Cascade – Little Ship of Misfits Pt. 1
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
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Morning on this planet was a cross between purple-red skies, and bitter cold, there was a thin but visible layer of frost everywhere, including the Dawn-Star, the long ivory colored hull with few markings had a fine coating.
The jumpsuit clad crew had worked through the night to finish the repairs and make a few adjustments as they got ready for the new passengers, Jarred wore his now trade mark long coat as he walked down the ramp, phaser pistol in a holster strapped to his leg, hood up over his head.
"The damage from the ion storm was mostly electrical boss, the one fix was better off if we did the modifications for our guests instead, but it might be wise to get an early start, we have residual traces of cloaking devices in low orbit." A crewman said.
"I'll go get the Ambassador and her entourage." Jarred said
---
Isha had exchanged her robes for a simple outfit of soft black leggings encased in a pair of kneelength boots and a slightly fitted black tunic. Her luscious hair was gone but the style that replaced it was a neat shoulder length bob.
"You look horrible." It was the diminutive but forthright and precocious Eviess ir-Pradai t’Vaurek, who offered this erudite and reasoned criticism of her mother's appearance as she woundher own flowing midnight locks protectively around her hand.
"What a charming lady you'll make," Isha replied as she stooped to unravel her daughter's hair and pull it back so that she could plait it, not an easy task as the long slippery strands had a tendancy to slide through Isha's slender fingers. "Be still or I'll ask Lieutenant Wallace to leave you behind and you'll never get to travel to the stars."
The threat to her young mind seemed an unlikely one but just in case Eviess stopped wriggling. "Argy won't like it," she said opting not to drop the topic, but to shift focus to her twin brother who sat in the lap of their nanny with a sullen expression on his face.
"In the old days children who did not learn proper respect were left on the hills," Isha said as she looped a band around the end of the plait and let it fall. Sometimes she forgot that Eviess was only four years old. She wrapped an arm around her daughter and drew her close, "e'lev here you are almost a princess, but where we are going you must be more restrained in giving your opinions. You are far more intelligent than anyone else your age you'll meet, but you mustn't let them know that. Do you understand?"
"Of course I understand that," Eviess replied with a glance at her brother. She outstripped him by far in lessons and couldn't understand why he would speak in broken sentences. Eveiss preferred talking with grown ups. "Why must we go? I don't want to be ordinary."
Isha smiled. At that age she would have felt the same had the option been given to her. "You will never be ordinary," she told the girl, "your mother gave up unparalleled power to see that you were well, and your father. He was a great man, greater than any whose likeness is carved out of stone in the grand plaza."
Jarred stood at the door his face barely visible covered by the hood, "There are somethings that are more important than just statues, like seeing things for the first time." He lowered the hood and saw some fear in the child's expression.
"Now Ensign Mendez managed to find some games in our computer, along with some tutorials on some of the things you're going to see with your mom." Jarred stood "We should go, there was some 'unusual' activity in near orbit."
Before she spoke Eviess moved back slightly so that she was partly obscured by her mother's leg, "You have a strange accent," she observed.
Isha smirked, though Eviess couldn't see it. Isha raised an eyebrow at Jarred.
"You'll find there is many many strange accents, things, foods, but you will also find that some of those things....."Jarred was interrupted by ensign Charles "Sir surface sensors have activity about seven hundred meters from your location."
"Looks like we have some unwelcome company I think we need to move." Jarred stood up "This isn't how I planned to start the day, breakfast maybe, not this."
"Mr Mendez could you fire up the engines, looks like we have some unwelcome visitors."
"Let's get aboard then." Isha left the children in the capable hands of Ekenda, "This system has a state of hte art defence grid, if anyone got through then it is because they were let through," she said, "The bridge is this way, yes?"
Jarred waved to another of the crew, "We have some guests, secure the kids in the mess, continue pre-launch, Mendez, Cote...." The howl of disruptor fire and an explosion broke the mad scramble "We gotta move!" Jarred pulled out a pistol form under his long coat and fired at the approaching troops.
