[Asteropax]

Star Trek Ares - Season 1

Chapter 2 - Dorvan V

Primary Locations

• USS Ares

• Dorvan V

Secondary Locations

• USS Lakota

Mission Summary
Stardate: 58812 (October 24, 2381)
The USS Ares has arrived in the Dorvan System alongside the border of the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union. Our mission is to provide humanitarian Aide to the planet's inhabitants.

As representatives of Starfleet Command, we are to meet with the colonists and their leaders and provide them with whatever needs they require in the short term and begin the process of ensuring their longevity. Dorvan V is home to a colony of Native Americans from Earth, setting up a village and habak on the southern continent. The colonists renounced their Federation citizenship and agreed to be governed by the Cardassian government in 2370. They were attacked by Dominion forces during the War when they refused to allow a Jem'Hadar base to be constructed on their planet.

The planet's features include mountains, lakes, and rivers similar to ancient North America, Earth. Since the attack, crops have not grown to their full potential, due to radiation exposure. Colonists suffer from malnutrition; they are only able to grow the minimum amount of crops necessary to their survival. Nausicaans raid remaining crops, force the colonists to mine ladarium, and torment the colonists for sport. A number of Cardassian officers are currently on the planet and are assisting the colonist's as best they can, but, they have requested Federation assistance in providing for the planet's people and defense.

There is a long list on our "to do" list. We have to hand out the relief supplies to the colonists. There are Nausicaans who have setup bases on the planet's surface to attack the planet's settlements. There is a large amount of radiation polluting the planet's atmosphere which needs to be cleansed. The medical staff is standing by to provide treatment to everyone affected by the radiation. We also have to construct a number of orbital defense platforms which will be manned by Officers due to be transferred from the USS Lakota around the time we are due to leave the system.

Before we can do any of this, get past the Nausicaan defenses. Word arrived recently that the Nausicaans have an orbital blockade over the planet. We're going to drive their ships from the system, first, to ensure we can assist Dorvan V unhindered.

As representatives of the Federation, we are to meet with the colonists and their leaders, earning the proverbial "hearts and minds" by taking 2 weeks to give Federation aid and hospitality, providing security, helping the injured, and reducing radiation levels. We will provide supplies, including portable matter replicators and one industrial replicator for the colony. Our goal is to temporarily help with making the colony self-sufficient as part of the Cardassia Union's Reconstruction.

NOTE: Please remember to follow the Handbook rules (especially the formatting basics for Joint Posts) - Here is a formatting example. Please respond to Tagged posts as soon as you are able and have fun!

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

"We are approaching Dorvan V, sir," the helmsman called over from the nearby station.

"Very good," Captain Dyrell Teriir responded and turned over to look at the Tactical Station, being controlled by Lieutenant Kenny. With Lieutenant Locke's specialty in Security and his promotion to Captain, it was her duty to perform the ship's Tactical operations. He began giving her instructions, "Begin performing a tactical analysis of the blockade ahead of us. I want to know what we're dealing with before engaging."

"Yes, sir," she replied as she started entering in commands to her console.

"Can we contact the Colony yet?" He asked Lieutenant Gytaik.

(( TAG: Gytaik ))

Lieutenant Kenny called out to him, "Captain, there are 4 Nausicaan Raiders in the blockade! They're moving to intercept us with shields and weapons ready."

"Red Alert!" Captain Teriir barked the order. Moments later, the various ship indication lights were blaring red and an alarm rang throughout the ship, "Raise shields and arm weapons. Engineering; Transfer power from the warp engines to the shields and weapons."

(( TAG: Rosek ))

"We're being hailed!"

"Onscreen!" he stood up and walked towards the viewscreen. Looking directly into it, he introduced himself, "This is Captain Dyrell Teriir of the USS Ares."

The powerful figure of a Nausicaan appeared a moment later, "I am Kuuz, Second Raid Leader. You are trespassing in my Captain's private sanctuary. Run like the cowards you are or die!"

"I would speak to your Captain immediately," he ignored the demand, "Your ships are violating - "

"Pah!" the Nausicaan spat, "Your Federation abandoned this system a decade ago. This space belongs to us now. I'm going to enjoy making your fancy ship a trophy!"

