Deck 1 - Main Bridge

Conn and Ops stations are placed forward of the central Captain's chair.

To the Captain's left: tactical and the first officer's stations.

To the Captain's right: communications and science officer's stations.

Captain T'leera walked stepped off the lift and onto the bridge of her first, official command. She watched for a moment before assuming her seat in the Captain's chair and keying comms for the 1MC system.

"Attention crew of the USS Phoenix. This is the Captain speaking. All department heads send a report with your status and readiness for departure. T'leera out."

"Sickbay reports ready, all systems operational," Devon's voice said over the commlink, while the computer acknowledged receipt of the official status of the Sickbay.

Valéria gave herself a second to run her fingers over the Tactical Station. She was going to have to get to know this station well, and it was good to get to know your equipment. But the Captain had given and order, and the moment quickly passed. A few presses of some key LCARS icons, and the relevant information began scrolling across her displays.

"Shield emitters operating at full power. Phaser banks fully charged, no power interruptions. Tactical scanners working in harmony with long-range and scientific scanners. Security reports readiness on all decks," Valéria informed the Captain, with clipped, efficient tones.

Norn took a note "The yard has given us the all-clear.
Post yard check reveals all systems are within federation specifications.

The wiring and power and CPU irregularities have been noted in the ship's log.

My department reports all spares loaded and full crew complement aboard.
"

Though everything was within specifications, if they launched and something went wrong enough to kill someone, it would still be his and the captain's fault. It was up to the Captain first and him second.

He'd made sure he knew what the issues were, and that he could probably mitigate the most serious issues with some preemptive systems modifications.

He'd already noted his issues with the wiring and surge protectors to the captain and the yard.

But unless they wanted to basically rebuild the ship from scratch, there was little they could do about it.

These sorts of decisions were very new to him, but they were just a reality of being a section head.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Fri 04 Mar 2022.

Iren is busy familiarising himself with the science station, and only remembers to get a report from his department, when the captain’s words remind him.  Not that there is that much to check on - so long as the sensors are operating correctly.  We’re they?  Where?  Yes.  It seemed functional.  “Science systems are nominal.  All crew present.  Ready for departure“

Kota has managed to hurry from the piping aboard ceremony to the bridge while the new captain has been shown the way, making introductions all the while. He is at his station by moment when she steps aboard the bridge. He stands tall, and speaks clearly when his station is called.

“Operations is ready across the board, Captain. Ready to depart.”

"Very good. Remove all moorings and docking clamps," the Captain ordered before activating the 1MC. "Attention crew - make ready for departure. We are undocking and shall soon be traveling to our assigned patrol sector.

"Our orders are as follows: 'the USS Phoenix is hereby ordered to travel to Sector 045/34 - 052/32 and begin patrolling along the Romulan Neutral Zone forthwith.' With that in mind, any contact or suspicious activity is to be investigated and dealt with expeditiously. It is believed by Starfleet command that Romulan ships or probes have been crossing the Neutral Zone for reasons unknown. We are to determine if this is so and, it the intelligence proves correct, why they are doing so.

"I have made the ship upgrades available to your PADDS and work stations but I shall summarise: the upper module contains advanced phasers, photon torpedo launchers, upgraded and additional sensors, and a cloaking device. We will test all of these systems whilst we are en route to our assigned sector. Captain out."

She noted they were away from the starbase and in the zone where use of engines would not interfere with starbase ops. "Please lay in a course to Sector 045/34 - 052/32, half-impulse."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:42, Sat 05 Mar 2022.

Valéria was quite pleased to be getting underway. The first mission of her new position on a new ship. Despite her outward stony demeanor, she was practically buzzing with anticipation. Until the Captain mentioned the cloaking device that they would be testing, and her mood faltered for a second, and she blinked in confusing for a second, making sure she and heard the Vulcan correctly.

"A...cloaking device, Captain? But, the Treaty of Algeron..." she began, afraid that the shameful stain of the USS Phoenix was about to continue.

"I understand the presence of a cloaking device on this ship is controversial but the orders to install came directly from Starfleet Command as did the indications for its use. Admiral Kirchner gave the orders and SOP himself and stood firm in the face of my own misgivings about having it. We have our orders and we shall follow them, Lieutenant."

