The bridge looks much like the bridge of other Nebula-class or Galaxy-class ships.

Command in the center, helm and ops stations in front of that. Tactical and Security behind command. Peripheral stations included Science, Engineering and Mission Ops, with secondary stations for damage control, planetary sciences and environmental control.

The Admiral led her little entourage of Captain th'Valla, Lt. Commander Felis, Lieutenant Dypec, and Ensign Stilk down to the starbase's interior space dock and then across the gangway to the Mongoose's entry port.

From there, they took the turbolift up to the command deck.

Work was still being done on the ship, both outside and inside.

"If you wish to have a different bridge layout, Captain th'Valla, now is the time to do it."

"The Mongoose is scheduled to depart on its mission in three days."

Scanning the bridge he walked over to the command chair, sitting he turned it to see it's range of movement, and also so he could see whomever he needed to speak to. dissatisfied he said, "This chair is a bit bulky, and has limited movement. Can we swap it out for an Intrepid's?"

Looking at the rest of the crew there. "If you have any suggestions or requirements, speak up."

Silviene stands at the Tactical console, running her hands over the edge and getting a feel for it. It wasn't too bad. She nodded and moved away. She prowls around taking in her surroundings her tail moving back and forth . She seems to take special note of the entrances and exits. She finally moves back to the group.

"It seems a good bridge so far, If it's alright with you captain I'd like to spend some time with the ship before we depart. See how long it takes me to get from place to place and see how hard it is to maneuver in any given area."

Looking at the admiral he asked, "How long till she's ready? And how long after that do we need to leave?"

Sergei exited the turbolift, briefly taking in the layout of the bridge and who was on it. He steps forward, "Admiral, Captain. Commander Sergei Kondratev reporting for duty. I am ready to assume my post as Chief Medical Officer."

<<<< FROM: Narendra Ready Room <<<<

Dypec follows the rest of them onto the Bridge of the Nebula Class Starship and begin to make a full lap, inspecting each of the stations at a glance before finally resting at the Engineering panel and activating its screens, taking a look at the ship's specifications.

"This ship has not seen very many missions from what the specs tel me. From what I can tell this ship was used on a Vulcan mission was it not? Some of the scientific protocols are still active. I like it, its a small piece of home aboard a Five year Mission." He gives a nod to himself as he takes this moment to look over a few more of the ship's Engineering systems.

"As for suggestions. Once I have a better idea of the ship's specifications I can give my suggestions Captain." Dypec seemed to know what his role on the ship would be, even if he had not been given his full assignment details. The rumors were based heavily in logic and that he took more as truth then rumor.

Stilk's large eyebrows furled somewhat in a curious, quiet thought. His Engineering counterpart used an unusual selection of words, ones indicative of emotions. Even so, this was not the time or the place to bring up such matters. Rather, the junior officer met the bridge of the ship with a curious eye; he couldn't possibly learn each of these systems in the few moments on the bridge now, but he would at least try to be familiar with where each system is within the bridge. Perhaps that was why he was quiet for so long.

When the call for suggestions came forward, his silence was broken "Respectfully Captain, you and I should make an inspection of the C.I.C. spaces to ensure that everything is within regulations and to your standards. It will also provide an opportunity for us to discuss any concerns you have about the mission that are of a sensitive nature." He looked at the more senior officers in the room "Undoubtedly, the medical and engineering departments will also require your attention Sir."

"As I just said, Captain, the Mongoose is scheduled to depart in 3 days," the Admiral replied to Anthar... not so much annoyed as confused: did she not speak clearly enough for the Andorian?

"All systems are currently on track to be completed in two days, giving a small but adequate 24-hour window to board all personnel, settle in and do final inspections. Refits don't usually require a shake-down cruise unless it's a major overhaul. That's not the case with the Mongoose."

"Naturally, I expect all senior staff will be on board by the end of today, making sure that their department is up to par."

"None of the stations are dedicated; they can be shifted to any other console as needed, even command. The current configuration is generally considered the most optimal one based on experience, and worked for the previous captain."

Just then, the new CMO arrived on the bridge and reported for duty.

"Welcome aboard, Dr. Kondratev. I'm just giving a brief tour of the ship to the senior staff."

Then she turned to Stilk.

"The last I knew, there were over 300 definitions of C.I.C., Ensign Stilk. To which of them were you referring?"

Silviene's ears twitched. "My thought would be Combat Information Center."

Her tail swished back and forth absently as she continued to scan the room.

This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Thu 17 May 2018.

Sergei relaxes slightly from attention. "I'd be happy to join you, Admiral. I'm looking forward to inspecting the medical facilities here."

"My apologies Admiral. I must have missed that." Anther said as he had been distracted with the bridge at the time.

Turning to Silviene Felis he said, "Take the rest of the day. Get what information you need, and submit any changes by 1800 hours. but be prepared to give me a briefing on your department by 0900 tomorrow."

He said to the rest of the senior staff present. "That goes for the rest of the senior staff as well."

"Doctor, You will need to schedule physicals over the next week, you can do mine tomorrow after the meeting." He said to Dr. Kondratev

"Admiral, I'll need to speak with the remaining command staff, do we have them selected yet?"

"Very good sir, I'll be sure everyone gets one."

The comms system beeps a hailing notification.

"Sir, We're being hailed."

In reply to Sergei Kondratev (msg # 14):

Any one checking sensors will see the runabout is without active impulse engines. At this rate with positioning thrusters The runabout which is in system will approach Station in two weeks.

"On screen." Anther says automatically.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 16):

Commander T’Shran has a deep gash a very red almost Human blood trickling down her very light blue Andorian skin her red braids are starting to fray. Her uniform shirt is missing a midrif and a sleeve.

“ Archer’s ghost, I am glad we made it. Commander Miranda Archer T’Shran reporting in as first officer and requesting emergency medical beam out of 4 full humans and my half Andorian self directly to sickbay. ”


One of the human crewmen laugh and mutter’s something about not using your hrandfather’s name in vain.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Thu 17 May 2018.

"I'll get down there."

Sergei turns and rushes into the turbolift

"Sickbay!"

>>>TO: Medical Bay>>>
This message was last edited by the player at 17:58, Thu 17 May 2018.

The Vulcan watches the varying reactions of the other officers on the Main Bridge. He kept silent as he continued to look over the engineering statistics of the ship, getting acquainted with her so to speak. Then he heard the hail come in and looked up from his station. He again, kept silent as the hail was brought to screen, showing the terrible state of the one requesting assistance. He knew that emergency medicine was not one of his strong points and decided to stay silent and watch the situation unfold. Finally he would give his opinion and what little assistance he could here.

"Where medicine is not my strong point, I am better with the sciences, if anything comes up that needs my assistance please let me know, otherwise I will stay here and continue to work on the Engineering panel."

Silviene follows the doctor to sickbay.

"I have some training in emergency medicine. Besides not every situation is as it appears to be."

The Admiral immediately recognized Commander T'Shran as the new FO for the Mongoose, which explained why she was requesting emergency transport to the Mongoose's medical bay. Reasonably, the Admiral should have changed it to Narendra's medical bay, but she decided to let it play out. It'd be a good test for the Mongoose's medical personnel.

"This is Admiral Savengriff. Confirm emergency medical transport to Mongoose medical bay."

"Lieutenant Commander Felis, please accompany Dr. Kondratev to Sickbay and assist as needed."

There was still the problem of the rogue runabout. Rather than take the captain's chair, she strode over to a console and called up a crew manifest, noting where everyone was.

She turned back to those with her.

"With your permission, Captain th'Valla, I'd like to send Ensigns Stilk, Koram Val and Quinn out on a shuttle to retrieve that rogue runabout."

She then activated her commbadge.

"Admiral Savengriff to Dr. Trevaura. Your assistance is needed in the Mongoose medical bay... stat!"

In reply to Kandalyn Savengriff (msg # 21):

As the transporter transports Commander T’Shran to the bed bay, she speaks.

“ Admiral, Thank you and may I please see you in med bay as I deliver my report as my last action as Acting Captain Of the Catspaw. ”

As the admiral gave orders Anther nodded to her request. Turning to the three he said, "Follow the Admiral's orders."

She didn't have to ask, as the ship was formally still hers. He had yet to take official command, and as such he was not in charge. Even his order to put the communication was not technically correct, though it was reasonable which in Starfleet trumped technical.

"This is still your ship Admiral. With your permission, I'll accompany you to medical to meet my new XO."

Assuming agreement, he'll move to Sickbay.

"Thank you, Captain," she replies to Anthar before tapping her commbadge again.

"This is Admiral Savengriff to Ensign Koram Val and Ensign Saoirse Quinn! Meet Ensign Stilk aboard the Shuttle Rendezvous immediately for Emergency Mission!"

The Ensign moved towards the lift with purpose but calmness.

"On my way Admiral" he said loud enough to be heard despite walking away "please brief me on my instructions along the way"

"Please excuse me from the bridge, I will be in Engineering where I will begin looking over the systems." Dypec's actions may seem cold, that he did not decide to help in the rescue mission. But his decision of action was based in logic, whatever caused the injuries to those aboard the roundabout then he needed to make sure the ship was ready in case of an attack on the starbase.

With that, Dypec departed for his destination, the Engineering Department.

>>> TO: USS Mongoose - Engineering >>>

On the turbolift, while on the way to the Shuttlebay, Admiral Savengriff gives Ensign Stilk his 'marching orders'... before she gets off first at the Medical Bay.

"Primary mission is to secure the runabout and make sure it isn't a danger to the local space traffic," she begins.

"If Ensign Koram Val can get the engines up and running again, then Ensign Quinn can pilot it back. If possible, it can then tow the shuttle while you investigate the runabout's databanks."

"Verify the accuracy of the report. Did a Klingon ship attack the Catspaw? Were these Klingons acting on orders from the Klingon government?"

"Were they, in turn, attacked by Romulans? See if you can find any reason for it."

"Anything else is up to your discretion."

<< From Narenda Starbase Shuttlebay <<

Having returned from the successful retrieval of the runaway Runabout, Elle headed toward the bridge, to stake a claim on first rotation Flight Conn, and to make her case to Captain th'Valla or their new XO. Upon arrival, however, Elle saw that other senior officers had already begun gathering for the mission briefing, and so she continued to the conn station instead.

With the Mongoose set to depart so soon, Elle began standard pre-flight checks... already "conveniently" at her post on the bridge, in hopes of being among the first of non-senior-staff to learn what was to come....
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Wed 23 May 2018.

Once Vinzz had been granted entry to the ready room, Elle heard a snippet of the... debate happening within before the door slid shut again.

It made more sense to her now as to why, rather than a formal letter of reprimand, she'd instead been transferred to the Mongoose.

With such strong personalities making up this senior staff, whether by design or by happenstance, this exploratory mission into the Expanse promised to be eventful at the least....

Miranda steps out of the ready room. She nods to Ensign Quinn.

“ As you were Ensign. Captain should be our soon. ”

Miranda walks to the Lift.

Elle stood up from the conn station and at attention, as soon as the pale-skinned Andorian Shen emerged from the ready room.

“ As you were Ensign. Captain should be out soon. ”

"Aye, sir," Elle answered, sitting back down, "Pre-flight preparations are complete. We are pending clearance from the dockmaster, but are otherwise ready for departure."

The Andorian appeared weary, but willful still, as she made her way to the turbolift.

Elle hesitated for a moment... then said anyway, "Hope everything's all right, sir."

This message was last edited by the player at 01:26, Thu 07 June 2018.

<<< FROM: Narendra Starbase: Concourse <<<<

He had run as fast as his little Ferengi legs could take him and threw himself into the lift aboard the Starship. He gave the command for the Bridge and new he was late for the meeting that would take place in the ready room. Huumoons liked punctuality and he had gotten very good at being punctual, but alas, his uncle had not.

On the lift he tried his best to get the rest of the way into his uniform, his rucksack sitting near by, waiting for him to stuff his homeworld clothes into them. He had gotten mostly dressed but not fully, the uniform was a bit crumpled but should work...

The lift opened onto the bridge and he had just gotten his clothes into his bag. He ran onto the bridge and barely gave an intro...

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Napax reporting to the bridge..." Without another word he made his way over to the ready room and ran through the door.


>>> TO: Mongoose Ready Room >>>

==> From USS Mongoose - Captain's Ready Room

The door to the ready room opens, and as people begin to exit, the captain walks out and heads to his chair. "Helm. How long until we are ready to leave?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:55, Thu 07 June 2018.

Silviene moves over to the tactical consol and starts reading all systems for potential combat. She taps one of her claws on the side of the consol in thought.

"Captain on the bridge," Elle said aloud as the Andorian emerged from the ready room, along with the senior staff.

Okay. Play it by-the-book, she told herself.

"Finishing the final few tasks now, sir. Impulse reactors and Auto systems engaged. Running lights on." External lighting at various sections of the ship began winking on in sequence. Fittingly, the last lamp lit was that which illuminated the ship's name and registry: U.S.S. Mongoose NCC-62043-A.

"Pre-flight checks are complete as well. Nominal function throughout. Unless one of the other departments reports an unseen issue, once we obtain clearance from Starbase Control, we can be underway once you give the word, sir."

Elle exhaled sharply, "And sir, if I may, I'm... uh, excited for this opportunity. I won't let you down."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Fri 08 June 2018.

Nodding and looking at the ensign Anther said, "I know you won't Ensign Quinn."

Looking For Lt. Commander Blackthorn, he asked, "Lt. Commander, Please check to see everyone is aboard and contact Starbase Control. Let them know when we are ready to depart." Normally this would be the XO's job, but with Miranda incapacitated, the duties fell to the second officer.

"Aye-aye, Captain," Roland replies.

"I've been keeping a running list of all personnel that have reported aboard. A few have come aboard but have yet to report in. We still have 73 people not yet aboard. Six are on leave still; they've been recalled but will not get here before we depart. Four are on medical injury; we've been advised by Dr. Izumo that it would be improper and unwise to transport them onto the ship at this time."

"Sixteen of the remaining crew are en route but won't get here for another 24 hours."

"Status of the other 47 is still unknown. They are all on Narendra, and I expect them to board the Mongoose in the next 15 minutes. I have alerted Narendra security and they are rounding up the remaining personnel."

Anther nodded as he listened to the report. "Very good Lt. Commander. Carry on."

<<< FROM: USS Mongoose - Captain's Ready Room<<<
Sergei crosses to a Turbolift and enters
"Sickbay"

>>> TO: USS Mongoose - Medical Bay>>>

The 15 minutes pass all too quickly for some, and much too slowly for others who are just waiting.

It is confirmed that all but 7 of expected crew have made it aboard the ship. Three are in sickbay on the base, 3 are still in transit to the base and won't make it, and one is unaccounted for still.

"Ensign Quinn... sound departure, disengage docking clamps and take us out at your discretion," Captain th'Valla tells his conn officer.

Because the ship is in spacedock, all the umbilical connections have to be disengaged, gangways removed, hatches sealed, and any nearby personnel who might still be working on the exterior of the ship have to be notified to get clear. Also, non-ship crew who are still on the ship should move to the starbase... NOW.

All the mechanical functions are the responsibility of other people in the vicinity, but Quinn is monitoring it all from her console. She wouldn't just activate impulse engines if a gangway was still in place, for instance.