Crewman Cote raised a phaser rifle and fired as well, dropping the closest of the attackers "forty seconds to lift off!"
Jarred fired disabling another of the attackers, "Everyone prepare for emergency maneuvers as soon as we get into the sky, Ambassador get back of the entry!"
Cote pulled the pin on a grenade and lobbed it, in the direction of the attackers "DOWN!!"
The percussive forces rattled through out the landing area "Ok GO GO GO!!!" as the three crew ran up the ramp "Lift off Shannon, get the shield generators on line, and punch it up to warp 9 soon we can, and bring that gadget online see if we can make use of it."
"You know that thing could leave us dead in space." the female voice said.
"I'm well versed in Murphy's law" Jarred said calmly.
"Isha, I hope the rest of this trip is quiet." he said with a smile.
"I think the quiet days of my life have just ended," she replied. Someone really didn't want her to leave. But she was going with the backing of the Romulan Senate, so who could it be that held a different opinion on the embrionic treaty between the Federation and the Stelam Shiar?
As everyone entered the bridge, Jarred motioned to Isha to take a seat a the left of the command chair, "Shannon bring up the exterior view, continue with the lift of cycle."
There was a squad of what looked like six or seven Romulan troops, "Do you recognize the uniforms?"
Isha rested her chin onher hands as she examined the images - they were generic, dark grey, no markings of rank or unit, and if they were following orders they were already given and not one of the team was deviating from his assigned place.
"No," Isha replied, "but their discipline and deployment pattern suggests Tal'Diann or Gai'Shian. Neither of those orders bear any love for me."
"Well I can assume that we are on their hit list," Jarred looked to the engineering station "push the atmospheric systems to the limit, lets hope that they are alone."
"You spoke too soon boss, Warbird in low orbit, trying to track us, looks like the scattering field is working for now." Mendez spoke up "The shadow Cloak is on stand by but we need to be in orbit for it to work."
"Connors I need that warp drive on line in forty seconds!"
"I'll see what I can do." a voice echoed around the bridge.
"May I?" Isha asked with a wave towards the external communication system.
"If it'll give us some time." Jarred said.
Isha nodded curtly as she leaned over the console. Her fingers skipped over the controls and within ten seconds a male voice, speaking Rihannsu was audible to the bridge.
"I thought you'd left," he said.
"Aehkhifv, much as I would love to chat my departure appears to have drawn unexpected attention. I'd be eternally greatful if you could deal with the hinderance in question for long enough to give us time to clear the atmosphere."
"My dear Isha, you have no patience. You agree to leave without consulting me and leave your kingdom with an empty throne," the man replied.
"You have as great an interest in this colony's survival as I do, Aehkhifv. Warm my seat while I am gone but please deal with the threat to my safe departure."
"Very well, but I cannot guarantee you will leave without fire, not with this notice. We'll speak again, my dear."
The line was severed. Isha had used an emergency code to activate it and now at least one Federation spy was aware that the head of the Tal Shiar's Special Operations division was a sympathiser, if not an active re-unificationist.
She flicked her jade green gaze towards Wallace, "He will do what he can. I suggest we accelerate."
"Punch it!" Jarred said
The modified oberth lurched forward then accelerated like a runaway train, as she cleared the atmosphere the Warbird made its move, "Engage shadow cloak, full impulse speed."
The outer hull polarized and turned grey then the remaining cloaking process began, as the ship accelerated away Jarred looked to Isha, "The shadow cloak is only good to warp 5, so we're going to we're going to have to use some unconventional technology but it will result in an extra layover."
"Actually sir, we've burned out three warp coils using the capacitor." a voice said
"Thank you Daryl." Jarred groaned "We found a device than can give us extended bursts at high warp speeds, but we're close to rendering our warp drive useless so it may not be an option unless time has become an issue."
