary LZ indicated in your mission maps and re-group. =^= Rick sent his sensor logs and an accompanying message back to Deeps Space Five Command and Control
Lt Roebuck had flipped his ship over on its nose so his forward sensor array was pointing at the retreating tail of the orb =^="Its not a phaser, and its not a torpedo. At least, none I've seen. It's plasma I think, but its not lost coherence yet"=^= he gave a low whistle. If it was plasma, then to stay that coherent so long after firing, it had to be close to the temperature of a solar surface. Anything it touched would have been obliterated.
=^="The technology of this planet suggest it doesn't belong to the natives"=^= As Radar banked towards the LZ she kept watching for another attack to come. As she reached for her controls she felt off, like someone had walked over her grave, she tapped the console and was about mid-turn when her ship's power faltered. Working quickly she fought with the stiff stick and suddenly inactive flat screen controls. =^="Red One my control panel has gone dead!"=^=
Rick swore. That was it time to get the hell out of here, if they were to pursue this mission they needed to recon this position in force or better yet send a starship or garrison vessel. =^= Someone grab Radar in a tractor beam and lets get ready for the jump to warp. Form up! =^="
Hearing the CAG bark out his orders, Juliet continued struggling with the dark panel in front of her, she took her fist and hit the panel. =^= I've tried resetting the system. I think that green ball of whatever it was shorted something out or drained my power cells. Anyone else having issues?! =^="
=^= *ZXXXSSSSKKKKXZWKXSSSKKKKXCCSSX* =^= Blue was having trouble but not with her control panel. She was unable to send any coms and couldn't hear anything through her headphones either. Anything apart from the same crackling and hissing that her mic was echoing back to her and presumably out to the rest of the squad. Seeing the green plasma hurtling towards them all and narrowly avoiding the ducking and diving of the other fighters as they hurled themselves aside and out of the way too, all the compromised cadet could do was to watch everyone intently and limp along behind the nearest one.
Unfortunately the nearest was Juliet and Anais couldn't know that she was drifting out of control, so she tailed along, desperately trying to get her attention by dipping her wings and flying in an exaggerated way alongside her, across her course - anything to get her to see the Blue was deaf. She had no idea that her colleague was flying blind and her acrobatics for attention and assistance were not only in vain but downright dangerous, given that she could only be seen by the others who weren't so close by.
"This can only end badly." The confused cadet sighed, wondering why her colleague wasn't responding to her visual messages. She tried again to send a call but only got more static. "What is the matter with her? Can't she *see* me? Has she lost her senses?" Blue was talking to herself in agitation. "See... hear... senses.... oh.. my.. GOD! Has EVERYONE lost their sensors? It's not just me.... we're all out... well, some more than others, since I can scan and get physical visual... just no sound.... Find the CAG... I have to find the Boss.... " Blue began frantically scanning around her, desperate to home in on the rest of the group somehow in the hopes that someone else could *see* even if Juliet apparently couldn't.
And like a guardian angel, Roebuck dropped in beside her. THrough the window of the Valkrie he gave her a thumbs up, and a quick signal to stay close. "I got you!" he mouthed to her, and begin to indicate where to come about to
Ricks fingers flashed over the touch screen LCARS display on his navigational flight computer. He diverted some extra power to the ships impulse engine thruster system, and pushed the ship just a little ahead of the pack were everybody could see him. He then used the external lights on his ship to message in morse code, something they taught at the academy, all craft emergency jump back to DS5 he then followed this with the same message over audio. Using his ships tractor beam he put a tractor beam lock around Dallis's craft and prepared to make his jump.
OFF:
CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham
&
Squadron Pilot
Lieutenant JG Juliet 'Radar' Dallis
&
Squadron Pilot
Lt William 'Rowdy' Roebuck
(NPC by NOtty)
&
Cadet Anais 'Blue' Jackson
Gold 4, On Secondment to Red Squadron
(NPC by Jools)
&
Squadron Pilot
Lieutenant Jaret
(NPC'd by Marie)
by Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & UFP Ambassador Valtek & Lieutenant JG Juliet Dallis
Post Details
| Title | It starts with a ...Recon (Starfleet Mission thread) - Part IIa | |
| Mission | Cascade | |
| Author(s) | Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & UFP Ambassador Valtek & Lieutenant JG Juliet Dallis | |
| Posted | Tue Oct 30, 2012 @ 9:13pm | |
| Location | Ivor Prime Local Space | |
| Timeline | SD70: 09:34 |
The wing of Valkyrie Space Superiority Fighters came out of their short warp jump in a scattered boomerang like formation. Starlight glistened off their vulture arrow tipped hulls as a familiar blue light shot up around them as they activated their shields.
Ahead of them Ivor Prime hung in the inky blackness of space like a grey marble. The fighter wing banked to starboard and arched towards its target as their impulse engines left a slight hazy ion trail in their wake.