The sudden, hasty activity was to be expected, as everyone was made aware of the ship's imminent departure.

"Aye, sir," Elle said to the Captain with a touch of eagerness in her voice, as she activated a ship-wide mission broadcast, for the fifteen minutes felt a though they might as well have been days. =/\= "May I have your attention please, all hands at ready stations, repeat all hands, ready stations. Prepare for immediate departure." =/\=

That one unlucky soul who was the last member of the crew unaccounted for would have to wait. "Sorry, I owe you one," Elle said under her breath. Then she hailed the dockmaster, =/\= "Narenda Control, this is the Mongoose, requesting permission to depart." By-the-book....

The dockmaster's confirmation came a moment later, =/\= "This is Control, Mongoose. Permission to depart granted. Thirty seconds for port gates." =/\=

Elle's eyes flitted over to the Captain, to whom she nodded before answering, taking us out at my discretion, =/\= "Acknowledged."=/\=

Then Elle exhaled, "Here we go," as the Mongoose weighed anchor. "All mooring beams deactivated and clear." Then the illuminated, sky blue paneled space doors ahead began to part. And Elle's smile grew, as she traced her fingers along the Flight Conn console's manual controls. "Aft thrusters engaged." And with that, the ship began to glide forward, then to and through the gates, gracefully and with purpose.

As the starship passed the viewports of Narenda's inner circumference, officers and enlisted alike took pause from their work to watch her depart. Elle eyed the surrounding ships and concourse windows, certain that onlookers were envious, given the frenetic activity and vying for position that preceded their launch.

Ever the musician, in her head, Elle heard the soaring, but imaginary, orchestral fanfare that accompanied the starship's first steps in their new mission — and at this opportunity for a new beginning, for herself.

"We have cleared space-doors and all ship traffic," Elle announced, beaming. "Course heading, Captain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:46, Wed 13 June 2018.

"Set course 483 mark 988, ahead Warp 1," the Captain replied to Quinn.

"Let's give the Mongoose a little shake before we actually try to destroy it."


((OOC from GM: In keeping with the refit subplot, I'm using the 1000-degree circles, making a degree 1/1000th of the circle. In theory, of course, the heading could be extended out to 5 or more decimal places, but I figure only the computer would need to deal with that. 'Mark' is how many degrees from the level plane you point the ship, with 0 (zero) always being straight ahead. Anything from 0 to 249 would be up and forward, 250 would be straight up, 251-499 would be up and backwards, 500 would be full reverse, 501-749 would be down and backwards, 750 would be straight down, and 751-999 would be down and forward. 1000 would be same as 0.

So the current course is a few degrees to starboard and 12 degrees down.

The conn can set the course by entering the data in digitally, or it can simply 'turn the dial' to the proper course.

Another option is to simply select a destination, and let the computer calculate the correct heading to get you there. In the current scenario, an actual destination isn't known.))
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:06, Wed 13 June 2018.

Silviene's tail twitched slightly as they exited spacedock. She always had this sense of anticipation when starting a new mission. She was ready for action. Her species had evolved from apex predators and while she didn't mind a little rnr she never liked to remain idle for long. She hoped that this crew would be a good one.

Anther watched the helmswoman head out of space dock, and nodded in satisfaction. He was given a good, if strange, crew, and knew that it would take some time to get the crew comfortable with one another. Now he needed to show leadership and confidence in them to help forge them into the finest crew that Starfleet had ever had.

"Lt. Commander Felis. You have the bridge, I'll be in my office. Contact me when we are nearing the patrol area." He said as he stood up from his chair. He waited for Silviene to acknowledge before he headed to the office.

Entering he went to his desk.

"Set course 483 mark 988, ahead Warp 1. Let's give the Mongoose a little shake before we actually try to destroy it."

"Aye, sir," Elle said, smiling.

She brought the Nebula-class starship about, her fingers moving nimbly at the controls. "Setting course for patrol area. Heading 483, mark 988."

For a moment, "Warp One... shake —" the Mongoose was silhouetted dramatically against Narenda Station "— engaged."

The Shackleton Expanse beckoned. Suddenly, stars became starlines and a vortex of blue enveloped the Mongoose. They were on their way....

Silviene nodded

" Aye sir!"

She moved to stand near the captains chair, turning her console over to anther tactical officer. She watched the view-screen with narrowed eyes.

Zarim sat at the science console and fidgeted. He'd only been there an hour since the ship left Narendra, but it had still been rather boring.

Suddenly, the sensors picked up... something... in the Expanse!

"Captain... I mean, Commander Felis," he begins. "Sensors are picking up something in the Expanse. It showed up as soon as we got within range."

"It might be a ship, but I can't be sure. If it wasn't for the new sensor pod, I doubt we'd even be getting this. It seems to be shadowing us. But, I suppose it could be some kind of... animal."

Silviene cocks her head and tilts her ears back, narrowing her eyes.

"keep an eye on it and be ready with the shields. If it is a cloaked klingon ship, last I knew they had to drop their cloak to fire."

Elle's ears perked up. Some kind of spacefaring animal?

"Ready to take evasive action — if need be, sir," she said.

Then she turned to the Bolian Science Officer, "Are you getting life signs from the... um, anomaly itself?
Do the readings indicate something organic following us?"

"No, it's not registering as a life form, but it's also not registering as a ship," the Bolian answered Quinn. "It fades in and out. There's a lot of dark matter in the Expanse, which interferes with sensors. I'm starting to think that it's just a sensor ghost. I'm just not that familiar yet with these new sensor pods."

For the next 9 hours, Zarim continues to pick up this 'sensor ghost'. At times, it disappears completely, only to return within 10 or 15 minutes. He does register a change in density of the dark matter whenever the ghost disappears.

Towards the end of the ninth hour, sensors pick up the remnants of a space battle... expanding debris field, residual energy patterns.

Since the Mongoose wasn't intentionally heading for the site, but was keeping with its mission of scanning the Expanse as it tested the new sensor pod, the site is about 120,000 kilometers to port.

Nothing else is being picked up on sensors.

When Silviene's shift ends she heads off towards the holodecks.

With phantoms afoot and "sensor ghosts" on her mind, Elle immediately made note of the residual energy patterns and expanding clouds of debris picked up by their sensors. "Sir, sensors indicate that a battle took place about 1.2 thousand kilometers to port. Should we investigate further and take a closer look, or maintain course?"

OOC: I imagine Quinn could be addressing either Lt. Commander Felis or the Captain, if the ship first registers the remnants of the space battle when either/only one or the other is present on the bridge!

>> To / From Quinn's Quarters >>

EDIT: Elle will journey to and from her quarters as appropriate at shift-change, largely keeping to herself....
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Tue 26 June 2018.

No one could predict what might happen when one was on duty, so it was silly to keep one person on duty for any extended length of time. Sometimes it could be quite boring on duty. People needed relief from that.

With Commander T'Shran temporarily relieved from duty, it fell to the Second Officer to fill in for her.

That's what had put R.T. on the bridge, relieving Lt. Commander Felis.

As they approached the site of the attack on the transport ship that had been bringing T'Shran to the starbase, and thus resulted in her injury, he expected the captain to come to the bridge.

"Has any debris reached this far yet?" he asked. "If so, beam it into a science lab."

"Can the sensors pick up any debris large enough to be an escape pod?"

While he waited for an answer and continued to watch the main view screen, he typed an alert to the Science Lab.

As the ship approached the debris field from the Shackleton side of the border, the captain stepped onto the bridge. He walked calmly over to the main chair, and took his place as the deck officer stood up. "So what do we have people?"

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 55):

>>>>>>> From Medical Bay >>>>>>>

Miranda walked on to the Bridge.

" Captain, First Officer reporting for duty? "

>> From Quinn's Quarters >>

Being the brash, but socially-awkward person she was, Elle eschewed the crew lounge when her shifts ended for the night, after she started seeing the same faces at the... Burrow? Or was it, Ship in a Bottle? Either way, Elle hid away in her quarters instead, fighting off insomnia by composing music on her keyboard, well into the night and early morning.

After her brief, typically-fitful night's sleep, the following day Elle reported to the bridge for first rotation several minutes early, only to find both Captain th'Valla and Commander T'Shran already there.

She greeted each with a nod and a "Sir," before assuming her post at the Conn.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Tue 26 June 2018.

"We've reached the site of the destruction of the Catspaw... more or less," Zarim reported to the captain.

"We haven't changed course to reach the exact site, pending on your orders. Sensor have detected debris. We are endeavoring to transport some of the debris to the science labs for confirmation that it was the Catspaw and was attacked by a Klingon ship and then destroyed by a warp core breach."

"Anther nodded at Commander T'Shran. "Welcome back commander." He said before going back to looking at the screen.

"Ensign Thraw bring up the details on the main viewer. And scan for any Klingon ships in the area. Send out a hail to the nearest Klingon outpost, requesting permission to enter the Corridor to retrieve our ships remains, and investigate the site."

He looked at Miranda. "You said the Catspaw was in the Corridor, and was attacked as soon as it left the corridor. Correct? So it should be within close proximity to the edge of the corridor."

Thraw contacts the nearest Klingon outpost, which turns out to be a lot farther away than expected. At Captain th'Valla's request for permission, the base commander, one Commander Kabar, has no idea what you are talking about.

He claims not to have any jurisdiction over the area in question, but as far as it goes, he gives his permission to recover the remnants of the ship and investigate the area.


Nor does Thraw detect any Klingon ships in the area. He believes the sensor pod would be able to detect even a cloaked ship, but the sensors detect none.

With the permissions given, Anther nods, and orders the ship into the Corridor. "Keep us within the established corridor, and go to red alert. We have wreckage to recover. Light up the area fully with our sensor pod. Make them glow in the dark." The last comment is more of a whisper to himself.

"Aye, sir," Elle responds, "Bringing us into the corridor within established parameters, for wreckage recovery."

13:24, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 28 using 2d20 with rolls of 10,18.
Pilot ship into Corridor to recover wreckage, but ready to take evasive action - individual dice.

OOC: Sorry, guys! I rerolled because I forgot to check off the “individual dice” option and didn’t record the first roll's individual numbers!

This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Thu 05 July 2018.

It's been awhile since the Catspaw exploded, so the wreckage is scattered across a very wide area in an ever-expanding circle. The sensors are still able to pick up the debris.

The majority of it can be beamed directly to a hangar bay.

According to Commander T'Shran, the Catspaw was attacked when it left the Corridor. This corridor was something that the Klingon escort ship had told the freighter captain existed. Apparently, the Klingon outpost doesn't know anything about this Corridor.

In any case, you have to leave the Corridor to reach most of the wreckage.


It doesn't really require a roll for Elle to get the ship there as it's a routine task.


It takes about 3 hours to retrieve all the wreckage you can find.

"Sir!" the Science ensign said excitedly. "The sensors are picking up an ion trail... well, the computer says it's a trail, but it's just scattered ion disbursement in the area. It could have been caused by the explosion, but the computer insists it's a trail... probably made by a cloaked ship."

"The sensors in the pod are awesome!"

"Oh, yeah... the trail heads into the Expanse."

Miranda stands in a spot that feels appropriate.

" Yes, we were warned not to leave the corridor and seconds after we left we were fired upon apparently by a Klingon vessel. At least that is what my eyes and the Catspaw's sensors could ascertain. The Captain and I had been in disagreement with his actions, but his orders were followed."

She looks at the view screen that she seems to be focusing on.

"Plot that trail, we will be following once we collect any significant pieces of the Cat's Paw. Odd that that outpost didn't seem to know about a corridor that has been in effect for over a century." Anther wondered aloud. "Sensors, scan for any displacement of particles in space that might be large enough for a ship. Sometimes to hunt the Quill Bear it's not finding it, but seeing it's effects that you have to look for. Look for holes not the bear itself."

The Quill bear is a very hard to find predator on Yaraka VII that uses bio-electromagnetic fields to camouflage itself from it's prey. They were hunted as a nuisance and threat, but were notoriously difficult to hunt due to their stealth ability.

Throughout this time he sat calmly in his chair occasionally sipping some iced tea he had brought from his ready room. He seemed to be trying to project a calm assurance of command. Showing confidence in his crew.

"The trail leads into the Expanse; that's as far as we can track it," Zarim replies to the captain. "We'll have to enter the Expanse before we can recalibrate the sensors. We might be able to pick up something then."

"I'm also not picking up the distress call that pulled the Catspaw out of the corridor. Is there any chance, Commander T'Shran, that the signal wasn't real, that it may have been generated internal?"

In reply to Zarim Thraw (msg # 67):

" We never saw anything connected to the signal. So not enough information to make that decision. "

She stands in her spot comfortably.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 20:40, Sun 08 July 2018.

"Hunting the Quill bear," Elle said softly to herself. She would have to remember that phrase — and do some off-duty research for a future song in an Andorian style, something that would be easy given how many of them served aboard the Mongoose.

"Should I take us into the Expanse itself then, sir?" Elle said as she guided the ship into the Corridor, while remaining wary of any anomalies that should arise, an eye to her own LCARS sensor display, should she need to get them out fast too.

"Yes ensign. Once we've collected what ever is possible for study." Anther answered patiently.

He thought for a few seconds before adding, "Also keep an eye out for any escape pods or shuttles or any sections that might be capable of supporting life. It's not likely, but we should try and see if anyone else survived. Make sure we collect any bodies we find as well."

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 70):

" Yes, all of the bodies and ship parts. I am sure no matter how all this shakes out. Even our Klingon friends would want to know the truth of this battle. "
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 16:18, Tue 10 July 2018.

After the 3 hours of recovery operations, everything that can be recovered has been recovered. Anything smaller than a fingernail, however, is unrecoverable unless you used a giant sieve.

The Mongoose is now heading for the Expanse. By the time you reach it, most of the senior staff is on the Bridge. Deera Ren is at the science station, and Dypec is at the engineering station.

This will require several Tasks.

1. Sensor Scan of the area you are heading for to make sure there's nothing in the way or waiting for you.
SCIENCE, Reason + Science + Ship's Sensors, Difficulty: 4.

2. Entering the Expanse; the Dark Energy of the Expanse causes intense gravimetric flucuations. Operations within the Expanse aren't bad--it's crossing the threshold that is difficult.
CONN, Reason + Conn + Helm Operations Focus, Difficulty: 3.

3. Recalibrating the sensors once you enter the Expanse. Although the ship's current sensor pod has been designed for the Expanse, there are still too many perturbations within that must be taken into account.
ENGINEERING, Reason + Engineering + Computers Focus + Ship's Computers, Difficulty: 3.

The gravimetric fluctuations proved to be more intense than even Elle anticipated. Had she taken a more cautious or conservative tack however, the ship may not have been able to cross the threshold at all!

And so, being the bold, brash officer she was, Elle did not hesitate in taking the ship into the Expanse via an unstable, mercurial, and far more dangerous route, to cross the threshold successfully — she hoped!

"Here's to going over the edge," Elle said to herself....

OoC: I believe this is 4 Successes vs. Difficulty of 3, but at the cost of +2 threat!

