Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Oct 28, 2020 19:17:34 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles- Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ]As message receipts were chiming on his console, Niles found himself both relaxing, and getting more nervous at the same time. Whatever was going to happen, it would be over in the next few minutes. There were many moving parts, and any of them could go wrong and that could spell disaster for the mission either in terms of lives, or the Scalpers could run away and regroup later... Part of command was to send people to possibly face their death and being able to live with it in at the end of the day. Intellectually he knew he'd wrung everything he could out of his people, that he'd come up with the best series of options to provide to the Skipper he could, and now it was all out of his control. "Aye, Skipper," he quietly acknowledged as he kept his eyes on things. "Sensors are useless to scan more than a few tens of thousands of kilometers into the Mire, we'll have to rely on telemetry relayed through Cutthroat's beacon, and that won't be much. And speaking of which, Mister Th'zhaar, I need you to baby that beacon. No matter what, it can't go out; it's Cutthroat's only way out and if it quits, they'll be trapped in there with the Scalpers."With that said, he returned his attention to his board as Cutthroat started laying her torpedoes close to each of the Scalpers' outgoing beacons. This would be close all right, and he found himself closing his eyes and letting a brief, silent prayer run through his mind once they went to warp into the Mire proper.
[ NPCs - Gul Kosoter - Kosoter's Scalpers home base, Tarkin Mire ]Tarlek was late. Again. Of course, when dealing with interstellar travel and operations slippage was going to be inevitable. So her being a little late, possibly bringing in one more prize, was something that could be lived with. It wasn't as though the operational schedule was cast in stone after all. And then, the perimeter sensors blared in alarm as a ship dropped out of warp, and immediately the weapons platforms that could bear on the area where incoming ships would be dropping out of warp came to life, seeking out the incoming vessel; however, once the very obvious targeting sensors got their hull map and interrogated their heavily encrypted transponder, they recognized Cutthroat and went back to standby mode but ready to come back to life, just in case; the Scalpers were not run off the mill pirates, the had discipline and procedures, and they took their security very seriously. =S= "Ops to Gul Kosoter. Cutthroat just dropped out of warp in the arrival volume."=S= The officer of the watch knew what he had to do. Every time a ship appeared in their space, the Gul had to be made aware of it as per their standing orders, and either he would give special instructions, or he would tell them to proceed as per normal. =S= "Good. Let's run a tracking exercise on them, and let's see if Tarlek took the time to review her new challenges and responses. Go with the challenge list, pick one at will."=S= =S= "Yes, Sir, on it. Ops out."=S= Once the officer of the watch gave his answer, he looked at his board. Still there had been no hail from Cutthroat, and she remained in the arrival volume? Well, Tarlek had been slipping of late, and if she had a replacement on the flight deck, well, it could be much slower. Which meant that what was coming would be fun all right. =S="Cutthroat, this is the dockmaster. Challenge 'yarmok'. Respond now."[/font]=S= And so, the challenge was sent out, one that had never been written down and would most definitely not be in their computer files. It was one of many such challenges that were out there, and the response would indicate not only authenticity, but also serve as a status report for their situation. And now, the officer of the watch... waited.
Tags Judith Eastman , Thea Baker , Shavan Th'zhaar , Matthew Harmon , Kova Sh'qaleq , T'Karra , Ozu Saya
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Kova Sh'qaleq
Civilian
Posts: 516 Likes: 34
Position: Security Consultant
Species: Andorian
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Post by Kova Sh'qaleq on Oct 29, 2020 2:37:04 GMT
[Bridge, Cutthroat] "Very well..." T'Karra paused briefly as Mat'lekh took the offered PADD, searching her memory for a rank to match with the woman's face. "...ma'am," she finished, having found none, and simply canted her head respectfully. The briefing her security team had received made no mention of any civilian contractors. Her superiors might have considered it "above her pay grade." What a strange euphemism for keeping the junior enlisted men uninformed. Though it also was quite possible that she had yet to meet this particular woman, being newly assigned, it was unlikely. She had combed through the duty rosters prior to their deployment; such a task was worth the effort to learn the capabilities of her associates on such a mission. The pair retreated to a nearby unoccupied console and began their work. Mat'lekh, preferring combat to computers, read the instructions in rapid-fire cadence to T'Karra while her diligent fingers rushed to input the needed changes. Perhaps together they could meet their limited timeline. [Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Cutthroat]Harmon nodded in agreement as Kova presented her plan for the torpedoes. It was sound, so he signed off on it. "Do it." Kova's glances seemed to imply that she was still at least sceptical of him. The feeling was mutual, but for now things were going fine. They were about to march into battle after all, not much time for petty jabs. He almost chuckled as T'Karra called Kova 'ma'am', wondering if the Andorian would take offence or if it would serve to inflate her ego. "Helm, make for the beacons, full impulse," he ordered. It didn't take too long for them to make the rounds on the beacons and drop off the torpedoes with Kova's modifications. Once that was done he took a deep breath. "Bring us into the Mire...hopefully we come back out." [ Lt Laurel Andrews - Cutthroat Bridge] [...] When the Andorian consultant then looked to Laurel and mentioned that she could help with the target differentials, but would need her to be actively firing, in order to patch the subroutines. Laurel understood what was required of her as she answered the other woman. " Understood, I can definitely do that".Then the Bridge became more active as T'Karra and Ma moved off to assist Kova, before Harmon gave his consent for the plan then ordered the helm to head for the Beacons. Placing the torpedoes needed a lot of concentration, teamwork and silent prayer, given how precise they needed to be with their targets. With that done and sending