T'Karra
Security & Tactical
Posts: 96 Likes: 7
Rank: Petty Officer 3rd Class
Position: Fireteam Member
Species: Vulcan
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Post by T'Karra on Oct 19, 2020 22:51:14 GMT
[Bridge, Cutthroat] Upon realizing that information was being siphoned to the Medici, T'Karra stepped away from the helm. There was no sense in trying to pull the data twice. "All of these consoles are locked out... There doesn't appear to be anything useful over here," Mak called out from across the bridge. "Agreed," she said before keying her communicator. =M="T'Karra, Bridge. The Cutthroat's bridge has been searched with negative findings. We are continuing our secondary sweep to search and clear the ship."=M= While they awaited a reply, the duo stacked up on the entry way leading to what she suspected was the captain's quarters. Thea Baker Joshua Niles
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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 19, 2020 23:12:32 GMT
[Shavan Th’zhaar - Sickbay -> Bridge, Medici] Shavan watched the medics help the Bajoran woman to a bed before turning back to look at the Cardassian. He didn’t bother pretending to be sorry as the medic announced that there was no saving him. “Right, do what you need to to take care of it.” Even in that case there was still procedure to be followed. The best thing Shavan could do to help in sickbay was to get out of their way. And at that moment the commbadge beeped, and his presence was requested on the bridge. Presumably to regroup and help analyze the data taken from the Cutthroat. He quickly left sickbay and made his way to the bridge. Instantly deciding that he was not in the mood for whatever argument was going on, Shavan simply announced his presence and took his station. On the computer console he brought up and began to review the Cutthroat’s navigation data and what the others had already drawn from it. Tag Joshua Niles
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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 19, 2020 23:37:16 GMT
[Ens. Mabel Henriksen - Bridge, Medici]After a quick pit stop, Mabel entered the bridge, to the sound of an argument. She listened, quietly, in the background, to Niles, Baker, and Harmon, taking mental notes, observing. Judy had told her to learn - not just on this mission - about the leadership styles of others, so that the young woman would not have the Commander as her sole role model for fleet leadership. Now that a decision was made, Mabel decided to be helpful. "We have enough supplies to run kitchens and whatnot on both ships, if we start moving them now. I'd also like to release all our coffee stocks to the crew now, to keep us refreshed," she offered, in her duty as Quartermaster. She didn't drink coffee herself, but she knew many people did, across various species. She really just wanted to help. Tag Thea Baker , soft tag the rest of the bridge.
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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 20, 2020 15:01:35 GMT
[ Thea - Medici Bridge] The last thing Thea expected was the counter suggestion from Harmon regarding their plan going forward to locate the Pirate base and pave the way for the Mac to join them. However it certainly gave the Skipper something to think about, rather than going ahead with scuttling the Cutthroat. Naturally Niles opposed the idea and gave his reasons why it wouldn't work and whilst both officer's had a point, Thea knew that ultimately it was down to her to make the decision that could either work or lead them into more trouble. For now Thea remained silent as she contemplated her decision, that was until the captured pilot spoke up and made his demands. This wasn't what they needed right now but considering Harmon had brought him here rather than the Brig with the others suggested a motive for doing so. Still here was present but she wasn't about to pander to him either as she looked at him. " You'll get your deal but you're going to help us first" she replied, hoping he wouldn't cause any issues. Then it was time for her to give her orders as Niles called Shavan to the Bridge, knowing that she was likely to be hated for what she was about to say. " This is going to be the plan and I know its likely that some may disagree with it. However ultimately it comes down to finishing this mission and getting the information we need. So Commander Harmon, take our Pilot friend here & a small group from Security, plus Ms Sh'qaleq, I want the Cutthroat ready to go asap. Then we follow in the Medici almost like we've been captured and have the Mac rendezvous with us as planned once we have access to the Pirate hideout".Thea then waited for the inevitable questions and disagreements as she looked around at them all. [Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Medci]
This is what happens when you put a doctor and an overly aggressive junior tactical officer in charge of a mission like this. Harmon pondered for a moment if them all getting killed was such a bad thing. At least he wouldn't have to put up with this sort of rubbish anymore. Was Niles deliberately misrepresenting his suggestion or was he just daft? "I'm not saying man them both, Mister Niles," he said in an aggressively polite and formal tone. Not to mention they hardly required the full complement to man either. "Duress codes or not, they're less likely to immediately attack their own compared with a merchant ship. Besides, I'm sure Sh'qaleq can deal with any issues with the codes." The Doc seemed to decide on some kind of compromise. At least splitting the crew meant there was a slightly higher half of them might get away and escape. Harmon for one was glad to be on board the better shielded and more manoeuvrable Cutthroat. At least the plan seemed better than showing up in the sitting duck that was the Medici and convincing them the raider somehow lost a fight to the hunk of junk Starfleet had stuck them with.
