Wake Up Call
Posted on Thu Aug 21st, 2014 @ 10:28am by Lieutenant Commander Morgan Kelly & Major Alexandria Somers & Lieutenant Augustus Deakin & Lieutenant JG Erica De'Havean
Mission:
Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Bridge, USS Carthage
Space was full of wonder and amazement, full of challenges and anomalies unseen by anyone. It was the final frontier, with a vast universe still left unexplored. Space could also be very boring. That is how it felt to Lieutenant Kelly. Captain Von and the away team had only been gone for a few hours, but Morgan felt like it had been much longer. Sure, he had set through boring shifts before, but there was only so much adventure that could happen while they were parked in orbit of Myaz.
"Ensign," he said as he tried to turn his focus towards something interesting. "What's our status?"
Erica, as much as she loved being at the helm, and done everything she could do to keep herself entertained and busy, ran out of thing to do and was looking over the helm roster to tweak into her advantage, "Helm status is green." Even her tone signified that she was bored stiff. As her tail just occasionally gave a sweep or the tail tip just gave a little flicker now and then. Even the planet sat at the top of the main view screen as she never gotten around to rolling the ship back to where the bottom of the ship was facing the planet. Even the few Myaz defence ship that were in view had their bottoms facing the planet.
Looking around, "So tell me El tee" Griffiths said addressing Kelly "Are stints on the bridge in such situations always like this? If so I prefer a good scrap any day of the week, how do you manage the boredom?" She asked. As a marine she was used to either action, mission or just on stand down and now here she was stuck on a ship effectively joint command with Lieutenant Kelly and it was so dead.
"Well, usually we aren't just sitting in one place, so it's not so bad," Kelly responded. Then he shrugged. "But sometimes it can be a bit uninteresting. It just depends on the mission."
"Indeed, so can anyone show me how to work the tactical bridge station and help pass the time? If I am going to be doing shifts on this ship on long haul missions, it would be astute if I had some basic working knowledge of the Tactical systems!" She said.
"That's no problem, Ma'am. Usually when I'm on the Jackal I'm manning the tactical console. They're pretty much the same." He gets up from the center chair and moves over to the tactical console. "What do you want to know?"
Looking at Kelly "All you know El tee, all you know" Griffiths said and became the avid pupil
"Well, I'm sure some of the basic controls are similar to what you may find on ground vehicles." He started pointing out different sections of the console. "The console can be rearranged to suit the preferences of the user, though right now it's on default. This section here controls defensive systems, mostly the shields." Kelly pointed at another section of the display. "This panel shows weapon status. Here we have phaser charge. Of course sustained shots drain the charge, and the lower the charge, the weaker the shot. It also shows the torpedo tube status, and how many and what type of torpedoes are loaded."
"Interesting, you are correct, it is similar to that of a ground vehicle we use in the Corps, but this is for space and that is a totally different ball game" She said then looked at something "Interesting, why is the targeting scanners picking up another energy signature, outside the ship?" She asked.
As he started to shift his gaze over to the sensor readings, Kelly continued his lecture. "It's actually not that much more complicated. The only difference is out here you have an extra dimension to contend with." He started to pull up the report from the proximity sensors.
Erica listening to the two officers talk, she stood up and stretched to get the blood flowing and to ease the numbness from sitting for long periods of time with nothing but "look busy" type of work as everything was done and even was in the process of updating the nav computer from Astrometric. Making sure everything was up to date and current. In middle of her stretch, Erica looked down at her console when it chimed softly. She looked to see if she had to maneuver the ship as she sat down.
"Mearoww!" Erica spoke up, getting everyone's attention on the bridge. "We have an arrival of a ship that bearing the markings of a Sojourner on the inbound heading of Mark 331 Mark 045 Mark 135." Putting the ship on the main screen of the ship bridge. She quickly rotated the ship place the bottom of the ship facing the planet.
Kelly's attention snapped to the viewscreen and he hurried back to the center chair. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The ship on the viewscreen was unmistakeable. Staring back at him was the crimson hull of another Excelsior-class ship. But beyond just the color of the hull, the hull was emblazoned with the words SSV Vekk. Kelly knew that it had to be the same ship that they faced at Thane. "Go to Red Alert. Have they charged weapons?"
Science Officer spoke up from his scanners, "Negative Lieutenant, Not even registering shields, except the usual flight shield," As the ship went to red alert, minus the klaxons. At least on the bridge, just the red flashing light to signal the Status change, but else where on the ship, the crew enjoyed the klaxons till they was shut off.