She checked the ship's position and nodded.

"If the course is laid in please take us to Warp five. Engage."

Controversial would be one way of describing a Treaty violation.  Science Divison was well aware of the Treaty of Algeron and often chafed against it.

Iren swivelled his chair to face the Captain.  Biting back stronger words, he spoke. “I suggest that the senior officers meet at the earliest opportunity to discuss this matter.”  As should have been done before announcing it to the entire bridge..

He figured there would be some kind of new tactical system, but not that it would be a cloaking device. No wonder they'd locked him out!

Why mount an illegal cloak on the one Federation ship that had committed an act of war on a "civilian" target with a "neutral" power less than a year ago? And then patrol the neutral zone?

Even if this was just to test anti-cloaking technologies, the sheer optics of this move were hideous and likely to cause an international incident, if not a straight-up war.

He took a deep breath and centred himself. It was possible that this had been done as a joint operation if the Federation was now trying to co-operate in the face of the Borg, but the goals of Starfleet completely escaped him.

One thing that made him pause was the presence of Kotar Krenn Sogh. Why on Earth would you want a Klingon exchange officer for something like this.

Captain, I concur. In addition to the.. legal issues, I have specific departmental issues to discuss.

Namely, that given the wiring and CPU issues, and the fact that he'd never set eyes on the cloak itself, he had no idea whether it was safe for the ship. In fact, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Sun 06 Mar 2022.

"I fully intend on holding a meeting of department heads and senior staff, Lieutenant. I will  explain what the current situation is at that time. For now I ask you to keep your minds on your work," the Captain told them all, voice cool and seemingly unflappable.

Norn nodded and returned to his engineering station, and tried to put it out of his mind.

It was depressing, but his thoughts also went to how he could potentially overload the cloak if he absolutely needed to.

"Aye-aye, Captain," Valéria responded neutrally.

She returned to monitoring the Tactical Station, but made sure to note the time in her Duty Log, just in case she was called on to give an official statement later, with either Starfleet Command, or the federation Council. If nothing came of it, and everything was above-board as the Captain indicated, then there was no harm in the simple act.

If the Captain was not telling the truth, well, then her time serving under the Vulcan would end a lot sooner than she had anticipated.

"I will station additional security around the new, sensitive equipment," she informed Tleera, signalling the closest team to reassign their position.

"Very good, Lieutenant. Your initiative speaks well of your character. Please continue to act admirably, all of you," T'leera told them.

She opened the overhead comms. "This is the Captain speaking. There will be a meeting of all department heads and senior staff in my ready room in one hour. Captain out."

Captain, I would suggest I and Mr. Sogh make a cursory investigation of the equipment before the briefing for the next 50 minutes or so.

Naturally, non-weapon and defensive systems were the provision of operations and engineering. Tactical would probably be all over that as well later, but they needed to see how it would affect other ship systems first.

He was curious to know if this was some reversed engineered Romulan or Klingon technology, and (most importantly) to see what kind of danger the ship was in if it was turned on.

Klingon ships were sleek and lean with slight profiles. Romulan ships had gobs of power to spare thanks to their insane quantum singularity cores. Norn was quite curious to know how they'd pulled this off, and he suspected it would impress or horrify him. Possibly both.

"A better understanding of exactly what this is would be helpful if we are to advise you on the technological implications of this device."

The political implications were up to others.

T'leera turned and looked at both of them. "Lieutenant Krenn is eminently qualified for this. This proposal is acceptable. Please carry on, Lieutenant Norn; I expect a briefing when we have our meeting."

Kotar had been keeping himself busy in his seat in front of the captain's chair, next to the helmsman's station, watching the flow of data around the ship's systems, monitoring the constant exchange of communications between the crew of the vessel and those they were about to leave behind in the form of text messages, and full VR streams. When they jumped to light speed and beyond, those would be cut off.

At the same time, he had kept the conversation and flurry of concern about a possible cloaking device installed on this vessel in the focus of his mind. Listening without contributing to the tense interplay between the captain the line officers on the bridge.

When the very young Lt. Norn suggested that he accompany the Zakdorn to inspect the device, he was both eager and cautious. The captain's authorization stirred him into action. He had already alerted a junior Lieutenant in his line of command to come to the bridge, and when she arrived, he handed over his post to her with the appropriate formalities.