confirmation back to the Medici, Laurel then prepared herself when the order came to take them into the Mire. [ NPCs - Gul Kosoter - Kosoter's Scalpers home base, Tarkin Mire ]Tarlek was late. Again. Of course, when dealing with interstellar travel and operations slippage was going to be inevitable. So her being a little late, possibly bringing in one more prize, was something that could be lived with. It wasn't as though the operational schedule was cast in stone after all. And then, the perimeter sensors blared in alarm as a ship dropped out of warp, and immediately the weapons platforms that could bear on the area where incoming ships would be dropping out of warp came to life, seeking out the incoming vessel; however, once the very obvious targeting sensors got their hull map and interrogated their heavily encrypted transponder, they recognized Cutthroat and went back to standby mode but ready to come back to life, just in case; the Scalpers were not run off the mill pirates, the had discipline and procedures, and they took their security very seriously. =S= "Ops to Gul Kosoter. Cutthroat just dropped out of warp in the arrival volume."=S= The officer of the watch knew what he had to do. Every time a ship appeared in their space, the Gul had to be made aware of it as per their standing orders, and either he would give special instructions, or he would tell them to proceed as per normal. =S= "Good. Let's run a tracking exercise on them, and let's see if Tarlek took the time to review her new challenges and responses. Go with the challenge list, pick one at will."=S= =S= "Yes, Sir, on it. Ops out."=S= Once the officer of the watch gave his answer, he looked at his board. Still there had been no hail from Cutthroat, and she remained in the arrival volume? Well, Tarlek had been slipping of late, and if she had a replacement on the flight deck, well, it could be much slower. Which meant that what was coming would be fun all right. =S= "Cutthroat, this is the dockmaster. Challenge 'yarmok'. Respond now."=S= And so, the challenge was sent out, one that had never been written down and would most definitely not be in their computer files. It was one of many such challenges that were out there, and the response would indicate not only authenticity, but also serve as a status report for their situation. And now, the officer of the watch... waited. [ Kova Sh'qaleq - Bridge, Cutthroat ] The Vulcan's face may have been new, but that snide little comment was one of typical Vulcan arrogance. Kova's brow furrowed as she watched the crewman retreat to a different station to work on the assignment that had been given to her. 'Ma'am'? Was that supposed to have been some sort of old joke? Apparently, someone wanted their replicator dietary supplements hacked and the taste mimicry sequences altered. That was assuming they survived what was beginning to look more and more like a suicide run. The next few moments seemed took the ship into the Tarkin Mire. Kova made note of the weapons platforms coming online as they came out of warp. She carefully ran a latent analysis of the platforms, looking for a way to hack the systems. It was a small comfort when the systems disengaged, apparently recognizing the ship. It seemed they had passed the first line of defense. The Cutthroat even managed to navigate their way beyond the beacons, planting their torpedoes along the way. It was the comm from the Scalpers headquarters that launched the one wrinkle they didn't readily have an answer for. "Yarmok?" Kova said looking from her station towards Harmon. "The voice resequencer is ready to modulate Tarlek's voice, but there's no record of that word anywhere in their security logs," Kova stated. This is where she was hoping that Harmon's interrogation skills had lived up to legend. Of course, the Andorian wasn't going to leave her fate solely in Harmon's hands. Her attention returned to her console. She quickly began to multi-task as best she could. Bringing up the targeting systems subroutines, to calibrate them once Andrews began firing. Though, once that was set into place, she tried to script a quick virus. Nothing elaborate, but a simple Trojan that would remain dormant until they brought their own weapons online, and would hopefully force the headquarters' weapon systems to reboot. That did nothing for the other ships present, but it was time to take whatever advantage they could find.
Tag: Matthew Harmon , Thea Baker (Lt. Andrews), T'Karra Soft Tag: Judith Eastman (Mabel), Joshua Niles (Scalpers HQ)
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 29, 2020 3:06:07 GMT
Busy he saw Judy emerage and started issuing orders. There was an urgency in her voice. Something was wrong. "Should I man tactical?" he asked. He felt really stupid. Because he was station security and not really tactical. He knew the operation of phasers and torpedos on paper.... but in practice..... [Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - Bridge, USS Mac]Judy stood on the bridge, nearby the viewscreen, like a college professor presenting a lecture, when Sven asked his question. She took a brief moment to think. "Why don't you take the First Officer's chair instead?" she offered instead, motioning at the rightmost of the three command chairs. The center chair, naturally, was hers, with all the ergonomic supports that it could have. "Now, let's dive into the plan. The Medici crew is currently manning both that ship, and the Cutthroat, a pirate ship they captured. The pirates' base is in the Tarkin Mire, one of those anomalous patches of space we stumble upon every so often, which means they're pretty dependent on navigational beacons to get in or out," she explained, looking around the bridge to make sure everyone was following. "The Cutthroat is going to go in first, and will use its torpedoes to sneakily take out the pirates' beacons, while setting up a beacon of our own. That means the pirates will be blind, but we won't be, so we'll be able to come right up to the pirates' home base, with all the mass and all the armaments of the Mac. We should be prepared to fight, but the intel we got from the Cutthroat indicates that we... I'll just say we'll have the advantage."Judy didn't want to assert the overwhelming material advantage the Mac held. That kind of arrogant attitude could get into her head - and the crew's heads - and turn their advantage into a flaw. No, she couldn't call the opposition a JV team. 15 minutes later[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - Bridge, USS Mac]After its short flight at high warp, the Mac was in position. Judy was in the center chair, perusing a maintenance review through her readers. She briefly looked over them to see the stars turning from streaks back to dots. "Now, we wait," she said.
