I don't want your suffering. I don't want your future.
Posted on 08 Jun 2018 @ 2:41am by Captain Akio Tachibana & Commander Juan Zamora (Dec [CDO]-Jan 2389 - TRSNFR to Gorn Dip.) & Commander S’chqenr T’Jedf Tolkath (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & Lieutenant Commander Rafe Cassidy (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & Lieutenant Junior Grade Wyndsor Emerson, Ph.D. & Ensign Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk (Jan 2389 TRNSFR After Second Battle of XFY)
Mission:
Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio - Heroes & Villains
Location: Bridge - Deck 1
Timeline: 1600, 9 Jan 2389
Clip
Soundtrack
[ON:]
[Bridge]
Akio entered the bridge from his ready room. Seeing Zamora in command red was still startling to Akio. The man was quite a politician. Probably a future Admiral or even Senior Federation Ambassador. He definitely had connections. Akio had never seen someone get promoted from LT to CDR so fast. Yet, it wasn't every day that there was a war and the Secretary of the Exterior visited your ship. Akio had heard the phrase coming up through the ranks about being in the right place at the right time...
"Number one, status report?" Akio asked Zamora.
"Yes sir," Juan looked up from his position in the command chair. "The fleet yards, or at least what's left of them, are within sensor range and we are on our final warp speed approach before slowing to impulse. from what we can tell the damage is considerable, and the station is surrounded by an extensive debris field. We have made contact with USS Devonshire on the outer edge of the field, no other contacts have been detected."
"Very well, I have the bridge," Akio said as Zamora moved over to the XO seat.
Tolkath looked over from the Science position. The Captain had called him in to his Ready Room at the beginning of the shift and promoted him to both Commander and Second Officer. At his own request Tolkath had retained his Science Teal uniform, but with the Commanders pip now at his collar.
"Captain, I have obtained the latest scans of the orbital debris field." Tolkath announced "There has been some salvage and clearance operations but the field is extensive and only seventy-nine percent mapped. There is still a considerable risk of collision."
Tolkath tapped his panel "I am forwarding the data to Mister Cassidy so he may prepare an approach course and Mister Jones, as there may be a need for additional power for the forward deflector."
There was a corresponding beep from the Helm and Operations positions as the data arrived in the navigational control and the power management panels.
A moment passed as Cassidy assessed the data. The good news was that he was thoroughly experienced at this sort of flying. The bad news was that he wasn't much used to doing it in something as big as a Sovereign. "I agree our route's going to be dependent on our navigational deflectors; I see some I'm only happy with if we're at full strength."
"OPS, what is your assessment of power available for the deflector?"
Arthur glanced at Tolkath, "My name hasn't been Jones for 16 years. Don't call me that." He said, before looking down at his station. "I can spare enough to keep us at full deflector power for about...10 minutes."
Akio didn't like that they could only power through heavy debris for 10 minutes. He also made a mental note to figure out what Ensign Jones preferred to be called by. To be honest, this was the most interaction he had with the brusque human.
"Mr. Cassidy, what does that do to our course?" Akio asked the CONN.
Wyndsor quietly observed the interaction on the bridge. It was important to her to be seen by the command staff as an advisor and not just someone hiding in an office somewhere waiting to be called upon between sessions, but it was also because of those sessions she didn't always spend time on the bridge at consistent times. Of course, if a member of the command staff requested her presence for something specific, she would arrange her schedule to fit, but so far, the Captain had seen fit to let her make her own bridge time.
Today she felt particular admiration for Cassidy, who no doubt would have his hands full figuring out an approach, and of course, for Jones, who had to keep them going if they could avoid scratching the paint...Having only studied the basics of flight control and engineering at the Academy, Wyndsor knew enough of each discipline to appreciate the skills of others.
Cassidy actually cracked his knuckles at Arthur's words. "Ten minutes. Give me a second," he said, as if figuring out his dinner order instead of rapidly conducting complex navigational calculations, then he tapped some commands into his console. "Commander Tolkath, Ensign... Ops..." He had never heard what the young man to his left actually wanted to be called, so pressed blithely on. "Would appreciate your opinion on the proposed route. Nine minutes through one of the heavier paths. I'll maintain a rotation on our roll axis at various points to distribute debris impact across the shields so energy allocation can persist in maintaining rather than recharging or reallocating them. Should give us some lee-way in case we're slower.