With that, the channel closed. Teriir gave a subtle growl at Kuuz's words. Even with the combined forces of 4 Raiders, the Nausicaans were hopelessly outgunned by the Ares. The fact they had picked on a colony which had little means to defend itself infuriated him. He looked back to the bridge crew, "Helm, close in with the Nausicaan ships. Tactical, prepare to fire all weapons."

"Sir?" Ensign Aerign nervously asked from her secondary tactical station, "Our ship is technologically superior to the Nausicaans' ships but they are much faster than us at impulse speeds. If they choose to scatter when we engage there won't be much of a chance at catching them."

His eyes flickered as she brought up these details. She was right. Nausicaans were formidable ground opponents because of their size, strength, and resilience to pain, but they were poor at the construction of starships. Their ships were only kept up so they could overpower freighters; combating a heavily armed Sovereign Class starship was something far out of their league. They couldn't be ignored because of how much harm they could do to other colonies but they also couldn't afford a wild goose chase. He quickly thought up a new battle plan, "Then we'll have to draw them in. Hold fire until I give the order. Prepare to bring us about and reverse course after they open fire."

"A 180 degree turn and go back the way we came? That'll take us away from the colony we're supposed to be helping!" The helmsman protested.

Teriir quickly explained his strategy, "It'll also make the Nausicaans believe we are running away; making them chase us and close the distance. Once they close in, we'll engage. Standby for combat!"

(( TAG: Bridge Officers ))

[Josh Broughm]

OOC: I'm assuming there's a time jump?

USS Ares
Diplomatic complex - Sam's office

When Sam got into his office after having a bite of breakfast, the alert klaxons sounded.

- GAH! There's always a red alert!

He flopped down on the couch, grabbed a PADD and said,

- Computer, play Sailor Moon, original release with dubbing from 2014. From the start, please.

The computer beeped and brought up his favorite show.

((TAG ANYONE))

[Redking353]

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 1-Bridge

Rosek quickly transferred the power from the engine to weapons.

“DONE SIR”

He then signaled engineering to prepare the repair teams and brace for impact.

TAG: ((Anyone ))

[Allan Hood]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

Teriir quickly explained his strategy, "It'll also make the Nausicaans believe we are running away; making them chase us and close the distance. Once they close in, we'll engage. Standby for combat!"

"Permission to generate a modified thoron field through the main deflector when we engage?" Hood called from across his science station to the captain. While anticipating the captain's response, Hood prepared to set his plan into motion through his terminal. "We can use the thoron field to distort their sensor readings, making us harder to hit."

((TAG Bridge Officers))



USS Ares
Deck 1 – Captain's Ready Room

Previous Day
“My team developed a successful plan to remove the antimatter radiation, sir,” Hood pitched as he offered his PADD to the captain. “It’s almost identical to what my restoration team did on Cardassia Prime, using the deflector dish to eliminate the radiation in the atmosphere. We only had to adapt it from the warmer and more humid climate of Cardassia to the mixed climate of Dorvan V. The soil and oceans will clear in a few days; the reaction will expand exponentially. We’ll be delivering a catalytic agent, creating an isolytic chain reaction, recombining the nucleonic particles in the planet’s environment.”

“Which cleanses the radiation from the planet by turning it into the particles necessary to create water molecules," Captain Teriir smiled in approval. His smile turned into a frown a second later, "what's the catch?"

“The catch, sir, is that Ares will be put at risk,” Hood continued, cautiously. “It creates a feedback pulse of radiation to our deflector when we fire into the troposphere. We have additional shield modification plans to lessen the risk to the ship by reversing the polarity through the plasma coils, then jettisoning the radiation through the nacelles.”

“Which means we’ll have to evacuate the sections of the ship near the deflector dish to reduce the radiation exposure to the crew,” the captain said, skimming through the PADD, “not to mention the fact this could tear the deflector dish, or the nacelles, from the rest of the ship.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Not the first time a deflector array has been modified for something risky,” the captain commented, almost inaudibly. He looked from Hood to the PADD and back again.

“If this is what it takes to cleanse the planet's radiation, then, by all means: do it.”