Tag Sven Aune
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Sven Aune
Security & Tactical
[TI23]
Posts: 378 Likes: 23
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Chief of Security. Combat Engineer
Species: Human
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Post by Sven Aune on Oct 29, 2020 14:39:16 GMT
Busy he saw Judy emerage and started issuing orders. There was an urgency in her voice. Something was wrong. "Should I man tactical?" he asked. He felt really stupid. Because he was station security and not really tactical. He knew the operation of phasers and torpedos on paper.... but in practice..... [Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - Bridge, USS Mac]Judy stood on the bridge, nearby the viewscreen, like a college professor presenting a lecture, when Sven asked his question. She took a brief moment to think. "Why don't you take the First Officer's chair instead?" she offered instead, motioning at the rightmost of the three command chairs. The center chair, naturally, was hers, with all the ergonomic supports that it could have. "Now, let's dive into the plan. The Medici crew is currently manning both that ship, and the Cutthroat, a pirate ship they captured. The pirates' base is in the Tarkin Mire, one of those anomalous patches of space we stumble upon every so often, which means they're pretty dependent on navigational beacons to get in or out," she explained, looking around the bridge to make sure everyone was following. "The Cutthroat is going to go in first, and will use its torpedoes to sneakily take out the pirates' beacons, while setting up a beacon of our own. That means the pirates will be blind, but we won't be, so we'll be able to come right up to the pirates' home base, with all the mass and all the armaments of the Mac. We should be prepared to fight, but the intel we got from the Cutthroat indicates that we... I'll just say we'll have the advantage."Judy didn't want to assert the overwhelming material advantage the Mac held. That kind of arrogant attitude could get into her head - and the crew's heads - and turn their advantage into a flaw. No, she couldn't call the opposition a JV team. 15 minutes later[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - Bridge, USS Mac]After its short flight at high warp, the Mac was in position. Judy was in the center chair, perusing a maintenance review through her readers. She briefly looked over them to see the stars turning from streaks back to dots. "Now, we wait," she said.
Tag Sven Aune | USS Mac, bridge || Lt. Cmdr. Sven Aune |Sven was taken back by this. The first officer chair? He was the chief of security on the station. But the command on a starship? No, that was more suited to Harmon. Or at least he figured the drunk would push for a position like this. But he wasn't sure he could do it. Sure, running security was on thing and pretty specialized, but first officer was a very broad position, even if it was temporary. Like for the next hour or so. He felt his heart race. Hopefully he wouldn't mess this up. What could possibly go wrong? He nodded to Judy and took a seat next to her. "Aye, Ma'am", is all he said. She had laid out the plan. They were essentially flushing out the pirates and leaving them in a state of confusion. That would give the Mac, the Medici and Cutthroat an element of surprise and tactical advantage. But it was the waiting game. Something he was accustomed to and was quite good at. He sat quietly.
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Matthew Harmon
Intelligence
[TI42] Frontier's Most Malcontent Malcontent
Posts: 540 Likes: 18
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Intelligence Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Matthew Harmon on Oct 29, 2020 15:18:23 GMT
[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Cutthroat]There was always the very likely case that the Cutthroat would be challenged and that he would be unable to answer correctly. He had hoped they'd manage to slip through, but this was always a very likely eventuality. There was little he could have done to avoid it, given the captain was far too fanatical to understand the precariousness of her situation. Showing up in just the Medici likewise would hardly have prevented such a challenge, given it was a verbal one with no records in the computer system or knowledge from the pilot. Harmon's mind was racing, trying to think of a plausible response. Yarmok? Yamok? Like the sauce? He recalled his time on Chin'Toka being introduced to kamoy syrup, the condiment said to be the 'opposite' of yamok. With little time to think or respond, that would have to do. "Kova, create some interference with out comms, Andrews, drop our beacon and send the signal," hopefully the Mac wasn't more than a few minutes away. The interference would buy them some time, make it easier to stall. Now it was time for his performance. "Ugh, you know I hate these stupid games! I prefer kamoy," he said, leaving his answer somewhat vague and confusing so as to leave open the possibility Tarlek didn't bother learning all the challenge codes. He hoped she didn't turn to have been a vocal fan of the challenge code system. "We're breaking up, can you hear me?" he called through the interference. "We took some minor damage to our communications system." It was a tense few moments they struggled to communicate, it must have only been a very short amount of time but it felt like hours. After what felt like an eternity, their beacon was deployed and the Medici detonated the torpedoes. "Dockmaster, we have lost the signals of the navigation beacons. Can you confirm if this is the case, or are our sensors damaged?"