"Ready when you are, Lieutenant Norn," he spoke softly to the Chief Engineer, nodding at the captain to ensure she understood they were both on their way to inspect the cloaking system.

Iren turns back to his console and busies himself with the instruments.  For now it’s just routine checks - more to make sure that nothing is wrong or noticeably out of calibration.  Also he’s thinking about how to handle himself in the meeting.  He felt uncomfortably junior to be the most senior officer after the captain.  Right now would be a very good time to have the XO on duty.

"Of course, Lieutenant!" He made a note to Engineering that he was going to be off bridge monitoring for the next two hours or so, and made his way onto the turbolift.

So.. where is the cloak, thread-wise? Operations?

It’s in the pod which, if I understand the deck list correctly, is only accessible by a ladder well that runs up the support pylon from the secondary hull… also, inside the pod is very spartan… it is built to be easy(ish) to swap off the ship and therefore very no frills…

Let’s post in Auxiliary Operations for the IC stuff

Well, look at that. The door to the bridge slides open and Commander Rebbek Brynn enters. She gives a tug to the bottom of her red uniform, struggling for a moment with the fit. But then she's back, striding in. She sends a smile and a nod toward the Science Officer and the command she used to hold. For a moment it looks like she might talk toward him, but then at the last moment the young woman seems to remember and change course.

"Captain. Apologies for my tardiness. Just handling some last minute-" she pauses, looking around. "Oh, so it appears I missed the big announcement?"

T'leera stood and faced her XO, raising her hand in the Vulcan manner of greeting. "Commander. You did indeed which, I'm quite sure I would be relieved to have missed if I was sensitive to emotional reactions and barely controlled anger and misgivings. Were I an emotional being I would have been angered by the reactions of those who do not know the entire story"

She sat down and waited for her XO to find her seat. "I have called a meeting in the ready room which is due to commence in 14 minutes, 32 seconds. At such time all will be explained."

"Captain?" calls out the Ensign at the bridge engineering station. "There has been an overload in a power coupling on deck 12. We're sending a repair team now, but Sickbay has lost power."

"Thank you, Ensign," T'leera said as she stood up. "You have the conn, Commander Brynn. Please make sure Lt. Norn is notified."

She walked quickly to the lift. "Sickbay."

She stepped off and made her way into Sickbay and looked around for any medical personnel who didn't currently appeared occupied. "What is our status? I understand there was an overload in a power coupling which has deprived Sickbay of power. Engineering crews have been dispatched."

Her sensitive eyes pierced the darkness and saw the injured crew member. "Status report, doctor. How was this man injured so soon after we were underway and what are his injuries?"

-----> to Sickbay

Edit: tidying up location for PC action (since the Captain moved to Sickbay)
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:34, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

Iren looks towards Brynn.  “Commander.  Permission to speak freely?”

Brynn takes a seat in the First Officer's chair. She tests out the feel of it, tilting her weight gently from side to side. Her legs cross, then stop, then cross the other way. Eventually she ends up with her legs in the first arrangement while she turns herself toward the Science Officer.

"Please. Pontificate."

Pontificate?  What was “pontificate”?  Never mind.  “Thank you sir.“

Iren takes a breatH  to steady himself.  “The captain’s attitude concerns me.  The presence of a cloaking device on this ship is a serious matter and I believe that the senior officers should have been fully briefed before it was announced.  Especially given the…delicate matter of this ship’s reputation.”. He shuts up after that, because that is really enough.

"Noted," Commander Brynn says with confidence, as she turns her chair back toward the main display screen. "Let's begin with routine systems and... Who knows, maybe even send that message the Captain asked for to Lieutenant Norn? That sounds like fun?"

"Message sent to Engineering and acknowledged." the officer at the Engineering station reports. "All systems within normal tolerances aside from the power distribution overload on deck 12. Repair teams will arrive to address the problem shortly."

Kotar returned to the bridge but did not relieve his junior at the Opps Station. He had an imminent meeting with the captain in the Ready Room and stepped to one of the auxiliary control surfaces to initiate a ship-wide diagnostic survey. A failure in a small sub-system might be chance, but this was a newly refitted ship, and if the refit crew had been hasty . . . He'd rather be safe than sorry.