Then the pilot spoke up, apparently unaware of the fact he had very little bargaining power. "I said you would get a good deal. I said you might one day get to experience some life outside a cell eventually. We aren't putting anything into writing now. How good things are for you depend on how helpful you are." [Shavan Th’zhaar - Sickbay -> Bridge, Medici] Shavan watched the medics help the Bajoran woman to a bed before turning back to look at the Cardassian. He didn’t bother pretending to be sorry as the medic announced that there was no saving him. “Right, do what you need to to take care of it.” Even in that case there was still procedure to be followed. The best thing Shavan could do to help in sickbay was to get out of their way. And at that moment the commbadge beeped, and his presence was requested on the bridge. Presumably to regroup and help analyze the data taken from the Cutthroat. He quickly left sickbay and made his way to the bridge. Instantly deciding that he was not in the mood for whatever argument was going on, Shavan simply announced his presence and took his station. On the computer console he brought up and began to review the Cutthroat’s navigation data and what the others had already drawn from it. [Ens. Mabel Henriksen - Bridge, Medici]After a quick pit stop, Mabel entered the bridge, to the sound of an argument. She listened, quietly, in the background, to Niles, Baker, and Harmon, taking mental notes, observing. Judy had told her to learn - not just on this mission - about the leadership styles of others, so that the young woman would not have the Commander as her sole role model for fleet leadership. Now that a decision was made, Mabel decided to be helpful. "We have enough supplies to run kitchens and whatnot on both ships, if we start moving them now. I'd also like to release all our coffee stocks to the crew now, to keep us refreshed," she offered, in her duty as Quartermaster. She didn't drink coffee herself, but she knew many people did, across various species. She really just wanted to help. [ LT(JG) Joshua Niles and NPC Former Pirate Pilot Ther - Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ]Harmon might have had more time in the uniform that Niles, but to speak as though the young Lieutenant would not be able to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel infuriated him. As the First Officer for Medici, Niles knew everything about how the ship handled, her weapons arcs, her defences, the best tactics to use with her, how the additional systems crammed on board would interact with each other after her conversion, the damage control protocols, and that the crew was trained to handle that ship; Cutthroat, on the other hand, was a complete unknown. Sensors could say a lot about a ship, but that alone was not enough to train a crew to operate it, let alone head into danger with it, and Niles was ready to defend his position, including how Harmon seemed entirely convinced he could get all the information he could possibly need reliably. And there was the sheer lunacy of holding the pirates captive on their own ship, which they knew intimately! but the Skipper spoke up with a compromise idea that, frankly, did not agree with the Tactical officer either but was at least far less reckless than what the intelligence officer was suggesting. The plans they had made were solid, and had plenty of redundancy built in... But at the end of the day, it was her call and hers alone. "Yes Ma'am," Niles replied. That was it, end of discussion and now his job was to make it happen. "Commander Harmon, the Scalpers will know how many people they had left on Cutthroat; your crew will have to be no more than eight as to simulate a prize crew left on Medici." While the top-level decision was indeed Commander Baker's, the minutia of making it all happen fell into Niles' hands, and so he had just started. "Ensign Henriksen, four days of emergency rations should be enough for the time being, if Cutthroat's replicators and stores of consummables are proving to not be enough."Now, with Lieutenant Th'ahaar arriving, Niles could focus on tracking down the pirates' home base. "Mister Th'zhaar, I'm going to send you a short list of probable home base coordinates for the pirates. I need you to go over their logs and stellar cartography, and give me the most likely candidate, and what we can expect in the area."In the meantime, the captured pilot was simply looking around, and couldn't help but chuckle. The scrawny pinkskin, that Harmon, loved to posture and make himself sound mean... but he hadn't been flying with the Scalpers for the last 3 years or so; he couldn't really be scary if he wanted to be, not with all the rules Starfleet was imposing on its people! And now, it looked like he wasn't going to get any guarantees of getting a decent deal out of it, that he was just expected to trust them. "Hang on, hang on here. You really expect me to just... volunteer everything out of the goodness of my heart and just trust you'll hold up your end? Look, I'm not saying I'm a reference when it comes to good life decisions, but doing just that seems pretty stupid on my part, don't you think?"As he went on, Niles simply sighed, and when the comms from a team still on Medici chimed, he acknowledged them. "This is the Bridge, acknowledged. Be advised, sensors read no active pirates left on Cutthroat, and a prize crew will be detailed shortly. Carry on for now, but be ready to leave on a moment's notice based on crew assignments."
Tags Thea Baker Shavan Th'zhaar Matthew Harmon Judith Eastman T'KarraSoft Ozu Saya (Aravis) Kova Sh'qaleq
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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 20, 2020 19:49:11 GMT
=/\= Acknowledged Henriksen, standby for beam out, the three of you as we'll be leaving shortly =/\= [NPC - Ens. Mabel Henriksen & PO3 Roland L. Jenkins - Computer Core, Cutthroat -> Medici]Well, this was quite a relief. If they were already withdrawing, that meant the other boarders had been successful too. What's more, there would be no need to drag their prisoner through here, thanks to the transporter. And boy, was the timing perfect. As Mabel materialized in the Brig of the Medici, the lack of a fungal stench washed over her, like a splash of water on a balmy summer day (and to a Minnesotan like Mabel, heat is far more foreign than to anyone else), and she felt her breathing going back to normal. "The prisoner is violent and aggressive," she cautioned, as she and then Jenkins walked away. "I'm never doing this again," Jenkins muttered, while walking back to the Mess Hall. ***|Ready Room, USS Mac || lt. cmdr. Sven Aune|It was a lot to consider. Still the large man struggled with letting go. For so long he had done it all himself, and now he was relying on others. Of course, accomplishments made everyone look good, but what would it say about his command and leadership abilities if the people under him failed? "What did you do when they made bad choices? You can't make people do the right thing. Hell you can't make them do anything the way you want it." and it was true. But the latter wasn't as much of a concern until recently. He took a chip and dipped it into the guac, still troubled. The game continued on, with another hit and the crowd cheered or the batter as he took first. "I don't want to fail. Or worse, loose