He then muted comms and spoke to the crew. "Get ready for evasive manoeuvres, keep our speed low, we need to keep approaching but not too fast. Let's hope my little performance buys us a few moments until the Mac arrives." As he sat there, waiting to see his fate, he took a sip casually from his flask.
Tag: @joshuaniels, Kova Sh'qaleq , Thea Baker , Judith Eastman , @tkarra
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Shavan Th'zhaar
Science
[TI35]
Posts: 800 Likes: 19
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Assistant Chief of Science
Species: Orion/Andorian
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Post by Shavan Th'zhaar on Oct 30, 2020 11:54:57 GMT
[ Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici] Shavan continued to monitor navigation and sensors as the Medici dropped out of warp and got into position as planned. “Deploying the beacon now.” he reported, pressing the button to beam the beacon to the correct coordinates outside the ship. Now it was time to watch and wait. He didn’t need Niles’ reminder to know what to do and what was at stake. With quick acknowledgment of the orders, he stayed focused on the sensors, monitoring the beacon and watching for signals from the other one at Cutthroat’s end. “Cutthroat has deployed their beacon as well, I’m picking up the signal from it.” For now, there was nothing else to report as everything so far appeared to be functioning according to plan. Tag Thea Baker Joshua Niles
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Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Oct 30, 2020 13:26:12 GMT
[ Thea - Medici Bridge] With the final report from Shavan, regarding the status of their beacon and how it was ready to be deployed, along with confirmation from the Cutthroat and Mac. Thea looked around at those present and gave the order to proceed. " Helm take us into position, Mr Th’zhaar deploy the beacon the moment we reach the edge of the Mire. Then I'd like you to monitor the Cutthroat and the base, whilst Mr Niles prepares to detonate the torpedoes that the Cutthroat have placed".Then the Skipper paused for a moment, then added. " Let's do this so we can go home".
tag Joshua Niles Kova Sh'qaleq Matthew Harmon Judith Eastman Ozu Saya Shavan Th'zhaar T'Karra[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles- Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ]As message receipts were chiming on his console, Niles found himself both relaxing, and getting more nervous at the same time. Whatever was going to happen, it would be over in the next few minutes. There were many moving parts, and any of them could go wrong and that could spell disaster for the mission either in terms of lives, or the Scalpers could run away and regroup later... Part of command was to send people to possibly face their death and being able to live with it in at the end of the day. Intellectually he knew he'd wrung everything he could out of his people, that he'd come up with the best series of options to provide to the Skipper he could, and now it was all out of his control. "Aye, Skipper," he quietly acknowledged as he kept his eyes on things. "Sensors are useless to scan more than a few tens of thousands of kilometers into the Mire, we'll have to rely on telemetry relayed through Cutthroat's beacon, and that won't be much. And speaking of which, Mister Th'zhaar, I need you to baby that beacon. No matter what, it can't go out; it's Cutthroat's only way out and if it quits, they'll be trapped in there with the Scalpers."With that said, he returned his attention to his board as Cutthroat started laying her torpedoes close to each of the Scalpers' outgoing beacons. This would be close all right, and he found himself closing his eyes and letting a brief, silent prayer run through his mind once they went to warp into the Mire proper. Tags Judith Eastman , Thea Baker , Shavan Th'zhaar , Matthew Harmon , Kova Sh'qaleq , T'Karra , Ozu Saya [ Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici] Shavan continued to monitor navigation and sensors as the Medici dropped out of warp and got into position as planned. “Deploying the beacon now.” he reported, pressing the button to beam the beacon to the correct coordinates outside the ship. Now it was time to watch and wait. He didn’t need Niles’ reminder to know what to do and what was at stake. With quick acknowledgment of the orders, he stayed focused on the sensors, monitoring the beacon and watching for signals from the other one at Cutthroat’s end. “Cutthroat has deployed their beacon as well, I’m picking up the signal from it.” For now, there was nothing else to report as everything so far appeared to be functioning according to plan. Tag Thea Baker Joshua Niles [ Lt. jg. Aravis - Bridge - Medici] Aravis maneuvered the ship to the expected coordinates and halted the engines, leaving them on standby for when they would need to haul ass out of there. Because Aravis was fully expecting to have to keep ahead of pursuers. She'd programmed a couple of escape vectors, but all she could do was sit there and keep an eye on her board, making sure the helm didn't suddenly decide to fly off on its own. The minutes after their approach to the edge of the Mire and waiting for the Cutthroat to deploy their beacon were interminable. Then they had to wait some more. All benefit of the rest she'd gotten were lost as Aravis sat tensely at the helm, waiting for an order. I wish something would happen. This waiting is killing me, she muttered.
Soft tags Joshua Niles, Thea Baker, Shavan Th'zhaar
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Thea Baker
Command
[TI12]
Posts: 1,448 Likes: 46
Rank: Captain
Position: Commanding Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Thea Baker on Oct 30, 2020 15:31:08 GMT
[ Thea - Medici Bridge] The time it took for them to reach position to deploying the beacon, felt like an eternity to Thea when in fact it was only minutes. It was usually the same feeling she got whenever they were going into a potentially dangerous situation and it was unlikely that the feeling would never truly go away, even if they survived this without losing anyone. When Shavan then reported that the Cutthroat had done the same and that he was picking up the signal, that was definitely a small relief. " Excellent, keep monitoring them as it shouldn't be long before they begin its retreat and allow the Mac to take over" she replied as confirmation came through that the mother ship was in position, before Aravis muttered about the wait. " Not much longer now, but be ready to move at a moments notice".