@Kotar Perform a Scan 19:24, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Kotar Krenn Sogh, rolled 8 using 2d6 ((6,2)). WEAK SUCCESS Hold +1

Precise Scanner +1 Hold

Spending 1 Hold on your behalf to answer the question: 'what has happened here' - you keep 1 hold to use as you see fit.

The operations diagnostics confirm that the refit was done by the book. The fail safes on deck 12 didn't malfunction, they were deactivated. You track the cause of the problem to a manual over ride; someone using the former Captain's access codes deliberately shut down the power buffers.

Kotar squirts the relevant data to the Chief Engineer and the Captain on a secure channel. He notices that Norn has already placed a security alert on any use of those credentials again and begins a deeper probe to see if he can determine exactly when and where the override was initiated. And what other "updates" may have been authorized by the same credentials in the last few days.

@Kotar spend 1 Hold.

The power distribution buffers were shut down back in repair dock, just over 24 hours ago, during the welcome reception on Starbase 211. The overload was caused by the power fluctuations that Engineering has been working to fix and wouldn’t have been a catastrophic failure if the buffers hadn’t been sabotaged.

There are four other instances of access using the same authorization. All from the same time. Three target overload buffers elsewhere in the ship.  Engineering can probably figure out how solve those issues.

The fourth lies deep in the communications array.  You can’t tell what it does or how it works, you’ll need to take the array offline to get at the potentially malicious code…

Norn made his way to the bridge, checked in, and then made his way to the ready room. There was a lot to discuss.

He tried to keep the concern off his face, well, more than a junior officer would have just for having his position.

Iren took a moment to finish checking over the console (and making sure of the layout).  Then he proceeded to the Ready Room, as per the captain’s order.  Maybe some explanations at last.  And they’d have to be good.  Good enough that - at the least - the Romulans couldn’t easily dismiss them,

—> Ready Room
This message was last edited by the player at 09:06, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

Commander Brynn looks up from whatever bit of reading she'd snuck into the brief moment of calm. "Senior staff, to the Ready Room?" she politely offers the order, a smiling request. "Lieutenant Monroe? Please watch the bridge. It's easy. Just make sure we don't run into anything."

—> Ready Room

"Aye, Commander," Valéria replied, logging out of the terminal.

With a nod, she allowed a Junior Lieutenant female Kelpien named Seelo to take the Tactical Station. That done she followed the Commander into the ready room, her face already set in a grim line.

To: Ready Room

Only once everyone was present and seated did the Captain turn and take her seat. "We will begin this meeting with a briefing by Lt. Norn and Lt. Krenn. Please inform us what you what whilst analysing the power grid and attempting to determine the cause behind the loss of power to Sickbay."

Edit: moved post to Ready Room
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

Returning to the Bridge, Kotar does not relieve the junior lieutenant at the Opps station, leaving her in charge of the routine functions of helping to run the massive starship. Instead, he moves to one of the side panel interfaces and summons up a series of utility screens to plot his deep analytical probe of the many subsystems. He will spend time here putting together an overall strategy of how to find any hidden pitfalls the saboteur may have created.

Ready Room —>

Arriving back at the Science station, Iren sets to work.  Figuring that the sensors might be sabotage targets, he commences scanning local space with the full range of instruments correlating the results and looking for anomalous readings.

@Kotar Perform a Scan 10:26, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Kotar Krenn Sogh, rolled 9 using 2d6 ((6,3)). WEAK SUCCESS Hold 1

@Iren Perform a Scan 10:27, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Lieutenant Commander Iren Thatyil, rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((3,5)). STRONG SUCCESS Hold 3

As you both probe the ship's subsystems, you are met with another signal doing the same thing. It looks like someone working in Security is chasing after the same ghosts in the machine. With a few quick adjustments to your control panel, you are able to network your panels directly to the security office.

"Crewman Laillalos here Sirs." comes the reply, "I'm currently scanning the communications and subspace emitters, but haven't noticed anything amiss. Whoever buried these problems in the system was really good with automated subroutines and algorithmic manipulation."

Spend Hold to ask a question or add a detail.