someone." He knew what he signed up for. The risk of death was real in Star Fleet, but having to make that communication call to some parents, or loved one of a crew member that lost his of her life under his command was almost too much to bear. [Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams & Anna Eastman Williams - Captain's Ready Room, USS Mac]Judy sighed very heavily. They'd gotten to the great, inevitable downside of command and Starfleet service. "In our line of work, we lose people, good people, far too often, and it hurts. It hurts when someone under you dies a preventable death, and it hurts when you have to sacrifice someone. It's a cruel reality of Starfleet life, that we can do... everything right, but still lose lives," Judy explained, and the toll that casualties took on the older woman played out on her in real time. She trembled, her face turned red, and her normally steady voice grew shaky. "I'm not going to lie... I don't have a method, some kind of trick to get over that. I wake up at 3AM, from nightmares about those lives cut so tragically short, and I cry myself back to sleep. I don't... let go, I don't move on," she continued. Max, empathizing with his wife's pain (he was the one to console her after a nightmare or a difficult condolence visit), motioned for her to come closer. She readily left her chair to sit in his lap. "Every death is a gut punch. Every casualty is one too many. What we can do... what we must do, is try our best to... to make our operations... as safe as we can, to honor and grieve our fallen peers, and to learn... from every death, to learn everything we can so we can avoid losing someone else the same way. That's how I... move forward. I don't move on, but I move forward."Max held Judy in a tight hug, giving her comfort and strength. After a moment, Judy heard a ping from her PADD. She grabbed it, donned her readers, and looked at the message. "The Medici succeeded. No casualties!" she summarized, the previous abstract grief making way for material, in-the-moment delight. "When something happens, and you need someone to talk to, you can talk to us," Max said to Sven, sticking his head over Judy's left shoulder. "Max's chest is great for crying on," Judy quipped, all the while typing a message back. Well done! Send my regards to the crew. I look forward to reading the full report.
-J.E.W. Anna, having previously listened gravely to her mother's talk about grief, was now back to rolling her eyes at her parents' PDA. They were so predictable.
Tag Sven Aune Message for Joshua Niles |Ready Room, USS Mac || lt. cmdr. Sven Aune|Sven was taken back by the poignant response. It must have been hard for Judy to relay those past traumas. At least she had Max, a person to whom she could lean up. Sven wished for the same thing. But romance, or even love wasn't in the cards for him. Xander was still on hiatus, and he had no idea if he was going to return. "I feel like it's a gut punch just thinking about it and I haven't lost anyone yet." he looked at his fingers. But Judy had announced that the Medici had reported back a successful operation. He assumed that everyone was safe and sound and he felt tension in his back suddenly release. His whole composure began to loosen up. "Oh, that's good news. I was really worried. I mean, you already knew that." the large man blushed behind his beard. He really was a sensitive man. Tag Judith Eastman
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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 21, 2020 0:27:18 GMT
|Ready Room, USS Mac || lt. cmdr. Sven Aune|Sven was taken back by the poignant response. It must have been hard for Judy to relay those past traumas. At least she had Max, a person to whom she could lean up. Sven wished for the same thing. But romance, or even love wasn't in the cards for him. Xander was still on hiatus, and he had no idea if he was going to return. "I feel like it's a gut punch just thinking about it and I haven't lost anyone yet." he looked at his fingers. But Judy had announced that the Medici had reported back a successful operation. He assumed that everyone was safe and sound and he felt tension in his back suddenly release. His whole composure began to loosen up. "Oh, that's good news. I was really worried. I mean, you already knew that." the large man blushed behind his beard. He really was a sensitive man. [Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams & Anna Eastman Williams - Captain's Ready Room, USS Mac]Buoyed by the good news from the Medici, and the comfort of her husband's presence, Judy regained some of her composure. She was still emotionally raw, but she was steady. "It's healthy to worry. It's natural," she reassured Sven, as she took off her readers and neatly put them away. "If you weren't worried, that would've been a bad sign. If we're not worried, we don't care, and that makes us unfit to do our jobs. We just have to learn to live with our worry and fear, like we do with grief and loss. The same goes for leading any group, or being a parent, except that in Starfleet we deal with these grim stakes.""And you don't get to nag people in Starfleet like you nag us," Anna sassed, and Judy shook her head. Feeling rather warm, Judy began to unzip her jacket, a cue for Max to release his tight hold on her - which he did. She stood up, took off the jacket, then motioned at her desk chair, inviting her husband to move over. Promptly, he did just that, and she joined him there, without needing a single word.
Tag Sven Aune
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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 21, 2020 12:17:22 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles and NPC Former Pirate Pilot Ther - Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ][...] Now, with Lieutenant Th'zhaar arriving, Niles could focus on tracking down the pirates' home base. "Mister Th'zhaar, I'm going to send you a short list of probable home base coordinates for the pirates. I need you to go over their logs and stellar cartography, and give me the most likely candidate, and what we can expect in the area." [ Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici] Shavan acknowledged the order and set to work reviewing the navigational data. He quickly brought up the information on the coordinates Niles had identified, cross-referencing them against Starfleet’s stellar cartography database and the changing positions of celestial bodies to identify what was actually there. Most of the Cutthroat’s navigation logs corresponded with convenient trade routes and small ports in this sector. With one very interesting exception. Interesting because.. there was no data at all. A gap in one of their most traveled routes. Shavan paused, narrowed his eyes at the screen, and worked faster as it began to come together. A half smile twisted his lips. Oh, it was good. It would’ve been easy to miss by any but the sharpest eye for this, which was exactly the point. It had to be the right location. There was no other reason for them to go there. “I have the location of their base.” But they weren't going to like it. “It’s somewhere in the Tarkin Mire. A region in interstellar space about twelve light-hours across that's uncharted due to intense subspace fluctuations. Warp drive and sensors don’t work there. It's a perfect place to hide.”