13:30, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 13 using 1d20.  Using Talent "Bold:Conn" to reroll d20 gained from threat!
13:23, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 15 using 1d20.  +1 to Threat to gain +1d20 = 2nd threat?
13:23, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 17 using 1d20.  +1 to Threat to gain +1d20.
13:09, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 28 using 2d20 with rolls of 18,10.  Conn 4 + Reason 9 + Helm Ops focus.

Standing at the Tactical station, LCDR Krer scowled and adjusted the tactical sensors.  "Steady now," he said, feeding his tactical data to the science console. "No surprises this trip, eh?"

(OOC: I'd like to Assist the science officer with scans, using my tactical knowledge?  I'm proposing Insight + Security?  With Advisor, when I assist, they can reroll 1d20.)
06:54, Today: Skig jav Krer rolled 18 using 1d20 with rolls of 18.  Assist w/Sensors... Insight + Security?

Well that fails.  But they still get a reroll...

Deera had been working on the 'ghost' that the sensors had picked up as the ship's course paralleled the edge of the Expanse. She'd been trying to figure out what was causing it, what was generating it, and how she could tweak the sensors to give a better image. In the end, she'd realized that she couldn't improve the sensors until they actually entered the Expanse and could recalibrate them to the new environment.

Yes, the Expanse had been minimally explored, but the sensor pod the Mongoose now sported was 'new and improved', if the spec profile was accurate. She'd mostly found that it had more bells and whistles than before... greater range, finer resolution, more power.

Now, as they were about to enter the Expanse, she did her best to coax some more data from the sensors.

15:47, Today: Deera Ren rolled 15,17,8,3,13 using 1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20 ((15,17,8,3,13)).

That's REASON + SCIENCE = TN 17; Technical Expertise (Talent) for 3rd die, two re-rolls for Ship's Sensors and Skig's Assist (though neither needed).

Three successes, not enough... unless, as I understand it, the Advanced Sensor Pod gives me two successes on each roll, in which case, that's two extra Momentum, and I'll pass those on to Elle... however that works.

Close. Deera Ren's "Sensor Mojo" Focus does give her two successes for each one that was normal. The Mongoose's Advanced Sensor Suites do enable you to lower the Difficulty by 1, so from 4 to 3, thus generating 3 Momentum.

Fortunately, Deera didn't need to reroll, but it was a good effort, Skig.

Deera can save the Momentum into a group pool. Elle didn't need to use it.

Deera does determine the Shackleton Expanse's Traits:

1. Dark Energy Concentrations: the Expanse is permeated with concentrations of dark energy which increase the Difficulty of all Sensor checks by 1.

2. Dark Energy Fluctuations: these are eddies and swirls and whirlpools and vortices of dark energy that seem to pop up suddenly. These increase all Helm checks by 1.


Elle manages to take the Mongoose into the Expanse, crossing the threshold into the dark energy field with only minor shaking that the inertial compensators can't quite deal with.

"Great work, Ren," the surly Tellarite announced.  Then, glaring at his tactical console, he began to make adjustments.

"Rassa frassa stoopid tactical scanners..." he complained under his breath.

As the ship makes it through the entry into the expanse, Captain Anther says. "Steady as she goes Ensign. You are doing fine. We expected a little turbulence. I didn't even spill my tea." He adds with a small smile. He indeed had not spilled the icy cold drink he had been sipping.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 78):

Just as the minor shaking settles down, the turbolift doors open and Shard walks a few steps onto the Bridge,

"What's with all the vibration?" Shard asks with a frown, running his right hand through his spikey, pale hair and holding a tricorder in his left, "Are we under attack by tiny...oh!"

Shard stops short, just before running into Skig at the Tactical Station.

Shard glances down at the red-uniformed Tactical Officer worrying over the console … then Shard glances up at Anther for a few moments … then Shard glances back down at the mumbling Tellarite … then again at Anther … then to the left and to the right, glancing around the Bridge … then back to Anther...

Shard breaks into a wide grin and says, "Just another glorious day in Starfleet!  Every new Planet is a Paradise, every new Species is a Friend!"

Shard takes a half-step back from Skig, so as not to appear to be 'looming',

"Your pardon, Captain." Shard says to Anther, with a nod, "Just performing an inspection of the emergency weapon lockers; making sure my people have them properly equipped and functioning.  Only take a moment.  This is the last deck to be inspected."

Shard turns back to the turbolift entrance and approaches the narrow section of blank wall to the left of the turbolift doors.  He reaches up to what looks like a simple decoration running down the side of a wall display; a column of symbols, which turn out to actually be a keypad.  Shard punches in a five digit code -- and a panel in the blank wall pops open, revealing a compartment behind.

Shard swings the compartment door open; inside is a pair of Type-3 phaser rifles hanging in charging sockets, four Type-2 phaser pistols, also placed in charging sockets, as well as several other packaged items on small shelves.

Shard raises the tricorder in his left hand, activates it, and does a slow sweep with it over everything in the compartment.  When he's finished, he consults the tiny display on the tricorder, and nods in satisfaction.  Then he closes the locker and resets the lock.

"All set.  Again, sorry for the interruption, Captain."

Silviene glides in and goes over to the tellarite at the tactical consol.

"How's it going up here?"

Now that engineering had recalibrated the new sensor suites, Deera began running more detailed scans of the Expanse.

14:29, Today: Deera Ren rolled 14,14,18 using 1d20,1d20,1d20 ((14,14,18)).

That's REASON 12 + SCIENCE 5 = TN 17; Technical Expertise (Talent) for 3rd die. Difficulty of 2 (3 normally, but Ship's Sensors reduce it to 2). So that's 2 successes, but Sensor Mojo focus doubles that to 4.

Don't see any reason to use Group Momentum, but I'll use the extra successes to gain better results.


Ah! She saw immediate results. The ghost ship

The first thing that was obvious was that the 'ghost ship' is just some kind of sensor shadow reflection of the Mongoose itself. Has something to do with the dark energy concentrations bouncing sensors back at you.

The sensors also pick up a real ship at extreme sensor range. Deera is sure it's a ship but can't tell what kind. Also, it seems to be holding station.

She then picks up a very faint signal. It appears to be a Federation distress signal, perhaps the one the Commander T'Shran reported that the Catspaw had picked up. Deera can get a direction, but can't tell how far away it is. Presumably, if the Catspaw detected it before, it has to have moved much farther away to be as faint as it is now.

She reports her findings to Captain th'Valla.

Skig tapped the LCARS a few more times, then glanced up and saw Shard standing there.

"Just making some adjustments for the Expanse," he grunted.  "Damned thing's got our systems dancing the Takron-Galtos Shuffle."

Lieutenant Tycho emerged from the turbolift and took his post at operations as Ren was making her report.  "I'll see if I can determine the distance of the transmission, sir," Jack reported as his fingers danced across the ops panel.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
12:10, Today: Jack Tycho rolled 21 using 3d20 ((1,7,13)).  Distance to transmission.  3rd die is ship assist.  (Forgot to hit record unique but that was copied from the report.)  My Control + Engineering is 17 for two successes, the ship's assist fails vs TN 10, Comms + Engineering.

---

"Find out if it matches the signal of the original distress call. Commander were you able to analyze the distress call that the Cat's Paw received?" Anther said in response to the signal.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:38, Mon 23 July 2018.

Difficulty would have been 2 normally but is 3 because of the Expanse. Ship's Advanced Sensor Suites, however, reduce it back to 2.

Jack is able to achieve 3 successes (the 1 counts for 2 successes), and applies his efforts to results. After filtering out the subspace distortions and the dark energy refraction, he gets a surprising result: the distance is coming up at only 11 billion kilometers. It's also a very weak signal... probably functioning on a backup power source. The most surprising result is the ID. The computer identifies it as the SS Sehlat, a civilian survey ship that disappeared in 2273.

When the Catspaw was attacked, standard protocol is compression download of computer files to all shuttles in case any of them survive. So the signal more or less matches what Jack finds. He can't strip away the interference, though, to get an ID.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:27, Sun 22 July 2018.

The corners of Jack's eyes crinkled as he reviewed his findings.  After a quick double check of his numbers, he spoke up, looking toward the captain, "Sir, our distance from the transmission source is approximately 11 billion kilometers, however, the computer identifies the source as the civilian survey ship SS Sehlat which was reported missing 105 years ago."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
GM, is pulling up a crew manifest, last known position, and other voyage details something you'd need a roll for?

---

"Bring us in, but stay at yellow alert. Let's see what this is."

Just double checking, Yellow alert does automatically bring up the shields. Correct?

At standard Impulse, it'll take you about 40 hours to reach the signal's source. At Warp Factor 2, it'll take only an hour.

Jack can call up the pertinent data on the Sehlat. Its captain was Captain Aloysius MacDuff. It had a crew of 37.


As long as the ship is moving, standard deflector shields go up automatically. Yellow Alert does bring up the shields.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 88):

Shard had just started to leave the bridge - the turbolift doors had opened and he was stepping forward - when he heard Jack's last comment.  Shard halts mid-step and walks backwards back onto the bridge, before spinning around to look over Skig's head at Jack, across the bridge.

"Lieutenant Tycho, you did just say that we're receiving a Federation distress signal, yes?" Shard asks, "That's a Federation subspace distress signal, not some old-school radio frequency signal, correct? And that the distress beacon data is saying it's coming from a ship lost over a century ago?"

Shard claps his hands together and rubs them vigorously, "Faint signal received from a ship missing for over a century in a mysterious section of the galaxy?  Oh, this is going to be a good one!" Shard chuckles, as he steps over to the second Tactical Station, next to Skig.

Shard activates the console, then reaches over and gives Skig a comradely slap on the shoulder, "After all, how dangerous can it be, after more than one hundred years, right Squib?"

"Aye, sir" Elle said, "I know there's some automation at play, but... I'll stay sharp." She smiled in spite of herself, "You know, just in case."

Elle takes the ship in, steady. "OK, old unsolved mysteries, here we come...."

OOC: Ship speed? Shall I roll here? Can amend on the morrow, if needed!

Skig frowned and tapped a few panels on his console.  "Old ship may not be toothless," he commented.  "But if they're in distress, we'd be coming to the rescue... assuming they're still alive, after all this time.  More likely we'll be cleaning up an old mess."

"Aye, sir, I did," the lieutenant replied. "It's remarkable the ship is still transmitting."

In reply to Jack Tycho (msg # 92):

"Isn't it just." Shard replies, "Remarkable, that is, to think that Federation tech one hundred years ago was that robust, and that we seem surprised by the fact, or...well, it is The Expanse, after all, isn't it?"

Shard grins the same grin he gets when he's in the dueling pit.

Silviene's ears swivel around following the conversation but she watched the view screen intently.

In reply to Silviene Felis (msg # 94):

Miranda looks at her panel near her chair and compares it in her mind against the readings she had before on the Cat's paw

" These, at least, appear to be fhe same signals the Cat's paw received. "

"Bring us to within 50,000 kilometers ensign, warp 2.

Lieutenant Commander Krer, I want our scans to be searching for any possible anomalies. The Cat's Paw was destroyed by either treachery or stealth, and after also responding to this distress signal. Keep our eyes open and searching.

Commander, find out how the analysis of the wreckage is coming along. See what their preliminary findings are please." Anther said as he sat their calmly sipping his tea. Now what's next? He thought as he began to plan for the possible next steps.

He had learned in command school, that the senior officers job wasn't to do, so much as to plan ahead. He was supposed to anticipate the next step and plan for it. Give the orders, and trust your people to do their jobs. So now he was anticipating the next step.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 96):

=^= T'Shran to wreckage analysis team. Report with Preliminary Analysis. =^=

"Aye, sir," Elle said, as she hit the Warp drive controls, "Warp 2 engaged."

As the Mongoose neared -- then crossed -- the threshold, Elle announced, "At 50,000 kilometers... now."

She turned slightly in her seat then, her eye on any new data that her console's sensor display might reveal --
of the Expanse and of their mysterious quarry, "Maintain course and speed, sir?"

"Slow to one quarter impulse. Lets get a look first, creep up on them."

Skig is starting to pick up those shadows again on the sensors. At first, they are just rather indistinct, more like blobs than any specific shape. However, they start coming into focus the closer the ship gets to the source.

He was expecting to get a sketchy reflection of the Mongoose, but that doesn't happen. The 'blob' remains a blob. And he isn't able to pick up the ship that should be broadcasting that distress signal.

As he calls up various filters to try and get better resolution, there's a sudden alarm from one of the resolution filters. It's indicating a cloaked ship somewhere out there!

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 100):

Standing at the console next to Skig, Shard is configuring his console into his preference for a Security Station.  A small ship schematic which will show alarms for all access points into and out of the hull of Mongoose, several tiny vid-displays of critical security areas on the ship, one-touch comm-calling of all Security personnel, control of internal Security scanners and isolation fields, etc.

At the faint sound of the alarm from one of the resolution filters, over on Skig's console, first one, then the other, of Shard's antennae swing around to face the Tactical Station, followed quickly by Shard turning his head to look over at Skig.

"What's that, Sqib?  We found a winner?" Shard asks quietly, then raises his voice just enough to be heard across the Bridge without shouting,

"So tell us, Commander jav Krer, who's todays lucky winner of a quantum torpedo enema?"

Skig frowned as he compiled the data from the tactical scanners into one looming conclusion: a cloaked ship.

"Someone's out there who doesn't want to be seen," he reported.  Glancing at Vinzz at the post next to him, he frowned.  "We're not sure they're hostile yet," he said. "There could be other reasons they're hiding, like they're afraid, for one thing."  Andorians.  Always ready for a fight. That could be good or bad.  Good if there's a fight coming anyway... but bad if there were peaceful options that could lead to a good debate.

"Captain, I'm detecting a cloaked vessel at these coordinates," he grunted, reporting the location of the stealthed ship the best he could.  "Recommend raising shields and giving them a hail."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Sat 28 July 2018.

"Lt. Commander Krer, we are already at yellow alert. The shields are up. However I agree, open a hailing frequency Lt. Renlo." Anther said still maintaining the calm he had been showing throughout the day.

"Hailing frequency open, Captain," Kelm reported after a few deft taps on his console.

The system was set up for the computer to do it, but there were times when it made more sense to manually enter data... usually when you had multiple people all talking at once, especially if they were all trying to get the computer to do something at the same time. While the computer could usually hear all the voices simultaneously and sort out who was saying what, it couldn't always juggle priorities or sequencing.

Besides, it was always a good idea to make sure people kept in practice doing it manually, just in case the computer's voice recognition program wasn't working for some reason.

"This is Captain Anther th'Valla of the Federation Starship Mongoose, to the cloaked ship off our port side. Please respond and state your intentions. We come as peaceful explorers."

Skig continued to tweak the sensors. Not only was the Mongoose's sensor suites the most up-to-date that the Federation had, but they were supposed to help with the dark energy concentrations of the Expanse.

He simultaneously had to tweak nearly a hundred separate filters to get a almost as many readings. Visually alone there was resolution, intensity, saturation, balance, scale... it was the last that was giving him a bit of trouble.

After correcting for the dark energy, he finally found the correct resolution. The result was so astounding he had to run it a second time... and a third time.

The cloaked image was much larger than any known ship! It appeared to have the size of a dwarf planet! Its diameter was around 1,170 kilometers!