Taking his findings, and Crewman Laillalos‘ information into account, Iren assesses the situation, and formulates a plan to uncover any further sabotage to the computer systems.

Spend 1 Hold: What should I be on the lookout for?

@Iren Running through the diagnostics logs, you see that so far the saboteur or saboteurs have focussed their efforts on sub processors controlling major subsystems. They tampered with existing code to make the systems less robust and prone to failure while avoiding inserting something foreign that would be picked up in scans. Nothing about the systems they have tampered with seems targeted. The Sickbay incident could have happened in Astrometrics, Auxiliary Systems or Communications. It just happened in Sickbay first.

I spend 1 Hold to Establish a Fact, and I think this will qualify as Spout Technobabble (even if it doesn’t strictly match the description). Regardless of that Insightful Analysis lets me give Advantage Forward to the first roll following up on this

Iren looks over the data, until he sees another anomaly.  He reports over the comms to the others working on the problem  “The saboteurs have inserted a worm program interfering with authentication - it hides the revocation of Captain Maxwell’s command codes from the subsystems..  We must eradicate the worm and revert the subsystems to untampered code.  We may require a phage program to guard against further instances of the worm.  Until the worm is neutralised our efforts to undo the sabotage may swiftly be undone.”

"We are barely under way and already we are fighting poisonous code," growls Kotar. "Should we not return to the star base and have the main processors restored from a clean copy of the ship's memory banks?"

He's well aware that the Klingon way would be to tough it out and fix it on the fly, but he had thought the Federation more level headed in their approach to problems. And their Captain is a Vulcan, legendary paragons of logic. Surely it makes most sense to get the problem fixed by experts while they have them close at hand. They have barely left the ship yards.

Of course there may be saboteurs back on the star base who would simply reinstall the bad code more carefully hidden next time, but it is equally probable that the saboteurs are actually on the ship right now, among the many new crew members. Or even someone from the previous complement who knew the old captain's codes.

To use an analogy from the age of wheeled traffic, it seems like they are trying to fix a flat tire while the car is still moving.

@Kotar As you mull over human fallibility and the futility in continuing the voyage while the ship systems are compromised, fate seems to intervene.

On your comms panel:

>>>Priority Transmission
>>>All channel distress call

"zzzt science vessel Horizon en route zzzt Gamma Lilsis 26 Dubhe Sector zzzt attack, ambushed we lost our sensor array and zzzt zzzt unknown can't tell if zzzt still out there zzzt zzzt impulse malfunction, warp offline, dead in the water zzzt zzzt zzzt ... mayday mayday, science vessel Horizon..."

You get most of the message before the subspace channel collapses.

"Captain!" Kotar slaps his communicator to initiate a priority channel. "I am picking up a distress call from a science vessel . . . the Horizon, en route to the Gamma Lilsis 26 Dubhe Sector. They have been attacked and may still be in danger from an unknown assailant."

He pushes the original message thread to the Captain and the Science Officer, adding routing to Medical and Engineering as an afterthought.

<---- From: Ready Room

"Yellow alert," the Captain said as she stepped into the bridge. "Set an intercept course of the Horizon, warp seven. Ready weapons and shields."

She looked at her First Officer and nodded. It was time to get to work. She glanced over to her Ops Officer and nodded to him. They would see what this ship could so but also use the opportunity to try and flush the saboteurs into the open.

"Engage."

In reply to Lieutenant Commander Iren Thatyil (msg # 46):

"I see what you mean Sir," replies Crewman Laillalos over the networked array of workstations. "My review of the central computer confirms that Maxwell's access codes were removed according to security policy. It seems like the worm allows a local over-ride but fortunately it isn't system wide."

In reply to Captain Tleera (msg # 50):

"Aye Captian," reports the officer at the helm. "Estimated arrival time, 9 hours 37 minutes."

“Very good Lieutenant“ Iren levellly replies to Norn.  “Do you believe that you can solve the problems within nine hours? We have a developIng situation”. As he speaks, he touches controls on the science station, monitoring the situation

"Perhaps we can work together," Kotar approaches the other two officers: Thatyll and Norn. "We have some hours during which the ship will be in warp flight and our juniors can man our stations on the bridge while we adjourn to the Auxiliary Control Room and wrestle with the worm there. So we do not disturb the others."