Shavan stared at the Andorian prisoner as he said it. Then forwarded the coordinates and all supporting information to be found on the Mire to the helm and commanding officers. “The Scalpers would've had to manually set up beacons to guide them. In order to navigate in and out, and find the base, we'll have to use them too.” Perhaps someone could persuade their new friend to help them with that. Tag Joshua Niles Thea Baker , soft tag others on the bridge Matthew Harmon Ozu Saya (Aravis) Kova Sh'qaleq Judith Eastman (Mabel)
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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 21, 2020 13:37:33 GMT
[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Medici]
It was indeed curious that Niles seemed more concerned about the pirates scanning the Cutthroat and thinking that would be a bigger giveaway than if they showed up in the Medici, which wouldn't even require a scan for them to know something was amiss.
The pirate pilot continued to protest, clearly unaware of just how little he mattered. Fortunately, Shavan arrived and manged to figure out where their base was located, rendering the pilots help much less useful. "Well it seems like we don't need you anymore. And since you decided not to help us, I do hope you enjoy spending the rest of your life in prison. Take him away, Dak," he ordered, giving it a moment before he turned on his heels and left himself, headed for where the pirate captain was being held for interrogation.
Tag: Joshua Niles, soft tag bridge, tag Evangeline Tembo
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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 21, 2020 15:55:37 GMT
Five Hours Later .......
[Tarkin Mire - Approaching Scalpers Base] [Medici - Bridge] The last few hours had been uneventful if not tense, especially with the compromise she had put into practise, following the successful boarding and capture of the Cutthroat crew. However now that they had the information that they needed thanks to the pilot who despite his earlier protestations had proved to be a great help whether he liked it or not. Of course that had been down to Harmon and his interrogations, especially since the Cutthroat Captain, had refused to cooperate, maintaining her silence and promises to kill the crew the first chance that she got. So with her being left to think about her actions in the Brig and with the crew split between the Cutthroat and Medici, along with the beacons they needed to infiltrate the Scalpers base. They had set a course and spent the time preparing for the next and final phase of the mission. Naturally they kept the Mac informed at regular intervals and if this went as well as they had hoped, it wouldn't be long before they were headed home. Still this wasn't over yet as Thea shifted in her seat, her thoughts turning to Isaiah, as she then addressed those on the Bridge. " Report, what is our status?".
tag Joshua Niles Ozu Saya Kova Sh'qaleq Judith Eastman Kova Sh'qaleq T'Karra Matthew Harmon Evangeline Tembo Shavan Th'zhaar
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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 21, 2020 19:16:01 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles- Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ]Given how the pilot was actually being cagey, which was not entirely a bad thing for him at this time, Niles found the Intelligence Officer rather quick to dismiss him based strictly on what Lieutenant Th'zhaar had to say. Perhaps Cutthroat's logs were yielding a lot of valuable information, but none of it would be getting corroborated. Yet, a man who was supposedly a crack analyst was the one deciding there was no need to confirm anything, and acting on partial information, with a platform they had no experience with, was a good idea? And the rumour was that Niles himself was the reckless and aggressive one! However, when both ships headed for their destination, the First Officer kept his attention on the information at hand. Not being entirely enamoured with the idea of just waltzing in with no real information to go. Perhaps the Skipper had made her call thus far, but with more data upon which Commander Baker could make her decision becoming available, was it not his job to take it into consideration and suggest amending the plans? And given that the order to build their own navigation beacons to get in and out of the Tarkin Mire had been given, beacons that would be heavily encrypted and using every dirty trick Starfleet had up its sleeve to render their signals as hard to detect as possible, and that scanning into that region of space from the outside or out from the inside were impossible, it heavily changed the tactical calculus of the situation. In fact, that particular set of calculations had been thoroughly upset. The pirates' databases had yielded a treasure trove of information. According to their schedules, Cutthroat's return would coincide with a scheduled all-captains' meeting, which would put all six of their raiders in place at their makeshift starbase, where their primary ship was being kept in case she was truly needed. And that primary ship was, truly, impressive for a bunch of pirates. Drusas was a Galor-class warship from one of the middle flights of the class, and if Cutthroat's databases were correct, she had missed a number of service life upgrades. Perhaps she would be no match for a current-generation starship, even an older one that had kept up with her refit schedules, but she would definitely be enough to deal with civilian-grade convoy escorts, or local security forces in backwater systems. And that too was a new variable they would have to contend with. However, sensors were indeed reading the ring of beacons around the Tarkin Mire's ecliptic, precisely where Cutthroat's computers said they would be. Did they not know to look for those, they probably would have missed them, given how heavily shielded they were on the outboard side, and the narrow-beam nature of their signals. All in all, a very clever setup, and even a very resilient one... if someone didn't know precisely what to look for. And all the above factors led Niles to work on a new plan... which now had to be run past the Skipper for her to take into consideration. "Skipper, this is your call, but I think the plan needs to change. So far, looks like everything Cutthroat's database checks out. We still can't look at their base proper, but the Tarkin Mire looks like everything we expected, and I think we can use that."As he spoke, Joshua put the data he was working from on the small viewscreen at the front of the cramped Bridge, highlighting the Mire and the ring of eight beacons. "I say we have a golden opportunity here to wipe out the Scalpers in their entirety if they are indeed here, but the timing is going to be... tricky. First, we should take advantage of the fact no one can scan in or out, and position ourselves at one of the Mire's polar regions, and call for Mac to come and join us." As he spoke, he added to the display, showing Medici 'above' the Mire, and Mac's icon next to it. "While we are waiting for the Mac, we send Cutthroat to place one of their torpedoes right up to each of the Scalpers' beacons and set them for remote activation by us here on Medici. Once Mac is here, or close enough, Cutthroat goes in, riding the pirates' incoming beacon, just as we initially planned. And if indeed this is the pirates' home base as we expect, they drop their own beacon. We consider its activation to be our signal to blow the ones that are out here, and Mac warps in using Cutthroat's beacon, while Cutthroat gets out of there as fast as she can, using us as her exit beacon. End result would put Mac right on top of the pirates, hopefully with most of their ships docked and powered down, and in a position to force a surrender. And even if they are ready, well, Mac does have enough combat capability to take them."