There is no response from Anther's hail.

"Right, sir," Skig replied. But still he focused in on exactly WHAT their mystery guest could be... in case it needed a Quantum Torpedo Enema, as suggested by Vinzz.

Just because Andorians were annoying, didn't make them wrong...

But speaking of wrong...

"Bloody Grife!" he exclaimed as the sensor data collated. That... just wasn't...

Well, anything's possible, he reminded himself.  And the Expanse was new territory.

"Captain, sensor target is 1,170 km in diameter.  That's no mere ship.  Rogue moon or dwarf planet, maybe.  Never heard of a planetoid with a cloaking device before..."

Glancing to Vinzz, he added under his breath, "You're gonna need more quantum torpedoes."

"Captain, I might recommend a probe," he said.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Sun 29 July 2018.

"Unable to determine the type of vessel, sir," Tycho lamented after running a sensor sweep.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
23:08, Today: Jack Tycho rolled 17 using 1d20 with rolls of 17.  Ship assist.
23:08, Today: Jack Tycho rolled 31 using 2d20 with rolls of 15,16.  TN 12 Sensor Sweep.

---

In reply to Skig jav Krer (msg # 107):

While keeping his face neutral and his eyes on the main viewscreen, Shard says in a quiet aside to Skig, "A probe?  What, without dinner first?  Maybe they're not that kind of alien."

Then Shard turns to Jack,

"Lieutenant Tycho, how close is this cloaked moonlet to the predicted origin point of the distress signal?  Could this cloaked...whatever...be where the signal is coming from? Actually, are we still receiving the distress signal?  We should be closer, na?  Is the signal any stronger?"

"That's a little big for a ship. I agree. Launch a class one probe. Have it skim the surface and give us whatever readings it can gather. Also what's the status of the distress call? Is it coming from the object?"

Silviene twitched slightly Pacing back and looking at the consols. She glanced at vinzz when he mentioned quantum torpedos. Starfleet didn't just go around blowing holes in random ships. She was glad that the captain seemed more level headed. She turned back to watch the viewscreen feeling slightly useless at the moment. She was a fighter not a scientist.

Elle had slowed the Mongoose to one-quarter impulse, as they gathered what data they could, and she kept the ship to a circumspect course.

Although the Mongoose had already hailed the cloaked vessel, Elle was prepared to swoop in closer if need be. She was confident she'd be able to fly rings around any hostiles encountered, but she hoped the notion of so readily launching Quantum torpedoes and the like was hyperbolic posturing.

Still, she kept an eye to her console and to the viewscreen... and an ear for the word.

Jack approach to the sensors was less linear and digital... using analog algorithms to interpret what the sensors were picking up. He was well aware that without the advanced sensors suites in the pod, they probably wouldn't have detected the dwarf planet until they impacted it!

He still can't get a visual of it; they'd have to be inside the cloaking field for that. That also means he can't get any hard data on it, such as density and mass, or composition.

However, he is able to determine that the distress signal is coming from somewhere inside the cloak. At a guess, he thinks it may be behind the dwarf planet. That, the cloak and the Expanse have all done a serious number on the energy output of the distress signal, attenuating it far beyond what would have happened in normal space.

Also, while he isn't picking up any temporal distortions that might indicate the Sehlat was temporally displaced, he is picking up some quantum fluctuations.


Fortunately, of course, the Mongoose does not carry any quantum torpedoes. They would have been part of the weapons pod, so no slight to the Andorians was intended.


The probe is launched without any difficulty and streaks ahead to enter the cloaking field. Ordinarily, of course, the probe would not be able to send back any data while inside the cloak, but the Mongoose's sensor pod is able to pick up the signal, just like it is picking up the distress call from the Sehlat.

The probe soon reveals that it is, indeed, a dwarf planet... it has no motion, though, so it probably doesn't qualify as a rogue planet. It looks like a typical rocky asteroid from some star system, but the sensors haven't depicted any such star system in the area.

After a quick orbit of the dwarf planet, it detects the Sehlat on the surface of the asteroid, on the far side. It also detects a facility on the planet surface not far from the Sehlat. The source of the cloak is the facility.

=/\= Dypec to T'Shran. The process is slow going. We have made a more detailed analysis of the debris, and have confirmed that the ship was struck by a Klingon weapon. We have also determined that the ship was destroyed by a warp core breach. Dypec out. =/\=

In reply to Dypec (msg # 114):

" Captain, the analysis seems to be going slow but it is confirmed a Klingon weapon struck the Catspaw. But the ship was destroyed by a warp core breach.
"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:30, Wed 01 Aug 2018.

"Curiouser and curiouser," the Chief Science Office commented to no one in particular.

She sent a new command to the probe, redirecting it to focus on the ship and the facility. In spite of the probe being inside the cloaking field while the Mongoose was still outside it, a tight-beam signal exchange with the probe easily penetrated the cloak; otherwise, they wouldn't even know the probe was there.

That's REASON 12 + SCIENCE 5 = TN 17; Technical Expertise (Talent) for 3rd die. Difficulty of 2 (3 normally, but Ship's Sensors reduce it to 2).

13:34, Today: Deera Ren rolled 6,12,8 using 1d20,1d20,1d20 ((6,12,8)).

So, that's 3 successes, but doubled for the Advanced Sensor Suites, for 6 successes. Not sure if the Difficulty is 2 or 3... I'll go with 3 as it's operating through the cloak. But I'll spend the extra 3 successes on getting better results.

The probe does not detect any life signs on either the ship or the facility.

It is able to transmit sufficient images of the facility so that Deera can identify the construction as Klingon, and further identify that it is heavily shielded. Internal details are nebulous, but Deera can convert the scans into a floorplan.

The probe also registers strong quantum fluctuations from the 'back' of the facility.

Skig kept an eye on the readouts, even as he deferred to the blueshirts to do their job.  Whatever it was, it was huge and it was old.

That gave him an idea.

While the Science team was pouring over the data, he tried to call up info on Klingon facilities and ships, and see if he could get any kind of match - or near match - with what they were seeing here.

Anther sat slowly sipping his tea, content to allow the crew to do their tasks while also observing their actions. He will be getting a reading as to how they react in such situations.

Koram had been puttering around Engineering for several hours now. Well, he tended to think of it as 'puttering' but it was really routine maintenance. Someone had to hold down the fort while Dypec and the others tried to reconstruct the Catspaw in the hangar bay. Sure, the bay was big, but not big enough to hold another starship! He wondered how they were doing that?

When Ensign Cole showed up to relieve him, Koram checked the assignments and saw that he was expected on the Bridge as they approached the source of the distress call.

So that was why he now walked onto the Bridge, looked to see which station was free and moved over to it. Not surprising, he was the only engineer on the Bridge.

He supposed he could have said 'reporting for duty, Captain' but the captain saw him so he just nodded to him.

Once at the Engineering Station, he ran through the standard checklist to make sure all systems were within normal parameters... or at least registered so on his console.

On a hunch, Jack begins pulling intelligence reports, looking for any mention of Klingon vessels being spotted in the vicinity in the time frame of the ship's destruction.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Need a roll for this or is it trivial to have the computer pull up ship sightings?

---

This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:50, Fri 03 Aug 2018.

The Catspaw had been escorted by a Klingon freight, the VeQ Duj. The area wasn't a well-traveled sector of space, so there weren't anyone else in the area that could have spotted another Klingon ship.

When the Catspaw's captain directed the ship to head for the distress call, that was when it left the 'corridor'. It was only then that the Klingon ship fire on the Catspaw.

There is actually no such 'corridor' that Starfleet or (apparently) the other Klingons know about. This corridor had been identified by the VeQ Duj's captain, Krag.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 122):

As the ship is secure and there are -- currently -- no threats to the ship, either internal or external, Shard just stands at the Security Console and watches.  Occasionally his right antenna twitches around; when Silviene's pacing brings her over to get a look at the Security and Tactical Consoles.

Shard watches as the probe penetrates the cloaking shield, and with only a tiny glitch continues sending data through the shield.

~~ What the Flaming Hell? ~~ Shard thought, as he observed that.

"Hey, Squib," Shard said quietly to Skig, working next to him at the Tactical Console, "If I asked you pretty please, could I get access to one of your tactical scanners for a minute?  And access to that probe's data feed.  I have a hunch I want to investigate."

Skig scowled, but nodded. "Sure, Vince, go for it," he said, and stepped back.

((OOC: Vinzz, you use one Attribute and one Discipline. In this case, it'd be REASON = 8 + Science = 2 for a Target Number (TN) of 10. You roll 2d10 but don't add them together. You have to roll under 10 for a success. I don't see any Focuses or Talents to add another die to your Pool, but the Ship's Sensors will let you add another one. Plus, there is still an Momentum Pool that you can draw from to add one more die.

The Difficulty is 4 (due to the Dark Energy of the Expanse and operating through the cloak), but the Advanced Sensor Suite drops that to 3.

That means you need 3 successes (rolling your TN or under) to succeed at the task.))

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 125):

2d20 is what you roll. Just helping, Starmaster.

In reply to Skig jav Krer (msg # 124):

OOC: Duh...me am hitting fingers wit rock, but not getting any numbers! Just getting numb...
Okay, if I get this right, I can roll 2d20 +1d20 Equipment Bonus for Ship Sensors, and I can roll +1d20 more from a communal die pool?  How do I access that?  I gotta ask?  Fill out a requisition form? Do backflips?  Or just take it?  I roll the dice as individuals and count how many times I roll under 10.  I need 3 rolls under 10 to do this thing.  I think I got it.
Let no one in, except him...I mean, he stays here...except when he's with me...

---

Shard casts a quick glance towards Anther, to see if the Captain has noticed, then leans in closer to Skig,

"What the frack, Squib?" Shard whispers, "Did I speak Vulcan, or something?  Do I sound like my head is up my butt?  What's with stepping away from your console?  I wasn't asking to take over Tactical!  I only want control of just one of your tactical sensors for a short time to investigate a hunch!  To investigate it from the Security Console, Commander, not your Tactical Console.  So quick, get back to your station, before the Captain notices.  We're still at Yellow Alert, you know!" Shard hisses quietly.

"So, Can you give me access to a sensor, Commander?  Or should I ask the Operations Chief?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Sat 04 Aug 2018.

Skig glared at the impertinent Andorian.

"I'm right here," he growled under his breath. He had stepped back, not stepped away. The console was still in his full view and easy reach; at no point had he abandoned his post.  "You usually sound like your head's up your butt, so how would I know the difference? Your request was as clear as mud.  And I'm a Tellarite; I know mud."

With a quick tappity-tap of the LCARS, he gave the security officer access to the sensor he wanted.

Though he didn't react, he heard the interplay between Shard and Skig, and internally sighed. I have got to get these people to do some team building exercises. They need to learn to work with and rely upon each other. He thought to himself. Maybe that game I heard about, what was it called Dragoons and Dunkirk?

In reply to Skig jav Krer (msg # 128):

"Okay, okay, just trying to help." Shard whispers back, hoping he was keeping it low enough that Anther and XO T'Shran weren't hearing him, "Like the Humans say, don't get your panties all in a bunch.  And my request was perfectly..."

Shard paused, as he mentally reviewed what he'd meant and what he'd actually said.  As is his usual practice when he's in uniform, he'd been speaking in Terran and letting Skig's UT translate that into Tellarite.  But, of course, the Universal Translator was invented by the Vulcans -- so Shard felt there was always that small possibility of 'mis-translation'.  Unintentional, of course.

"My request," Shard continued in a heated whisper, "Was -- maybe -- a tiny bit vague.  But nobody would have misunderstood it...except a Tellarite with mud in his ears! *sheesh* 'You know mud', my Frigid Fundament!  Why, I'd be willing to bet that you can't handle a Mudslide; you'd fall off your chair just from the sight of one.  That is, if you could see it!"

During this little tête-à-tête, Shard had been accessing the tactical sensor Skig had loaned him and set it to scan the cloaking shield, itself; trying to learn everything about that shield it can.

---

Silviene moves away from the scuffle at the tactical station to stand to the left and a bit behind the captains chair.

The cloak is not tight against the asteroid; there's a good 50 miles between the inner edge of the cloak and the surface. That indicates a lot of power, but it also makes sense for ships to be able land on the asteroid, much like the Sehlat seems to have done.

Shard does, indeed, determine the frequency of the cloak, and the transporters could probably work through it, but it would still be dangerous, and not really necessary.

As near as Shard can tell, it's not an older version of a cloak... in fact, it's probably a fairly new development. On the other hand, a normal cloak is kept tight on a ship to avoid occluding any stars in the background as the cloak isn't as effective along the edges. Here in the Expanse, that was not a concern.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 132):

Shard frowns over the data, then sends control of the Tactical Sensor back to Skig.

"Captain," Shard says, "I've analyzed the cloaking shield and it's fairly tight.  While it's providing little physical defensive protection, it is seriously messing with targeting sensors.  The sensors on Mongoose are powerful enough to let us get some data, and our comm-lock with the probe is letting the probe sends us a greater detail of information from under the cloak; but even with the data stream from the probe, it would be dangerous to attempt to beam anyone down here, through the cloak."

"If you want to send anyone down there, it's going to have to be in shuttles...or in the Mongoose, itself."

Shard pauses a moment, then asks, "Anther, can this beast land in such a microgravity environment?"

Skig smiled slightly at Vinzz's hearty rejoinder.  Now this was fun!  It was rare to find an Andorian who understood a good argument... too often, they lost patience and went for their Ushann.

He was about to continue the enjoyable (for a Tellarite) banter when Vinzz's data rolled through.  He frowned and turned his attention to the readouts even as the security officer briefed the captain.

"Yeah, I'd recommend a shuttle before we go bringing the ship in," he added.

Tycho continued his duties, not reacting to the commotion at tactical.  "Andorians.  Tellarites.  This has been going on for hundreds of years.  When is it ever going to end?" the lieutenant thought.

Elle practically stood up as the shuttlecraft suggestion was made, thinking along the same lines,
as she followed along with the sensor findings and crew interplay. She'd practically volunteered
for possible Away Team duty before any order was even given.

"I'll get us there either way! To the shuttlebay then — er, sir?" she "asked", already on her feet.

"No Shard this ship is not capable of landing on a planet. Not if we want to leave it again." Anther said offhandedly.

Thinking for a moment, Anther shook his head, and said. "Commander T'Shran Take an away team and find out what's going on down there. Ensign Quinn, I need you here. If they need to be beamed off, I'll need you to get us inside the cloak but still keep us from crashing. I'll need my best pilot here."

Having looked at the crew files earlier, Miranda calls the next senior helm control ensign after Quinn as well as a senior engineering crewman or chief to shuttle bay.

=^= Doctor to Shuttle bay =^=

" Vinzz and Felis with me. "

Silviene shifts from foot to foot, ready for some action. She hoped the First officer would include her but she was proud enough not to beg or try to seem to desperate to move.

Although her shoulders slumped slightly, Elle nodded, "Aye, sir." She still had crucial work to do —
and Elle was determined to do her duty well, no matter how difficult the task.

"And... thank you. For the kind words, I mean... sir. I'll get us inside that cloak without a scratch."

She smiled to herself, I hope!