**************** [ Lt Laurel Andrews - Cutthroat Bridge] So far everything seemed to be going to plan, especially as the torpedoes detonated without any issues courtesy of the remote set up and Kova's instructions. However just when Laurel thought that they had a chance of further success, the message from the Base came through, throwing her slight off balance in the process. This was something that they hadn't planned for as Kova spoke to Harmon, before the Commander issued orders. " Beacon dropped and signal sent" she responded and went back to monitoring the readouts as Harmon then addressed the Base. Trying not to think of the consequences as Harmon then told them to prepare for evasive manoeuvres and even Laurel was hopeful that it would be enough until the Mac arrived. Weapons systems were then activated ready, before Laurel was able to give a much welcomed update. " Medici has activated their beacon .. I can also confirm that the Mac has also arrived and is in position so I recommend we get the hell out of here and let them take over as planned".
tag Joshua Niles, Ozu Saya Shavan Th'zhaar, Matthew Harmon T'Karra Kova Sh'qaleq Judith Eastman
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Oct 30, 2020 17:18:15 GMT
[ NPCs - Gul Kosoter - Kosoter's Scalpers home base, Tarkin Mire ]
The dockmaster of the watch had issued his challenge, and he didn't have to wait long before something came back, if somewhat garbled. Something about games and kamoy? She had been one of Gul Kosoter's initial recruits, one of those who believed the most in what he was doing and a real stickler for discipline and procedures. To say a challenge-and-response process was a game didn't sound right. And while she had been less than diligent about keeping up with regularly changing codes, she had always at least made an honest attempt at answering them! And giving out something so obviously linked to the challenge as a response? That wasn't like her all right. She had been one of those to explain that the challenge and response process had to involve terms that had no obvious connections! "Cutthroat, did you really say kamoy? And why are you not on your scheduled approach vector? You know where you should be!" The job of dockmaster was less glamourous than those officers on the raiders or on Drusas, but it was an essential one all right. And unlike most of the crews that went out there on a regular basis who depended strictly on the value their prizes fetched, he was paid a regular salary for his troubles; it could be far less than what a good run could bring in, but it was insurance against bad luck... and he could get bonuses, and even tips, depending on just how valuable returning hauls were. However, it was an important one, and the officer of the watch was really the first line of defence against anything... And just as an alarm went off on his board, he heard another garbled transmission from Cutthroat, still without the proper procedures or an answer to the challenge, about the failed beacons. What in the world was going on? He had a bad feeling all right, so instead he mashed his fist on the general alarm button, and designated Cutthroat as a target for the remote weapons platform. While he wasn't ready to open fire yet, they had gone from tracking the raider strictly with their passive sensors to active weapons locks. =S= "Dockmaster to Gul Kosoter! Outgoing beacons are down, and there's something really wrong with Cutthroat. Please advise."=S= With that call sent out, the Gul found himself in a truly, truly, foul mood. Cutthroat running a little behind was a mild irritant, but he knew that with the nature of interstellar operations slippage was going to happen. But that general alarm had just interrupted his meal, and that was the sort of thing that never pleased him. The news, however, were distressing. =S= "This is Kosoter. Battle stations! Start power-up procedures for Drusas and recall raider crews to their ships! And patch me through to Cutthroat."=S= With those orders given, the pirate base instantly became a hive of activity. The start of the power-up procedures for all ships could begin remotely, while anchor watches would begin their own steps to bring their units ready for action. But one thing for certain, whoever was on Cutthroat would know they were being looked at very, very closely. And once he had confirmation he was connected to that arrant raider, he talked again. "Whoever you are on Cutthroat, this is Gul Kosoter. If you are here, you know where you are, you know who I am. Power down all systems and wait to be boarded! Resist or fail to obey in the next two minutes, and you die! Kosoter out."