"Aehkhifv may be able to buy us some time. Just clear the atmosphere," Isha advised, the planetary defence system would prevent anyone following them, if they made it that far.
"Warbird is now directly in our line of flight, and we are ten seconds from low orbit." the helm officer spoke.
"Wait for the planetary defenses to show more visible signs of powering up maybe we can use the cloaking device to slip by and escape...." the ship shook violently "Or not, report!"
"Shadow cloak offline, shields cycling, down five percent...." Another hit "Shields down ten percent now."
"We're in low orbit now sir, Warbird is directly behind us in pursuit, we need to be clear of the moon to engage the warp drive safely." the helm officer said.
Jarred looked at a display showing the warbird suffering a glancing blow from the planetary defenses, "Ok we have our window, punch it up to full impulse then lets get out of here."
Ensign Mendez spoke next "The Warbird seems to be distracted I think we can make our exit.'
"I agree, when we have a safe gap between us and the Romulans we need to affect repairs." Jarred said.
As Jarred stood the light flickered, his eyes rolled "Stand by to use the capacitor, we can land at the auxiliary base on Tarod to make full repairs."
Jarred turned to Isha "The auxiliary base is fairly isolated, but there is a small settlement there so we will have to follow through with our discussions about your cover, Isabelle will help with uniforms and anything else you need, one more thing..." He gently tossed over a comm badge "Gotta look the part."
Isabelle stood nest to Isha "madam I'll show you to the quarters we have for you."
"I trust my children have already been taken there," Isha said as she nodded her assent, not even her own mother would be able to identify her once she had fully changed her identity.
"They've taken a liking to an Earth delicacy I showed them in the replicator files. " Isabelle said with a smile.
"Thank you, Isabelle. Let's not delay further," Isha said, "I'd like to be ready for any questions."
"I'll show you the way to the guest deck" Isabelle said as the turbolift door opened
To be continued ...
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | Little Ship of Misfits Pt. 1 | |
| Mission | Cascade | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Sun May 19, 2013 @ 4:37pm | |
| Location | Pradai, Cariel III. Unspecified location just beyond Romulan space / USS Dawnstar | |
| Timeline | In paralell with SD72 |
Morning on this planet was a cross between purple-red skies, and bitter cold, there was a thin but visible layer of frost everywhere, including the Dawn-Star, the long ivory colored hull with few markings had a fine coating.
The jumpsuit clad crew had worked through the night to finish the repairs and make a few adjustments as they got ready for the new passengers, Jarred wore his now trade mark long coat as he walked down the ramp, phaser pistol in a holster strapped to his leg, hood up over his head.
"The damage from the ion storm was mostly electrical boss, the one fix was better off if we did the modifications for our guests instead, but it might be wise to get an early start, we have residual traces of cloaking devices in low orbit." A crewman said.
"I'll go get the Ambassador and her entourage." Jarred said
---
Isha had exchanged her robes for a simple outfit of soft black leggings encased in a pair of kneelength boots and a slightly fitted black tunic. Her luscious hair was gone but the style that replaced it was a neat shoulder length bob.
"You look horrible." It was the diminutive but forthright and precocious Eviess ir-Pradai t’Vaurek, who offered this erudite and reasoned criticism of her mother's appearance as she woundher own flowing midnight locks protectively around her hand.
"What a charming lady you'll make," Isha replied as she stooped to unravel her daughter's hair and pull it back so that she could plait it, not an easy task as the long slippery strands had a tendancy to slide through Isha's slender fingers. "Be still or I'll ask Lieutenant Wallace to leave you behind and you'll never get to travel to the stars."
The threat to her young mind seemed an unlikely one but just in case Eviess stopped wriggling. "Argy won't like it," she said opting not to drop the topic, but to shift focus to her twin brother who sat in the lap of their nanny with a sullen expression on his face.