[Scarlett]

USS Ares
Officers Lounge – Deck 4



A’Mand nodded approval as she looked over the PADD provided by Monica Carter. Turning it to the woman sitting across the table, she said, “Thank you Ensign. I am confident discrepancies in the scheduling program have been worked out.”

Monica smiled softly. “I agree. After the previous issues, I tried to break the test milieu before transferring the protocols into production. I think we can disseminate the schedule with current crew enrolled within the day.”

The lights of the Lounge changed to the scarlet strobes of Red Alert. A’Mand briefly looked to the lights before standing. Monica also stood and collected the PADDs scattered on the table. Without a word, the two women exited the room and took different paths to different turbolifts. For Monica, it was to the lower rear of the saucer.

A’Mand entered the turbolift and with calm determination declared, “Bridge”.



((TAG: As needed))

[Allan Hood]

USS Ares
Deck 7 – Main Multipurpose Science Laboratory


Previous Day
“Any questions?” Hood asked his science teams after his hour long presentation on the dais, complete with interactive holograms of each step of the process. After fielding some questions from the mixed alien races, he began assigning tasks and handing out PADDs to team leaders, which stood around the mini-auditorium.

“I want Alpha Team working on our catalytic agent. Make sure the chain reaction is isolytic and cascades properly in the simulations. Remember to take Dorvan V’s mixed climate into account; Cardassia has much higher heat and humidity, overall.

“Beta Team, I want you guys working with Engineering on the deflector dish, shields, and structural integrity. The specs have to be perfect and with no margin for error; we only get one shot and there aren’t any second chances.

“Gamma and Delta teams, you’ll be double-checking and verifying Alpha’s and Beta’s work. Make sure all their i’s are dotted and their t’s are crossed. Go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. Hayden, I want you to take a break from Stellar Cartography and join Delta.”

“Epsilon, you’ll be monitoring the feedback pulse of radiation to our deflector when we fire into the troposphere. Constantly adjust the harmonics to compensate for the pulse’s energy inconstancies. Ride the levels so they don’t get out of line.

“If your teams keep the energy levels within the established parameters, not only will we get to keep our deflector, but we won’t have to worry about a subspace implosion from the warp core, either,” Hood joked, “worst case scenario.”

“Crewmen, I want you to divide yourselves among the five teams. Pick someone to shadow and stay on them, you’ll be their temporary assistant for this project.”

Hood looked at his teams with pride, authentic pride, in their abilities and potential accomplishments within this project, not to mention their potential in uncharted space.

“Any additional questions?” Hood asked expectantly.

“Dismissed.”

((TAG Hayden))

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

After Captain Teriir explained his strategy, he heard Lieutenant Hood calling out to him,

"Permission to generate a modified thoron field through the main deflector when we engage?" Hood called from across his science station to the captain. While anticipating the captain's response, Hood prepared to set his plan into motion through his terminal. "We can use the thoron field to distort their sensor readings, making us harder to hit."

His knee jerk reaction was to dismiss the suggestion but reconsidered before saying anything. Thoron fields were ineffective at preventing sensor locks by other ships as most ships were technologically advanced enough to penetrate them. However, Nausicaan ships were fare less advanced than other ships in the quadrant, meaning it could work. He gave his consent, noting he was already entering in commands to generate the thoron field, "Go ahead."

Turning back to the viewscreen, Teriir observed a few flashes go near the ship, “Did they fire on us?”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Kenny answered.

“Helm; bring us about and go to full impulse,” he ordered as another volley of plasma bolts erupted from the Nausicaan ships. Between the huge technological advantage and the power transfer from warp drive to tactical systems, the shots were having very little effect on the Ares. He felt the ship rumble slightly as it veered away from the Nausicaan ships, rolling on its starboard side to maneuver away.

He sat down in his chair and began crunching some numbers while pulling up a tactical interface of their current situation. Four small and agile Nausicaan ships pursuing a far more powerful Sovereign. Full impulse would buy them time to make a move but what? Whatever it was needed to be something unexpected but feasible, while requiring them to keep four ships within weapons range. Teriir grinned as he spun the grid he was examining onto its side, at least it was on the side of their current plane of view. Space was 3 dimensional and that was the ticket to winning this fight.