"Skipper, I think this is the best, most survivable option for both Medici and Cutthroat, and the surprise we could achieve with Mac is the option that's least likely to end up in a bloodbath. And I wouldn't be doing my job as your first officer or as a tactical officer if I wasn't presenting you with an alternative that can be pitched to Commander Eastman."As he explained what he meant, still more icons were appearing, along with lines to represent the courses used by either ship, and the outer markers' turning red to indicate their destruction. Now, of course, what would follow would be the need to recover any captives held by the Scalpers and the ships they had taken, and to repatriate all of them. And the non-trivial problem of taking several hundred pirates to go and stand trial for their crimes. But with all of the Scalpers' ships destroyed, scuttled or in custody, with their communications disabled, with their beacons disabled, there would be a practically zero chance of escape from their predicament either... but while it was connected to that particular operation, that sort of follow-on mission fell outside the immediate scope of the detachment sent on Medici, and would most likely be handed at a much higher level. Of course, unless the Powers That Be decided to pass that on further downwards... And now the question was, would a tactical officer's appraisal actually make the cut?
Tags Judith Eastman Thea Baker Matthew Harmon Shavan Th'zhaar Kova Sh'qaleq Ozu Saya Evangeline Tembo T'Karra
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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 21, 2020 20:49:44 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles and NPC Former Pirate Pilot Ther - Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ][...] Funny, for not that long ago he would have advised anything to improve combat power and accept those risks. But now that he was in a command slot for this mission, that particular notion found itself clashing with prioritizing the mission's success and keeping the crew, his crew alive. "Skipper, I don't like the idea. We get into trouble, we won't have enough people on either ship to fight effectively, or deal with any kind of damage control. And we're not worked up on Cutthroat either. And using her to get into their base? Can we bet lives that everything we need will be in their databases, or that anything we get from interrogation will be what we actually need and not their duress codes?"[...] However, before he could continue, the Andorian pilot spoke up. "Look, this is all really fun to watch. Didn't know you Starfleet types bickered like that. Now, that scrawny pinkskin said I'd get a good deal if I helped. Well, I'm not saying a damn thing until I get it all in writing, all official and all, and signed by the captain."[...] =M= "Niles to Lieutenant Th'zhaar, please report to the Bridge,"=M= he simply said over a comms channel, before returning his attention to the other happenings on the cramped command deck. [ Thea - Medici Bridge] [...] For now Thea remained silent as she contemplated her decision, that was until the captured pilot spoke up and made his demands. This wasn't what they needed right now but considering Harmon had brought him here rather than the Brig with the others suggested a motive for doing so. Still here was present but she wasn't about to pander to him either as she looked at him. " You'll get your deal but you're going to help us first" she replied, hoping he wouldn't cause any issues. [...] " This is going to be the plan and I know its likely that some may disagree with it. However ultimately it comes down to finishing this mission and getting the information we need. So Commander Harmon, take our Pilot friend here & a small group from Security, plus Ms Sh'qaleq, I want the Cutthroat ready to go asap. Then we follow in the Medici almost like we've been captured and have the Mac rendezvous with us as planned once we have access to the Pirate hideout".[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Medci]
This is what happens when you put a doctor and an overly aggressive junior tactical officer in charge of a mission like this. Harmon pondered for a moment if them all getting killed was such a bad thing. At least he wouldn't have to put up with this sort of rubbish anymore. Was Niles deliberately misrepresenting his suggestion or was he just daft? "I'm not saying man them both, Mister Niles," he said in an aggressively polite and formal tone. Not to mention they hardly required the full complement to man either. "Duress codes or not, they're less likely to immediately attack their own compared with a merchant ship. Besides, I'm sure Sh'qaleq can deal with any issues with the codes." The Doc seemed to decide on some kind of compromise. At least splitting the crew meant there was a slightly higher half of them might get away and escape. Harmon for one was glad to be on board the better shielded and more manoeuvrable Cutthroat. At least the plan seemed better than showing up in the sitting duck that was the Medici and convincing them the raider somehow lost a fight to the hunk of junk Starfleet had stuck them with.
