Beg, Steal or Borrow – Sneaking up in the Night
by Colonel James Darson & Alderman Dorian Gabriel & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
ON:
Darson lounged in the center chair of the Pendragon’s Combat Information Center. He had suspected from his last few trips to the bridge that Admiral Zheng wasn’t exactly fond of his presence, and so he had decided to observe events from down here, while listening in on the chatter from the bridge.
A quick glance up at the large screens told him that they were still about five minutes out from the coordinates. The plan so far was to drop out of warp on the far side of the star from the base’s predicted coordinates, rig for silent running, and then creep around to get a good grasp of the situation.
But Darson also had a secondary objective…one that would require infiltrating the pirate base before hand. As he began working out how exactly he was going to be able to pull that off, he said, “Computer, please inform Lieutenants Dunquesne and Watts that I request their presence in the CIC.”
Ensign Watts pressed his comm badge to confirm. Then left the rest of Bravo wing playing cards on crates around the landing struts of their fighter crafts. He headed up to the CIC. Upon entering he said. "You wanted to see me sir?"
“Yes,” Darson said as he turned to face the younger officer, “We’re a couple of minutes out from the coordinates from the beacon, and I thought that as the flight commander for the mission, you would want to be here…if I am mistaken, you can just go back to playing cards with your squadron…or whatever it is you were doing before this.”
"Yes sir" said Watts keeping his answers brief around the Colonel
“Good…now then, I presume that you’ve gone over the flight manifests for the fleet. How much tactical strength do you think you can muster, Ensign?”
"Enough to blow up a small city." Said the Ensign matter of factly.
Darson nodded slowly, “Good…I think that that will be more than enough…now then, where the hell is Lieutenant Dunqesne? I wanted him to be here.”
Watts simply shrugged. Thinking it still best to say as little as possible to this Marine especially about a fellow Starfleet officer.
Suddenly Darson leaned forward and gestured at the screen, “Well, no matter. He’ll just have to play catch up later. We’re about 20 seconds out. Let’s watch carefully now…we don’t want to miss anything.”
Watts also leaned in to watch the screen. Trying very hard not to stare at the Colonel's mask.
As the fleet dewarped, the lights dimmed as most of the nonessential systems were deactivated in preparation for silent running. A couple of minutes later, the nearly invisible fleet started moving over the top of the star at about ¼ impulse, spread out far enough to give minimal sensor readings. When they reached the top, they came to a complete stop in the blind spot above the star, over its magnetic pole.
Darson stood up and glided over to check the sensor readings, “Hmm…a Type-O star…very interesting. And this asteroid field…If they’re hiding deep inside it, coupled with the interference from the star, It’s no wonder that Starfleet patrols didn’t find them. And according to these scans, there’s a massive tachyon sensor grid…hmm. I don’t think that we could get much closer with the entire fleet and remain undetected…what do you think, Ensign?”
"Well I'm no strategist like yourself sir. But I think if we take out that tachyon sensor grid hard and fast we may be able to get the jump on them." Said the Ensign. chewing on his gum thoughtfully.
Darson shook his head, “Good, but I need to get a team onboard before the attack. There is some information that must be retrieved at all costs, and we can’t have the pirates running with it when we attack. Even if we get the jump on them, if even one ship gets away with that information, then we will have failed…hmmm…we don’t have any cloaking devices, and I doubt that we would be able to penetrate the field…unless...in a field like this, considering that there’s an asteroid belt here, there are bound to be some blindspots where a transport should be able to squeeze through…and with extra insulation, we just aim towards the base, shut down the engines and make it cold, and cruise towards it, relying on maneuvering thrusters to keep us out of harm’s way. Do you think that one of your pilots could do that, Ensign?”
"I reckon so sir. Happy to do it myself."
OFF:
Lieutenant j.g.