“Deactivate external inertial dampeners as soon as that thoron field is ready,” he began explaining his idea, “We’ll mask the change in our ship’s systems with it. Prepare to fire thrusters on our ventral side and drop to 1 half impulse; we’ll rise up like a turbolift and catch them as they pass underneath us. Tactical; standby for Attack Pattern Theta. We’ll only have a few moments to do this.”

As the bridge officers began performing their duties, Teriir swallowed up some nervousness. Although the plan was good and he knew the crew was more than capable of pulling it off, there were a ton of variables which he had no control over. There was no guarantee the Nausicaans would fall for their trick or end up falling back now that the Ares was ‘withdrawing’ from the area. This would just have to work.

(( TAG: Bridge Officers ))

OOC: I'll post the arrival of the USS Lakota a little later this weekend.

[Silynn]

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 8 – Enlisted Quarters
Jei sat up and felt a shiver cascade through her body. She had the nightmare again. For the third night in a row. Even double doses of sleeping pills weren’t helping. She was tempted to take another dose, but knew she’d better not push it. Grabbing her robe, she got out of her bunk and walked over to sit in front of the painting she was working on.

It was still a work in progress of a rough white-cap ocean swells and storm clouds. Yet, a small ray of sunshine was attempting to peer through the dark and ugliness. A small snort escaped Jei’s lips as she thought what stupidity inspired her to paint that. As she stared at it, her mind began to wander to her nightmare. The memory engulfed her and Jei found herself on Chin’toka Prime.

* * * * *

Jei was a part of an Away Team from USS HOOD to extract wounded Starfleet personnel engaged in ground action with the Dominion. The situation on the ground was fluid with pockets of Dominion forces still holding out in various strong points on the planet.

Jei followed Lieutenant Pierce out of the shuttle, when the mortar round had hit. After coming to, Jei found herself in a small ditch with Nancy Pierce’s lifeless body on top of her. The sounds of weapons fire and screaming erased the cobwebs from her mind as her survival instincts kicked in.

The landing zone was in chaos. The shuttle Jei had just exited was now a burning hulk. To make matters far worse, the giant Dominion warriors, the Jem’hadar, were inside the landing zone, shooting and swinging at everyone and everything, even the wounded. The handful of HOOD security officers had formed a defense line in an attempt to protect the two remaining shuttles. The only thing slowing down the Jem’hadar was the mass of wounded personnel between them and the shuttles. It was a massacre and there was nothing stopping it from happening. The Dominion ambush was perfectly executed.

Another mortar round impacted nearby, and Jei watched a security officer tumble and fall into a crater nearby. Jei darted the few meters and slid down into the newly created crater. Another round hit nearby, and a shower of dirt and debris enveloped Jei. Instinctively, she used her body to shield the wounded security officer.

She began working to stabilize the injured man who had multiple wounds from the explosive shrapnel. Luckily it was a fragmentation and not a plasma variety. Additionally, the security officer’s body armor saved him from immediate death.

After the blast wave and debris passed, Jei leaned up and continued to work to stop the bleeding from the man’s neck wound. The shrapnel from the grenade missed the critical arteries by an inch. Yet the security officer’s obvious pain and generally adrenaline caused him to writhe and was adding to Jei’s difficulty to stem the blood loss.

“…argh… I need to get back to my team. I need to check on the Lieutenant…” groaned the enlisted security petty officer through gritted teeth and determination.

Putting her strength into the compress, Jei tried to keep the security officer down. “You’re not going anywhere so stay down and stop, so I can get your bleeding staunched,” demanded Jei as she fumbled to find her dermal regenerator with her free hand.

As she found it, so did a Jem’Hadar warrior with the largest axe Jei had ever seen. His form blocked out all light, enveloping her in total darkness. His eyes glowed red and as the axe came swinging down…

* * * * *

Jei found herself on the floor next to her bed. Her hands were shaking and her body shivered from the sudden chill. She wanted to cry, yet she couldn’t. The klaxons sounding off brought Jei out of her fog and gave her the clarity she desperately needed at this trying moment. It was something she could focus on and occupy her.

Quickly pulling on her uniform, it was like an armored shell that protected her fragile inner persona. With it on, she had a purpose. With a purpose, she could focus. With her focus, she could forget the horrors still plaguing her soul.

