Incommunicado – Senior Staff... ASSEMBLE! (Part 2)
by Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Colonel James Darson & Commander Karen Villiers & Commander Rakka & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman & Commander Richard Dunham & Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant JG Petro & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian & Alderman Dorian Gabriel & Lieutenant JG Saria Rex

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Title   Senior Staff... ASSEMBLE! (Part 2)
Mission   Incommunicado
Author(s)   Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Colonel James Darson & Commander Karen Villiers & Commander Rakka & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman & Commander Richard Dunham & Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant JG Petro & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian & Alderman Dorian Gabriel & Lieutenant JG Saria Rex
Posted   Sun Jul 01, 2012 @ 10:50am
Location   Senior Officers' Conference Room, Deck 14
Timeline   SD58, 0800 hours
OLD:

"I will try to run some tests from here. See if I can determine if someone or maybe something created it." Saria said, while making some notes on her own PADD.

ON:

It was unusual for a senior officer to come on duty in shorts and a tank top, even more when those garments were dark with sweat, but Karen did not feel she had time to shower, change and get to the meeting before it concluded. She had in her hand a data chip that she hoped would reveal what had happened to the Klingon vessel, and give an indication of the type of threat the station faced.

She strode through the door into the conference room and waited by the doorway listening to what the Trill Lieutenant had to say.

The Bajoran's eyes moved to the door and nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of the up-tight woman with whom he'd had so bitter a disagreement the day before. He was certain there were numerous uniform regulations he could quote now if he really wanted to be flippant. He was about to come into the conversation in response to Rex but paused as it looked as if the Commander had something important to say.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said at the pause pushing a strand of damp hair that had escaped from her pony tail out of her eye. “No need to summarise, I’ll review the recording. A Klingon courier ship just arrived and came through whatever has been causing the interference, in one piece thanks to the swift action of Commander Dunham bringing her home in one piece.”

Tasha smiled as Karen entered the room. A weight felt lifted from her and now she felt she could relax a little.

"No need for apology Commander." She said, despite Villiers dress, even Tasha could see she had not had time to either dress or prepare.

Karen knew that there might be far more to thank him for but that was a consideration for later. “The courier is an acquaintance of mine,” Karen slotted the datachip into the reader, “she’s provided me with full readouts of systems during her encounter with the anomaly, and a science team has been requested to sample the vessel before the repair crew moves in.”

The XO looked around the room, “Let’s see what we’ve got,” she said as she extended a finger and pressed the console.

The main lights in the room dimmed and an image of the Klingon ship came into view, hovering above the conference table. At the same time data readouts appeared on each individual panel on the table offering greater depth than what was relayed above.

Cruising at warp 4 the ship accelerated to 5, distance from the station upwards of fifty thousand kilometers. It continued at this speed and vector then when it reached a point 30k from the station the image began to flicker. The ship’s nacelles began to dim. At first it was barely perceptible, like a haze, then in a matter of seconds a swirled helix formed around them in a tightening spiral matching the speed and course of the vessel.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Karen said the skin at the nape of her neck bristling as the ship began to lose control only to be wrested back on course as an extra burst of power forced the engines up to warp six.

"Nor I." Tasha added simply as she studied the footage in front of her.

It seemed for a moment that the ship was free but again the blurring as the darkening swarm accelerated and again engulfed the nacelles.

Relma took the information in with one hand over his forehead, resting on the scar under his fringe, he had no idea what on eartht he screen was showing, but it certainly appeared to be a lifeform of some variety. "Whatever it is appears to be attracted to the latent power emissions present from the nacelles. That might explain why the active emissions from the Pollux triggered such a reaction. I'd need to do a detailed comparison of the Pollux's systems and what effects they sufferent and those of the Klingon vessel to be sure what the actual cause could have been and thus how we could nullify it."

"Reminds me of the effects caused by Tetryon particles. That's why the Hekaras Corridor is so dangerous for ships..." Saria said, while studying the hologram. "Although, Tetryon particles can only exist in subspace environments."

The Bajoran nodded to the younger woman "From a technical perspective the effect is very similar, but wouldn't the concentration required to harm the Pollux in that way have been fatal to our crew?"