He laughs, a short barking sound.

"I have a tendency to use . . .  colorful language when I am trying to solve a knotty problem."

“That seems like an acceptable plan” Iren replies, nodding.  His antennae swivel, surveying the atmosphere on the ridge.  “Captain, with your permission?”

T'leera gave him a small nod. "Carry on, Commander. Once you've purged the malicious code then we'll run a test on the new systems. The alert from the Horizon indicated the ambushing craft was still in the vicinity."

“Very good, Captain” Iren replies.  “Let us go.”  He turns to the communicator. “Mr Norn, please meet us in the Auxiliary Bridge where we will combine our efforts against the computer sabotage.”

—> Auxiliary Operations Systems
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Fri 01 Apr 2022.

Aye Commander

Norn swiftly made his way to the aux bridge to work this mess out.

@Tleera

=^= Sub-Commander Calaar to the Captain. I trust things have settled down and I could not help but notice that we have altered course. I will need to provide an update to the High Command. Can I trouble you for some details? =^=

From: Security

Lieutenant Serrano stepped off the Turbolift and relieved the officer covering her station as she resumed her place at Tactical.

"Captain, I now see possible hostile ship engagement as part of the ongoing Yellow Alert. I apologize, I was supervising my staff and making several sensitive inquiries. What is the situation?" she asked, quickly trying to discover the possible danger.

"And I can report my team's findings, and the result of my inquiries to you hear or in private at your convenience," Valéria asked, after she had made sure Security was forwarding her details liked she had asked.

=^= We've received a distress signal and have changed course to provide aid. =^=

She looked up when Lt. Gomes spoke and gave her a small nod. "No need to apologise, Lieutenant. We received a distress call from the USS Horizon and have moved to provide aid. Their message indicates they were set upon by an unknown vessel and have lost their sensor array, warp, and impulse."

She stood and walked for her ready room. "My ready room, please. I am interested to hear what you found."

To: Ready Room-------->

This message was last edited by the player at 17:42, Sat 02 Apr 2022.

"Aye Captain," Lieutenant Serrano replied, immediately turning her station back to the lower Tactical Officer.

She followed the Captain to the Ready Room without further comment.

To: Ready Room

@Tleera

=^= Very well. I should hope that I will be able to add detail to explain our delay to my government. I will let them know once we resume our primary mission. =^=

Phoenix speeds toward the Horizon's distress call, dropping out of warp on the edge of a densely packed system around Lilsis. Over two dozen planetoids and moons are jammed around the star into a section of space no larger than the distance between Mercury and Earth. Keeping your distance outside the orbit of the outermost planets, there are flashes of hot gas and crackling ionic lightning as volatile tekasite asteroids collide in the rings of the largest planet, Lilsis 26.

Without any efforts, you detect a debris trail, it's clear that a ship was badly damaged, but it doesn't seem to be enough debris to indicate that a ship had been destroyed. There is no sign of Horizon.

"Raise shields," T'leera called out as they arrived at the destination. "Scan for the Horizon, please."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Kotar replied, already scanning the local region of space for any objects of interest.

A quick button combination brought the indicator lights and display of a fully functioning defensive shield.

"Shields up Captain. Shall I charge Phaser banks and load Photon Torpedoes?" Lieutenant Serrano asked with the same casual tone that someone might inquire as to what lunch a friend was getting from the Replicator.

"Yes, please," T'leera responded to Lt. Serrano as she made some calculations as to where the Horizon could go given the amount of damage it sustained and the fact that their warp drive was offline.

She pressed a panel on her chair and brought up the internal comms. "All hands to action stations, this is not a drill. All hands to action stations."

She turned to look at her bridge crew and nodded. She was satisfied by what she saw and sensed amongst the officers and ratings on the bridge.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:19, Fri 22 Apr 2022.

Without comment, Lieutenant Serrano entered the series of commands in order to make it so. As she did, she felt the thrill of immanent danger flood through her body, and it was all she could do to suppress a grin. This is where she belonged. She didn't seek violence, but she thrived when it happened. Honestly, she completely understood the Klingon's eternal search for glory, even if she thought it was antiquated. She would rather protect than conquer, but she understood the addictive nature of star-ship battle.