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Deck 11 - Crew Quarters





Christopher slept soundly having only finished his shift two hours previously. He had visited the gym and stretched his sore muscles until they became weary with fatigue. Entering his quarters he had practically fallen into his bed, remembering only at the last moment to toss his uniform into the cleaner. His dreams took him home, soaring among the mist wreathed mountains of Snowdonia, swooping into the verdant valleys of the Rhondda and sailing across the fertile fields of Powys. Harmonious songs filled his ears, soothing his tensions with their melodies. Christopher relaxed, letting the sounds wash over him until he noticed that the music was corrupted. Harmonies dissolved into discordant blares, screeching their shrill notes across the landscape until the land, once a vibrant green, turned red with sorrow.

Christopher sat bolt upright in his bed, sweat running down across his face as his room glowed his red. Then the noises reached into his consciousness, a Red Alert! Grabbing a clean uniform, Christopher raced to the nearest turbolift.

"Deck 8!" he shouted.

Dashing from the turbolift, Christopher opened the dedicated Triage centre and activated the systems, including the EMH.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." the balding man said.

"I have no idea," Christopher replied, "the ship is on red alert so just be prepared to help me if casualties come in!"

"Hmmph!" the hologram sulked.

Ignoring the EMH, Christopher rushed around the room and switched all the systems on. This was a new facility, designed with large ships in mind for those casualties that weren't able to make it to main sickbay in time. Starfleet medical had been petitioning for the inclusion of these facilities for years since the Galaxy class program was first designed.

Satisfied, Christopher hit his commbadge, "Sickbay, this is the Triage centre, we're up and running. Casualties from Decks 1 through 10 can be routed here from this point on."



((TAG: HEMS))

[LogicalLeopard]

USS Lakota
Deck 3 – Senior Officer's Quarters




"Well...goodbye, faithful friend. We didn't get to know each other as well as we could have, but hopefully, I've served you well enough. You have certainly done so on your end."

Biiqs Tarquin patted a stanchion gently as he surveyed his quarters aboard the Lakota. The place that sheltered him for the past year was beginning to look once again as he had found it, with most of his tapestries, rugs, and personal items removed. They were already at the cargo transporter, awaiting transfer, save for the few personal items that he learned long ago to carry with him whenever he was reassigned. Once, one of his mother's blue ribbon uttaberry pies was accidentally mislabeled and spent six months languishing in an isolated part of a cargo bay, molding to ruin. It was a tragedy he still mourned.

"Oh, don't be that way," he chided the Lakota, after feeling a tiny vibration from the warp engines through the stanchion. "Yes, the Ares is indeed a beauty, blossoming in the flower of her youth, but you know that I am an honorable man, and I would never go snuffling and chasing after every young filly I see. I have always been most comfortable consorting with the elegant, venerable ladies of your class, the pride of Starfleet, enduring for almost a century of service. Ships simply aren't built like you anymore."

He stroked the stanchion, as if the flank of a trusted mount. "They may call them Sovereigns, but the vessels of the Excelsior class are the true Empresses of the flee-"

His platitudes were interrupted by the flash of crimson emergency lights, and the droning of sirens. For a flash of a moment, he almost convinced himself that the Lakota wasn't buying his argument. But years of training and experience took over, and within a couple of seconds he was exiting his quarters to head toward the bridge.

OOC: These events may be slightly out of synch with the main story. They occur whenever the Lakota recieves communication from the Ares that assistance is needed, or whenever it gets close enough to have the conflict on sensors and goes to red alert. I will leave it to you all to bring the Lakota into the story.

[Allan Hood]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

“Deactivate external inertial dampeners as soon as that thoron field is ready,” he began explaining his idea, “We’ll mask the change in our ship’s systems with it. Prepare to fire thrusters on our ventral side and drop to 1 half impulse; we’ll rise up like a turbolift and catch them as they pass underneath us. Tactical; standby for Attack Pattern Theta. We’ll only have a few moments to do this.”

