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Minefield Now

Posted on Sun Mar 1st, 2015 @ 3:11am by Captain Enalia Telvan & Aewia Larani & Lieutenant Ventarus Nosplet & Lieutenant Dylan Santiago & Lieutenant JG Airi Saxa & Lieutenant Commander Aelyn Radt
Edited on on Sun Mar 1st, 2015 @ 3:30am

Mission: Reman Z
Location: USS Hera Bridge

Arriving back on the bridge with her XO, Enalia strode confidently to the area in front of the command chairs and looked at the viewscreen. The view showed the station, yes… but other than the surrounding nebula of frozen gases and stellar debris, there was something else they hadn't counted on. A mine field. “Report,” Enalia called out shortly.

From the ops station, an Ensign piped up. “It seems to be a standard Romulan minefield, Captain. It seems it de-cloaked because of nebular gases blowing through the area. That’s likely why our probe earlier didn’t pick anything up.”

“I guess we're lucky we didn't run into one then.” Enalia replied.

“Do we have a full layout of the minefield, Ensign?” Aelyn asked as she stood by her Captain’s side.

Glancing back over his shoulder, the young ensign replied. “We've mapped most of it with sensors and where there are gaps I think we can plot where the still cloaked mines are. They're all about 500 meters apart at their closest.”

“Make sure the shuttle is updated on these mines. They should be able to navigate the field without incident, but a heads up is definitely in order,” Aelyn said as she studied the minefield on the viewscreen.

“Not something I’d feel good about taking the Hera into. If anything happens, they'll be on their own.” Enalia moved back to her command chair and sat down, pulling up her console and looking it over. “Let’s hold here for now at red alert. When the shuttle is updated, have them launch.”

“We should find a safe route in and out, just in case the team requires assistance,” Aelyn suggested to Enalia. As she paced in front of where Aewia was sitting, the ex-Intel Officer became enthralled by Aelyn's bushy, calico tail and gave it an experimental stroke, sending a chill down Aelyn's spine, but she didn't make any attempts to stop the young woman, letting Aewia do whatever kept her calm for the moment.

“I agree. And see if there’s a way we can deactivate the mine field too.” Enalia said.

Nodding, the young ensign started typing at the ops console rapidly, looking for a way through it.

Dylan, who was on his first duty shift on the bridge said "Can we hack into their control systems? I'd be willing to have a go."

Enalia considered it just a moment. "Romulan systems are tricky. Go ahead but be careful. Don't do anything to endanger the shuttle."

"Yes Ma'am." Dylan nodded before turning his attention to his computer terminal. Hacking computer systems was part of his training in intel and he knew that he had as good a chance as any at deactivating the mines remotely.

Standing and moving closer to the screen, Enalia was thoughtful for a moment. The person at ops looked up at her and spoke after a moment. "Captain, the away team reports ready and is requesting permission to launch.'" Nodding, Enalia motioned to do so. "Permission granted."

Several tense moments passed when suddenly the captain was engulfed in the red sparkles of a Klingon transporter system. In less than a second, she was gone.

Tapping at his console furiously, the Ops Ensign checked sensors and for a moment he had something. "I have that pirate ship on... wait... it's gone again." Tapping some more, he looked up incredulously at the rest of the bridge crew. "I've lost her."

"Pirate ship? Get her back, now!" Aelyn demanded. Aelyn's recent arrival on the Hera meant that there were some things on which she was out of the loop, and this was one of those moments. What pirate ship was this Ensign talking about? "I need some answers," Aelyn said with a hint of a growl.

Cringing slightly, Aewia gripped Aelyn's tail a bit harder than she intended with a squeak. Something bad had happened and she didn't like the sound of it.

Aelyn had to bite back a growl at the mistreatment of her tail and instead settled on freeing her tail from Aewia's grasp and sitting close beside her, letting her bushy tail curl around Aewia's waist. Aelyn gently stroked Aewia's hair as if the Betazoid woman were a frightened kitten.

Turning back to the XO, the Ops Ensign did his best to explain it all. "Ma'am, we've had a pirate ship, an old Klingon bird of prey, following us since our last mission. Their cloak was acting up earlier but it seems they've fixed it since there's no tachyon blip. The best I know to do is to scan for the exhaust doppler and hope we pick something up."

"Release a burst of tachyons," Aelyn ordered as calmly as she could so as not to upset Aewia further. "It may not show us the ship, but there should still be enough of a wake that the disruption of the tachyon field may give us a direction. And start working on a way to find the Captain."

Turning back to his console, the Ensign tapped away furiously. "Activating tachyon burst from the pod now." After a few moments of scanning, he shook his head. "The only wake I'm picking up so far is our own heading into the area." A moment more and sensors were coming up with something. "There it is. It looks like they ran as soon as they got the Captain. Heading 42 mark 18, presumedly around the minefield."