=^= This is Red One to all pilots. Approach vector six. Pattern Delta Nine, come to co-ordinates on the navi comm, full sensor sweep. Break. =^=
=^= Aye, sir. =^= A young Trill officer, Jaret, flicked off the overhead monitor of his carrier, falling into sync with those alongside him and turning to match their speed and pattern. =^= Ivor Prime within range. Sending scan radius now. =^=
Sitting in the cockpit the young woman gave the hand control on her right a slight adjustment as she felt the ship respond. =^= Aye Sir.=^= Came the voice of Lieutenant JG Juliet 'Radar' Dallis. The dark haired woman moved her left hand up and across the flat LCARS screen before her to lightly touch the needed controls. Her gaze went to the gray sphere before them and she found a tug at the corner of her lips. It never ceased to amaze her how it felt to come out of a jump.
=^="Well ain't that just the party planet."=^= "Lt William "Rowdy" Redbrooke fell into position at the bottom of the formation. =^="I'm getting a couple of minor hotspots on the southern hemisphere but apart from that. I don't think anyone's home. ITs practically the stone age down there."=^=
=^= Ok Red Wing =^= said Rick as he looked down at the planet from out of cockpit window. =^= split into two squads north and south pole patrols geo-synchronise orbits =^= The LCARS display in his helmet lighted up as a knew course was outlayed and a new tactical heads up was added.
=^= Soooo, who is taking the top and who gets the bottom? =^= Turning her head slightly Dallis gazed over in the direction that the CAG was in, directly to her back right, as he had given her the point spot in the formation. As she waited for a response she considered her co-pilot, Falson, he had been doing a fine job on this run and she would make sure to make mention of the guy when they returned to the ship.
~Ok~ thought Rick to himself. ~How to divide them up~ =^= Ok red squad! Red one through four take the north peninsular. Red Five through eight take the south peninsular. Keep your wing men close and move into delta omega dispersal patter =^=
Jaret nodded, to himself than anything else as he was alone in the carrier. The backseater he'd been assigned failed to show up, so he leaned forward and adjusted the controls on the other side of the wall before pulling up on the throttle, tipping the carrier jet downward, easing in front of Redbrooke. =^= Position locked. Ready when you are. =^=
The fighters split away into their 'packs' to scout the north and south hemispheres of the dreary looking planet which had all the warmth and welcome of a smack in the face. Rick wondered what the Apollo astronauts felt when they traveled to the moon, did they think it was grey and miserable like this place, or a new frontier? Rick was stirred from his thoughts by a blip on his sensors. =^= is anyone getting a weird signal from that debris field? =^=
Jaret looked up at the blinking light in his HUD and flicked the comm signal once more. =^= Affirmative, =^= he responded, keying his reply to go out to the rest of the squad as well. =^= They appear to resemble... life-signs, =^= the Trill said somewhat surprised.
Blue was concentrating on flying and not making any mistakes. She had been told she was a talented cadet but she was still not a fully fledged pilot by the traditions of the squad. She'd also been in a whole load of trouble of late, especially with the Chief so she was watching her tail carefully.
To make matters worse she was now following the CAG himself and her heart was in her mouth to think that if she fouled up, it would be in front of the BIG boss this time! Concentrating as if her life depended on it, which of course it did, Blue took in all the details and readings. She too had readings but she was reluctant to speak up.
The CAG's brow furrowed deeper into a worried frown. He did not like the readings he was getting from that debris field. =^= All fighters re-form up on me =^= he swore to himself for having split the wing up before getting a clearer picture of the situation. What had his old man used to say? Never split the party? And now the readings from the sensors were coming up as, but not quite like, Borg! =^= Everyone on high alert I'm reading borg tech from that field? can anyone else confirm? =^=
Blue got up the courage to speak - she had never goofed in front of the CAG before but then again, if she kept quiet when it was her job to support then *that* would be more of a mess up.
=^= Red Four to Red One - Affirmative on that confirmation Sir - I have readings that have confused me because there are borg elements but the debris it's mixed with and apparently even in some cases actually *fitted to* - well it just doesn't seem to match. I was thinking I was maybe messing up my identification readings. =^= she explained.
In general Anais wasn't a shy person, in fact she had a record that said she had been something of a wild-child at the Academy but since she arrived on DS5 she had been initiated into life on the sharp edge of the known sectors of the Federation and she had been mentored by her Wing Leader, Will Highland who hadn't gone easy on her because, as he had said in no uncertain terms, this wasn't a place for kids who needed their noses wiped. Lives were at stake out here. Many lives.
=^="Boss?"=^= Rowdy kept the channel just between him and the CAG. =^="I see what you see, the question is if it is borg, how close do we all need to get? Even a small Borg cube could take a ship out in one shot. I'm having a thought that maybe one or two of us do a flyby, and the rest run if we don't come out. Naturally, I volunteer."=^=
Listening intently to the conversations which were occurring and that could be heard by her, Juliet watched her own sensors, they were pretty much spot on feeding back the same information that everyone else was getting. Which left her really very little that she could contribute at this point other that to confirm what was already being said. When they call to regroup came, she turned her ship and headed back. =^= On my way back. =^=
Rick looked at his sensors again, there seemed to be a collection of thirty so life forms near the debris field. Sudden;y there was a bright green light, as a ball of plasma like energy came shooting up from the planets surface, flaring as it passed through the atmosphere and careering into space towards the space fighter force.