Hood added the finishing touches to the thoron field, soaking the generator with thoron particles to ensure that they'll do the job. The subspace field output of the ship's deflector generators, modified with the thoron particles, should be enough to create a thoron field around the ship strong enough to blink-out the Ares from the Nausicaans' sensor readings. Even if the Nasicaans are familiar with this old sensor trick, they won't have the time to recalibrate their sensors before the Ares retaliates.

"Thoron field is ready, Captain," Hood called out.

Deactivating the external inertial dampeners will cause Ares to move extremely haphazardly, creating more stress than usual on the internal inertial dampeners. Hood consoled himself with the knowledge that the inertial dampers were recently re-aligned after their last confrontation, then braced himself, anyway. Hood sent a quick message to all of his wife's communication devices, from his console, to grab the girls and hold on to something.

(( TAG Hayden (wherever you want to be) Bridge Officers ))

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

"Thoron field is ready, Captain," Hood called out.

As soon as Lieutenant Hood informed him that they were ready he called out, "Engage!"

A moment later, Captain Teriir felt the ship shake slightly as the inertial dampeners were disengaged as the ship began to rapidly slowdown from the decrease in speed from full to half impulse. Although the internal inertial dampeners were at full, he still felt his stomach jump a little as the ship also shot straight up. Ordinarily, the bow of the ship would be the first thing to rise as the ship rose up but with the inertial dampeners off the entire ship jumped up and over the Nausicaan ships. He observed on the small display on his chair that the Nausicaan ships were practically skidding to a halt below them, clearly surprised by the sudden maneuver of the Ares.

Lieutenant Kenny responded to a subtle beeping on her console, "All four targets are locked!"

"Attack Pattern Theta; target their shields and weapons!" he barked. Attack patterns were always related to both the style of attack and also a starship's relative position to their target. With the Nausicaan ships below the Ares, Attack Pattern Theta was the most viable maneuver to perform. Watching the chair interface, he observed as several blips appeared from where the phasers struck home. One of the Nausicaan ships suddenly spun around and drew extremely close to one of the others just before both signals disappeared.

"Multiple hits!" Ensign Aerign remarked, "Two of the Nausicaan ships were destroyed when they collided with each other. The remaining two are attempting to withdraw."

"Reengage the inertial dampeners and set a pursuit course!" He ordered, "We can't help the colonists on Dorvan V until we're sure they have fled the system."

As the Ares began moving again, a loud series of beeps rang out from the Tactical Console. He recognized it as a proximity alert, the sign of another ship appearing on sensors. Looking over to the Tactical station, he watched as Lieutenant Kenny frowned before looking up, "There's another ship incoming. It's right on top of the Nausicaan ships."

"Visual!" he said and a split second later the two Nausicaan ships, one slightly behind the other, appeared on the viewscreen. An Excelsior class starship suddenly warped in right in front of the Nausicaan ships, causing both of them to turn hard. Teriir's eyes widened in shock as the lead Nausicaan ship was too close to the newly arrived ship, slamming into the Excelsior's saucer section and exploding. He heard several gasps from nearby officers as the Federation ship disappeared from view from the explosion. This turned to relief as the ship emerged unscathed, its shields shimmering slightly from absorbing the force of the unintentional ram. Expressing his own relief, he stood up and pointed over to a nearby Conn Officer, "Hail that ship immediately."

He almost didn't wait for the ping indicating the channel was open before speaking, "This is Captain Teriir of the USS Ares to Excelsior class vessel. We observed your collision with a Nausicaan vessel and are standing by to assist."

The veiwscreen changed from the scene ahead of the ship to the bridge of the Excelsior. A Human Officer stood up from the central chair and moved forwards to speak with him, "This is Captain Terry of the starship Lakota. We're shaken but alright. I think we should all be grateful someone in Starfleet Engineering came up with shields to counter the Dominion's kamikaze attacks."

"Agreed," he commented with a smile, "Are you sure you don't need any assistance?"

Before the Captain Terry could answer, Lieutenant Kenny spoke up loudly from her station, "Sirs! The last Nausicaan ship has gone to warp. Just before they fled, they sent a message to the colony on Dorvan V informing their comrades that they were on their own. I was able to trace their message to two locations on the planet."

"Did you get that?" Teriir glanced back to the viewscreen.