Tags Matthew Harmon Kova Sh'qaleq Thea Baker T'Karra Judith Eastman
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Oct 30, 2020 17:39:49 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles- Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ]Mac dropping out of warp practically on top of Medici was a genuine relief. To know that their backup was present, and only seconds away from being able to relieve Cutthroat and her crew, was the sort of reassurance that the young Lieutenant acting as First Officer needed. Perhaps he was not in a position to affect events directly himself, but now the operation's hammer was in place, and if all worked well, then the Tarkin Mire, which had served as a safe haven for Kosoter's Scalpers for so long, would become the anvil against which those pirates would be crushed. Though, when their helmsman spoke about having a hard time waiting, Niles allowed himself a small smile from the back of the diminutive bridge; it was somewhat reassuring he wasn't the only one who was finding this difficult, really. At least, everyone up here was open enough to admit to that, even the Skipper. And, as per her advice, he just had to trust their detached crew to do their thing well and get the hell out as fast as they could. Under Lieutenant Th'zhaar's supervision, their own beacon went live, and Cutthroat's came on almost immediately afterwards. "Confirmed!" Niles replied briskly, and the fingers of one hand released the safety interlock he had set on the detonation command for the torpedoes emplaced near the Scalpers' own beacons around the Mire's ecliptic. "Detonating the torpedoes now!" No sooner had he finished talking, his other hand entered the firing command. Perhaps the torpedoes that had been carried by Cutthroat were short-ranged, slow, unmaneuverable, inaccurate, underpowered and crude compared to the finely-tuned ordnance carried on Starfleet vessels, but their antimatter-fueled fury certainly was more than enough to do the job of vaporizing the navigational aids the Scalpers relied on to leave the Mire at warp speeds. Perhaps there still was a single lone beacon out there within weapons range of Medici herself, but for all the Scalpers' sophistication as pirates, he was entirely confident they wouldn't be able to make use of it; unlike the Scalpers, theirs was not a simple discreet but unencrypted signal, but one that was heavily encrypted and masked through direct sequencing spread subspace spectrum, thus looking like no more than communications noise should one not have the right cryptological key to work with it... Now, between the beacons' activation and the series of detonations, the go signal for Mac could hardly have been clearer, and he waited for her to disappear back into warp to land directly on top of the Scalpers. However, it had been long, long seconds since Cutthroat would have been able to lock on to their way out of there at warp speed, and they were still within the Mire. "Come on, where are you," he found himself growling at his station. Where was Cutthroat? Did Harmon get it into his head to go hunting for glory while he was in there, rather that just get in and get out as he'd been instructed? Or had they been found out and they were already dead? Regardless, any of those eventualities were hardly pleasant ones, and he could only hope they were on their way, or that Mac would get there before that detached crew would be dead. Judith Eastman Sven Aune Thea Baker Ozu Saya Shavan Th'zhaar
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 30, 2020 18:40:29 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - Bridge, USS Mac]As usual, it all came together. The Cutthroat had deployed her beacon, and taken out the pirates' beacons, and now it was time to move in. "There should be a cluster of vessels and a space station inside the Mire. Take us in," Judy ordered, in that gentle, measured tone. "Shields up, red alert. They might want to fight."With her orders implemented, Judy issued the next round while they cruised. "When we drop out, get target locks on their ships. Ideally, we want surgical hits to disable propulsion and weapons systems."It was a very quick trip before the Mac was right on top of the pirates' nest. "Let's open hailing frequencies to all their vessels. Video and audio," Judy then directed. =A= "Attention. I'm Commander Eastman of the Federation starship Mac. You are all under arrest. Let me just warn you that if you do not obey my instructions, I may have to open fire, and you may face harsher sentences. Don't try me. You should also take notes," =A= she opened, harsher than she normally would be but a little gentler than they deserved. =A= "You will power down all weapons and propulsion systems immediately, and get to work permanently dismantling your weapons and shields. You will turn over all civilians and civilian vessels to me in two hours. You will turn over the contents of your databases in their entirety right away. You will all prepare to be personally taken into Federation custody at any time; you will be provided a fifteen-minute advance notice. Mister Kosoter, personally, you will turn yourself in by boarding a shuttle, alone, unarmed, in fifteen minutes. Failure to comply with these directives will have consequences." =A= Judy was, as usual, very deliberate about everything she said. They were criminals, not enemy combatants, so they were to be arrested. Kosoter, for the same reason, was not Gul Kosoter, but Mister Kosoter. These were not terms, but directives, a long and involved version of the timeless "put your hands behind your head". The civilians would have to be screened and debriefed, for three reasons: to ensure that any who need medical or other care receive it, to have a record of potential witnesses, and to prevent any pirates from sneaking out in civilian guise. The vessels were not to be scuttled, so that they could be seized and transported without the need for a tractor beam. As for taking Kosoter in first, this was a simple decapitation strategy: without the leader, the group would be less able to plot a resistance while the Mac awaited the arrival of prison transports. After pausing for breath, Judy turned to Sven. "You wanna read them their rights?" she offered, drawing on his station-based experience acting as law enforcement.
Tag Sven Aune Tag Joshua Niles (Pirates)
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Kova Sh'qaleq
Civilian
Posts: 516 Likes: 34
Position: Security Consultant
Species: Andorian
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Post by Kova Sh'qaleq on Oct 30, 2020 19:27:59 GMT
[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Cutthroat][...] "Kova, create some interference with out comms, Andrews, drop our beacon and send the signal," hopefully the Mac wasn't more than a few minutes away. The interference would buy them some time, make it easier to stall. Now it was time for his performance. "Ugh, you know I hate these stupid games! I prefer kamoy," he said, leaving his answer somewhat vague and confusing so as to leave open the possibility Tarlek didn't bother learning all the challenge codes. He hoped she didn't turn to have been a vocal fan of the challenge code system. "We're breaking up, can you hear me?" he called through the interference. "We took some minor damage to our communications system." It was a tense few moments they struggled to communicate, it must have only been a very short amount of time but it felt like hours. After what felt like an eternity, their beacon was deployed and the Medici detonated the torpedoes. "Dockmaster, we have lost the signals of the navigation beacons. Can you confirm if this is the case, or are our sensors damaged?"