Ensign De'Havean growled at seeing the Sojourner's ship, muttered, "What am I? Cursed? Miaerow! I knew we should's taken the Jackal! But nooowaaa.... Lets be all peaceful like and take a cadillac into battle instead of a war machine!" Ensign De'Havean sputtered and spit softly at her post on the bridge, getting the Impulse powered up. Already planning her first set of maneuvers.
Kelly answered the ensign smugly. "This may be a Cadillac, but she's still got teeth. We're not as nimble as we are in the Jackal, but you should know by now that Captain Von wouldn't bring us out here defenseless."
"Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to go well" Griffiths quietly said and turned to the Officer at the secondary comm station "Ensign notify Captain Von of what is happening and that we shall keep her updated, when we can" Griffiths said.
"Aye, Major. I'll patch the message through to Captain Smith." Von didn't want to be interrupted during negotiations, and had requested that messages be sent through the marine officer if at all possible.
With that Naomi turned to face front again.
"We're being hailed by them, Lieutenant Kelly," the comm officer spoke up from their station.
"Then put them on screen," Kelly barked back. As the ranking Fleet officer, it was still his duty to make contact. He'd let Griffiths take over if the words were heated enough for shots to be fired.
The viewscreen changed from showing the dark outline of the modified vessel to the even darker modified version of the bridge. A figure with a long flowing dress, also crimson to match the colors of the ship, rose to greet the Lieutenant. Even more so than the ship, Kelly knew that he could never forget that face. "Vaishaa."
Her cold eyes stared through the viewscreen and seemingly through Kelly himself. The Sojourner warlord stood still in the centre of her bridge, looking simultaneously steadfast and sylphlike. She carried herself with a confidence that was both menacing and humbling; it was easy to see on first impression how she exercised such unflappable control over her minions.
"Mister Kelly," she purred coldly after a moment of lingering silence. Her face remained an impassive mask broken only by the scar etched through her cheek from mouth to ear. "Are you so eager to start a war here today?" she asked in a cold, accusing tone. Before giving him a chance to answer, she spoke again, "I am here with my weapons offline and my defensive shields down. I would be very disappointed to learn that Starfleet has adopted a shoot first policy when dealing with foreign states. I'm sure the Myaz would share my disappointment."
Kelly took a deep breath. He certainly remembered her from Thane, but he was surprised that she knew him. Either her memory was that good, or she had another way to know who she was dealing with. "The Sojourners have not exactly had the best track record about not firing first. I'm pretty sure you opened fire on us at Thane. I'm not interested in starting a war, but I am prepared to defend this ship if necessary."
Vaishaa gave a subtle roll of her eyes before responding in the same cold tones, "I assure you, Mister Kelly, that if I meant you harm, your little ship would not stand a chance." She paused, a menacing expression locked on her face as she stared down her nose at the lieutenant. She allowed the silence to linger just long enough before continuing. "I will be sure to inform the Myaz of the arrogance of their Starfleet ... suitors to assume that they have some monopoly on peaceful intentions. Perhaps I should not have expected Captain Von to show any kind of elegance in her diplomatic stance. After all, she is in over her head and must be finding it difficult to escape the shadow of Alexander Gunning."
Morgan found that he was suddenly clenching his fists. He quickly put them behind his back so that Vaishaa couldn't see them on her viewscreen. Her remark about Gunning hit a nerve, but he had to stay strong. "I'm confident that Captain Von knows what she is doing, and I trust her judgement."
A frigid, predatory smile crossed Vaishaa's face; she hit a nerve and she knew it. "We will see," she said. Then, suddenly, the smile disappeared and she adopted an expression that might have been boredom, like she was done toying with them. "Tell your Captain that I will be leading a small diplomatic delegation to the surface. It would be appreciated if she could refrain from shooting us on site. Vekk out."
The screen flickered and she was gone.
Kelly looked around at the other officers on the bridge. "Stand down to Yellow Alert and keep a close eye on the Sojourners. And let Captain Von know that they're coming." He looked over at Griffiths. "You were worried about it being boring, Major. I'd say that things just got interesting."
Looking at Kelly incredulously "Ya Think!!" She said and turned to the Ensign who sent the first message "Ensign notify Smith of these current events" She said.
"Aye, Major," the comm officer replied dutifully.
Lieutenant Morgan Kelly [P: Von]
Acting Executive Officer
USS Carthage
Major Naomi Griffiths
Commanding Officer
14th Battalion, UFPMC
Ensign De'Havean [P: Akiashiro]
CONN / Shuttle pilot / temp assignment
USS Jackal / SB332 / USS Carthage
Vaishaa
Sojourner Warlord
Played by Deakin