"You might want some technical expertise as well Commander." Anther told Miranda softly. "Consider an engineer or scientist as well."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Wed 08 Aug 2018.

Silviene steps in behind T'Shran, nodding.

"Yes sir, May I stop by my quarters for my weapons?"

In reply to Silviene Felis (msg # 142):

Miranda smiles.

" Of Course. After all, I am stopping for my Ushaan. Also, Blackthorne and Val with me. "
This message was last edited by the player at 03:54, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

Skig stood at his post at Tactical, now also standing in as first officer once T'Shran left the bridge.  This was, after all, what he'd trained for.

"Don't shoot yourself in the foot," he said quietly to Vinzz as the Andorian passed him.  Although his words were jibing, his concern was genuine - not that Vinzz couldn't handle himself, but who knew what the hell was down there?

"Maintaining tactical scan, Captain," he said aloud.

This message was deleted by the player at 03:59, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 145):

In reply to Skig jav Krer (msg # 144):

"Actually Captain -- if I might make a suggestion?" Shard requests, before everyone can leave the bridge,

"There are two targets of interest down there, sir; the Klingon Base and the old Federation vessel.  If I may, sir, I'd like to suggest sending down two Away Teams - one under the command of Commander T'Shran to investigate the Base, while a second Away Team investigates the old vessel."

"I've got the ten-person Security Team One ready for deployment, Sir, which is normally under the command of the Assistant Chief of Security -- which is now Lieutenant Commander Felis. I'd split Security Team One into two squads, half the crewmen go with Commander T'Shran to the Base in one Type-8 Shuttle, the other half go with Commander Felis and whoever Commander T'Shran wishes to send to the old ship in another Type-8 Shuttle."

"I would prefer to remain aboard Mongoose, in case any threat should come up from the planetoid and try to board.  Also, I would lead a full Security Team down to the planetoid, should such be needed."

"Of course, another option would be to load the two Away Teams onto individual shuttles, fly them through the cloak, and then beam them down, with the shuttles transporters.  Beaming down from shuttles or landing the shuttles, each plan has equal pros and cons, by my assessment, Sir, so it would be your call."

In reply to Shard Vinzz (msg # 147):

" I believe the Captain gave me the Away Team. So, your suggestion has been heard and considered. Away Team fifteen minutes to shuttle bay. "

Silviene nods. "Yes Sir" and moves off to gather her weapons and head to the shuttle bay.



To Shuttlebay

This message was deleted by the player at 15:03, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

In reply to Silviene Felis (msg # 149):

Miranda then turns and follows Felis out. She grabs her Ushaan and a phaser and arrives at the Shuttlebay.

------> To Shuttlebay

Shard turns away from looking towards the Captain to face the First Officer, quickly glances back at Anther, then turns back to smile at Miranda,

"As the Captain wishes, of course." Shard says, then looks down at the Security Console and opens a channel to Main Security,

"Security Team One, stand down.  Remain on alert and await further orders. Vinzz out."

Shard then goes over to the weapon locker hidden near the turbolift that he had inspected not too long ago, opens it, and takes out a Type-2 pistol, a Security Tricorder, wrist-lamp, and a plastic tube with six 25mm ovoid's inside it.  After stowing this equipment at various points on his custom tailored uniform (or just dropping it into one of his non-standard uniform pockets) and re-sealing the weapon locker, Shard turns to look back at Anther.

"Well, at least I'll have some fun kicking Klingon butt!  For a little while." Shard then stiffens to attention, raises his right arm up, placing his right hand level with his head, then clenches his fist as if grasping an Ushaan -- giving Anther an old Andorian military salute -- all with a big grin on his face.

"What was it our people used to say? 'Death or Victory!'  Screw that!  If I holler, Captain, please come running in at full speed and save my sorry blue ass."

Shard then turns and enters the turbolift.

(Next, Shuttlebay)

R.T. headed for the door but noticed that Koram wasn't moving. Was he confused by Shard's shuttle shuffle?

"Hey, Koram! Let's go! The shuttle's waiting!" R.T. called out, though not too loudly.

He waited for Koram to join him before he entered the turbolift.

"Shuttle Bay," he announced to the computer.


>>>>> To the Shuttle Bay

His first away team! Or was it? He wasn't sure what the final disposition of the away team was after Shard's elaborate suggestions. Was that really how Security thought?

He wasn't sure what the Captain and the XO had finally agreed on for the away team, so he was a bit startled when Blackthorne called out to him.

"Right. Just finishing up final scans," he replied, then joined Blackthorne at the turbolift.


>>>>> To the Shuttle Bay

With the Away Team going down there, Skig kept a sharp eye on the tactical scanners.  If anything untoward was waiting for them... or developing... he wanted to know about it.


08:49, Today: Skig jav Krer rolled 4 using 2d20 with rolls of 1,3.  Tactical scans.

Should be 3 successes... plus any generated by the Mongoose?

Other than that the base AND the ship appear to be powered up, there's no indication that there's anything dangerous in the area. The ship clearly has no life signs; the same cannot be said for the facility. There doesn't appear to be any, but between the heavy shielding and the dark energy of the Expanse, it's hard to get a reading.

The floor plan that the computer was able to produce was extrapolated from duranium shadows. So, while it appears that there are 'beds' or 'bunks', the probe's sensor could not determine what they were made of or even if there was something under them.

The sensors also said that something should be at the source of the neutrinos, but they weren't able to detect anything.

Skig, of course, relays all this to the Captain.

"Like looking through a funhouse mirror," he grumbled at the confusing sensor readings.

The captain had remained silent on the slight berating that Miranda had given Shard, as He would not undermine his First officer unless it was a serious matter that needed to be addressed immediately. This didn't qualify, so he simply looked straight ahead at the view screen sipping his iced tea.

At Skig's comment Anther said, "I have faith in you and the crew to decipher the funhouse mirror readings Lt. Commander. You will do fine."

"I never liked funhouses.  I always wanted to smash the hall of mirrors.  I'll see if I can give you a hand Commander Krer."

Tycho rescanned the area for the source of neutrinos.  The ship's sensors plus the probe should allow a pinpoint location one would think.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
11:01, Today: Jack Tycho rolled 3 using 1d20 with rolls of 3. Ship assist. TN 12. 11:01, Today: Jack Tycho rolled 18 using 2d20 with rolls of 5,13. Determine neutrino source. Reason+Science TN 14.  3 successes.

---

Standing Anther walked over to where Jack was, and in a low voice said, "Try to look for the stuff that should be there, but isn't. We know where the planet is, so look for similar distortions in space. You have this. I have faith in you."

Skig and Jack work on the probe's scans, directing it from different directions, trying to adjust sensitivity and power. Easy to do onboard the Mongoose, a lot harder to tweak those things remotely... through a cloak and through the dark energy perturbations. And then trying to analyze the results they did get... some by simply comparisons and overlays on early scans.

Sometimes, they even had to make up an artificial filter because the one thing that the computer wasn't was intuitive. In this case, it was not capable of identifying the energy source because one of the parameters was wrong. In a way, it was like saying the energy reading of a Galaxy-class starship was coming from the thimble you held in your hand. Did that make the thimble a Galaxy-class starship? The computer simply wasn't capable of making those kinds of 'adjustments'. It clearly couldn't be Galaxy-class starship, so, therefore, it wasn't.

The facility was producing something similar: energy output from what should be a wormhole! But it would have to be impossibly small.

"Bloody Grife," Skig complained, analyzing the readings.  "LT Tycho, can you make sense of this?  I'm not a science officer, but micro singularities are possible... are micro wormholes?"

Tycho moves to the tactical station to put his head together with the Tellarite.  Quietly--and jokingly--Jack jabs at his superior, "You don't read the news much do you, sir?  Starfleet Communications started using micro-wormholes to communicate with Voyager two years ago."  The lieutenant straightens up and responds to the Tellarite as the rest of the crew would expect when asked a question by a superior officer, "Yes, sir, they are possible.  Wormhole naturally decay, growing smaller over time."

"You know, sir, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way.  Instead of approaching this by trying to determine what the readings mean, let's try to determine what they don't mean.  Whatever we're left with must be the answer."


OOC:  It seems like this is an extended test.  True?  If so, what are we rolling?  Also, since this is 2378 Voyager may already be home depending on the month.

((OOC: The game began on the starbase at the beginning of the year, so Voyager hasn't made it back yet.))


"Starfleet received a communication from Voyager that came through a wormhole," Kelm offered. "I believe it was described as a micro-wormhole on their end, as it was far too small to let even a person go through."

"So they can exist. I have no idea what that would mean for this situation."

The problem with Jack's idea is that this is the Expanse. No one is quite sure what the conditions are here. While there are no other phenomena in the computer banks that correspond to this particular array of energy readings, the probability of it being something else is a bit higher than normal because of the dark energy concentrations in the Expanse.

Occam's Razor might be more appropriate: the simplest answer is the correct one.


Skig and Jack both notice a 'ghost' that shows up on the sensors. It's intermittent, perhaps passing behind a dense concentration of dark energy. Dark energy isn't static, of course, but pulses. No one has yet come up with a source of dark energy... except spontaneous generation... perhaps a 'white hole'.

The first thought about the 'ghost' is that it is just a reflection of the Mongoose's own sensors, which is what the first one was, but that was when the Mongoose was outside of the Expanse. This one doesn't conform to that first one except in generalities... approximate size and dark energy distortions.

The sensor ghost seems to be circling around the asteroid... sort of. It appears here, and then there, and then on the other side. Sometimes it's close, and sometimes it seems far away. 'Close' is a relative term, since you can't get a solid reading to tell just close it is, though it never seems dangerously close.

"So what do we have going on people?" Anther said as he finished his iced tea.

"Picking up another sensor ghost, Captain," Jack responded to the Captain's query.

"The last time, we were outside the Expanse, and the ghost was some sort of dark energy reflection of the Mongoose itself."

"This is different. I don't think it's a reflection of the Mongoose, but I can't be sure. And it's all over the place... fading in and out. Even the recalibrated sensors can't unscramble the interference."

How long has the away team been gone now?

Only about 30 minutes.

Jillian appeared in the door of the turbolift. She pleasantly acknowledged anyone who looked up before scanning for the captain.

In reply to Jillian Svensson (msg # 171):

OOC: Captain is the big blue-guy sitting in the middle chair--but if you're still not sure, just shout out "Hey Cap'n Blueberry!"...after a second or two, pull the dagger out of your throat and return it to the guy who threw it.  He's the Captain.  ^_^
___Shard-the-ever-Helpful

Striding down the ramp to central bridge, Jillian made certain the captain wasn't immediately engaged in some operational matter before approaching him. "Sir, do you have a moment?"

Anther had been reading a report on his datapad, and looked up at the lieutenant. "Yes, what is it lieutenant?"

Jillian interlaced her fingers at her hips and regarded the captain. "Well sir, perhaps this would be better discussed in your ready room? If now is a convenient time?"

This message was deleted by the player at 20:03, Sun 16 Sept 2018.

Anther turned to lieutenant commander Tycho. "Keep an eye on that sensor ghost lieutenant commander, you have the bridge." He then nodded to the lieutenant and headed to his ready room. expecting her to be right behind him.
==> To USS Mongoose - Captain's Ready Room
This message was last edited by the player at 01:34, Mon 17 Sept 2018.

This message was deleted by the player at 20:14, Sun 16 Sept 2018.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 177):

OOC: I do?

Down on the asteroid, Shard's antennae suddenly go rigid, pointing straight up.  Shard tilts his head back and shouts at the overhead,

"Be right there, Anther!  Just let me step outside, and I'll leap right up to the ship!"

OOC: Corrected. Stop posting in threads your not in Shard! :-)

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 180):

OOC:  But...but...you said...! ^_^

Elle eyed the newcomer, and acknowledged her arrival with a nod. And then they were off to the ready room?

Obviously, orders that were "above her pay-grade" — was that the old saying? — were issued and shared on a need-to-know basis, but there was already so much mystery afoot, what with sensor ghosts and strange readings, as well as what the Away Team might yet uncover....

"Aye-aye, Captain," Jack replied as the captain left the bridge, trying really, really hard not to sound like a pirate!

"Just an extra caution, Elle, but how quickly can you get the ship under way? I can't quite put my finger on why I think so, but I'm starting to get this feeling that the 'sensor ghost' is an approaching Klingon ship."

"The ghost seems to be getting stronger... in some ways. About every fifth appearance, one of the echoes is stronger. Distorted still, but less.... 'ghostly'. If we were in normal space, it'd be giving me a direction. Here, in the expanse, I can't figure out which direction it's coming from."

"It'd make sense coming from the edge as that's the direction of the Klingon Empire, but if it's the Klingon ship that was servicing this facility, it could be coming from anywhere."

"I can get anything in the air and under way quicker than any hostiles," Elle said. "Um, sir," she added, belatedly realizing how boastful her earlier comment had sounded.

"And thank you. Good to have a bit of a better idea of what we might be dealing with...  and that we may have to act fast."

And so Elle kept alert, keeping an eye on the sensors, however deceptive — or sudden — their reveal of new data might be, in the Expanse.

"Keep in mind that we're not inside the cloak field," Kelm reminds the other crew on the Bridge.

"It's possible that the 'ghost' is a cloaked ship. That could explain why we're getting a 'ghost' image in the first place--some effect of the dark energy interacting with the cloak."

"As Jack suggested, this might be a Klingon supply ship. If it's heading for the facility, it has probably picked up the Mongoose on its sensors by now. It might be trying to decide what to do, or it might just be waiting to see if we leave."

==> From USS Mongoose - Captain's Ready Room

The Captain rushes out of his ready room in a brisk walk heading directly to the turbolift.

==> To USS Mongoose - Medical Bay

"Wait a minute! I'm getting something!" Jack suddenly spoke up.

"I'm not sure if it's something we did, or something external happened. It's definitely a ship the sensors are picking up."

He put the image up on the main viewscreen.

There was a distinctive if still very blurred image of starship. It was hard to determine what kind of ship it was, although the vague profile didn't look like the large Federation ships... like the Enterprise or the Mongoose.

Elle leaned forward at her station, fingers at the controls. "Ready for evasive maneuvers, if needed," she said.

"And if I or Tactical need to engage... whatever that is, we are good to go too... uh, sir."

Was a higher degree of alert status warranted? She didn't want to jump the gun... again. "I can close, or put some distance between us either way."

OOC EDIT: My bad, re: alert status. I think I may've even seen that prior to posting, but then totally spaced!
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Tue 16 Oct 2018.

Jack is finally able to clear up some of the dark energy interference and get a better resolution on the ghost--it is definitely a ship. It conforms generally to a Klingon freighter, but details aren't yet discernible.

It's still too far away to get a visual image, and it appears to be heading for the asteroid.

At its current speed, it will get here in about 30 minutes.

FYI: We were already at Yellow Alert. There were dangerous situations and astronomical phenomenon about, so the captain took the ship to Yellow Alert for safety.

=/\= "Captain, sir. This is Quinn. We may have a problem in oh, T-minus thirty minutes to Klingon arrival at the asteroid.
I can get us where we need to be in fewer, of course," she hoped. "Intercept or otherwise. What're your orders, sir?" =/\=

OOC: My bad, re: Yellow Alert status earlier. Really must've just missed it between threads. Edited my previous post!