Almost as an afterthought, she keyed Security to battle stations and emergency protocols. They might have casualties teleporting aboard soon, after all.

Sirin showed up at the bridge and immediately went to the engineering console.

He made sure someone was at the main engineering "pool table" as well.

"You heard the lady, Red Alert!" Brynn said checking the ship's status on her command console.

@Brynn, @Serrano

Red Alert 14:29, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Commander Rebbek Brynn, rolled 7 using 2d6+2 ((2,3)). WEAK SUCCESS Hold 1

Shields at 100%, Phaser arrays charged and ready, all combat systems nominal.

---

@Norn Power distribution in Sickbay is back to normal and while there are still some power fluctuations impacting on minor subsystems, it's nothing that stops Phoenix from being combat ready.

Engines at half impulse and purring like a tribble.

Phaser banks, torpedo launchers, sensors and the cloaking device mounted in the pod are all operational.

---

@Krenn

Perform a Scan 14:23, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Kotar Krenn Sogh, rolled 10 using 2d6 ((5,5)). STRONG SUCCESS
Hold 2 and I'll answer 'What just happened here?'

Sensors are picking up a moderately size debris trail. Based on the composition of the metallic alloys in the debris, you easily determine that it comes from a Federation ship. Several larger pieces of debris obviously came from a Federation ship's warp nacelles confirming the message in the distress call that Horizon is dead in the water.

With the interference from the tekasite and the time that has passed since the attack, you aren't picking up any lingering energy patterns that might identify a weapons signature and the carbon scoring on the debris is consistent a number of energy weapon systems but the thermal residue on several sections of what looks like Horizon's warp nacelles could only have been caused by Federation photon torpedoes.

Could Horizon have been attacked by another Federation ship?

Kotar plots the debris trail to determine the likely position of the Horizon based on the vectors of the expelled detritus. He also sets his sensors to sweep along the trail for signs of life.

Kit at receives an intercom call from Iren The worm is proving a little troublesome.  Assistance would be welcome

From Stellar Cartography

"Bring the extra sensors up and scan the debris field, please," the Captain calmly called out. The thought that a Federation vessel had attacked Horizon was troubling but assuming, making calls was not the Vulcan way. She needed data before she concluded anything. For now all they could do was continue and hope there were survivors.

Sadly hope was not a plan.

T'leera was well-known for being very powerful in the telepathic arts used by her people. She was also one of the few vulcans capable of telekinesis which, whilst useful, was rather draining. Scanners could be beaten or avoided but there was no hiding the amount of minds present in a starship which she looked for; casting her mind into space in an attempt to find the Horizon and/or her attacker.

“Aya, aye, Captain,” Kotar acknowledged, continuing his sensor sweep of the area.

@Kotar The debris trail leads deeper into the system, but conclusive results are difficult due to tekasite interference.

If you do something to counter that interference, spend hold and tell me what you find in that sensor sweep.

---

@T'leera Your mind stretches into the void of space. Even in these relatively tight astronomical confines, the distances are incredibly vast. But, there is something out there. Hundreds of minds, out there in the cold and dark, huddled together, afraid.

"The crew of the Horizon is out there. Alive, cold, and afraid," the Captain called out. "I'm attempting to ascertain their location. Stand by to make course changes."

She continued searching for them, attempting to narrow down where they were and if there was something else out there, waiting to strike.

He was no tactical officer, but he'd literally lost his mother to a situation like this.

He didn't really have time to mess with the stellar cartography worm, as that would require him to be there. Instead, he downloaded the sensor readings from science and put them through his tactical database.

Torpedos had their own distinctive markings from their detonations. A skilled science officer like Kotor could figure out a lot from reading the energy patterns, work out the explosion patterns, and extrapolate what happened.

But an engineer like Norn could do other things.

Now that he had access to the readings, Norn could examine the sensor data and apply his own knowledge of both Starfleet ship systems and modifications. Such as the infamous Orion engine doubling phenomenon, or dangerous "overloaded" torpedos, proximity detonators, or even faked damage.

Scan 22:23, Today: Lieutenant(jg) Sirin Norn rolled 6 using 2d6+3. Eww!

OOC: He'll do that. No idea how.