That gets us within seven klicks of Xavier and their major 'lanes' there are wide enough for a Sovereign to berth." In truth, he knew he was drawing on tricks from ships far less sophisticated than this and such methods for minimising shield impact were less necessary. But then, he'd never piloted a Federation starship through this.
Tolkath nodded. "It would also be possible to use the Tractor Beam to move large pieces aside if required."
Akio noted the route would delay their arrival to XFY by about 24 hours, arriving on the afternoon of the 11th. There was no real rush, truth be told.
"Make it happen and good work, team," Akio commended the crew.
[1600, 11 Jan 2389 - Bridge - Deck 1]
The bridge was just as it had been a couple days earlier.
Akio saw the badly damaged station grow larger on the viewscreen. He was surprised the battle scars were still visible and the station did not look anywhere near as operational as he expected. HQ talked about making this the forward operating base for the Gorn theater, yet Akio didn't see that prospect based on visual inspection.
Juan remained impassive in the XO seat as he looked at the destruction. Inside his alarm was growing. Unlike combat he did have some experience with salvage and search and rescue operations, but never on this kind of scale. Never in his life had he felt so vulnerable, his vessel was on the run from a force that could strike it with seeming impunity, and reduce an installation as massive as the fleet yards to a cloud of wreckage.
Tolkath had the sensor suite tuned to maximum gain, attempting to provide helm and operations with as much navigational information as possible.
"Detecting energy signatures" He announced "Several small craft inbound from Xavier"
"Possible Gryphon-class fighters on intercept course. 0.1 parsec and closing, multiple contacts." Arthur responded.
"Well, they can take the narrow shortcut," Cassidy commented wryly. "Their route matches calculated possibilities for smallcraft from Xavier; our alert fighters are on standby in case something's wrong." He sounded casual, despite a hand near the controls to issue commands to Hawaii's pilots. They were deep in Federation space, but his experience of debris fields like this were that they could draw in all manner of trouble.
"Profile seems consistent with Federation fighters," Akio noted. "Keep our pilots on standby."
[Near Space]
Outside, Leo weaved his way between the debris grumbling malcontentedly at his instruments. "A scanner that can be defeated by garbage, pure genius" he groused. The approaching object still registered as a likely Federation vessel, but, he couldn't get a clear reading through all of the junk. At last he received a green light from his long range scopes and watched as a sovereign class starship hove into view.
=/\="Attention sovereign class vessel, this is Captain Galileo Corso SFMC, please identify yourself."=/\= he radioed.
[Bridge]
"Wow, those tin cans really do rely on the Mark One Eyeball," Cassidy said with a shake of the head, then glanced to Tachibana. "I'll furnish them with our flight path so they can do what they have to for rolling out the red carpet once we've confirmed IDs, Skipper." Then he turned to his commands to make ready to do just that as the Captain spoke. Once sensors could guarantee everything was secure, the Xavier fighters would receive the navicom details of Hawaii to offer escort or updates and bring them in-line with Hawaii's own ships if necessary.
Akio smirked. Well, at least XFY was awake. =/\= Captain Corso, this is Captain Akio Tachibana, Commanding Officer of the USS Hawaii. Greetings and salutations. We are inbound to XFY for port call, over. =/\=
=/\="Greetings Hawaii, always nice to see a friendly face out here. I apologize for the state of our amenities right now, though, if they're not to your standards perhaps you could help us clean things up."=/\= Leo responded.
As the fleet yard came into view, it was a stark contrast to Providence. Debris still littered space and formed belts around the main station. The station was clearly not fully operational as entire sections of decks were sometimes missing as could be seen by gaping holes or there were lights not functioning.
=/\= We will do our best. =/\= Was all Akio could muster in response.
This was the fruit of war.
Tolkath reviewed the devastation. It was extensive and he was again reminded that this had supposedly been carried out by a relatively small force of Gorn vessels. They must have other unknown weaponry, aside from the forcefield negating torpedoes, to be able to cause this much destruction.
"Take us in, CONN, steady as she goes," Akio tightened his jaw.
OFF:
Akio Tachibana, CAPT, SF
CO
Juan "JJ" Zamora, CDR, SF
XO
Tolkath, CDR, SF
2XO/CSO
Rafe Cassidy, LT, SF
CONN
Wyndsor Emerson, Ph.D., LTJG, SF
PSYCH
Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk, ENS, SF
OPS
We are docking with XFY. The station has not been fully rebuilt. Reference post from USS Devonshire (currently docked).