He then muted comms and spoke to the crew. "Get ready for evasive manoeuvres, keep our speed low, we need to keep approaching but not too fast. Let's hope my little performance buys us a few moments until the Mac arrives." As he sat there, waiting to see his fate, he took a sip casually from his flask.
[ Lt Laurel Andrews - Cutthroat Bridge] So far everything seemed to be going to plan, especially as the torpedoes detonated without any issues courtesy of the remote set up and Kova's instructions. However just when Laurel thought that they had a chance of further success, the message from the Base came through, throwing her slight off balance in the process. This was something that they hadn't planned for as Kova spoke to Harmon, before the Commander issued orders. " Beacon dropped and signal sent" she responded and went back to monitoring the readouts as Harmon then addressed the Base. Trying not to think of the consequences as Harmon then told them to prepare for evasive manoeuvres and even Laurel was hopeful that it would be enough until the Mac arrived. Weapons systems were then activated ready, before Laurel was able to give a much welcomed update. " Medici has activated their beacon .. I can also confirm that the Mac has also arrived and is in position so I recommend we get the hell out of here and let them take over as planned".[ NPCs - Gul Kosoter - Kosoter's Scalpers home base, Tarkin Mire ]
The dockmaster of the watch had issued his challenge, and he didn't have to wait long before something came back, if somewhat garbled. Something about games and kamoy? She had been one of Gul Kosoter's initial recruits, one of those who believed the most in what he was doing and a real stickler for discipline and procedures. To say a challenge-and-response process was a game didn't sound right. And while she had been less than diligent about keeping up with regularly changing codes, she had always at least made an honest attempt at answering them! And giving out something so obviously linked to the challenge as a response? That wasn't like her all right. She had been one of those to explain that the challenge and response process had to involve terms that had no obvious connections! "Cutthroat, did you really say kamoy? And why are you not on your scheduled approach vector? You know where you should be!" [...] With those orders given, the pirate base instantly became a hive of activity. The start of the power-up procedures for all ships could begin remotely, while anchor watches would begin their own steps to bring their units ready for action. But one thing for certain, whoever was on Cutthroat would know they were being looked at very, very closely. And once he had confirmation he was connected to that arrant raider, he talked again. "Whoever you are on Cutthroat, this is Gul Kosoter. If you are here, you know where you are, you know who I am. Power down all systems and wait to be boarded! Resist or fail to obey in the next two minutes, and you die! Kosoter out." [ Kova Sh'qaleq - Bridge, Cutthroat ] Kova nodded as Harmon told her to dial up some interference on the communication. It was a sound strategy, especially if they were going to sell suffering some damage in a conflict to buy some time and credibility. It seemed that Harmon had everything in hand, until he actually started talking. Kova was sure that he would sound like Tarlek on the receiving end, but he had simply said something he never should have said. As the word kamoy left his lips, the Andorian's eyes widened. She couldn't really say anything aloud to get his attention, and cutting their comms would likely have aroused suspicion on the other end. After he finished, he cut comms himself and began to issue even more orders. Timely orders to move out of their if his performance failed. And Kova was pretty certain that it had. "Kamoy? Really?" The Andorian said before turning her attention back to her station. "It's definitely not kamoy." No sooner had the words left the Andorian's lips had the dockmaster replied, clearly unconvinced by what he'd just heard from the Cutthroat. "Told ya." It was barely a mumble on her lips, but Kova knew that her attention needed to be upon doing all she could to contribute to their survival. There were no guarantees that the Mac or the Medici would come through. Besides, they were in the middle of this hive of very angry hornets. "I took the liberty of uploading a Trojan that'll buy us a few seconds if they decide to fire upon us," Kova said from her console as she tried to monitor the Scalpers headquartes for adjacent communications. Chaces were that dockmaster was reporting all of this to Kosoter now. Which meant the roozh[fn]excrement[/fn] was already dripping into the fan. Kosoter's voice was the next one she heard, and it was apparent that he was pissed. As he made his demands, Kova provided her own translation, based upon her limited experience with the Cardassians. "Considering how pissed he sounds, those two minutes are probably closer to thirty seconds," Kova chimed. This was it. Their final moments. Kova looked towards Andrews, to let the tactical officer know that she was prepared to coordinate the calibration of the weapons system with her attack. As time ticked down, so did their chances of actually surviving. Suddenly, the proximity alert sounded. Kova's eyes fell upon the readings with some surprise. It was the Mac. They had really come. The Andorian's sliver of joy quickly gave way as her eyes glanced around the bridge and fell upon Mabel. Clearly Eastman wanted to retrieve her favorite personal spy. The Andorian was convinced now more so than ever, that she and Mabel most certainly weren't talking. Presently, there was a correlation to Kova's survival and how little the jovial spy had managed to learn about her. Best to keep things that way.
Tag: Matthew Harmon , Thea Baker (Andrews) Soft Tag: Judith Eastman (Mabel), Joshua Niles (the dockmaster, Pirates)
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Sven Aune
Security & Tactical
[TI23]
Posts: 378 Likes: 23
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Chief of Security. Combat Engineer
Species: Human
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Post by Sven Aune on Oct 30, 2020 19:35:59 GMT
| USS Mac || lt. cmdr. Sven Aune |
Sven nodded to Judy and stood, straightening out his uniform as he took a step closer to the large screen. He was a large and imposing and set his shoulders. He spoke in his low clear authoritative voice.