Then the pilot spoke up, apparently unaware of the fact he had very little bargaining power. "I said you would get a good deal. I said you might one day get to experience some life outside a cell eventually. We aren't putting anything into writing now. How good things are for you depend on how helpful you are." [Ens. Mabel Henriksen - Bridge, Medici][...] "We have enough supplies to run kitchens and whatnot on both ships, if we start moving them now. I'd also like to release all our coffee stocks to the crew now, to keep us refreshed," she offered, in her duty as Quartermaster. She didn't drink coffee herself, but she knew many people did, across various species. She really just wanted to help. [ LT(JG) Joshua Niles and NPC Former Pirate Pilot Ther - Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ][...] But at the end of the day, it was her call and hers alone. "Yes Ma'am," Niles replied. That was it, end of discussion and now his job was to make it happen. "Commander Harmon, the Scalpers will know how many people they had left on Cutthroat; your crew will have to be no more than eight as to simulate a prize crew left on Medici." While the top-level decision was indeed Commander Baker's, the minutia of making it all happen fell into Niles' hands, and so he had just started. "Ensign Henriksen, four days of emergency rations should be enough for the time being, if Cutthroat's replicators and stores of consummables are proving to not be enough."Now, with Lieutenant Th'ahaar arriving, Niles could focus on tracking down the pirates' home base. "Mister Th'zhaar, I'm going to send you a short list of probable home base coordinates for the pirates. I need you to go over their logs and stellar cartography, and give me the most likely candidate, and what we can expect in the area."In the meantime, the captured pilot was simply looking around, and couldn't help but chuckle. The scrawny pinkskin, that Harmon, loved to posture and make himself sound mean... but he hadn't been flying with the Scalpers for the last 3 years or so; he couldn't really be scary if he wanted to be, not with all the rules Starfleet was imposing on its people! And now, it looked like he wasn't going to get any guarantees of getting a decent deal out of it, that he was just expected to trust them. "Hang on, hang on here. You really expect me to just... volunteer everything out of the goodness of my heart and just trust you'll hold up your end? Look, I'm not saying I'm a reference when it comes to good life decisions, but doing just that seems pretty stupid on my part, don't you think?"As he went on, Niles simply sighed, and when the comms from a team still on Medici chimed, he acknowledged them. "This is the Bridge, acknowledged. Be advised, sensors read no active pirates left on Cutthroat, and a prize crew will be detailed shortly. Carry on for now, but be ready to leave on a moment's notice based on crew assignments." [Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici] Shavan acknowledged the order and set to work reviewing the navigational data. He quickly brought up the information on the coordinates Niles had identified, cross-referencing them against Starfleet’s stellar cartography database and the changing positions of celestial bodies to identify what was actually there. Most of the Cutthroat’s navigation logs corresponded with convenient trade routes and small ports in this sector. With one very interesting exception. Interesting because.. there was no data at all. A gap in one of their most traveled routes. Shavan paused, narrowed his eyes at the screen, and worked faster as it began to come together. A half smile twisted his lips. Oh, it was good. It would’ve been easy to miss by any but the sharpest eye for this, which was exactly the point. It had to be the right location. There was no other reason for them to go there. “I have the location of their base.” But they weren't going to like it. “It’s somewhere in the Tarkin Mire. A region in interstellar space about twelve light-hours across that's uncharted due to intense subspace fluctuations. Warp drive and sensors don’t work there. It's a perfect place to hide.”
Shavan stared at the Andorian prisoner as he said it. Then forwarded the coordinates and all supporting information to be found on the Mire to the helm and commanding officers. “The Scalpers would've had to manually set up beacons to guide them. In order to navigate in and out, and find the base, we'll have to use them too.” Perhaps someone could persuade their new friend to help them with that. [Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Medici]
[...]
The pirate pilot continued to protest, clearly unaware of just how little he mattered. Fortunately, Shavan arrived and manged to figure out where their base was located, rendering the pilots help much less useful. "Well it seems like we don't need you anymore. And since you decided not to help us, I do hope you enjoy spending the rest of your life in prison. Take him away, Dak," he ordered, giving it a moment before he turned on his heels and left himself, headed for where the pirate captain was being held for interrogation. Five Hours Later .......
[Tarkin Mire - Approaching Scalpers Base] [Medici - Bridge] The last few hours had been uneventful if not tense, especially with the compromise she had put into practise, following the successful boarding and capture of the Cutthroat crew. However now that they had the information that they needed thanks to the pilot who despite his earlier protestations had proved to be a great help whether he liked it or not. Of course that had been down to Harmon and his interrogations, especially since the Cutthroat Captain, had refused to cooperate, maintaining her silence and promises to kill the crew the first chance that she got. So with her being left to think about her actions in the Brig and with the crew split between the Cutthroat and Medici, along with the beacons they needed to infiltrate the Scalpers base. They had set a course and spent the time preparing for the next and final phase of the mission. Naturally they kept the Mac informed at regular intervals and if this went as well as they had hoped, it wouldn't be long before they were headed home. Still this wasn't over yet as Thea shifted in her seat, her thoughts turning to Isaiah, as she then addressed those on the Bridge. " Report, what is our status?". [ LT(JG) Joshua Niles- Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ][...] And all the above factors led Niles to work on a new plan... which now had to be run past the Skipper for her to take into consideration. "Skipper, this is your call, but I think the plan needs to change. So far, looks like everything Cutthroat's database checks out. We still can't look at their base proper, but the Tarkin Mire looks like everything we expected, and I think we can use that."As he spoke, Joshua put the data he was working from on the small viewscreen at the front of the cramped Bridge, highlighting the Mire and the ring of eight beacons. "I say we have a golden opportunity here to wipe out the Scalpers in their entirety if they are indeed here, but the timing is going to be... tricky. First, we should take advantage of the fact no one can scan in or out, and position ourselves at one of the Mire's polar regions, and call for Mac to come and join us." As he spoke, he added to the display, showing Medici 'above' the Mire, and Mac's icon next to it. "While we are waiting for the Mac, we send Cutthroat to place one of their torpedoes right up to each of the Scalpers' beacons and set them for remote activation by us here on Medici. Once Mac is here, or close enough, Cutthroat goes in, riding the pirates' incoming beacon, just as we initially planned. And if indeed this is the pirates' home base as we expect, they drop their own beacon. We consider its activation to be our signal to blow the ones that are out here, and Mac warps in using Cutthroat's beacon, while Cutthroat gets out of there as fast as she can, using us as her exit beacon. End result would put Mac right on top of the pirates, hopefully with most of their ships docked and powered down, and in a position to force a surrender. And even if they are ready, well, Mac does have enough combat capability to take them."