=^="Incoming! Bearing...."=^= There was a pause, =^="...Zero-Niner-Seven"=^= As Juliet banked her ship away from the approaching orb of energy headed for the squadron she worked quickly to compensate for the emergency correction. =^="This is NOT good!"=^=
=^= No kidding! =^= Jaret sent a comm formation-wide, bringing his craft closer. He broke formation, swerving off to the side a little to avoid a jet of green energy, and barely avoided getting knicked. =^= What the hell was that! =^= the Trill grumbled as he reoriented himself, checking his sensors.
=^= Unknown! =^= said Rick as he looked at his sensor read out =^= maybe some sort of fixed position anti space craft gun....what ever it is the read out says its got enough kick to blow us out of the sky. All craft fall back to secondary LZ indicated in your mission maps and re-group. =^= Rick sent his sensor logs and an accompanying message back to Deeps Space Five Command and Control
Lt Roebuck had flipped his ship over on its nose so his forward sensor array was pointing at the retreating tail of the orb =^="Its not a phaser, and its not a torpedo. At least, none I've seen. It's plasma I think, but its not lost coherence yet"=^= he gave a low whistle. If it was plasma, then to stay that coherent so long after firing, it had to be close to the temperature of a solar surface. Anything it touched would have been obliterated.
=^="The technology of this planet suggest it doesn't belong to the natives"=^= As Radar banked towards the LZ she kept watching for another attack to come. As she reached for her controls she felt off, like someone had walked over her grave, she tapped the console and was about mid-turn when her ship's power faltered. Working quickly she fought with the stiff stick and suddenly inactive flat screen controls. =^="Red One my control panel has gone dead!"=^=
Rick swore. That was it time to get the hell out of here, if they were to pursue this mission they needed to recon this position in force or better yet send a starship or garrison vessel. =^= Someone grab Radar in a tractor beam and lets get ready for the jump to warp. Form up! =^="
Hearing the CAG bark out his orders, Juliet continued struggling with the dark panel in front of her, she took her fist and hit the panel. =^= I've tried resetting the system. I think that green ball of whatever it was shorted something out or drained my power cells. Anyone else having issues?! =^="
=^= *ZXXXSSSSKKKKXZWKXSSSKKKKXCCSSX* =^= Blue was having trouble but not with her control panel. She was unable to send any coms and couldn't hear anything through her headphones either. Anything apart from the same crackling and hissing that her mic was echoing back to her and presumably out to the rest of the squad. Seeing the green plasma hurtling towards them all and narrowly avoiding the ducking and diving of the other fighters as they hurled themselves aside and out of the way too, all the compromised cadet could do was to watch everyone intently and limp along behind the nearest one.
Unfortunately the nearest was Juliet and Anais couldn't know that she was drifting out of control, so she tailed along, desperately trying to get her attention by dipping her wings and flying in an exaggerated way alongside her, across her course - anything to get her to see the Blue was deaf. She had no idea that her colleague was flying blind and her acrobatics for attention and assistance were not only in vain but downright dangerous, given that she could only be seen by the others who weren't so close by.
"This can only end badly." The confused cadet sighed, wondering why her colleague wasn't responding to her visual messages. She tried again to send a call but only got more static. "What is the matter with her? Can't she *see* me? Has she lost her senses?" Blue was talking to herself in agitation. "See... hear... senses.... oh.. my.. GOD! Has EVERYONE lost their sensors? It's not just me.... we're all out... well, some more than others, since I can scan and get physical visual... just no sound.... Find the CAG... I have to find the Boss.... " Blue began frantically scanning around her, desperate to home in on the rest of the group somehow in the hopes that someone else could *see* even if Juliet apparently couldn't.
And like a guardian angel, Roebuck dropped in beside her. THrough the window of the Valkrie he gave her a thumbs up, and a quick signal to stay close. "I got you!" he mouthed to her, and begin to indicate where to come about to
Ricks fingers flashed over the touch screen LCARS display on his navigational flight computer. He diverted some extra power to the ships impulse engine thruster system, and pushed the ship just a little ahead of the pack were everybody could see him. He then used the external lights on his ship to message in morse code, something they taught at the academy, all craft emergency jump back to DS5 he then followed this with the same message over audio. Using his ships tractor beam he put a tractor beam lock around Dallis's craft and prepared to make his jump.
OFF:
CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham
&
Squadron Pilot
Lieutenant JG Juliet 'Radar' Dallis
&
Squadron Pilot
Lt William 'Rowdy' Roebuck
(NPC by NOtty)
&
Cadet Anais 'Blue' Jackson
Gold 4, On Secondment to Red Squadron
(NPC by Jools)
&
Squadron Pilot
Lieutenant Jaret
(NPC'd by Marie)