"Well that's a start," Aelyn said, somewhat pleased they at least had that much going for them. "Lay in a course to pursue. And I want phasers and torpedoes armed, we will be ready once we find them."

Tapping her console, the helm officer punched in the course, steering clear of the mines they had mapped. "Course laid in ma'am."

Behind the command chairs, the tactical officer quickly armed weapons, the ship automatically going to red alert.

"I've hacked into the mines control systems." Dylan looked up from his station, "They're dead in the water so if you want to travel through and cut them off you can." he added, giving the new acting Captain an option. He was pretty sure whoever took the Captain also had Ethan and he was just as eager as any of them to get them back.

"Make it so," Aelyn said with a nod.

Dylan looked over at the helm and said "So long as you don't directly hit one, you'll be fine."

The young ensign at the helm looked nervous as she started skirting the minefield closer and closer, going so far as to dip the saucer in between the mines at the edge. She just didn't trust herself enough to fly THROUGH a minefield, active or not.

Ven literally had no idea what was going on, it was just the start of his shift. So he came onto the bridge and made it about halfway down the ramp before he noticed the tension on the bridge, the mine field on the view screen and the fact that the Captain was no where to be seen. Still he made his way over to his station and relieved the Ensign.

Standing, the Ops Ensign pointed out the various scans and things going on before completely surrendering his post to his boss. "If you need me for anything, Sir, I'll be at one of the back stations."

Ven took his seat and logged into his station.

"Mr. Nosplet, thank you for reporting in in such a timely manner," Aelyn remarked to draw attention to the fact that they had been in an emergency situation for some time without their Chief of Operations on the Bridge. "Would anyone care to bring Mr. Nosplet up to speed on the situation?" she added as she watched the young ensign at the helm pilot the Nebula-Class ship through the partially de-cloaked Romulan minefield.

The relieved ops officer paused for a moment on his way up the ramp to the back of the bridge long enough to look a little confused. "Ma'am, I just briefed him. I'm not sure what else I could add other than that the Captain was beamed off the ship by pirates when the shuttle launched."

The turbolift door opened a few moments later, and a slightly peeved pilot stepped out, her arm was feeling a lot better, but it had taken time! Time that they didn't have. Her signature pistol was strapped on her right thigh and she looked around for Talvan, who she didn't see. "Lieutenant Commander...Radt, was it? Chief of Flight Control reporting in." She lofted the words over, already in motion. "Ensign, your knuckles are white. What're you doing? Go have a seat and calm down. I've got this."

With that the fighter pilot that doubled as Chief of Flight Control offered her hand, helping the Ensign up smoothly before sliding in to her seat and taking a deep breath before linking herself in. She would become one with the Hera in mind, and know her relative position in relation to the mines. It'd be a smoother ride from here on.

Ven nodded to the helmsman as she took her seat next to him. He had not had the opportunity to really meat her yet. Thus was their first shift together.

Ignoring Aelyn's tail for a moment, the brain damaged Betazoid punched up something on the console she had the away team's helmet cams pulled up on. It sounded like Aewia but a bit more lucid than usual. "Nexi? I remembered how to encrypt channels! The nice captain lady was kidnapped and we're chasing pirates through the minefield. You might be on your own for a few but I still have your helmet cams up on this computer, ok?"

After listening to the barely audible reply, Aewia spoke again to the console. "Will do. By the way, if you entered from the shuttlebay, I think it's a deck above you. Either that or on some ring platform below you? I don't remember..." Aewia was a little confused, but she was ok with that for now. "Anyway, if you need anything, say my name three times!" Clicking the comm line off for the moment, she waved to Aelyn. "Cat lady, our team is still looking for things but they're aboard the station ok."

"The mines are remaining dormant," Dylan filled in from his station, "Looks like my hack is holding." then he looked to the acting CO and asked "How much longer until we intercept that ship?"

"My name is Aelyn, sweetie, and next time you need to ask before doing something like that," Aelyn said to Aweia, then she addressed the CONN officer, "What's our ETA?"

Snapping her hand to her forehead in a salute, Aewia smiled a bit goofily. "Roger that Aelyn. Just trying to watch out."

"Without an exact fix on the pirate ship, I can only give you my best guess. An hour. Hour and a half tops. Will inform if it changes." The helm controller replied, looking over from her workstation.

"Lets get a better fix on that ship," Aelyn ordered. She didn't like the idea of leaving the Away Team alone for that long. the Captain was important to the ship, but she also had to think about their mission.

"Working on it." Dylan nodded, eager to chase down the bastards that had taken his one true love.

After about 10 more minutes of trailing the aged pirate bird of prey, a new signal was picked up. It seemed it came from the captain from a cloaked shuttle and that there was wounded aboard.

"I'm picking something up on sensors." Dylan commented having been running detailed scans from his station in the hope of picking up something that could help them deal with the pirate ship. "It's an encrypted message!" he added excitedly, "And it's a Starfleet encryption."