Saria looked at the Bajoran officer. "You got a point there, yes. Maybe it's some kind of modified Tetryon particle, and made by something. Although, that's very hard to do. If I could get a probe close enough, I might be able to determine it." She said, while looking very carefully at the hologram again.

Tasha spoke before Rick had a chance to. "The Pollux fired a wide tricyclic tayron beam at that." She signalled at the swirling shadow

Meryn glanced to the top of the table "Captain, tetryon particles and other similar subspace particles nullify directed energy weapons, and torpedoes will require additional shielding to avoid wildly unpredictable behaviour in the presence of high-concentrations. From a tactical point of view very few of our defensive systems are prepared for such conditions and the majority of our systems are incapable of operating under those circumstances - even assuming that we avoid the harmonic resonance which caused so much damage to the Pollux."

Tasha stared at Meryn, not fully understanding every word he said but she could see the swirling shadow was not an energy weapon or at least, one that they had seen.
"So are you saying that we have no defence against that shadow." She stated as she shook her head in disdain, "Well, I have to agree, but first we need to ascertain what exactly that shadow is." She pointed at the hologram and watched as it played over again.

"This doesn't match anything on file current or historical." Rhiana commented "Especially Breen, Borg, Cardassian, or even a few other historical references I could toss on the table."

"Not too fast. During the Dominion War, when my previous host served on the Lakota, high concentrations of Tetryon particles were detected by the scanners. They seemed to be cloaked experimental Cardassian ships. Keldon-class, I thought. But it makes no sense what the Cardassians would be doing do far from their territory." Saria said, pensively.

The Bajoran Chief Warrant Officer nodded. "That's true Lieutenant, the Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar assault force's Cardassian ships, which participated in the Battle of the Omarian Nebula emitted a tetryon variance when their cloaks were in operation, but that was a result of the strange combination of the Cardassian and Romulan technology - but Lieutenant t'Sahen is also correct as those patterns were totally different."

Darson had remained quiet up till now, as he had nothing really to contribute to a discussion based solely around the scientific origins of this phenomenon. Such things were better left to softer people, with things like a science degree...and a soft personality with which to use it. However, he was following along dutifully, and upon seeing the information brought in by the scantily-clad (and somewhat attractive) Commander Villiers, he started to pay more attention as certain aspects of the situation began to gel with past experience. He broke into the conversation by saying calmly, “Never underestimate a Cardassian. And we’ve had our fair share of cloaked ships hovering around that sometimes do things they’re not supposed to be doing,” He shot a glance at Rianni sitting next to him.

“However, I think that we’re getting bogged down. We’re taught in Pathfinders and Special Forces to never, ever, ever restrict your thinking to one line of thought. You have to think outside the box,” His large armored fingers traced an imaginary triangle in the air as he continued, “And open your mind to every possibility.”

Rhiana looked over at Darson, "You're right colonel, this could be anything." Pausing to clear her thoughts "This is too gradual to be any known technology, there is a similarity to something I read about once."

"And that would be?" Tasha questioned, "after all, we have absolutely no idea what it is." Tasha added with a raised brow expecting some silly remark.

"But why on all frequencies?" Petro asked, "and the same pattern exactly. The variances in the spectrums would cause a generalized pattern to buffer and change with modulation but in this case they were identical."

"Good question, we'll need to gather more information and possibly go over historical mission files to find possible causes to find the solution." Rhiana said almost matter of factually.

Relma had been tapping his PADD again and glanced up again "Tetryon particle effects on most of our systems have some similarities with the Breen Energy Dampening weapon we encountered during the War, the solution to which revolved around modifications to the main deflector array. The harmonic resonance feedback the Pollux encountered was transferred through the deflector as well. Perhaps that's the best place to concentrate our efforts to begin with?"

"Its as good a place as any," Karen said. She had taken a seat while the discussion was going on. Give her a legal battle, a war of words, or even a mountain and she knew exactly how to tackle it. But this unknown threat, and a threat it seemed to be, was outside her remit. "The Klingon ship, not simply this hologram, the qul mI'wI' is also available for examination, there may be some correlation there. Someone might also interview Valkris, the courier, about her experience coming through the anomoly."

"The Breen weapon was more immediate in effect this hasn't been so we need to move before this escalates, I'd like to go over the mission reports from as far back as 2250 to find other explanations than just the constant assumption the Breen are innvolved." Rhiana tried to keep a level head.