=/\="Mongoose to Away Team... do you copy?"=/\= Jack hailed the Away Team.

He wasn't expecting a reply since they'd lost contact with the team when they entered the facility. The same heavy shielding that prevented them from getting a decent sensor scan was also blocking communications.

He repeated his request about every 30 seconds for a few minutes before reluctantly giving up.

He was about to reply to the captain when Captain th'Valla arrived on the Bridge.

"No response from the Away Team, sir. We lost contact with them when they entered the facility. It's heavily shielded."

Arriving on the bridge, Anther listened to the report. Looking thoughtful for a minute he said nothing as he weighed his options.

"Very well. Did they set up the pattern buffers at least?"

=/\="Mongoose to Away Team... do you copy?"=/\=

Elle exhaled.

=/\="Mongoose to Away Team... do you copy?"=/\= Lieutenant Tycho repeated.

No response, but Elle had already begun to gear up to gun it.

Either to swoop in as close to the facility as possible to reestablish contact with the Away Team, or to try to give that Klingon ship a run for its money. Which option? She hadn't decided yet —

=/\="Mongoose to Away Team... do you copy?"=/\=

— knowing full well the choice wasn't quite up to her, she was about to choose anyway!

Suddenly, the captain appeared. And the palm Elle was about to slam down on the controls balled into a fist. Hold.

"No response from the Away Team, sir. We lost contact with them when they entered the facility. It's heavily shielded," Tycho said.

Elle sat up straight at her station, and gritted her teeth. Yikes. "Sir! I can get us close to our people or en route to intercept ASAP!"

---

16:05, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 32 using 2d20 with rolls of 13,19.  Daring + Conn.

OOC: 2 Successes, I believe, to get us where we need to be, and fast!

---

"We're still outside the cloaking field," Jack reminded everyone.

"If we move inside the cloak, the Klingon ship won't be able to see us. I don't know if we'll still be able to see them."

"Also, we think it might be a freighter, but, if it's the one that fired on the Catspaw, then it is most certainly armed."

Nodding, Anther said, "Move us inside the cloak if possible, but don't crash the ship please Ensign." The last line said with a smile to let her know he was not too serious.

Without turning, Elle smiled to herself, "Aye, sir."

Keeping Lieutenant Tycho's warning in mind, she guided the ship inside the cloaking field....

Elle has no problem bringing the Mongoose inside the facility's shield. There's sufficient space between the shield and the asteroid to easily accommodate even the largest starship.

Once inside the shield, however, it's nearly impossible to detect the approaching Klingon ship. As far as anyone knows, though, even the Klingons can't penetrate a shield, so the approaching ship probably has no way of knowing what the Mongoose is doing, or what the status of the facility is.


Once inside the shield, there's still no communication with the away team. Even the Mongoose's sensors/comms can't penetrate the shielding around the facility.

You can get a better scan of the place, and determine that there are only six life signs, which conforms to the away team.

Elle runs a sensor sweep, hoping to get a better handle on the Away Team's status at the facility.

Hopefully all six of them were still present and accounted for — lest something else have gone awry, unbeknownst to the bridge crew.

---

OOC: With ship assist, it looks like 1 Success toward trying to get a better scan, unless my Constantly Watching talent applies here as well?

16:06, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 12 using 1d20 with rolls of 12.  Ship Assist 1d vs. 12 (Ship Sensors + Science).

16:04, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 29 using 2d20 with rolls of 16,13.  Reason + Science = Sensors.

Elle's sensor sweep of the Klingon base, now that the ship is on the inside of the cloaking field, registers 6 life signs: two Andorian, one Caitian, one Vulcan, one joined Trill, and one Human.

She also discovers that the base is constructed of some sort of duranium/neutronium composite. It's the neutronium that interferes with the communicators and transporters and sensors.

It would have been nearly impossible to obtain enough neutronium to construct the entire base out of it, which explains why it was mixed/fused with duranium.


The approaching Klingon ship has stopped about ten minutes out. Presumably, as soon as the Mongoose entered the cloaking field, it disappeared from the Klingon's sensors.

Elle furrowed her brow, before reporting her sensor sweep results to the Captain.

Now that she'd isolated what was causing the interference which prevented the ship from reestablishing contact, perhaps they could find a way to jury-rig the communication systems to bypass frequencies blocked by the neutronium?

And were there any signs of outgoing broadcast from the base itself? Perhaps they could tweak what its staff used in case of emergency?

---

OOC: Rolling for technobabble ingenuity: Insight 10 + Science 2 + Focus: Unorthodox Thinking!

14:52, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 21 using 2d20 with rolls of 15,6.  Insight 10 + Science 2 + Focus: Unorthodox Thinking!

With Focus, I believe this is 2 Successes? Hopefully so!

There are no outgoing signals from the Klingon facility, which makes sense since the Away Team wouldn't be bothering to try to penetrate the neutronium.

And clearly the Klingons wouldn't be advertising the location of the facility.

Elle still can't punch a standard communication signal through the neutronium, even as thin as it is. However, as dense as neutronium is, its physicality doesn't extend into subspace.

Elle can use a short subspace signal as a carrier wave for the communication. It's only good for a short distance, but it should work in this situation.


As she's working on that, the sensors register another energy source... outside the cloaking field. Somewhere deeper into the Expanse. It's faint at first, but then begins getting stronger. It reaches a point where the Klingon ship apparently detects it. After a few minutes, the Klingon ship starts heading for the energy source.

The captain realized that the sensor distortion caused by the dark energy of the Expanse could very well hide an entire planet, so a powered-down ship didn't surprise him.

The Klingon ship moving towards this new reading was surprising. It essentially meant that the Klingon ship was abandoning the base. Unless... it couldn't possibly thing that this new reading was the Mongoose, could it?

Then again, when the Mongoose entered the cloaking field, it would have disappeared from the Klingon ship's sensors. The Klingons might have suspected that's what happened, but then when this new ship appeared, that could have confused the Klingons.

This all sounded reasonable in his head but was it accurate?

"Elle, have you been able to raise the Away Team yet?" the captain said to his Flight Controller.

"Wait! Can you contact the shuttle? I'm reluctant to just move away and let the Away Team think we may have abandoned them, but we can leave a message on the shuttle, can't we?"

"As soon as you do that, set a course for this new ship. We need to get there before the Klingon ship reaches it."

As Elle follows the flash of insight regarding how to reach the Away Team, her eyes are drawn to the sensors new data as well.

"Not yet — But! But this should work, I hope. If we can circumvent the neutronium's density via shorter frequency subspace carrier waves, our hail might reach the shuttle and our people inside the facility itself."

"And aye, sir," she said, kickstarting the Mongoose toward the mysterious new energy source. "Setting a course... as we speak."

Elle was probably shouting at this point, as she brought the ship into a smooth swooping curve — 

=/\= "Away Team, this is Mongoose, do you copy? Repeat, Away Team, this is Mongoose, do you read? We've picked up an unknown, but intensifying energy source from outside the cloaking field. We are en route to investigate — and if need be, intercept the Klingon vessel that's detected it as well." =/\=

— before flooring it, while finishing,  =/\= "Stay put, stay alive, and we'll be back!" =/\=

---

OOC: Thank you for the technobabble, GM!

How fast would we have to move to beat the Klingon vessel to the mysterious new energy source? Full impulse?

21:36, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 39 using 2d20 with rolls of 20,19.  Daring 10 + Conn 4 + Helm Ops Focus!

21:59, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 4 using 1d20 with rolls of 4.  + Bold: Conn Talent.

Hopefully, that is 2 Successes!

(Sorry, I rolled to add a threat before recalling I had Bold: Conn as a talent,
so hopefully I can use the Bold: Conn +1d20 instead of the below:)

21:37, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 13 using 1d20 with rolls of 13.  + Threat to re-roll?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Fri 11 Jan 2019.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 205):

" Away Team to Mongoose, We read. We will stay put on station. Away Team Out. You all heard Quinn. Prepare for a longer stay. "

Quinn had been able to get the signal through, mostly by bypassing the neutronium rather than try to punch through it.

There was still some subspace static, so the signal wasn't as clear as it could be, but it was understandable.


Reaching this other ship before the Klingon ship was going to be close, as dark energy of the Expanse made full impulse tricky. And the Klingon ship was clearly more familiar with traveling through the Expanse.

As it is, the Klingon ship gets within weapons range about a minute before the Mongoose does.

"Captain, the Klingon vessel will hit weapons range before we do, but —" Elle had contemplated crazier things, so why not? "— But I think I can beat 'em there anyway." She hoped.

Elle's fingers flew through the controls. Calculating courses for optimal shearing angles and... well, she'd been a good student. She'd pulled off a "Picard Maneuver" successfully before, as Flight Controller of the New York. This was a different of course. It didn't hinge on a trick, or surprise, per se. It hinged on getting there in one piece with a controlled overload jump through tricky terrain and shifting circumstances. Hopefully.

Hit a Warp Factor through the Expanse that could get them to the mysterious energy source, then cut back off just shy of their target, before the Klingons could do anything about it.

---

OOC: I'm basing my proposed action on the first example here: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Warp_jump.

Using my applicable focus (either Helm or Astronav or Unorthodox Thinking) and Talent (Bold: Conn):

21:07, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 10 using 1d20 with rolls of 10.  + Bold: Conn Talent
21:07, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 31 using 2d20 with rolls of 19,12.  Daring 10 + Conn 4.

GM, hopefully, that is 4 Successes!

(Edit: Sorry, originally had the +1d20 as Focus use, before realizing I meant it as Talent use instead, since the focus doesn't add an extra d20 but instead doubles successes.)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Mon 04 Feb 2019.

Elle's maneuver works, just not quite as well as she was hoping. Just as she engages the warp drive, the Klingon ship fires on the other ship.

And then the Mongoose arrives within weapons range.

Once in visual range, you can see a vessel slightly larger then a Defiant-class ship but shaped like an ancient Earth double sided battle axe with six blades instead of two--three stacked on top of each other on each side with a diamond shaped shaft ending in a diamond at the far end. The vessel is obviously damaged with gaping holes in numerous areas of the hull. There is also a massive hole in the rear of the vessel between where the warp engines and impulse engines are, which most would assume is where the vessels main engineering should have been.

You can also see markings on it that have vague similarity to Federation markings.

Sensors indicate that the unusual vessel is heavily armed and shielded, has a reinforced hull and thick ablative armor. The sensors also register six forward pulse phaser cannons, two forward torpedo launcher, six rear pulse phasers and a rear Type-Ten phaser beam array.

You also detect a triple core system, but all three are off-line at the moment.

Being well aware that this Klingon transport... correction: armed transport... had been the one that had destroyed the Catspaw, Anther was quite prepared to exact revenge on it.

Then again, he didn't know if the other ship was friend or foe.

He glanced at the sensor readouts on his console, and saw that the third ship was nearly dead in the water. It Human terms, it was a "sitting duck".

Andorians weren't particularly noted for rooting for the underdog, but some of the Federation may have rubbed off on him.

Whatever the cause, the situation didn't seem right somehow.

"Commander Krer," Anther advised his Tactical Officer, "Fire a warning shot at the Klingon transport ship... but make it hurt a little."

"That's so... Metal," Elle said to herself, but aloud, of the stacked double-bladed battle-axe in space, as it called to mind niche medieval-fantasy-turned-SciFi images from her study of Earth cultural history. And if its engines were already offline, were its quite formidable arms down as well?

Now that they were within such close range, Elle runs a quick sensor sweep of the mysterious vessel -- hopefully gaining useful information on crew lifesigns, and ship weapons' status, all while maneuvering the Mongoose in an escort-guardian flight pattern to protect the perhaps Federation-affiliated ship.

As she explored viable courses of action, Elle began to act on them immediately -- before belatedly blurting her thoughts aloud to the Captain, "If the battle-axe's weapons are offline as well, maybe the Mongoose can extend its shield envelope over the vessel — at least long enough to see if that ship is really on its last legs — and uh, if necessary, that its crew be beamed out and aboard! Uh.. sir."

Elle runs a scan of the strange starship and finds she's having trouble getting an accurate reading of the ship. At first, she attributes that to the dark energy of the Expanse. After trying to compensate for the dark energy, she finds that the sensors have already been recalibrated to allow for the dark energy distortion.

She forwards the data over to the Science Station where Deera Ren has taken over.

"Quantum," is Deera's instant response.

"See? Different quantum signature. If we compensate for that, some of your readings might make sense. Hmmm. It doesn't match any signature we have on file... which is only one, of course--the Mirror Universe. So the ship isn't from there."

"That's a relief. Those guys make the Klingons look like cupcakes."

"Sounds easier than it is..."

The phaser fire from the Mongoose struck the Klingon ship, but it wasn't at full strength, so there was only some minor damage to the hull. But, the Klingon ship knew it had been hit; it was clearly no match for the Mongoose, though, and immediately pulled away, out of weapons range.

Just before it did so, though, the Mongoose sensors picked up a transporter beam... to the other ship. Couldn't be sure, but it looked like 12 Klingons.

The sensors were also having trouble penetrating the alien hull. It was picking up life signs... maybe... at least three... perhaps as many as 10. They also detected a power core coming on line... three of them... none singly as powerful as the Mongoose's main power core, but, all together, perhaps equal.

The ship was also venting atmosphere and did not appear to have any internal gravity.

You receive an incoming comm from the 'battleaxe' ship: =/\= Hold your fire, we are not here to fight, our comms are not understanding your language and we have children aboard. =/\=

It appears to be in Caitian, though it's an unfamiliar dialect. The translator has no difficulty in translating it, however.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:19, Mon 18 Feb 2019.

=/\="Commander Skig,"=/\= the captain says over the comms, =/\="take an away team over to that new ship... double time! Expect combat with Klingons. Better take Lieutenant Svenson in case there are casualties and Commander Dypec to help with quantum adjustments."=/\=

It was unusual to send two separate away teams off to two separate locations, but Anther thought this would be a good test for the crew that was still on the ship. It meant many of them would have to step up into small and temporary leadership roles. If, somehow, the shrack hit the fan and they couldn't handle it, well, now was a good time to find that out.

It was always a point of contention whether to allow families and children on a starship. Those without families were usually against it, but those with families always maintained that they'd rather die with their families than die alone. Most families concurred.

"Children! How could they be so... Never mind. Open a channel to that alien ship," Anther directs. Once he's given the nod that the channel is open, he speaks.

=/\="This is Captain Anther th'Valla of the United Federation Starship Mongoose. You were attacked by a species known as the Klingons. We've detected that they sent a boarding team onto your ship. Our sensors indicate that your power is down and you are venting atmosphere."

"We are sending a team over to assist you to repel the boarders and to assist in repairing your systems."=/\=

Although she knew there was nothing she could have done to beat the Klingons to the other ship, Elle could not help but feel responsible for not getting the Mongoose there even a fraction of a second earlier.

"Sir, I don't know how much of that's ship crew is still alive, but if they need a pilot down there, I can fly anything," Elle said -- with such conviction that it was clearly not boastful bravado, but a desire to make amends.