Michael Duquense
Tactical Officer
Ensign Watts
Squadron Leader
Lt. Col. James Darson
Marine Commanding Officer
by Colonel James Darson & Alderman Dorian Gabriel & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
| Title | Sneaking up in the Night | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Colonel James Darson & Alderman Dorian Gabriel & Commander Richard Dunham | |
| Posted | Mon Aug 10, 2009 @ 5:03am | |
| Location | Pirate Base, Deep Space | |
| Timeline | SD8 - - Backpost |
Darson lounged in the center chair of the Pendragon’s Combat Information Center. He had suspected from his last few trips to the bridge that Admiral Zheng wasn’t exactly fond of his presence, and so he had decided to observe events from down here, while listening in on the chatter from the bridge.
A quick glance up at the large screens told him that they were still about five minutes out from the coordinates. The plan so far was to drop out of warp on the far side of the star from the base’s predicted coordinates, rig for silent running, and then creep around to get a good grasp of the situation.
But Darson also had a secondary objective…one that would require infiltrating the pirate base before hand. As he began working out how exactly he was going to be able to pull that off, he said, “Computer, please inform Lieutenants Dunquesne and Watts that I request their presence in the CIC.”
Ensign Watts pressed his comm badge to confirm. Then left the rest of Bravo wing playing cards on crates around the landing struts of their fighter crafts. He headed up to the CIC. Upon entering he said. "You wanted to see me sir?"
“Yes,” Darson said as he turned to face the younger officer, “We’re a couple of minutes out from the coordinates from the beacon, and I thought that as the flight commander for the mission, you would want to be here…if I am mistaken, you can just go back to playing cards with your squadron…or whatever it is you were doing before this.”
"Yes sir" said Watts keeping his answers brief around the Colonel
“Good…now then, I presume that you’ve gone over the flight manifests for the fleet. How much tactical strength do you think you can muster, Ensign?”
"Enough to blow up a small city." Said the Ensign matter of factly.
Darson nodded slowly, “Good…I think that that will be more than enough…now then, where the hell is Lieutenant Dunqesne? I wanted him to be here.”
Watts simply shrugged. Thinking it still best to say as little as possible to this Marine especially about a fellow Starfleet officer.
Suddenly Darson leaned forward and gestured at the screen, “Well, no matter. He’ll just have to play catch up later. We’re about 20 seconds out. Let’s watch carefully now…we don’t want to miss anything.”
Watts also leaned in to watch the screen. Trying very hard not to stare at the Colonel's mask.
As the fleet dewarped, the lights dimmed as most of the nonessential systems were deactivated in preparation for silent running. A couple of minutes later, the nearly invisible fleet started moving over the top of the star at about ¼ impulse, spread out far enough to give minimal sensor readings. When they reached the top, they came to a complete stop in the blind spot above the star, over its magnetic pole.
Darson stood up and glided over to check the sensor readings, “Hmm…a Type-O star…very interesting. And this asteroid field…If they’re hiding deep inside it, coupled with the interference from the star, It’s no wonder that Starfleet patrols didn’t find them. And according to these scans, there’s a massive tachyon sensor grid…hmm. I don’t think that we could get much closer with the entire fleet and remain undetected…what do you think, Ensign?”
"Well I'm no strategist like yourself sir. But I think if we take out that tachyon sensor grid hard and fast we may be able to get the jump on them." Said the Ensign. chewing on his gum thoughtfully.
Darson shook his head, “Good, but I need to get a team onboard before the attack. There is some information that must be retrieved at all costs, and we can’t have the pirates running with it when we attack. Even if we get the jump on them, if even one ship gets away with that information, then we will have failed…hmmm…we don’t have any cloaking devices, and I doubt that we would be able to penetrate the field…unless...in a field like this, considering that there’s an asteroid belt here, there are bound to be some blindspots where a transport should be able to squeeze through…and with extra insulation, we just aim towards the base, shut down the engines and make it cold, and cruise towards it, relying on maneuvering thrusters to keep us out of harm’s way. Do you think that one of your pilots could do that, Ensign?”
"I reckon so sir. Happy to do it myself."
OFF:
Lieutenant j.g.
Michael Duquense
Tactical Officer
Ensign Watts
Squadron Leader
Lt. Col. James Darson
Marine Commanding Officer