"Nobody is assuming that," Karen said somewhat tersely, the breen hadn't even been mentioned until now, unless something had been said before she arrived, which from the look around the room was not the case.. If it were a Breen weapon, we wouldn't have a functioning vessel left to examine!.

Karen was not familiar with the officer who spoke and was alarmed that the officer was implying that a such a conclusion had been reached when they were still postulating ideas. "By all means review the records, Lieutenant, but remember that we are still identifying, and hopefully eliminating possible causes."

"I have some experience with Klingon technology, Commander." added Relma, steering the conversation away from the Breen "Once I've had the chance to look at the Pollux and read up on the specifications of that class of Klingon vessel I'd be very keen to compare and contrast the effects to see what that could tell us." The man nodded to the XO, sensing the opportunity to begin to repair the damage he had done to any working relationship by his shenanigans the day before.

Karen pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded. She did not appreciate the sort of point scoring he had tried at their earlier meeting, so at least she could find out now if the Bajoran was more than just a player. "Perhaps Lieutenant Rex and one of Commander Freeman's team could assist."

"I'll be on it if you need me, Chief." Saria said to Relma.

"Thank you Lieutenant: I'll forward any pertinent data to you as soon as I find it. Which lab will you be based in?" replied the Bajoran.

"I will use the sensor array in Ops first to scan the particles. After that, I'll send them to the Science lab to analyze their structure." Saria said, while noting some things on her padd.

Chewing on his gum Rick leaned forward in his chair again. "Ma'am once our science and engineering departments have discerned the nature and identity of this anomaly, I would like to take a small contingent of fighters, and with the Colonels permission a Marine task force, to implement what ever solution the science and engineer guys come up with."

"Can we also take a look at what areas of the station that might be affected?" Petro asked. "We may have to relocate some people for a while."

Relma nodded to his colleague. "I'll have the duty Operations section prepare contingency plans. The Docking Ring and outermost sections of the central core will be most at risk. Any ships in dock should either be shut down or launched for safety. In terms of effects of our systems Lieutenant Rex and I can pass further information to Lieutenant Eirich and Ensign Tholos as they prepare the contingencies."

"Very good," Karen said. She looked to the Captain and receiving a nod proceeded to wrap up the meeting. "Does anyone have anything further business?"

The Captain shook her head, this was the most pressing matter at the moment and other issues could be dealt with once they had passed this.

Karen nodded. "OK, then I will alert Valkris to expect an inspection team. If there's no other business, I'll go and make myself fit for duty. Dsimissed."

The Bajoran had to try very hard not to allow a massive smirk to burst all over his face following the Commander's last comment. As everyone else began standing and moving to the exits he followed the Chief Engineer's movements closely. As much as he wanted to speak to Petro and Rianni, and even touch base with the very capable science and intelligence officers with whom he had been conversing during the meeting, he had pressing business with the Chief Engineer, so only allowed Petro and Rianni a nod and, in the latter's case, a knowing glance saying 'Can't talk now.'

The whole meeting had taken an exciting turn. The department heads had gelled nicely, there were no spats and Tasha felt contented that she had the best team. She glanced at each of the staff as they began to stand and file for the exit and her eye fell upon the science officer who had just risen from her seat. Tasha was not sure of her name and decided the direct route was the best way to gain her attention.

"Science officer, forgive me, I don't know your name, but can you stay for a minute." She saw Karen was already partially through the door and in her current state, Tasha decided it best to let the Commander take the time to shower and change for her daily duties and looked towards her 2nd executive officer, "Commander Dunham, would you remain also please." Tasha requested as she rose from her seat and nodded at each of the staff as they departed.

TBC....

A joint post by:

Captain Tasha Tahir
CO

Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer

Commander Chelsea Dunham
CMO & 2nd Officer

CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham

Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant JG Saria Rex
Assistant Chief of Science

Lieutenant (JG) Rhianna T'Sahan
Acting Chief of intelligence (NPC JW)

erie'Riov Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
CO IRW Dhelan

Commander Rakka
Security Training Officer/Consultant

Chief Warrant Officer 1st Class Relma Meryn
Chief Operations Officer

Colonel James Darson
Marine Commanding Officer

Lieutenant JG Petro
Communications/Quartermaster