"In the old days children who did not learn proper respect were left on the hills," Isha said as she looped a band around the end of the plait and let it fall. Sometimes she forgot that Eviess was only four years old. She wrapped an arm around her daughter and drew her close, "e'lev here you are almost a princess, but where we are going you must be more restrained in giving your opinions. You are far more intelligent than anyone else your age you'll meet, but you mustn't let them know that. Do you understand?"
"Of course I understand that," Eviess replied with a glance at her brother. She outstripped him by far in lessons and couldn't understand why he would speak in broken sentences. Eveiss preferred talking with grown ups. "Why must we go? I don't want to be ordinary."
Isha smiled. At that age she would have felt the same had the option been given to her. "You will never be ordinary," she told the girl, "your mother gave up unparalleled power to see that you were well, and your father. He was a great man, greater than any whose likeness is carved out of stone in the grand plaza."
Jarred stood at the door his face barely visible covered by the hood, "There are somethings that are more important than just statues, like seeing things for the first time." He lowered the hood and saw some fear in the child's expression.
"Now Ensign Mendez managed to find some games in our computer, along with some tutorials on some of the things you're going to see with your mom." Jarred stood "We should go, there was some 'unusual' activity in near orbit."
Before she spoke Eviess moved back slightly so that she was partly obscured by her mother's leg, "You have a strange accent," she observed.
Isha smirked, though Eviess couldn't see it. Isha raised an eyebrow at Jarred.
"You'll find there is many many strange accents, things, foods, but you will also find that some of those things....."Jarred was interrupted by ensign Charles "Sir surface sensors have activity about seven hundred meters from your location."
"Looks like we have some unwelcome company I think we need to move." Jarred stood up "This isn't how I planned to start the day, breakfast maybe, not this."
"Mr Mendez could you fire up the engines, looks like we have some unwelcome visitors."
"Let's get aboard then." Isha left the children in the capable hands of Ekenda, "This system has a state of hte art defence grid, if anyone got through then it is because they were let through," she said, "The bridge is this way, yes?"
Jarred waved to another of the crew, "We have some guests, secure the kids in the mess, continue pre-launch, Mendez, Cote...." The howl of disruptor fire and an explosion broke the mad scramble "We gotta move!" Jarred pulled out a pistol form under his long coat and fired at the approaching troops.
Crewman Cote raised a phaser rifle and fired as well, dropping the closest of the attackers "forty seconds to lift off!"
Jarred fired disabling another of the attackers, "Everyone prepare for emergency maneuvers as soon as we get into the sky, Ambassador get back of the entry!"
Cote pulled the pin on a grenade and lobbed it, in the direction of the attackers "DOWN!!"
The percussive forces rattled through out the landing area "Ok GO GO GO!!!" as the three crew ran up the ramp "Lift off Shannon, get the shield generators on line, and punch it up to warp 9 soon we can, and bring that gadget online see if we can make use of it."
"You know that thing could leave us dead in space." the female voice said.
"I'm well versed in Murphy's law" Jarred said calmly.
"Isha, I hope the rest of this trip is quiet." he said with a smile.
"I think the quiet days of my life have just ended," she replied. Someone really didn't want her to leave. But she was going with the backing of the Romulan Senate, so who could it be that held a different opinion on the embrionic treaty between the Federation and the Stelam Shiar?
As everyone entered the bridge, Jarred motioned to Isha to take a seat a the left of the command chair, "Shannon bring up the exterior view, continue with the lift of cycle."
There was a squad of what looked like six or seven Romulan troops, "Do you recognize the uniforms?"
Isha rested her chin onher hands as she examined the images - they were generic, dark grey, no markings of rank or unit, and if they were following orders they were already given and not one of the team was deviating from his assigned place.
"No," Isha replied, "but their discipline and deployment pattern suggests Tal'Diann or Gai'Shian. Neither of those orders bear any love for me."
"Well I can assume that we are on their hit list," Jarred looked to the engineering station "push the atmospheric systems to the limit, lets hope that they are alone."