"Skipper, I think this is the best, most survivable option for both Medici and Cutthroat, and the surprise we could achieve with Mac is the option that's least likely to end up in a bloodbath. And I wouldn't be doing my job as your first officer or as a tactical officer if I wasn't presenting you with an alternative that can be pitched to Commander Eastman."[...] [ Kova Sh'qaleq - Bridge, Medici --> Bridge, Cutthroat] Once again, it was an interesting game to see who wore the britches aboard the Medici. Even the Andorian picked up on the game, and attempted to use it to leverage more of a compromise on his behalf. Kova's brow furrowed. The more she heard leave the Andorian's mouth, the more she began wonder just how much Ferengi blood flowed through his veins. Whatever sort of blood he had, it wasn't blue. She rolled her eyes at the very sight of him, but continued to listen as Baker seemed to adopt Harmon's suggestion of using the Cutthroat. The notion didn't seem to sit as pleasantly with Mr. Niles, but he swallowed the order like a good soldier, clearly choosing not to make a scene. Meanwhile, Harmon had grown rather tired of the Andorian's pilot attempt to bargain and cut him off completely. The intelligence officer seemed satisfied with the data that Shavan had been able to mine from the navigation logs Kova, herself, had liberated. Of course, what was revealed was hardly promising. It seemed that this Tarkin Mire was quite a spatial cove. There seemed to be no easy way to their base, other than the one provided by their beacon. Suffice it to say, they would see whom was approaching, and possibly had defenses trained on that entry point. That news was made all the more lovlier when Kova heard Baker say that she was assigned to the Cutthroat... under Harmon's command. Kova's eyes glared in Harmon's direction. Some people would say that fate was cruel, but Kova simply new her to be a bitch. ***** Five Hours Later....Kova sat at her station, brooding. It would have been nice to actually get lost on the way to the airlock, but Harmon had proven to be quite the stickler at taking attendance. Thus, she had spent the past few hours familiarizing herself with the Cutthroat's systems. She knew her way around its mainframe, and had reviewed the logs with their procedures. The last thing she wanted was to get shot down in this rust bucket because they overlooked some sort of trivial protocol. Of course, being on the ship that would likely walk right into the heart of the trap... well, there were a dozen other places she'd rather be. Kova did spare a few thoughts to Mabel, however. How the Commander's faithful spy had poised herself to collect all the juicy tidbits to report back to her superior. Without a doubt, she was Eastman's eyes and ears. That portrayal of innocence had to be all an act. She was like a clever spider, spinning her web and biding her time. One question, being, how well had Harmon pranced upon those webs. Kova rose from her seat, with a PADD in hand. She held it out for Harmon to examine. "The finer points of what to expect at Tarkin Mire. Some of the players, their ships... where to park," Kova shared. She paused a moment, her eyes still on Harmon. "The pilot... you were quick to cut him loose. I hope that wasn't for my benefit." Kova had seen the move a power play, clear and easy. Though, whether he was trying to flaunt his power solely for the pilot's sake, or for Kova's, well that was to be determined.
Tag: Matthew Harmon, Others aboard Cutthroat Soft Tags: Thea Baker, Shavan Th'zhaar, Joshua Niles, Judith Eastman (Mabel), Ozu Saya (Aravis), Evangeline Tembo, T'Karra
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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 22, 2020 12:17:02 GMT
[Matthew Harmon - Bridge, Cutthroat]The Cutthroat's captain had continued to be uncooperative. She continued with her idle threats and bluster. The whole display was amusing really, she was no one. Nothing more than a pawn for Kosoter. However, given she kept running her mouth, Harmon managed to extract enough recording of her voice for him to put it into a program which would allow them to disguise himself as her, with a filter on the screen, for when they were inevitably hailed. It was a shame he couldn't get her to say anything useful, but the pilot proved useful. Harmon's scare tactics had paid off. When he thought he was no longer needed once Shavaan had thought he'd located the base, the pilot couldn't wait to open up and do whatever he could to prove useful. It was almost too easy. As unpleasant as she was, Harmon knew, though would never admit it, that Kova was capable and he was secretly glad to have her with him. Certainly better than Niles. He took that PADD from her and inspected it for a moment, carefully analysing and committing the details to memory. "Yep, and it terrified him. As soon as he thought I was ready to discard him he couldn't wait to give me everything he knew, anything to get a lighter sentence since he thought he'd lost all leverage," he tone was monotone and matter-of-fact. He wasn't gloating, he felt that there was no harm in being honest with Kova, especially since he'd rather not antagonise her going into this situation. The pilot had correctly estimated the situation, eventually and given up everything, even his codes as pilot. Hopefully they didn't need other codes, but at the very least they had the pilot's real codes. He had figured that if he gave the fake durress codes to Harmon, Kosester had a good chance of firing on the Cutthroat and killing him anyway. No, the pilot, Behel, figured his best chance of surviving was to cooperate with Harmon. And he was right. Probably. Time would tell.