The Captain looked over to an officer he couldn't see at the moment before answering, "Yes, Commander Tarquin just confirmed it. It looks like the Nausicaans have bases in a series of mountains and on an island near the main settlement."

"Understood," he answered in approval, "Pull alongside us and then set course for Dorvan V. It's time we got started."

(( TAG: Bridge Officers, Tarquin ))

[LogicalLeopard]

USS Lakota
Deck 1 – Bridge


As the turbolift doors opened, Biiqs strode out toward the tactical station. He had advanced two steps before he abruptly stopped and pivoted, instead walking up to the rail circling the command dais, just within the captains vision

The quick brown eyes of the captain missed nothing that occurred on her bridge. They did a double take at finding her Chief Tactical Officer away from his station. Biiqs said nothing, but flicked his eyes over toward Lieutenant Galvut at tactical, and back to the Captain. She stared at him a second more, and returned her eyes to the forward viewer. He could tell that she understood his silent message, even though he wasn't sure she concurred. Although Biiqs had not transferred yet, technically, the USS Lakota had a new tactical officer now. It would be unseemly in his opinion to relieve him of the duty he would carry long after Biiqs left, which by his calculation may be as early as a handful of hours. Maybe less. Biiqs craned his head to look at the navigation display. He couldn't make it out, but the earlier vibration he felt in his cabin most likely indicated that the ship was traveling at a higher warp factor.

Galvut continued to keep his eyes glued to his displays, not acknowledging Biiqs' presence. The stoic Benzite was experienced and very capable, but also a little proud. The two had completed something of an informal handoff the day before, settling all affairs of the department prior to Biiqs taking a day of leave to pack his things and look toward his new assignment. The ship was red alert, however, and Biiqs was still billeted as the Chief Tactical Officer. By rights he could have strode over to the tactical station and relieved Galvut without a word. Yet things within a person's rights weren't always right, as he had come to understand. It was effectively Galvut's position now, and it wouldn't do to shake his confidence.

"So..." Biiqs drawled slowly, leaning over the railing "Is the Ares having second thoughts about my transfer and arming their weapons?"

It was a bit of a game. Biiqs always tried to see if he could get a smile out of the Captain on the bridge. The Captain never did. It wasn't her nature. But once, oh once, during a briefing, a humorous observation elicited the most gloriously undignified snort from the Captain- a face contorting, shoulder heaving, inadequately contained burst of mirth. The room went silent, except for the gasp of young Ensign Perez, the conn officer, who'd never imagined such a thing was possible. The Captain. Laughing. On duty. He'd almost expected a formal reprimand afterward. But it never came. No one talked about it afterward. Ever. Things were...different aboard the Lakota. The crew was exemplary, and so was its captain, but they had to be that way to outrun the sins of the vessel's past. It wasn't Captain Terry who gave the order to fire on another Federation vessel. But reputation can be an ignorant and unforgiving thing. Biiqs tried to insert humor to grease the gears and provide a pressure valve against the stress of a demanding captain. He'd served aboard the Cairo under a similar captain what seemed like ages ago, so it wasn't, as the humans said, his first rodeo.

She didn't smile this time either. Not even a few slight lines in the corner of her eyes. Ah well. He tried.

"Take your station, Mr. Tarquin." Her eyes lingered on his for a while longer. There appeared to be a softness, there, not an apology, but maybe a certain sympathy. Red Alert. He was still the CTO, on leave or not. It wasn't really going any other way, he supposed. As he relieved Galvut, who moved sullenly, but briskly to an auxiliary station, Biiqs realized with a sudden, gut twisting feeling that he'd done that all wrong. He should have relieved Galvut instead of having the Captain do it. He could afford to be the bad guy since he was leaving. The Captain couldn't.

Things within your rights weren't always right. And neither were the decisions you ultimately made.

He buried the thought as his eyes soaked in the information displayed at the tactical station. The Captain continued, "Long range sensors detected the Ares and several other ships, that appear to be hostiles. We have increased our speed to intercept, and shall be there shortly."

Very shortly, it seemed, from running the warp calculations roughly in his head. Sensors showed the Ares engaging at least four Nausicaan vessels. It was a bit hazy, due to interference caused by thoron radiation. Galvut had the weapons primed and ready, of course, all there was left to do was...wait...what was the Ares doing?