"You spoke too soon boss, Warbird in low orbit, trying to track us, looks like the scattering field is working for now." Mendez spoke up "The shadow Cloak is on stand by but we need to be in orbit for it to work."
"Connors I need that warp drive on line in forty seconds!"
"I'll see what I can do." a voice echoed around the bridge.
"May I?" Isha asked with a wave towards the external communication system.
"If it'll give us some time." Jarred said.
Isha nodded curtly as she leaned over the console. Her fingers skipped over the controls and within ten seconds a male voice, speaking Rihannsu was audible to the bridge.
"I thought you'd left," he said.
"Aehkhifv, much as I would love to chat my departure appears to have drawn unexpected attention. I'd be eternally greatful if you could deal with the hinderance in question for long enough to give us time to clear the atmosphere."
"My dear Isha, you have no patience. You agree to leave without consulting me and leave your kingdom with an empty throne," the man replied.
"You have as great an interest in this colony's survival as I do, Aehkhifv. Warm my seat while I am gone but please deal with the threat to my safe departure."
"Very well, but I cannot guarantee you will leave without fire, not with this notice. We'll speak again, my dear."
The line was severed. Isha had used an emergency code to activate it and now at least one Federation spy was aware that the head of the Tal Shiar's Special Operations division was a sympathiser, if not an active re-unificationist.
She flicked her jade green gaze towards Wallace, "He will do what he can. I suggest we accelerate."
"Punch it!" Jarred said
The modified oberth lurched forward then accelerated like a runaway train, as she cleared the atmosphere the Warbird made its move, "Engage shadow cloak, full impulse speed."
The outer hull polarized and turned grey then the remaining cloaking process began, as the ship accelerated away Jarred looked to Isha, "The shadow cloak is only good to warp 5, so we're going to we're going to have to use some unconventional technology but it will result in an extra layover."
"Actually sir, we've burned out three warp coils using the capacitor." a voice said
"Thank you Daryl." Jarred groaned "We found a device than can give us extended bursts at high warp speeds, but we're close to rendering our warp drive useless so it may not be an option unless time has become an issue."
"Aehkhifv may be able to buy us some time. Just clear the atmosphere," Isha advised, the planetary defence system would prevent anyone following them, if they made it that far.
"Warbird is now directly in our line of flight, and we are ten seconds from low orbit." the helm officer spoke.
"Wait for the planetary defenses to show more visible signs of powering up maybe we can use the cloaking device to slip by and escape...." the ship shook violently "Or not, report!"
"Shadow cloak offline, shields cycling, down five percent...." Another hit "Shields down ten percent now."
"We're in low orbit now sir, Warbird is directly behind us in pursuit, we need to be clear of the moon to engage the warp drive safely." the helm officer said.
Jarred looked at a display showing the warbird suffering a glancing blow from the planetary defenses, "Ok we have our window, punch it up to full impulse then lets get out of here."
Ensign Mendez spoke next "The Warbird seems to be distracted I think we can make our exit.'
"I agree, when we have a safe gap between us and the Romulans we need to affect repairs." Jarred said.
As Jarred stood the light flickered, his eyes rolled "Stand by to use the capacitor, we can land at the auxiliary base on Tarod to make full repairs."
Jarred turned to Isha "The auxiliary base is fairly isolated, but there is a small settlement there so we will have to follow through with our discussions about your cover, Isabelle will help with uniforms and anything else you need, one more thing..." He gently tossed over a comm badge "Gotta look the part."
Isabelle stood nest to Isha "madam I'll show you to the quarters we have for you."
"I trust my children have already been taken there," Isha said as she nodded her assent, not even her own mother would be able to identify her once she had fully changed her identity.
"They've taken a liking to an Earth delicacy I showed them in the replicator files. " Isabelle said with a smile.
"Thank you, Isabelle. Let's not delay further," Isha said, "I'd like to be ready for any questions."
"I'll show you the way to the guest deck" Isabelle said as the turbolift door opened
To be continued ...