"Confirmed, new tachyon signature, shuttle-class. No exact fix but I can maneuver us in between the pirate ship's signature and the smaller one if so ordered." Airi spoke up, fully concentrated on her console.

Aelyn's ears perked up at this new information. A Starfleet encryption? Could the Captain have managed to escape? "Do it," Aelyn said to Airi, rising from her chair in the command pit to watch the view screen and the wavering tachyon readings. "And lets see if we can get the sensors to penetrate the cloak on the smaller vessel." She wanted to know for certain if that was the Captain calling for help.

Ven turned in his seat, "We could try the dekyon scanners coupled with a tachyon burst from the main deflector, it should cut right through a small cloak. If that does not work we could wash the area with a proton burst and just look at where they don't go." He offered.

"Gotcha." Airi gave a two fingered salute before her fingers expertly moved over the controls, and the Hera changed course to match. Within a couple of minutes, the starship would be in between the two signatures.

Aewia was humming to herself, softly singing about there only being 3 active cameras from the away team left.

Aelyn's eyes went wide as she looked over at Aewia. "Ms. Larani, I hope your little song is only in jest," the Caitian woman said. This situation just kept going from bad to worse...

Aewia looked confused for a moment. "Is it a chest? I saw it on the monitors. The doctor went splat and the 2 guards were eaten. One camera is still working in a belly."

Though she looked remarkably composed, inside Aelyn was a bundle of raw nerves. Crew abductions, a dying away team, pirates and Romulan minefields and viruses that could reanimate the dead, this was one mission the Caitian Commander would not soon forget.

"Helm, turn us about," Aelyn said, crossing her arms over her chest as she made a decision that Enalia would likely question later. "Let's open the shuttle bay, get that shuttle aboard. We can deal with the cloaked Bird of Prey later, but for now we need to deal with the mission at hand. As soon as the shuttle is secured, take us back to the station." She was just really hoping that it was the Captain on that shuttle...

After a few more minutes, Aewia listened closely to the audio feeds on her monitors for a moment before waving to get Aelyn's attention. "The away team is returning! And the station is about to go boom."

As if on cue, every ship sensor lit up like a christmas tree as the station singularity core exploded spectacularly, causing a chain reaction in the minefield and blowing up every mine in a giant wave, the shockwave of that tide of destruction rocking the ship. Thankfully, the unknown shuttle had decloaked, docked, and been secured by then.

From the shuttlebay, Enalia had pressed her comm badge and called the bridge. "Bridge, this is the Captain. We've returned. What's the status of the ship and the away team?"

"Helm, intercept with the Selune. Everyone else, prepare to recover and decontaminate the shuttle," Aelyn ordered the bridge staff as she returned to the Command chair and sat, opening the comm panel to speak with the Captain. "Good to hear your voice, Captain," Aelyn said, relieve beyond measure that her gamble had paid off. "We're on a course to recover the Selune. The away team is... They were successful in destroying the station, though they weren't able to retrieve any samples." Aelyn didn't know how to tell her Commanding Officer that only half of the away team had returned.

"Understood. As soon as we have the away team and we're clear of any debris, get us out of here. make best possible speed to our scheduled rendezvous with the USS Bacon. If you have everything up there, I'm going to stay down here and make sure our people are ok." There was relief in Enalia's voice as she spoke, settling her attention on getting the final pieces of this mission completed.

"Captain... There were some casualties," Aelyn warned Enalia. "I don't know all the details, but Aewia said their cameras went down, that there were only 3 left. And given the haste in which the team left, I don't think they were able to recover the fallen officers." Aelyn was almost positive that breaking that news over the comm was a bad idea, but it was still better than finding out the hard way when Enalia met with the away team in the shuttle bay.

Enalia was silent a moment before replying. "Thank you for letting me know." was all she said before clicking her commbadge back off. They lost way too many people this day. She didn't want to lose any more and she just hoped at the very least Nexi wasn't one of the casualties. Not that she wished for any of the team to not return... She was just extra worried over Aewia at the moment. Sighing heavily, she headed towards the decon area the Selune was going to be set down in.

Aelyn released a sigh as she closed the comm panel and leaned back in the chair. What a day... "What's our ETA on the shuttle?" she asked of the Bridge staff, not really caring who answer at this point. She just wanted to put this day behind them.

An on duty tactical officer, still rather shook up but still alert, piped up as quick as he could. "Ma'am, we should have them in the shuttlebay within seven minutes at our current speed."

"Good good," Aelyn said, looking over to Aewia. Poor kid... Brain scrambled and she still managed to make herself useful. Aelyn gave the Betazoid woman a friendly pat on the hand, a gesture to show that she had done well. "Lets finish this up, nice and neat, then adjust heading to rendezvous with the USS Bacon."

As the tension on the bridge finally started to ebb, for some strange reason all Aelyn could think was, 'Who the hell names a ship Bacon...'

 

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