OOC: I know that Zaxim Asida is on the Away Team for Flight Control, but I thought it would be in character of Elle to volunteer.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:09, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

=/\="Acknowledged, Chakat Sebastian,"=/\= the Captain replied over the comms to the other ship. =/\="I will attempt to inform my away team of the situation."=/\=

He then turns back to Ensign Quinn.

"Since there is no need for a pilot at the moment, Ensign Quinn," Anther responds to Quinn's request, "you'll need to stay here for now. If it can be flown like a shuttle, then those over there can do that. If it requires more than that, then we need to make sure the ship remains intact long enough to fly it. Then we'll see what is needed."

"Besides, who will fly this ship if you join the away team? We still have a Klingon ship lurking out there somewhere."

He then goes back to communications.

=/\="Captain th'Valla to Away Team Two. If you can read me, there may be a heavily armored ally attempting to deal with the Klingons. Repeat: armored ally."=/\=
This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Fri 01 Mar 2019.

Elle sighed inwardly, but remained steady in her resolve. Indeed there was potential danger afoot here and she was needed on the ship, "Aye, sir. Understood. I'll be ready."

This was a captain's most difficult task--waiting. He'd rather face an angry mugato than have to sit idly by while his crew went into danger.

"Someone has to push wind through the tuba, Ensign," he said to Quinn at her disappointed tone.

"Have we located that Klingon armed freighter yet? It's probably cloaked by now, though it does make you wonder why a freighter would be both armed and cloaked, doesn't it?"

The report from Commander Vinzz came over the comms; there was no reason for it to be secret, so everyone on the bridge heard it, as well as Anther's response.

"I still haven't decided if the worse part of being captain is waiting for the away teams to return or if it's the routine travel time between destinations," he commented to everyone, but was partly directing it to Quinn. She seemed to be having the hardest time with the waiting.

"Besides looking for the cloaked Klingon freighter, are we keeping watch on the surrounding space as well?"

"It may not seem likely that there'll be anyone else out here in the Expanse, but we've already got 4 such encounters in this one area. Admittedly, they are all interconnected somehow, but if there's something about this particular space that's drawing them here, then it follows that more could show up."

He pointedly didn't mention Romulans because if he did, they'd probably show up.

Elle breathed a sigh of relief at hearing positive reportage from the Away Team. They'd still have to wait, but at least their safety was in sight. Even if she and Commander Vinzz hadn't quite seen eye-to-eye before, she was glad to hear him *almost* give the okay on the Away Team's status now.

And at the Captain's comment, Elle half-smiled and nodded, "Aye, sir. All instruments in an orchestra. I'm just trying to stay in tune, so to speak."

"And I can only imagine," she said, this time about the Captain's follow-up confessing his own difficulty of waiting amid unseen dangers, "Some days I'm sure it makes you long for the two-fisted days of the mid-to-late 23rd century. Sometimes I do." she continued, perhaps in too casual or presumptious a manner. It was confident anyway.

Then Elle turned back to her control console, and set up a continuous sweep of the surrounding space, making certain her instruments compensated for the differing quantum signature — but without missing more "typical, terrestrial" dangers. What was it about this area of the Expanse? What did this space in particular provide? What was the common thread between the four encounters.

"I appreciate your patience, Ensign," the Captain responds to Elle.

"You'll get the hang of it before too long."

After he sees that the shuttle has left the asteroid and is returning to the ship, he adds:

"Keep an eye on the shuttle and the facility, Ensign, as well as that other ship and, of course, the surrounding space... not just for that cloaked Klingon ship but for any other surprises that might show up."

"You may have to grow a third eye to do all that."

"Plus, you have the Bridge. I'll be in my Ready Room. As soon as the shuttle docks, have the Away Team report to me in the Ready Room."

At the notion of having the bridge, Quinn's posture straightened. "Aye, sir," she said with more than a hint of a smile.

And as soon as the shuttle docked, she'd have the Away Team report to the Captain's Ready Room.

The turbo-lift onto the Bridge swooshes open letting out a tall, thin Bajoran male dressed as a member of Starfleet Operations. His pips indicate that he is a Lieutenant, J.G. Everyone's first impression of the new officer is an earnest sense of gravitas. Standing at the turbo-lift doors briefly he checks around the Bridge, getting a sense of who's who and what's what. He finally settles on the command chair where Ensign Saoirse Eleanor "Elle" Quinn now sits. Tucking down his uniform top he grimly makes his way towards her.

Standing at attention, he announces funereally, "Lt. Kalem Lenaris reporting for duty, Ma'am."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Wed 15 May 2019.

With her own penchant for pushing the envelope of Starfleet protocols when it came to decorum, Elle gave a crooked smile. "Just in time. I'm Elle Quinn. Welcome. And uh... at ease."

Then she keyed the comm, upon seeing the shuttle's return, =/\= "And welcome back, Away Team! Not a moment too soon at that. Commander T'Shran, Lieutenant Commander Vinzz, everyone. That shuttle in one piece is a sight for sore sensors. This is Quinn. When you're able, please report to the Captain's Ready Room." =/\=

This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Thu 16 May 2019.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 226):

Lt. Kalem stands at ease as described by standard Starfleet Protocol. With hands clasped behind his back, but with a relaxed upper body and shoulders slacked, he quietly speaks, "Ensign, forgive me but I am a little confused. You are obviously not Capt. Anthar th'Valla. If he is not available, should I be reporting to Cmdr. Miranda T'Shran or Lt. Cmdr. Skig jav Krer, instead?"

Elle nodded, "I do have the bridge, but it's true — I'm *not* Captain th'Valla."

Quinn stood from the command chair suddenly, with straight posture, to her full height of 6'3", likely in reaction to the Bajoran's formal bearing.

Moving across the bridge, she tapping her badge as she walked, "=/\= "Sir, this is Quinn. Good news via the third and fourth eye after all.
The Away Team shuttle has returned and I've relayed word for them to report to the Ready Room. And speaking of reporting..." =/\=

Elle activated the chime at the ready room door, "=/\= I have a Lieutenant Lenaris here, reporting for duty." =/\=

=/\= "Acknowledged, Ensign. I believe Lenaris is scheduled to relieve Renlo at ops. Have him do so, and just keep an eye on him till he gets settled in." =/\= comes the reply from the captain.

As the Bajoran lieutenant doggedly remains at ease by the command chair waiting for official permission to meet with the Captain, he surreptitiously scans the Bridge with his peripheral vision. [OOC-- What and whom does he see?]

Elle half-smiled to herself, =/\= "Aye, sir." =/\=

She turned back to the Bajoran, and gestured toward the whiskered Efrosian set to depart the Ops station, "The Captain is likely preparing for the debriefing to come. And so, if you're settled, Mister Lenaris, I doubt there's need for me to keep an eye on you."

"We're in the midst of a bit of a strange situation — that we'll hopefully learn more about when the Away Team returns. Commander T'Shran will be amongst those returning — and she may have more direct instruction."

"Thank you, Ensign." The Bajoran moves briskly to his position at Ops as the Efrosian lieutenant departs the Bridge.

"It's all yours, Lieutenant," Renlo says wearily in passing. "A drink and a quick meal for me at the Burrow. Then maybe some time in the Holodeck, if you know what I mean, eh?"

Kalem says nothing. Lt. Kelm Renlo "stared" after Kalem for a minute, then just shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the turbo-lift.

Sitting himself down, the Bajoran officer examines the Ops console in front of him. Then his fingers fly over the controls making the necessary adjustments to accommodate his Bajoran eyesight. Ops now "operating" at 100% efficiency. Excellent.

Now fully satisfied, he settles into his role as an Operations Officer for the Nebula-class starship. Machines. Technology. Science. These made more sense to the lieutenant, not social interaction. Kalem was never a "people-person" as his roommates at the Academy constantly pointed out to him. He was a thinker, a doer, a fixer, if you will.

Smiling to himself he checks out the vast panorama on the Bridge view screen in front of him. Then he turns his attention to the Ops console monitoring systems -- helm, tactical, and some engineering.

He examines the current status of the control and distribution of power and resources around the ship. He also inspected the various transporters and communications systems as well as shuttlecraft and tractor beams. He also familiarizes himself with the ship's personnel assigned to damage control teams. There would be no problems for the Mongoose if he had anything to say about it.

After a bit, Kalem slows down, then stops as a thought occurs to him. He turns to Elle. "I'm sorry, Ensign Quinn. You were saying something about a 'strange situation'?"

LT Katherine Allen Seward snuck onto the bridge as subtly as she could as she made her way over to the comm station.  She hadn't meant to oversleep but the follow up findings for her sister's shuttle accident were suppose to be released last night, and she'd stayed up hoping to find out more specifics on what would cause a Type 6 shuttle craft in good repair to spontaneously explode mid flight in the Sol System of all places.  The report either hadn't been released publicly yet, or was delayed again with what seemed like an endless maze of red tape surrounding the case.  That of course meant that she not only hadn't gotten the answers she wanted, but she also had lost half her sleep cycle as well.  Of course, they had to state they'd release it just before she had a shift on the bridge.

Taking her station Kate quickly knocked the ever present ponytail that she had off her shoulder and began to check on the mission status.

Elle nodded at Lenaris' question. It still seemed strange that the Captain left her in command with higher-ranking officers present, but she was glad for the trust she'd earned... despite the discomfort.

She gestured toward the remains of the "battle-axe"-esque starship they'd defended from the Klingons, "A cloaked Klingon freighter may still be out there. I had to — I mean, we had to — initiate warp just to get us here in time to fend them off, and prevent further casualties to that crew. The Captain sent a second away team to investigate and aid the survivors. The Klingons sent a boarding party before retreating. The Dark energy had been interfering with our sensors, but now, as you can probably see from the differing quantum signatures and the... unusual design of their ship, it's not one of ours, so to speak. Lt. Commander Deera says the signature matches the so-called 'Mirror' Universe. I'd say strange is about right, even for the Expanse.

Thankfully, we've just heard from the first Away Team sent to the Klingon facility, their shuttle craft has returned. Commanders Vinzz and T'Shran should be able to provide us more information about what they encountered — it's go a long way toward winding up one of these mysteries... I hope."


Then Elle turned to the woman who'd quietly assumed her post as comms, the movement of hair having caught her eye as much as the silent arrival. She cycled through names on the duty roster, as well as what communications had been relayed already, but found herself talking before settling on the right names.

"Any word from the second Away Team? I know they'd dealt with the Klingon boarders and it looks like the... Ancestor's got some life left in it."

"USS Mongoose to Away team, please report your status" Kate asks into the open channel as she tries to raise any sensor scans of the Ancestor's.  Due to her oversleeping she was behind on the overall mission status and what the objectives were.  Apparently this unknown vessel had been attacked by Klingons.

Kalem ponders the situation carefully for a bit and then asks, "Ensign? Would you like me to try to locate this cloaked Klingon vessel? I might be able to calibrate the ship's sensors to compensate for the Dark Energy phenomenon?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Mon 27 May 2019.

"Away team two reports that, they have and I quote "Greated some klingons to dream town' and are 'hoping to get the jump on some more'" Kate announces to the bridge from her position at the comm station. Turning her attention to Kalem "That likely would be a good idea, just encase they decide to try to get the jump on us."

Unaccustomed to being the one giving orders, rather than trying to come up a solution herself, or to otherwise be the first to spring into action, Quinn responded to Mr. Lenaris with a belated "Make it so," pulling her best Picard from memories of footage she'd seen and heard of the well known Captain.

And judging from the message relayed by Ms. Seward, someone on the second Away Team was no stranger to film, 20th-21st century Earth, at that. "Huh. Well... let's home none of ours join them on Dream Street. And if we're in contact with our people, then they may have been able to reach theirs. Sweep the area not only for the Klingon vessel, but for any communiques we might pick up."

=/\= "This is Lieutenant Commander Skig. We have 6 unconscious Klingons to be beamed up to security and then to be beamed down to the research facility." =/\=

The Away Team is requesting that we beam the six Klingons to the brig, and that they be beamed down to the facility on the surface. Kate relayed to the bridge as she focused on her task at the console doing a background scan for any unaccounted for communique in the area, across all known frequencies.  Trying to decipher if there are any other encrypted channels in use.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 239):

"Affirmative, Ensign. Commencing calibration."

[OOC -- How do I resolve a task? Specifically, I am looking to make a check for REASON + ENGINEERING (or SCIENCE) = 15. I would also like to roll more than 2d20. Should I use Momentum, Threat or Determination?]
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Tue 28 May 2019.

[OOC-- I also have the Technical Expertise talent.]

[OOC -- Okay. I think I figured it out.]

09:24, Today: Kalem Lenaris rolled 12 using 2d20 with rolls of 10,2.  Reason + Engineering (Sensor Calibration for Cloaked Klingon Vessel).
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Wed 29 May 2019.

The alien ship is not cloaked. The Klingon freighter is probably still cloaked, but it's probably out of range of the transporters. The Klingon facility is still cloaked, but it's out of range now, too.


Reason + Engineering for Lenaris equals 15, which is your TN (Target Number).

The Difficulty is 3.
> Transporting someone or something to or from the transporters would normally be Difficulty 0.
> Doing a site-to-site transport (from alien ship to brig) increases it to 1.
> Transporting from the alien ship which is both unfamiliar and of unknown construction AND it's from a different quantum universe increases it to 2.
> And transporting in the Shackleton Expanse with its dark energy increases it to 3.

So, your current roll only produces 2 successes.

However, you can roll an additional d20 for the Ship.

There is no current Momentum to use to roll more.

Your Value of 'Threw out the book and wrote my own' would be valid under the circumstances, so that lets you use 1 Determination (which would be an automatic roll of 1 and thus two successes).

Plus, you can gain one die for increase the Complication Range from 20 to 19-20.

[OOC -- Starmaster, thank you for explaining my PC's options and TNs. I have yet to play a complete game session of STAR TREK ADVENTURES and the game mechanics are still new to me.

Kalem has 2 successes so far. His value of "Threw Out the Book and Wrote My Own" will yield him two more successes, so that's 4 so far. I guess I might as well have him go for broke here. I will roll another die for the Ship. He also has the "Technical Expertise" talent, so he can reroll a die.

I don't know if this will help, but he also has a focus in "Transporters and Replicators".

So, what does this all mean? His original intention was to find the cloaked vessel. If he can beam people back and forth, that would be a bonus, but he only knows what he's been told.

Any guidance on this matter that you can provide would be appreciated.]

That was two different Tasks: finding the cloaked Klingon ship and beaming Klingons off the alien ship.

If you are attempting to find the cloaked ship, you don't really know if it is out there.

Finding a cloaked ship is normally a Difficulty of 2, not knowing whether it is still there or not increases it to 3. And the dark energy of the nebula increases it to 4. If  you choose to try and boost the sensors' range, that would increase it to 5.

You still need to roll for the Ship's Sensors. It has a different TN, though, based on the ship's systems. TN 12 (Sensors = 10 + Science =2)

So that would be 3 dice (of the limit of 5).

Using Determination (reduces your Determination score by 1) would add 1 die for a total of 4 dice, but it scores you 2 successes.

Normally, if you want to 'buy' another die by increasing the Complication range (to 19-20 from just 20; any roll of these numbers would cause a Complication), you have to state that before you roll dice.