"You have the right to remain silent." he started, "Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to representation. If you cannot provide yourself with counsel, Star Fleet will issue counsel. Do you understand the rights I have spoken?"
Patiently he stood there waiting for a response.
Tag
To the Pirates!
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Matthew Harmon
Intelligence
[TI42] Frontier's Most Malcontent Malcontent
Posts: 540 Likes: 18
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Intelligence Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Matthew Harmon on Oct 31, 2020 6:55:47 GMT
[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Cutthroat]Well this was going poorly. At least the beacon was deployed without some catastrophic failure. That would have been unfortunate. Andrews reported the Mac was nearby and hadn't got caught in traffic, so it was possible they might survive after all. Unfortunately, his gambled didn't work. He didn't expect it would, it wasn't likely the response word would have been related to the challenge word, but he had no chance of guessing it if it wasn't related. His responses was all around buying a few extra seconds and sowing confusion. "Look, I'm sorry, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and forgot all the codes," he replied. He knew his cover was blown, he just wanted to continue to buy some time with confusion. Kova was clearly unimpressed. "Two minutes? Alright, I'll have a think and get back to you in a moment. Cheers, talk to you later, boss." He then spoke to his crew. "Right, let's leg it out of here, evasive manoeuvres, get some distance between us and that station." Then came the Mac, just in time and he decided to give Kosoter his answer. "So I've given it a little think, and I reckon I'll keep my ship powered, thanks."
"Let’s get out of here,"
he ordered the helm.
Tag: Kova Sh'qaleq, soft tag @restofthecutthroat
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Oct 31, 2020 16:45:36 GMT
[ NPCs - Gul Kosoter - Kosoter's Scalpers home base, Tarkin Mire ]Gul Kosoter has started to get himself on his way to Drusas' bridge. While his home bases' operations deck had a more than capable traffic control setup, and could manage the remote weapons platforms, it was not the best suited to fully integrate combat data and manage the course of an engagement. However, he was still patched through to the Cutthroat when the response came through, and it became abundantly clear that it certainly was not Tarlek in command. So, that really meant only one thing: they had been found out. And he was not about to give them a chance to do anything about it. =S= "This is Kosoter. Disable Cutthroat and prepare to board them! I want prisoners!"=S= At his orders, the ships were starting to frantically prepare themselves, and the remote weapons platforms solidified their weapons lock, and it was just as he entered his bridge just as the tactical officer's eyes went wide. "Status change! How the hell! We disabled the incoming beacon as soon as the Gul told us to prepare for battle!" Then, he turned his head towards the leader of the Scalpers, and took a deep breath. "Sir! A ship just came out of warp, Federation, Sovereign-class! Their shields are up and weapons are armed! They are hailing us and... Cutthroat just warped away! What the hell is going on here?"The outgoing beacons were down for some reason, the incoming beacon had been turned off, and yet there was that starship dropping out of warp directly in their arrival volume, and ready for action. The hail, however, was something that made even the Gul swallow hard. Drusas had not been a first-rate unit in twenty years or more as she'd slipped off the refit schedule and had been mothballed. She was more than a match for the older ships Starfleet operated in second- and third-line roles, and he was well aware that even lighter current-generation Starfleet units would give his command a run for her money, or even defeat her outright... Even with five raiders, and the remote platforms? Not happening. Maybe they could hurt them, but they couldn't win in the end. And while he knew a good many of his people would sooner die than go to jail, there was a chance there would be no extraditions and they would deal strictly with the Federation legal system... and honestly he had no intention of dying. With one gesture, he ordered himself put on a general broadcast across the entire area of the base. =S= "Scalpers, this is Gul Kosoter. Do as they say. Slag all weapon systems and... prepare for an interface from that ship so they can download our computers. Release the prisoners and their ships. Do not try to infiltrate them, Starfleet will probably send their people to make sure everything is... copacetic. We are... surrendering."=S= With that message sent, he then had a channel opened to the Federation starship directly. =S= "Commander Eastman, this is Gul Kosoter. I have ordered my men to stand and and we will not contest your demands. I will board a shuttle momentarily. Drusas, out."=S= Slowly, the Gul rose from his seat and after confirming that indeed his people were surrendering, and that across all ships, including Drusas, detonations were wiping out weapons systems and start-up procedures were coming to an end, he slowly made his way towards the shuttlebay and into one of the boarding shuttles after tossing his disruptor from its holster to the deck. This was it. The ancient shuttle started making its way towards Mac's own bay under thrusters alone, being certain not to make any move that might even look like it was aggressive. He had tried to live by his own terms, and he'd planned to go out that way, not die from old age in a Federation prison, or be executed for his crimes by any of the other governments which would have a claim to extradition over him... As the tractor beam took a hold of his shuttle, he opened its medical kit, and he looked at the painkillers in there. Indeed, there was a sufficient amount and he needed no time to dial up a sufficiently high dose... which he then injected into himself just as his shuttle cleared the forcefield. They would have him... but never alive.
Tags Matthew Harmon Kova Sh'qaleq Thea Baker T'Karra Judith Eastman
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