"How many torpedoes do we have, Tactical?" he asked.
Tag: Kova Sh'qaleq, @whoeverwantstomantactical, soft tag @niles, Thea Baker, @everyoneelseoncutthroat
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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 22, 2020 13:59:06 GMT
[ LT(JG) Joshua Niles and NPC Former Pirate Pilot Ther - Bridge, Converted Merchant Medici ][...] Now, with Lieutenant Th'zhaar arriving, Niles could focus on tracking down the pirates' home base. "Mister Th'zhaar, I'm going to send you a short list of probable home base coordinates for the pirates. I need you to go over their logs and stellar cartography, and give me the most likely candidate, and what we can expect in the area." [ Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici] Shavan acknowledged the order and set to work reviewing the navigational data. He quickly brought up the information on the coordinates Niles had identified, cross-referencing them against Starfleet’s stellar cartography database and the changing positions of celestial bodies to identify what was actually there. Most of the Cutthroat’s navigation logs corresponded with convenient trade routes and small ports in this sector. With one very interesting exception. Interesting because.. there was no data at all. A gap in one of their most traveled routes. Shavan paused, narrowed his eyes at the screen, and worked faster as it began to come together. A half smile twisted his lips. Oh, it was good. It would’ve been easy to miss by any but the sharpest eye for this, which was exactly the point. It had to be the right location. There was no other reason for them to go there. “I have the location of their base.” But they weren't going to like it. “It’s somewhere in the Tarkin Mire. A region in interstellar space about twelve light-hours across that's uncharted due to intense subspace fluctuations. Warp drive and sensors don’t work there. It's a perfect place to hide.”
Shavan stared at the Andorian prisoner as he said it. Then forwarded the coordinates and all supporting information to be found on the Mire to the helm and commanding officers. “The Scalpers would've had to manually set up beacons to guide them. In order to navigate in and out, and find the base, we'll have to use them too.” Perhaps someone could persuade their new friend to help them with that. Tag Joshua Niles Thea Baker , soft tag others on the bridge Matthew Harmon Ozu Saya (Aravis) Kova Sh'qaleq Judith Eastman (Mabel) Five Hours Later .......
[Tarkin Mire - Approaching Scalpers Base] [Medici - Bridge] The last few hours had been uneventful if not tense, especially with the compromise she had put into practise, following the successful boarding and capture of the Cutthroat crew. However now that they had the information that they needed thanks to the pilot who despite his earlier protestations had proved to be a great help whether he liked it or not. Of course that had been down to Harmon and his interrogations, especially since the Cutthroat Captain, had refused to cooperate, maintaining her silence and promises to kill the crew the first chance that she got. So with her being left to think about her actions in the Brig and with the crew split between the Cutthroat and Medici, along with the beacons they needed to infiltrate the Scalpers base. They had set a course and spent the time preparing for the next and final phase of the mission. Naturally they kept the Mac informed at regular intervals and if this went as well as they had hoped, it wouldn't be long before they were headed home. Still this wasn't over yet as Thea shifted in her seat, her thoughts turning to Isaiah, as she then addressed those on the Bridge. " Report, what is our status?".
tag Joshua Niles Ozu Saya Kova Sh'qaleq Judith Eastman Kova Sh'qaleq T'Karra Matthew Harmon Evangeline Tembo Shavan Th'zhaar [ Lt. jg. Aravis - Medici Bridge] Aravis had winced and sweated when Shavan announced where they were headed. This mission was certainly going to test her piloting skills. She'd taken a break, which had turned into an intense session of studying up on subspace fluctuations before resuming her post. She'd almost fallen into a daze when Dr. Baker requested a status update. Aravis shook herself and checked her readings. Smooth sailing, she said. No more issues with the navigation, and we're about fifteen minutes out from Tekin Mire. Less if engineering can give me a little more power.
Tag Thea Baker, soft tags to the bridge
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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 22, 2020 18:08:53 GMT
[Ens. Mabel Henriksen - Bridge, Cutthroat]Mabel felt just a little bit important, being one of the more senior officers on the Cutthroat. Even on the Medici, there were enough Ensigns that she didn't feel all that special, but now there were just slightly fewer, and she could feel important. She was also just a little redundant, only reviewing assorted records on the Bridge. "We need to keep in mind that their torpedoes were modified, and the targeting system is customized too. If we fire them, we won't be as accurate as the Scalpers are," she noted. She did not recall immediately how many they had, but she did recall that Form Q-1139-T-2M[fn]Processing and cataloguing of munitions on captured vessels[/fn] was a pain to fill out.
Tag Matthew Harmon , Kova Sh'qaleq , @everyonelese
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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 23, 2020 3:00:21 GMT
[Shavan Th’zhaar - Bridge, Medici]
Shavan had spent the past five hours continuing to gather all information possible about navigating the Tarkin Mire. That included studying the effects of the subspace fluctuations within as well as assisting with further analyzing the Cutthroat’s data and coming up with the necessary schematics and locations for the beacons they were going to use.
Having set a course, Medici and the Cutthroat were fast approaching their destination, as prepared as they could be. Shavan once again sat at the sensors console on the Medici’s bridge. For the moment he had little to add as Aravis reported the distance to the Mire and that all was well so far. He listened as Niles went on about a tactical plan for taking out the Scalpers, while trying not to look too pleased about flying straight into a spatial anomaly. It seemed that this mission was starting to prove interesting after all.
soft tag Medici bridge
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