But, I'll let you do that if you want. So, you have 2 dice to roll to get you 1 more success.

I'll assist him from my console. one success


19:14, Today: Katherine Seward rolled 2 using 1d20 with rolls of 2.

The Bajoran ops officer continues to work on his console, trying to locate the cloaked vessel and beam the Klingons off the alien ship. Fortunately he is assisted by Lt. Katherine Seward at communications.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
08:51, Today: Kalem Lenaris rolled 16 using 2d20 ((15,1)).

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Kalem has achieved 4 successes already. Katherine has assisted with another.

---

With Katherine's assist, Kalem is able to isolate the Klingon life signs on the alien ship, lock on with the transporter, and beam the six Klingons into the brig.

The transporter automatically removes or disables any weapons from the Klingons--it's standard protocol.

Now Kalem can turn his attention to finding that cloaked Klingon supply ship... if it's even still around.

Kate gives Kalem a confident smile and a sudden nod as she focuses on her duties at her station.  "good job sir." She comments more toward her screen then directly to Kalem.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Thu 13 June 2019.

Still looking at his control console, the Bajoran reports to Elle. "I have managed to isolate the Klingon life signs on the alien ship, lock onto them with the transporter, and beam the six Klingons into the brig..."

He then turns to look meaningfully at the communications officer. "... With Lt. Seward's assistance."

He then turns to Ensign Quinn. "Do you wish me to locate the cloaked Klingon supply ship, ma'am?"

"Great work, Mr. Lenaris – and Ms. Seward... and yes." Elle replied, before tapping her badge.

=/\= "Captain th'Valla, the Klingon prisoners have been safely transported to the brig, the second Away Team is... er, still alive , and are engaged in combat aboard the Ancestor. We are attempting to locate the Klingon vessel, although after our initial engagement, it appears not to pose an immediate threat."

"Have Commanders Vinzz or T'Shran uncovered anything urgent we should be aware of, sir?" =/\=
This message was last edited by the player at 20:57, Sun 16 June 2019.

In reply to Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn (msg # 253):

     Before any response to Elle's query is received, the door to the Captain's Ready Room snaps open and Lt. Commander Vinzz comes rushing out and onto the Bridge with a scowl on his blue face--only to suddenly come to a halt, his arms flailing almost comically as he stops.  His scowl turns to a puzzled frown as his eyes--and his antennae--sweep over the scene on the Bridge.

     "Where are the Klingons?!" Shard demands.

"The Brig, Mr Lenaris and I have managed to secure a lock on them and transported them off the unknown vessel and into our brig Sir." Kate said from her station.  Kate continues with her report to the LT Cmdr in charge of Security. "We've been unable to locate the Klingon Vessel as it appears to have gone to cloak, and possibly left the area.  There appears to still be a fire fight ongoing on the unknown vessel, and Klingon Facility at last update sir."

In reply to Katherine Seward (msg # 255):

     "Oh, there was never a firefight down at the Klingon Facility.  That was just us destroying pocket Universes.  Things are all quiet there, now." Shard says, still casting his glare around the Bridge,

     "And good job sending the Klingons straight to the Brig, uh..." Shard pauses to look towards Katherine, "Uh, Lieutenant.  Excellent work."

     "But somebody..." Shard again glares at everyone, "Just reported that the Klingons had been transported here, to the Bridge!  And prisoners or not, bringing any number of Klingons--who have just been engaged in their number one recreational pursuit of combat!--onto the Bridge would be reckless.  Agreed?"

     Shard loses the scowl, "As for a continuing firefight..."

     Shard reaches up and taps his comm-badge.

     "Vinzz to Security.  Muster all Security personnel immediately.  Wake off-duty personnel.  I want everyone--and I mean everyone!--equipped with light tactical gear and armed with Type-Three rifles.  Well, everyone except those officers guarding strategic areas on this ship."

     "When equipped and ready, the Security Force will beam over to this--what did you call it, Lieutenant?  Unknown Vessel?--right, Security Force will beam over to this Unknown Vessel and suppress all violent Klingon activity.  Inform the Force that they are authorized to...vigorously encourage our valiant Klingon allies to lay down and take a nap.  Am I understood, Chief?"

     =/\= "As crystal, Commander.  Standing orders are to stun anything that looks like a Klingon." =/\=

     Shard nods, then turns back to the Ready Room, "Carry on!" he says, going back in to report to the Captain.

Even before Shard leaves the bridge to return to the Captain's Ready Room, the following command comes over the comms.

=/\= "Belay that order, Commander! I've dispatched an appropriate Away Team to the alien ship to deal with the Klingons, which they've done successfully so far."

"Sending that many people over to the ship would be tantamount to an invasion, which would make us no better than the Klingons." =/\=

The ship and those on the bridge continue to monitor the surrounding space.

There are three unknown entities out there but there could be more. Some sort of confluence has brought those four things together at this time and place: the cloaked Klingon facility trying to create a forced singularity power supply, the Klingon supply ship that was responsible for destroying The Catspaw, this alien ship from an alternate universe, and... The Mongoose.

There were linking events for all of them, but was it mere coincidence that The Mongoose had encountered the Klingon facility?

And then there was the dark matter and dark energy of the Expanse. That itself was a phenomena worth investigating. And, of course, that was part of The Mongoose's mission.

Every so often, the sensors would get a blip on them, but it would vanish faster than it appeared... too fast to get any kind of accurate reading on it. That was mostly due to the distortion caused by the dark energy. It sort of pulsed... in that it was constantly being generated by subspace interaction. In a way, it was sort of a link between normal space and subspace.

Anyway, the blip could be the Klingon supply ship. Or it could be something else altogether.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 258):

Lt. Kalem sits behind the Ops console patiently waiting as he looks at his read-out screens. The Mongoose is definitely an "interesting" place in which to work, he thinks to himself. Lots of activity...

He turns his head to look at Elle.

"Ma'am? Ensign Quinn? Did you wish me to expand our sensor array pattern to encompass all of the missing pieces out there, or did you wish me to focus on any one bogie?"

He then turns his chair to face the command chair. "And perhaps it might enhance our scans if I can patch into Lt. Seward's comm station, as well. Maybe the two of us can get the job done, Ma'am."

The Bajoran tries not to look at the communications officer.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:16, Wed 03 July 2019.

Kate smiles at Kalem and nods from her station.  "I'm up for it if you are Kalem." she said as she began to sync her own console with Kalem's in anticipation of combined efforts to locate the cloaked ship or any other anomalies they were unaware of around the n-space rupture.

One of the reasons that there are still people manning helms and sensor stations is that the computer, for all it's sophistication, isn't capable of intuition. 90% of all computer programs include a delimiter. So, if a sensor sweep is being done of a particular area, for instance, rather than the computer showing all 6,753 results, the delimiter keeps the output to 2,000 (or whatever). Generally, the computer has a probability matrix that says to disregard anything less that 1%... or 5% or 10% or whatever that particular parameter calls for.

In the case of readings, if a result of .03% occurred, the computer wouldn't know what to do about that, even though it can process data 1,000 times faster that a person can.

A person, however, doesn't have to run through all 2,000 possibilities--she only has to look at the list and spot the single entry that looks 'hinky'. No one's been able to program hinky into a computer.

In this case, the sensors might pick up something that holds no meaning for its program but that Seward or Kalem might think is suspicious.

On the other hand, you're also talking about quantum physics... specifically, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory.

Thus, you might be able to tell where the Klingon ship is at a given instant, but that wouldn't be true an instant later. This is because it isn't the ship itself that you are detecting but the quantum energy signature.

It also includes distance, which is further complicated by the dark energy.

Even if you locate where it is, you probably won't be able to track it as long as the Mongoose is holding station near the alien ship.

Quinn nodded at Lenaris and Seward. Their working in tandem could/would work well. "A wider sweep for any anomalies, Mister Lernaris and Miss Seward — though I know we're amid a sea of anomalies. Even with Commander Vinzz's... er, spirited speech, I doubt the Captain would want us going on a wild goose chase in pursuit of this Klingon ship, at least not until Commander Vinzz is able to... speak with the Klingons beamed aboard, especially if it might incite war."

"To be honest, I'm more interested in anything related to the Ancestor — what brought it here, how and why," Quinn said, turning to look at the two officers who were already her senior, "Anything you two think might be revealing of that, on top of anything odd or suspicious your search yields, would get a clearer idea of the big picture!"

"Captain, I have the Ancestor on comms they are reporting that the Klingons have been neutralized on their ship and are requesting that they relocated outside of the anomaly so that it can reduce its effect on them. What are your orders sir?" Kate says into her comm badge as she hears the transmission from the Ancestors.  Her eyes going to focus on the alien ship with interest.

COMMS>>> "Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Have the rest of the Klingons beamed into the brig as well. But keep them unconscious. I don't want to have to worry about a diplomatic problem claiming they were mistreated."

"There is no known drug that will make them talk, even if they actually know anything. Not even a Vulcan mind-meld can extract information they don't have." <<<END COMMS

The captain exits his Ready Room onto the Bridge. He pauses for a moment before heading to the turbolift.

"We'll be receiving two members of the alien ship in a few minutes in the Transporter Room. I'm sure I'll be giving them a tour of the Mongoose so try not to stare too much when you see them."

"Barring any changes, we'll be heading back to the Klingon facility. We'll enter its cloaking field again to transport our Klingon guests down to the facility, so make sure we can penetrate the facility's structure."

"Commander Ren informs me there is no reason to leave the Expanse in order to assist the alien ship to return to its own universe, so we will continue on with our mission."

"Keep alert for that cloaked Klingon ship."

"After that, we'll set a course of 345-mark-5."

"Carry on."

With that, he leaves the bridge.

>>>>> Transporter Room.

"Well, that could have turned out alot worse then what it did.  Any sign of that ship on your end?" Kate says glancing at Kalem briefly from her station as she continues to monitor comm traffic and check for any anomalies that might hint at a cloaked vessel still being in the area.

The Mongoose uses its impulse engines to return to the Klingon facility, making sure the Ancestor can and does follow. If necessary, coordinates and heading will be transmitted to the chakat ship. Since there's no need for haste, the ships don't have to do a fly-by transport; they can stop, beam the Klingons down to the facility, and the leave.

There probably isn't room inside the cloak for both ships, so the Ancestor's crew can see if they can detect the cloak and penetrate it to detect the Mongoose. It only takes a few minutes.

Then, once outside the cloak, the two ships set a course on the heading the captain gave them.

You're now entering unknown territory... further into the vast region known as the Shackleton Expanse.

After just one day, the Expanse seems to change. There are pulsing lights out in the dust. They seem more like a Northern Lights effect that occurs in high latitudes.

Sensors easily detect the lights but can't see to figure out what's causing them.

Several shifts later, Katherine and Kalem are back on duty, as well as Elle. Lt. Commander Blackthorne, however, is sitting in the captain's chair.

Katherine is manning the Communications station, though expectations of picking up any type of communication is slim to none.

Kalem is manning the Sensors station. For the moment, this is the more important station on the bridge as no one has any idea what you might find out here in the Expanse.

Elle is manning the Helm again. Her stint in Command had been rather dull and routine.


At almost the same time, Kalem picks up three distinct and separate sensor pings, for, at this range, that's all that can be determined--something is there. The first is a ship... or something functioning as a ship. It's size is small, on the runabout scale.

The second is a life sign of indeterminate nature, possibly organic.

Both ship and life sign are coming from somewhere off the port bow.

The third sensor ping is from a sun... or system. It's still very distant, but the gravimetric sensors clearly register something up ahead... somewhere.

"Mr. Lenaris, what do you think is causing the lights? interstellar or localized radiation? Anything on sensors?" She asks wondering if there was anything that might interfere with her own scans.  A small smile slowly crossed her face as she glanced at the image projected on the forward view.  "Whatever is causing it its very beautiful"

Elle was glad to be back at the helm. While her turn at command of the bridge proved no great test, she was glad that ensuring the safe arrival of the Ancestor's crew had gone smoothly, and that nothing had gone awry "on her watch"... such as it was.

The Expanse, however, made sure nothing stayed routine for long. Upon registering the three distinct entities on their sensors, Elle turned to Lt. Commander Blackthorne.

"Shall I bring the Mongoose in for a closer look? And will it be door number one, two or three?"

"We are here to seek out new life and new civilizations, Ensign," R.T. tells  Elle, "and that sounds like both! Change course; take us closer to that life sign first! It may be in distress."

"All I'm picking up is quantum particles coming into existence, seemingly colliding with subspace motims and then disappearing," Lenaris finally replies to Katherine after he taps a few keys on the control panel.

"At a guess, I'm thinking it has to do with dark energy and dark matter, perhaps the conversion of one to the other... or the interaction of the two."

"It appears to be the subspace motims that are giving off the light as they change energy states due to the quantum collision."

"Aye, sir!" Elle says, with the corner of her mouth showing the beginnings of a crooked smile.

She shifts course and the ship closer to the first life sign at full impulse.

All while keeping her ears open for observations from either Mr. Lenaris or Ms. Seward, and her own eyes on the lookout for anything strange on her own sensors....

Well, anything stranger in any case, seeing as how they were already traversing the Expanse.

Kate frowns at the statement from Kalem and begins to scan the comm frequencies for any inconsistencies or interference to try to get a better grasp on what they might be dealing with by the exact emissions.  While also checking if the region is broadcasting any signals.

((OOC: Not quite sure what you are attempting to do, Katherine, but it sounds like you'd roll REASON + SCIENCE.))


Katherine doesn't detect any communication signals, but as the ship gets closer to the source of the life sign, she picks up a noise... at first, it seems like just background static from radio waves emitted by distant stars. She then realizes there's a repetitious pattern to it.

Just then, the ship reaches the location.

The scene is now detectable by sensors but also shows up on the viewscreen.

There appears to be some kind of iridescent creature moving through space without any obvious means of propulsion. It's somewhat long and sinewy, clearly has a head and what appears to be a tail and four legs. It's moving in a twisty pattern as it appears to be dodging attacks from the ship.

It's the ship that is the strangest sight, though. It looks like an ancient Earth longship like that used by the Vikings. It is complete with a bank of oars on each side, a gaudily red-and-white striped sail on a central mast, and a dragon figurehead.

Standing at the front of the ship, a single person is holding some sort of shoulder arm that he is firing at the creature.

((OOC: I could have sworn I put up this post! Apparently, I just wrote it in my head and then never actually posted it!))


"HELM! Put us between that... ship and the creature!" R.T. said.

"Maybe it's just a whaling operation, or maybe it's an Ahab Scenario! Either way, I want some more information!"

"What are the sensors reading? About the creature and the ship? There's no way that kind of ship should be out here in space!"

Even moment to moment, the Expanse never failed to surprise.

Quinn gunned it to Full Impulse immediately, hoping their shields would hold up against... well, whomever or whatever that was out there, be it manifestation of ancient cultural memory or otherwise.

"Aye, sir!" Elle said, long after she'd already set the ship on its way.

---

17:42, Today: Saoirse Eleanor 'Elle' Quinn rolled 33 using 2d20 ((19,14)).
Daring 10 + Conn 4 + Helm Ops Focus!

OOC: 1 or 2 Successes?