"Dropping out of warp now, Ca---"

Ensign Perez's words were cut off by a jarring crash that almost threatened to eject him from his seat. The forward viewscreen was aflame. Biiqs fingers flew across the tactical interface, attempting to ascertain what happened, even as the Captain barked out a request for a status report. "Shields holding at 72 percent. Captain...that wasn't a weapon, that was a collision..."

Other bridge stations reported in. Biiqs' display indicated no trace of the particles commonly found after a torpedo explosion, but instead deteurium and debris consistent with the hull of a Nausicaan raider. Two more vessels registered as destroyed as well. That odd piece of flying from earlier probably had something to do with it. He'd have to remember to view that back when the threat was over.

"One of the raiders, Captain. A chance collision. Sensors show two others destroyed, one remaining, heading away at impulse on a course leaving the system." A pause. "We're being hailed by the Ares, Captain..."

"Onscreen."

"This is Captain Teriir of the USS Ares to Excelsior class vessel. We observed your collision with a Nausicaan vessel and are standing by to assist."

As the two captains conversed with each other, Biiqs kept his eyes - and targeting sensors - on the remaining ship. A burst of communications caught his attention, and he announced in a quiet tone that would not interfere with the captains conversation, but would catch her multitasking ear. "The remaining hostile had gone to warp. Not before sending a hail to...two locations on the planet. Looks like Nausicaan strongholds. A mountainous area and an island near the main planetary settlement." Biiqs heard his counterpart on the Ares come to the same conclusion.

"Understood. Pull alongside us and then set course for Dorvan V. It's time we got started."

((Tag: Ares Bridge Crew, Captain Terrir))

[Allan Hood]

USS Ares
Deck 1 – Bridge

"Understood," he answered in approval, "Pull alongside us and then set course for Dorvan V. It's time we got started."

"Thank Elohim," Hood let out just under his breath. He deactivated the thoron field while simultaneously sending a message to his wife.

"Crewman," Hood said quickly to the eager Andorian woman standing on deck, not waiting for a response from his wife, he entered the turbolift. He knew that if there was an emergency, he would have heard by now, but he had to confirm it for himself. After what happened last time, with Gracie being fully recovered from burns and breathing problems, Hood could not help wanting to hold his wife and children in his arms, having that confirmation that they were safe.

Hood almost dashed through the opening turbolift door to the corridor, walking swiftly to his quarters. Being a Sunday, he figured they would be home. Growing up, Hood always wondered why his father rarely brought his mother and older brother into space with him and understood better why his father had to turn in his resignation. It was not only the Cardassians, or the Borg, or the Dominion that his father wanted to avoid; it was not knowing the state of his family, the possibility of not being there for them. Having a family only gives you two options, either you bring them with you on your adventures, or you sit them out.

Allan chose to bring his own family with him, due to a distant and quiet vow he made in his childhood. He had so much fun exploring Sector 002, helping with planetary surveys, being his father's special assistant in Engineering, playing pranks on other officers, and running errands for Captain Jedlicka. He thought that this would be the year that his father would keep them all on board. Instead, when the patrol missions began again, Allan, his older brother, and mother, had to say their goodbyes.

The following year was the Battle of Wolf 359.

The door refused to open.

"Security override: Hood-Theta-0-6-3-1!" Hood called while reaching for his retractable longsword, tucked safely in the small of his back. As the doors hissed opened, his daughters came running up to him giggling and happy.

"You're home! You're home!" they chimed together. He fell to his knees, defeated and relieved, hugging his daughters, releasing the grip on his still holsted blade. He walked around their quarters, his daughters in his arms, searching for their mother, only to find her in the sonic shower.

"Why didn't you answer my call?" Hood asked. "Why was the door locked?"

"I'm in the shower, Allan," Sami-Jo replied, "I haven't seen your messages. I locked the door after the red alert, just in case."

Allan released his daughters from his hold, allowing them to go off and resume playing.

"I got to get back to the bridge," Allan said, momentarily distracted. "I just had to check on you and the girls."

"Hurry home after your shift," Sami-Jo said after kissing her husband goodbye. "Everyone's safe."